Written by Dr. Roupen Odabashian MD, FRCPC
Medical Oncologist, BC Cancer Abbotsford | Founder, MeDucation AI | Updated November 2026
BoardVitals is worth it if you're an attending who needs CME credit, a pass guarantee, and a large question bank in one purchase — it is not the right tool if you're a fellow who wants deep, source-linked explanations as your primary study engine. BoardVitals currently advertises "more than 600" questions on its core Hematology and Oncology board review bank[1], with a separate listing citing over 800 questions[2], and a MOC-specific bank with more than 550 questions[3]. It targets the ABIM Medical Oncology Certification Exam and the ABIM Hematology Certification Exam blueprints directly[1][4], bundles in AMA PRA Category 1 Credit and ABIM MOC points[1], and backs purchases with a 100% pass guarantee[5]. That is a genuinely strong package for someone who needs CME and exam prep in the same transaction.
Conflict of interest, up front: I'm a practicing medical oncologist at BC Cancer Abbotsford and I founded MeDucation AI, which sells a physician-written heme/onc question bank and a set of AI-powered study tools for fellows. I have not used BoardVitals as a paying customer; everything below is drawn from what BoardVitals itself publishes, and I say plainly where I think a competitor — including BoardVitals — wins.
Who should actually buy BoardVitals in 2026?
BoardVitals is the right purchase if you need CME credit bundled with your question bank, or you want a documented pass guarantee behind your money. It is the wrong purchase if your main goal is to understand the "why" behind every answer choice with primary-source links, because that's not what its explanations are built around.
Rank | Resource | Best for | Where it falls short |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | BoardVitals Heme/Onc Bank | Attendings needing CME + MOC points, pass-guarantee seekers | No evidence of deep explanation depth or per-fellow source linking in published materials |
2 | MeDucation AI Question Bank | Fellows wanting physician-written explanations with PubMed links and AI study tools around them | No published pass guarantee or bundled CME credit in the fellow question bank itself |
3 | HOQBank (HemeOncQuestions) | Volume on a budget — 3,000+ clinical vignettes, 7,500+ flashcards[6] | Single-author bank[6] |
4 | ASCO-SEP | ASCO-endorsed content review alongside a bank | Not evaluated in this article — see our dedicated review |
5 | ASH-SAP | Hematology-specific self-assessment | Not evaluated in this article — see our dedicated review |
How many questions does BoardVitals actually have?
BoardVitals' own product page for the initial-certification bank advertises "more than 600 Hematology and Oncology board review practice questions"[1], while a separate blog post from BoardVitals states the bank "has more than 600 practice questions"[7] and a third-party CME aggregator listing describes the same bank as featuring "over 800 Hematology and Oncology questions"[2]. The MOC-specific recertification bank is listed separately at "more than 550" questions[3]. The discrepancy between 600+ and 800+ isn't explained on the pages we reviewed, so treat the exact count as approximate rather than fixed.
Bank | Advertised question count | Source |
|---|---|---|
BoardVitals Heme/Onc (initial certification) | 600+ | BoardVitals product page[1] |
BoardVitals Heme/Onc (same bank, aggregator listing) | 800+ | CMEList[2] |
BoardVitals Heme/Onc MOC | 550+ | BoardVitals MOC page[3] |
HOQBank | 3,000+ clinical vignettes, 7,500+ flashcards | HOQBank[6] |
What does BoardVitals actually cost in 2026?
BoardVitals' published pricing for the initial-certification Heme/Onc bank runs from a $159 one-month "Cram" plan up to a $429 six-month "Master" plan, with a $259 three-month "Prepare" option in between[1]. A free trial with no credit card is also offered, giving access to a limited set of questions[1]. The separate MOC/recertification bank is priced higher: $289 for one month, $489 for three months, and $689 for six months[3]. A standalone CME-only review package listed on a third-party aggregator is priced at $889 for 27 credit hours[2].
Plan | Duration | Price | Bank |
|---|---|---|---|
Cram | 1 month | $159 | Initial certification[1] |
Prepare | 3 months | $259 | Initial certification[1] |
Master | 6 months | $429 | Initial certification[1] |
Cram (MOC) | 1 month | $289 | MOC/recertification[3] |
Prepare (MOC) | 3 months | $489 | MOC/recertification[3] |
Master (MOC) | 6 months | $689 | MOC/recertification[3] |
CME Board Review | On-demand | $889 | 27 CME credits[2] |
Every paid tier on the initial-certification page also carries an optional CME certificate add-on worth 27 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits and 27 ABIM MOC points[1]. We could not find a published price comparison for MeDucation AI's own plans in the sources available to this article; see our dedicated pricing breakdown for current numbers.
Does BoardVitals actually target the right exam content?
Yes — BoardVitals states its Heme/Onc bank "follows the exam content outline for the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Medical Oncology Certification Exam"[1], and the official ABIM blueprint confirms the weighting BoardVitals maps to: Gastrointestinal Cancer and Breast Cancer each carry 13.5%, Hematologic Neoplasms 13%, Thoracic Cancer 11.5%, Palliative Care/Survivorship/Communication 11%, Genitourinary Cancer 12%, and smaller categories rounding out the rest[4]. The Hematology Certification Exam blueprint, which BoardVitals also targets, weights Hematologic Neoplastic Disorders at 35%, Coagulation at 27%, and Hematopoietic System at 25%[1].
