- SM is offered twice in 2026: July 7-11 and November 9-18, at the same Prometric centers for every sponsoring board.
- ABEM applicants apply February 17-May 25 or July 1-October 5 through MyABEM; ABFM applicants follow a separate track.
- ABEM fees total $2,215 ($470 application + $1,745 exam); ABFM charges $1,300 for a first attempt and $650 to retake.
- The exam is 200 questions across two 100-item, two-hour sections with an optional 15-minute break.
2026 Testing Windows
Sports Medicine (SM) is not a rolling-admission exam you can schedule whenever your calendar clears. In 2026 it is delivered on a fixed, twice-yearly basis, with candidates from every cosponsoring board - ABFM, ABEM, ABP, and ABPMR, plus ABIM as a qualifying board - sitting the identical exam on the identical dates against the identical passing standard. The two 2026 windows are:
- July 7-11, 2026
- November 9-18, 2026
These are testing windows, not single exam days - you'll be assigned a specific appointment date within the window based on seat availability at your chosen Prometric center. Because the exam is cosponsored across four boards, the underlying content and difficulty are the same no matter which board approved your application, so the scheduling mechanics matter more than which board you sit under. For a breakdown of what's actually tested inside that four-hour sitting, see the SM Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 5 Content Areas.
Application Deadlines and the MyABEM Portal
Because ABEM approves applications and reports results while ABFM develops, administers, and scores the shared exam, the application process itself runs through the sponsoring board's own system. For ABEM-track candidates, the 2026 application windows are:
- February 17 - May 25, 2026 - feeds into the July 7-11 testing window
- July 1 - October 5, 2026 - feeds into the November 9-18 testing window
Applications are submitted through the MyABEM portal, and the application fee is paid at the same time as the exam fee - not separately later. If you're planning around a fellowship completion date, ACGME program sign-off, or a state licensure renewal, back-plan from these application windows rather than from the testing window itself. A late fellowship verification letter can quietly cost you an entire testing cycle. The full prerequisite list is covered in SM Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify.
Key Takeaway
Submit your MyABEM application in the first half of its window, not the last week - document verification (fellowship completion, board certification status) takes time and can't be rushed once the window closes.
Registration Fees by Sponsoring Board
Fee structure differs depending on which board is processing your application, and the numbers are not interchangeable - a common source of confusion during registration.
| Applying Through | Application/Exam Fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| ABEM | $470 application fee + $1,745 exam fee (2026) | Application fee is non-refundable; both paid together |
| ABFM | $1,300 initial attempt | Covers first sitting |
| ABFM (re-attempt) | $650 per retake | Applies to subsequent attempts only |
| International testing | +$200 | Added for candidates testing at select international centers |
For a full accounting of what certification actually costs once fellowship, travel, and study materials are factored in, see SM Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown.
Exam Day: Format, Timing, and Test Centers
SM is delivered as a computer-based half-day sitting through Prometric, at approximately 340 U.S. locations, 13 Canadian locations, and a smaller number of international centers. The exam structure itself is fixed and identical across every center and every date:
- Two sections of 100 multiple-choice questions each
- Two hours per section
- Optional 15-minute break between sections
- 200 total items, four hours of total testing time
There's no separately timed pretest or tutorial block beyond what's built into the appointment, so plan your arrival and check-in with the full half-day in mind. If you're testing at an international center, budget the additional $200 fee into your registration decision early - it's charged on top of the standard exam fee, not in place of it.
Domain 4: Musculoskeletal Conditions (35%)
This is the single largest content area on the exam and the one most worth anchoring your final review weeks around.
- Knee, shoulder, spine, hand and wrist, leg, ankle and foot, pelvis and hip
- Muscle conditions and pain management
- Pediatric musculoskeletal presentations
- Office- and field-based procedures
Combined with Domain 5 (medical conditions, 30%), the two clinical diagnosis-and-management domains make up 65% of the exam - meaning two-thirds of your points are earned through applied clinical reasoning rather than foundational or preventive knowledge. Notably, the blueprint effective January 1, 2026 is the first revision since 2004, built from a national clinical activities survey, so older prep materials referencing the pre-2026 weighting may mislead your study allocation. Review the current breakdown in detail in SM Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 5 Content Areas before you build a study plan.
