The ABR administers the Qualifying (Core) Exam in scheduled windows each year — typically one in late spring/early summer and one in the fall, with additional windows added as the ABR adjusts its calendar. Because the exam is remote and computer-based, you'll take it on your own machine during your assigned window, but the dates are fixed and registration deadlines come months earlier.
This page covers the current exam windows, how registration works, and — the question residents actually search for at 11pm — how many months of preparation you realistically need for the NIS, RISC, and Physics sections.
One important note up front: exam dates are set by the American Board of Radiology and can change. Always confirm your exact administration dates and registration deadlines at theabr.org — that is the only authoritative source.
Current ABR CORE (Qualifying) Exam Windows
The ABR currently runs the Qualifying (Core) Exam roughly twice per year:
The ABR publishes exact dates, registration windows, and fees on its Exam Dates and Information page at theabr.org. Registration typically opens months in advance and closes well before exam day — missing the registration deadline means waiting for the next window, so confirm your dates early in the academic year and put the registration deadline on your calendar, not just the exam date.
How Long Do You Actually Need to Study?
Survey the residents who've been through it and a consistent picture emerges:
**6+ months out — start the noninterpretive content.** NIS, RISC, and Physics together make up a substantial share of the exam, and none of them are reinforced by daily reading-room work. Ten to fifteen practice questions a week starting six months out builds the base without disrupting clinical rotations.
**3–4 months out — enter dedicated review.** If this timeframe fits your schedule, use a focused block for question practice, interpretive case review, and physics review. Adjust the timeline to your confirmed exam date and preparation needs.
**Final month — drill weaknesses, not strengths.** Performance analytics matter most here. Identify your two or three weakest categories and drill them with targeted question sets. Re-reading material you already know feels productive but moves your score the least.
**Final week — light review and logistics.** Verify your exam-day setup (the remote exam has specific hardware and environment requirements published by the ABR), review your flagged questions and fact sheets, and protect your sleep.
Why the Noninterpretive Sections Deserve the Early Start
Residents overwhelmingly report that the interpretive sections of the CORE exam feel familiar — they're an extension of daily work. The sections that generate exam-day anxiety are the ones the reading room never rehearses:
**NIS (Noninterpretive Skills)** covers patient safety, quality improvement, ethics, healthcare economics, and informatics. It's tested with applied scenarios, and the content must be deliberately studied — see the official ABR NIS Study Guide for the full scope.
**RISC (Radioisotope Safety Content)** demands specific numerical knowledge: dose limits, contrast thresholds, MRI zone rules. Facts like these fade without spaced reinforcement, which is exactly why starting early with questions beats a late cram.
**Physics** rewards conceptual understanding built over months. Residents who tie physics review to their question bank — answer, miss, read the explanation, re-test — retain far more than those who marathon a review book in the final weeks.
Front-loading these three sections converts the scariest part of the CORE exam into banked points, and leaves your dedicated period free for interpretive case review.
Build Your Timeline Backwards From Your Exam Date
A simple way to plan: take your confirmed exam date from theabr.org and work backwards.
RadCore's plans are built around exam years for exactly this reason — a 2027 CORE Exam plan covers you through July 1, 2027, so one purchase covers your entire preparation arc with no monthly renewals mid-study.