Content category | Target % of exam | Exam |
|---|---|---|
Gastrointestinal Cancer | 13.5% | Medical Oncology[4] |
Breast Cancer | 13.5% | Medical Oncology[4] |
Hematologic Neoplasms | 13% | Medical Oncology[4] |
Thoracic Cancer | 11.5% | Medical Oncology[4] |
Palliative Care, Survivorship, Communication | 11% | Medical Oncology[4] |
Genitourinary Cancer | 12% | Medical Oncology[4] |
Hematologic Neoplastic Disorders | 35% | Hematology[1] |
Coagulation | 27% | Hematology[1] |
Hematopoietic System | 25% | Hematology[1] |
What is Claire AI, and does it replace deep explanations?
Claire AI is BoardVitals' built-in assistant that summarizes, explains, and generates extra flashcards and questions from within the question bank — but it explicitly works from BoardVitals' existing content rather than adding independent sourcing. BoardVitals describes it as a tool that "can help explain challenging topics, summarize key points, and create flashcards and generate additional practice questions"[8], and the company is explicit that "Claire AI pulls only from BoardVitals' up-to-date question bank content"[8]. The stated purpose of the summarize feature is to turn "the material behind each question into a concise, focused overview"[8] — importantly, BoardVitals itself says these summaries "do not replace BoardVitals' complete explanations; they give you another quick way to reinforce the central lesson"[8].
That's a meaningfully different design than a bank where every explanation already links out to the primary literature. If what you want is "why is this distractor wrong, with the paper that proves it," Claire AI's role here is to summarize existing content, not to independently source new citations.
How good is BoardVitals' pass guarantee, really?
It's a real, documented guarantee, not just marketing language: BoardVitals states it offers "a 100% pass guarantee on all 3-month (Prepare), 6-month (Master), and 12-month (or longer) plans," and that if you don't pass, it provides "a free subscription for the length of time that you originally purchased"[5]. The terms require submitting "a copy of the letter or notice you received that you did not pass"[5]. Note this guarantee applies to the 3-month-and-longer tiers; the one-month "Cram" plan is not listed among the guaranteed tiers[5].
BoardVitals also publishes a self-reported outcomes claim: "Specialists that use our platform have a 7% higher pass rate than the national average," based on "an annual survey we send to our users inquiring about their board exam results"[5]. That's a self-reported survey figure, not an independently audited outcome, and it's worth reading it that way.
How does BoardVitals compare to HOQBank, ASCO-SEP, and ASH-SAP?
On raw volume, HOQBank wins outright: it advertises "3,000+ Multiple Choice Questions" in clinical vignette format plus "7,500+ Flashcards" and "450+ Images"[6], dwarfing BoardVitals' question bank, which offers more than 600 practice questions[1]. HOQBank is also written by a single author — Dr. Sarmen Sarkissian, who built the bank during his own fellowship at UC Irvine and states "All questions have been written by me, as have all the flashcards"[6] — which is both its strength (one consistent clinical voice) and its limitation (one person's blind spots, with no mention of a multi-reviewer process in the source we found). A forum thread from Student Doctor Network reflects this reputation directly, with one user writing "the HOQ question bank is definitely king and seems great from what I've done so far"[9].
We did not find published question counts, pricing, or feature details for ASCO-SEP or ASH-SAP in the sources available for this piece — if you're weighing either against BoardVitals, our dedicated reviews of ASCO-SEP and ASH-SAP cover those specifics directly.
Where does MeDucation AI fit, and where is BoardVitals the better choice?
If what you need is CME credit bundled into your purchase, a documented pass guarantee, or MOC points toward recertification, BoardVitals wins outright — none of that is part of what MeDucation AI offers. MeDucation's question bank is physician-written and reviewed by board-certified hematologist-oncologists, not AI-generated, and its explanations are built to cover why the correct answer is right and why each distractor is wrong, with embedded images and direct PubMed links, alongside AI read-aloud and adjustable text tools. That design serves a fellow who wants to trace every answer back to its source and build a personal knowledge base around it — not an attending who primarily needs a CME certificate for licensure.
Fellows who also want the surrounding study infrastructure — auto-generated mind maps from their own notes, FSRS spaced-repetition flashcards, and a chat tool grounded in their own material — get that as part of the Notebook, which is a different category of tool than anything described on BoardVitals' pages. For a closer look at how that fits into day-to-day fellowship studying, see what the MeDucation Notebook actually does.
For fellows deciding what to do in the final stretch before exam day regardless of which bank they choose, our one-month-out prep guide walks through how to allocate remaining time across question volume, flashcards, and weak-category review.
FAQ
Is BoardVitals worth it for ABIM Hematology or Medical Oncology boards?
Yes, if you want CME credit and a pass guarantee bundled with your question bank. BoardVitals' initial-certification bank targets the ABIM Medical Oncology and Hematology blueprints directly[1] and includes a 100% pass guarantee on 3-month-plus plans[5]. If your priority is explanation depth with primary-source citations on every answer, weigh it against a bank built specifically around that.
How many questions are in the BoardVitals Hematology and Oncology bank?
BoardVitals' own product page lists "more than 600" questions[1], while a third-party CME aggregator describes the same bank as featuring "over 800" questions[2]. The exact current count isn't consistently published, so check BoardVitals' site directly before purchasing.
Does BoardVitals offer CME credit?
References
Hematology & Oncology Recertification (MOC) & LKA Prep [2026] - BoardVitals
https://www.abim.org/media/ww2l2gw2/medical-oncology-cert.pdf
6 Free Hematology & Oncology Board Review Practice Questions
Claire AI® Feature Spotlight: Summarize Key Concepts - BoardVitals Blog
Question Bank/Study Materials for Boards | Student Doctor Network Forums
