General information
AGA Institute’s Digestive Diseases Self-Education Platform Plus (DDSEP Plus) is a fully digital study, assessment and practice platform for GI physicians and fellows in training who are preparing for recertification (MOC traditional 10-year exam or LKA quarterly exams) or the initial GI boards.
Like previous versions of DDSEP, DDSEP Plus is a comprehensive education and reference-based education resource. Unlike previous versions of DDSEP, DDSEP Plus is a Software as a Service (SaaS) product offered as a subscription with ongoing refinements, content updates and added functionality. Chapters and questions will be updated on a regular basis by a team of GI experts, meaning DDSEP Plus content is always fresh and always up to date.
DDSEP Plus represents a reimagined learning experience that brings all chapter and question bank content into a fully digital interactive platform and enables learners to study, practice and assess their knowledge by ABIM blueprint topic or by GI disease.
DDSEP Plus provides learners with study, practice and assessment options that match how they seek to immerse in the platform. As such, DDSEP Plus subscribers can fully customize their own learning experience, explore topics and areas of interest, and emulate their chosen certification experience.
Learners can first assess their knowledge by completing an exam or chapter quiz before exploring the chapter-based study materials. Or, learners can first seek to immerse in some or all of the study content before completing the exams, tests or quizzes offered in the platform.
Learners can focus on specific topics across one or some of the study content without the necessity to assess retention and comprehension, explore the linked external reference resources, or immerse in the provided MOC/Board and LKA Study Guides.
Learners can practice and prepare for their certification exams with Mock exams that replicate the initial board exam and MOC traditional 10-year exam and LKA practice tests that replicate the quarterly LKA exams, including timed questions. Learners also can take chapter exams or design their own personalized practice exams to focus on specific topic areas to build and confirm retention, comprehension, and readiness.
All learner performance, including consumption of chapter content, is tracked and reported. Progress and performance are available across DDSEP Plus, including a Performance Dashboard. Subscribers can simply review what they have accomplished to identify what to revisit or where to explore next.
DDSEP Plus is a fully mobile responsive digital platform. A learner can use any device with an Internet connection to access DDSEP Plus. To replicate ABIM’s LKA Exam experience, it is suggested the learner access DDSEP Plus via an Internet browser on a computer, laptop or mobile tablet using a broadband Internet connection
Note that DDSEP Plus content, including study and assessment content, presents images, tables and figures for topic content and for individual questions. It is suggested that a learner use a device that best aligns with how they plan to immerse in DDSEP Plus.
Subscribers can manage their subscriptions by going to myaga.gastro.org and logging in with their email used to purchase their subscription and their AGA password.
The DDSEP Plus printed Companion Book Set is sold separately from DDSEP Plus subscriptions and you must have an active DDSEP Plus subscription to purchase it. The book set, which will be updated on a yearly basis, contains the chapter and question content available digitally via DDSEP Plus.
The Companion Book Set for 2023 will be available for customer delivery in September.
Learners can pre-order/order the Companion Book Set from within the DDSEP Plus platform by selecting the companion book icon located in the left-side navigation on the DDSEP Plus Learner home page.
DDSEP study, practice and assessment
DDSEP Plus represents topics, across 16 chapters and nearly 900 questions, reflecting ABIM’s Gastroenterology Blueprint. Topics include:
- Esophagus
- Stomach and Duodenum
- Liver
- Biliary Tract
- Pancreas
- Small intestine
- Colon
The topics represented in DDSEP Plus have been chosen by Gastroenterology experts to best prepare for a learner’s initial specialty certification, MOC or LKA recertification exams.
Content offered on topics correlates to ABIM’s direction to promote ongoing learning, cover topics that correlate to practice, and have less focus on rare diseases. As such, DDSEP Plus content focuses on diagnosis, testing, treatment and care decisions, risk assessment, prognosis, and epidemiology. Pathophysiology and basic science are minimally covered as learners will not be presented with questions of those focuses on the exams.
DDSEP Plus offers learners the ability to continually assess their knowledge, retention and comprehension of gastroenterology topics in preparation for specialty certification or recertification.
DDSEP Plus provides source references across its chapters and questions to mimic options learners have when taking the certification or recertification exams.
Mock-Exams
The platform provides four timed Mock-Exams comprised of 60 questions from across the ABIM Gastroenterology Blueprint.
Chapter Quizzes
DDSEP Plus provides chapter quizzes for each of its 16 chapters for leaners to immediately gauge their understanding, retention and comprehension of reviewed chapter topics.
LKA Practice Tests
DDSEP Plus offers 30 LKA Practice Tests, each a unique test with no duplication of questions across the tests.
The LKA Practice Tests emulate the ABIM’s LKA Exam format, including use of a time bank, and allows for continual practice opportunities prior, during and in preparation for those enrolled in ABIM’s LKA.
