Pulmonary Disease Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling

2026 Testing Windows: What's Confirmed vs. Unconfirmed

Anyone searching for "Pulmonary Disease exam dates 2026" deserves a straight answer, and the straight answer is this: AOBIM's official pulmonary initial-exam page, as currently published, still displays a March-July 2025 application window. That is not a typo on our end - it reflects what the documents page shows at the time of this review. There is no independently confirmed 2026 application window, testing month, or exact calendar date published for the Subspecialty Certification in Pulmonary Disease exam at the time of writing.

This matters because several unrelated credentials share the "Pulmonary Disease" label, and importing a different board's calendar onto AOBIM's program would mislead candidates about deadlines that carry real consequences - missed application cycles, forfeited fellowship timing, or late fees. If you are preparing for the Subspecialty Certification in Pulmonary Disease through AOBIM and the American Osteopathic Association, the only trustworthy source for your 2026 sitting is the live AOBIM candidate portal and your authorization letter, not a third-party aggregator.

Practically, this means your 2026 preparation timeline should be built around eligibility milestones you control (fellowship completion, program-director reporting, application submission) rather than around a specific exam date you cannot yet verify. For a deeper look at how AOBIM structures the exam content itself, see our Pulmonary Disease Exam Domains 2026 guide, which breaks down all 21 content areas you'll need to master regardless of which month you sit for the test.

Application Deadlines and Fee Mechanics

The pulmonary certification page currently lists an initial-exam fee of $800 and a late fee of $240. No member/non-member fee tiers are published specifically for the pulmonary subspecialty page, which is worth noting because some other AOA/AOBIM-administered exams do split pricing that way.

Two mechanical points matter for 2026 planning:

• Posted fees are not guaranteed 2026 prices. They are current figures tied to the same page that still shows 2025 dates. Fee schedules are frequently refreshed when a new application cycle opens, so the $800/$240 figures should be reconfirmed at checkout, not assumed.
• Late fees are triggered by application-window timing, not exam-day timing. Missing the standard application deadline (whenever AOBIM formally opens the 2026 cycle) is what converts your fee from $800 to $1,040 total - not missing the test date itself.

If you want a complete breakdown of every cost component tied to this certification - including how fees interact with OCC renewal - our Pulmonary Disease Certification Cost 2026 breakdown walks through the full pricing picture in detail.

Eligibility Timing: The August 15 Cutoff

One date is specific and actionable regardless of when the 2026 exam itself lands: AOBIM's written-exam eligibility language requires that qualifying training - two years of an ACGME-accredited or AOA-recognized pulmonary fellowship, or the combined pulmonary/critical-care pathway - be completed by August 15 of the examination year.

This is the single clearest scheduling anchor fellows have right now. If you intend to sit in 2026, your program director's completion report and your fellowship end date both need to land ahead of that August 15 marker, independent of exactly when the written exam is administered that year.

Also remember the six-year board-eligibility window that general AOBIM policy describes: it closes December 31 of the sixth year following fellowship completion. If your fellowship ended several years ago and you're only now scheduling your 2026 attempt, confirm you're still inside that window before paying any fees. For a full rundown of every prerequisite, see our dedicated Pulmonary Disease Requirements 2026 guide.

Exam Day: Format, Time, and Delivery

Whatever date your 2026 sitting lands on, the exam-day mechanics are consistent year to year based on AOBIM's published specifications:

• 300 multiple-choice questions for initial certification (this count applies to the initial exam only - do not assume it carries over to OCC recertification testing).
• 7 hours total administration time, as described by AOBIM. The page does not separately break out active testing time versus tutorials or breaks, so build in a mental buffer rather than assuming a clean 7-hour block of pure question time.
• Written, computer-based format covering basic science and clinical knowledge and interpretation. No adaptive-testing behavior has been verified for this exam.

On the delivery side, AOA's remote-exam guidance (which AOBIM's documents page points candidates toward) specifies a Windows/Mac computer with administrator access, a mobile camera device for room scanning, a private testing space, identity verification, and a secure browser. The guidance also confirms that on-platform lab values, a calculator, and a scratchpad are provided - personal external references are not authorized. That said, the specific pulmonary initial-exam page does not itself name a delivery vendor or confirm remote administration for every 2026 sitting, so your individual candidate authorization letter is the final word on logistics, not general AOA policy pages.

Scheduling Your Study Around the 21 Domains

Because your exact 2026 exam date may not be locked until closer to the cycle opening, the smartest move is to build a study plan anchored to content weight rather than a calendar countdown. AOBIM's blueprint lists 21 content areas with percentage ranges, not fixed weights - so allocate study time proportionally rather than chasing exact question counts.

Once those four high-weight areas are underway, layer in the mid-weight domains - Chronic bronchitis and emphysema (4-8%), ARDS/respiratory failure (4-8%), Asthma (3-7%), and Sleep disorders (3-7%) - before finishing with the lower-weight but still-tested domains such as Bronchiectasis/cystic fibrosis (1-3%), Sarcoidosis (1-3%), and ICU management/ventilatory care (1-5%).

For the complete breakdown of all 21 domains - including the ones with lower percentage ranges that still appear on every form - see our Pulmonary Disease Exam Domains 2026 guide. And if you're still deciding how much total preparation time to budget, our How Hard Is the Pulmonary Disease Exam difficulty guide offers useful context before you lock your schedule.

OCC Recertification Testing Windows

Certification under this program is valid for 10 years, conditional on maintaining Osteopathic Continuous Certification (OCC) and an active license. The current Component 3 page lists Pulmonary Disease among the subspecialty exams administered on an annual, remotely proctored basis - and candidates may begin the recertification exam process up to two years before their certification's expiration date.

This two-year lead window is useful for 2026 planning: if your certification is set to expire in 2027 or 2028, you are already eligible to sit in 2026 rather than waiting until the final year. Spreading your recertification attempt earlier in that window can reduce the pressure of a single hard deadline.

Separately, for the 2025-2027 CME cycle, time-limited diplomates need 60 CME credits total, including 15 Category 1 and/or Category 1-A credits, plus one quality-improvement activity attestation per three-year cycle. These CME obligations run on their own cycle and are not synchronized to your exam-sitting choice within the two-year OCC window.

A Pre-Registration Verification Checklist

Given how much of the 2026 calendar remains unconfirmed on AOBIM's own page, build your registration process around verification steps rather than assumed dates:

1. Log into the live AOBIM candidate portal and check the application window currently displayed - do not rely on cached or third-party dates.
2. Confirm the posted $800 initial fee and $240 late fee are still current before submitting payment.
3. Verify your fellowship completion date falls on or before August 15 of your intended exam year.
4. Confirm your program director has submitted the clinical competence/completion report.
5. Check your six-year board-eligibility window if your fellowship ended more than a year or two ago.
6. Review your official candidate authorization letter for the specific testing platform and delivery mode assigned to your sitting - don't assume it matches general AOA guidance by default.

Once your date and eligibility are locked, shift your focus fully to content. Our Pulmonary Disease Study Guide 2026 lays out a first-attempt-focused approach, and you can benchmark your readiness using full-length practice exams on the main practice test platform well before your confirmed sitting.

Frequently Asked Questions