Begin Certification
Earn your certification through a series of exams: BASIC, ADVANCED and APPLIED.
Continue Certification
Sharpen your knowledge and advance your practice through MOCA.
Training Programs
Prepare for certification exams through a variety of training options.
About
Setting standards and leading innovation for the practice of anesthesiology since 1938
Resident Reach is a new formative assessment that aims to foster supplemental learning and offer insight to inform feedback on residents’ medical knowledge throughout training. It is not a question bank, but rather is intended to strengthen clinical reasoning, spark learning and encourage dialogue between residents and teaching faculty.
The 2026 Resident Reach pilot will take place between Sept. 8 and Oct. 27, 2026.
Since the 2016 introduction of MOCA Minute, programs have expressed interest in the ABA exploring a similar longitudinal assessment for residents. In late 2024, the ABA conducted a Resident Reach pilot with a small group of programs and about 50 residents. The ABA’s 2025 Strategic Plan solidified a strategic need to engage trainees and programs early, including a new formative assessment for residents.
Building on learnings from that initial pilot, the ABA has selected a specific group of programs, representing a range of anesthesiology training environments across the country, to participate in a broader fall 2026 platform pilot of Resident Reach.
Residents are likely to find increased value with active engagement, reflection on responses and discussions with teaching faculty to clarify thinking.
The feedback that residents provide before, during and after the pilot may help inform future development of Resident Reach.
Have more questions? See more in our full FAQs, below.
Resident Reach is a longitudinal formative assessment currently being explored in a pilot format, designed to spark conversation between anesthesiology residents and teaching faculty, strengthen residents’ clinical reasoning, and offer insight into their medical knowledge and confidence throughout training. Through this pilot, the ABA seeks to understand how Resident Reach supports resident learning and dialogue within programs.
While Resident Reach questions are aligned with ABA exam content outlines, the pilot is not intended to function as a question bank or exam preparation tool. Instead, Resident Reach is a formative assessment that seeks to encourage reflection on clinical situations through structured question sets.
The Resident Reach pilot runs Sept. 8 through Oct. 27, 2026. New question sets will be released every Tuesday at 9 a.m. ET from Sept. 8 through Oct. 13.
Residents will have two weeks to complete each question set.
Resident Reach is designed to support supplemental learning and give program directors insight into residents’ medical knowledge throughout training. Residents may find greater value in Resident Reach through active engagement, reflection on their responses and discussions with teaching faculty to clarify their clinical decision-making.
Residents will have opportunities to provide feedback after completing each question set and share feedback about their overall experience, including engagement with teaching faculty, via pre- and post-participation surveys.