Choosing Between the July and November Windows
Since both 2026 windows carry identical content and difficulty, the decision usually comes down to fellowship timing, license paperwork, and how much runway you want before test day. A rough allocation for candidates working backward from either window:
Domain 4 & Domain 5 Foundations
- Work through musculoskeletal conditions by body region: knee, shoulder, spine, hand/wrist, leg, ankle/foot, pelvis/hip
- Pair each region with related medical (non-orthopedic) presentations from Domain 5
Domain 3: Emergency Conditions (20%)
- Field-side emergencies, cardiac events, heat illness, spine precautions
- Cross-reference with procedures content from Domain 4
Domains 1 & 2: Foundations and Prevention
- Preventive aspects (10%) and foundations of practice (5%) - lower weight but efficient to master quickly
Timed Practice Under Real Conditions
- Full 200-item timed run split into two 100-question, two-hour blocks with a 15-minute break
Because generic study techniques only go so far against a blueprint this specific, most candidates get more value from a structured, domain-weighted plan than from open-ended review. A more detailed week-by-week approach is laid out in SM Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt, and you can gauge how much runway you personally need by first reading How Hard Is the SM Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026.
Eligibility Checklist Before You Register
Before submitting through MyABEM, confirm each of the following - a gap in any one of them can stall an application after the window has already opened:
- Current certification by ABEM, AOBEM, or ABIM
- Active, up-to-date participation in continuing certification
- Successful completion of an ACGME-accredited Sports Medicine fellowship of at least one year
- Compliance with the ABEM Policy on Medical Licensure
Because the exam is cosponsored across ABFM, ABEM, ABP, and ABPMR, the underlying eligibility route can differ depending on your primary board, even though the test itself is shared. If any of these items feels unclear for your situation, walk through the full requirement list in SM Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify before you pay the non-refundable application fee.
Results Timeline and Rescore Requests
Score reporting isn't immediate. Results are released approximately six to eight weeks after the close of the testing window you sat in - not six to eight weeks after your individual appointment date. That means a candidate testing early in the November 9-18 window may wait slightly longer, relative to their test date, than someone testing on the last day, since the clock starts at window close.
If you believe your result doesn't reflect your performance, a rescore request is available for $200, but only within 14 days of results release - there's no extended appeal period, so decide quickly. Before you get to that stage, it's worth understanding exactly what score you're aiming for; see SM Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass for how the passing standard is set and applied uniformly across all cosponsoring boards.
Recertification Exam Timing
SM certification isn't a one-time event. Emergency Medicine and Internal Medicine diplomates recertify by passing the Sports Medicine Recertification Examination every ten years, and that recertification attempt can be taken any time in years six through ten of the certification cycle - giving diplomates flexibility to align a retake with either the July or November window rather than a single fixed anniversary date. Diplomates planning a mid-cycle recertification attempt should treat it with the same scheduling discipline as a first-time sitting: same Prometric network, same two-section format, same application-window logic through MyABEM.
Key Takeaway
Recertification isn't due the moment your ten-year cycle starts - you have a five-year window (years six through ten) to schedule it around your practice and personal calendar.
Putting It All on One Calendar
The practical sequence for most 2026 candidates looks like this: confirm eligibility items months in advance, submit through MyABEM at the opening of the relevant application window (February 17 or July 1), pay the combined application and exam fee at submission, then structure the following weeks of study around the domain weighting rather than a generic review schedule. Candidates weighing whether the credential is worth this level of coordination should read Is the SM Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 and SM Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis before committing fee dollars to a specific window.
Once your date is locked in, you can run realistic, timed practice sessions that mirror the actual two-section, four-hour structure on our SM practice test platform, rather than guessing at pacing from memory. Reviewing the SM Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts in the final week can also help consolidate high-yield points across all five domains without re-reading full references.
For candidates who are still confirming whether this is the right credential for their specialty and career stage, background pieces like What Is SM Certification? and SM Jobs are worth reading before you lock in an application window, since the fellowship and licensure prerequisites take time to satisfy and can't be rushed once a window opens.
Frequently Asked Questions
Twice: July 7-11, 2026, and November 9-18, 2026. Every cosponsoring board's candidates test on these same dates.
For ABEM-track candidates, the application window is February 17 to May 25, 2026, submitted through the MyABEM portal.
No. ABEM candidates pay a $470 non-refundable application fee plus a $1,745 exam fee for 2026. ABFM candidates pay $1,300 for an initial attempt and $650 for each re-attempt.
Approximately six to eight weeks from the close of the testing window, not from your individual test date within that window.
Yes, at selected international Prometric centers, which carry an additional $200 international testing fee on top of standard exam fees.