<p> No longer can students assume that continuing education ends with the completion of formal training and the successful completion of licensing or certifying examinations. As of October 1979, all 22 member boards of the American Board of Medical Specialties committed themselves to the principle of periodic recertification of their members. Despite the Boards recognition that the cognitive skills measured in the objective examination do not assure clinical competence, recertification efforts—insofar as they involve examinations—are based on the assumption that knowledge of current information on which good clinical decisions should be made is worth cultivating; that, while such information does not guarantee com­petent practice, lack of it probably impedes competent practice; that this knowledge, unlike technical skills, is reasonably easy to assess; and that it can be acquired by well-motivated physicians. These assumptions all seem reasonable. </p>

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