Preparing radiology programs for the oral boards: A checklist for success informed by SWOT analysis

The American Board of Radiology Oral Certifying Exam will return in 2028, prompting a need to update radiology education. Residency programs differ in size, faculty, resources, and educational support, but they all share a key challenge: creating and maintaining a successful oral boards curriculum. The authors suggest using SWOT analysis as a helpful tool for all programs to create, assess, and implement a new oral boards curriculum. This article reviews the internal strengths and weaknesses, as well as the external opportunities and threats related to developing an oral boards curriculum. From their detailed review through SWOT analysis, the authors present an Oral Boards Curriculum Readiness Checklist. The checklist serves as a guide for residency programs to design, evaluate, and improve their oral boards curriculum initiatives. Important domains such as faculty expertise, curriculum integration, case volume and variety, multidisciplinary involvement, structured mock oral exams, simulation methods, technology use, and peer teaching are turned into clear metrics that can help assess readiness, spot gaps, and prioritize necessary changes. Through this checklist, the authors offer an adaptable tool to provide clarity and consistency for programs when establishing new oral board educational efforts and preparing residents for future success on the new exam.