A passing score of 75 percent for DDSEP Plus Mock Exams and LKA Practice Tests mirrors ABIM’s minimal passing score for ABIM’s Gastroenterology Specialty Board and Recertification Exams (Initial exam, MOC 10-year exam, and LKA exams). In DDSEP Plus, a learner can retake exams or tests as frequently as desired to improve retention and comprehension of categories and subjects that comprise ABIM’s Gastroenterology Blueprint.
DDSEP Plus provides learners the option to explore its expansive question bank on their own. Learners can explore topics, select topic questions, or create their own custom practice exam from the selections available.
The Question Bank represents nearly 900 questions across the ABIM Gastroenterology Blueprint. As DDSEP Plus is a digital platform, new questions are being added regularly to aid the learner in assessing their competencies across Gastroenterology.
The DDSEP Plus Question Bank allows a learner to immediately see answer commentary (feedback) upon answering an individual question when in the learning mode. The commentary is intended to provide rationale explaining correct and incorrect answers.
Learners taking a Mock Exam, a Chapter Quiz, or a Practice Test in the exam mode will receive all commentary at the completion of the activity.
All topics and questions include source references to provide credit to original authors and to further the study opportunity for learners using DDSEP Plus.
Where an electronic resource is available, a link directly to the source is provided. The link will open in a new browser window so the learner can continue to view the DDSEP Plus content or question and review the source material.
References across DDSEP are provided at the topic, chapter and question level. Each chapter includes a set of author-recommended references that should be reviewed for exam preparation.
Chapter Reference Lists follow the numeric order of which the reference was used in the chapter topic study material. If a learner seeks to explore a particular reference, please note the citation number of the reference prior to navigating to the Chapter Reference List.
As DDSEP Plus is a continually updated platform, reference links will be added on an ongoing basis.
DDSEP Plus includes several opportunities for the learner to track what they have completed. On a learner’s main home page (accessible by clicking DDSEP Plus Home icon or in the page “breadcrumb” tracking), progress for each chapter and its topics is provided via a chapter and question progress bar. Each green section represents a topic that has been viewed and question progress shows in the progress bar in green while also listing the quantity of questions completed of the total available immediately below.
A learner can hover their arrow over the bar to see what topics have been completed and review what topics remain across a chapter.
Learners can understand chapter review as well as LKA Practice Test, Quiz or Mock-Exam progress by navigating to either the MOC/Initial Board or LKA Study Pages.
All exam, test, and quiz progress and performance are also available via the Performance Dashboard link in the left side navigation.
CME and MOC credit
DDSEP Plus provides learners the ability to earn .25 MOC/CME credit for every question answered via the use of Mock-Exams, Chapter Based Quizzes, LKA Practice Tests or via self-directed use of the DDSEP Plus Question Bank.
Accumulation of earned credits is reflected in a learner’s performance dashboard and is also easily accessed via the “Credit” Icon on the DDSEP Plus’s left navigation.
Learners are encouraged to complete all information requested by AGA in the Learner profile, including recording the learner’s ABIM Diplomate number. This will enable AGA to submit the CME credits earned.
Earned CME/MOC credits are reported quarterly on the learner’s behalf.
A learner can earn up to 225 CME/MOC credits in DDSEP Plus.
- Go to AGA University (https://agau.gastro.org/cw/catalog)
- Click on the “My Credits” link that appears in the top right corner.
- If you are not already signed in, you will be prompted to sign in using your AGA login credentials (email address and AGA password).
- You will be directed to the Education section of your MyAGA account where you will find a listing of all your CME activities.
- To print out a CME certificate, click the CME activity to print or download the certificate.
- To bypass the steps above, use this direct link to access the Education section of your MyAGA account: https://myaga.gastro.org/Account/Education.
Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn MOC points in the American Board of Internal Medicine’s (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. It is the AGA’s responsibility to submit participant completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABIM MOC credit.
Earned MOC credit is reported directly to the ABIM and can take up to 48 hours to appear in your diplomate profile. If your MOC credits are missing after that time, contact Education@gastro.org.
CME/MOC expiration for the current DDSEP Plus content is December 31, 2026. Content is being continuously updated and reviewed and CME/MOC expiration will extend with each review.
General feedback and input
DDSEP Plus is a continually updated platform and AGA looks forward to your findings, experiences and feedback to help improve the platform
You can provide feedback and report an issue several ways.
- Use the Feedback button in the left side navigation of the DDSEP Plus home page to provide general feedback.
- Use the Feedback button included with individual questions to provide feedback on specific questions.
- Email DDSEP@gastro.org
Additionally, all past and current learners will periodically receive a brief survey from the AGA concerning quality, use and function of the DDSEP Plus platform. Please watch out for emails from AGA seeking your feedback and input.
