The WASM Sleep Medicine Examination is designed to cover
many aspects of sleep science, extant practice guidelines, diagnostic nosology,
presentation and associated features of sleep disorders, epidemiology of sleep
disorders, clinical pharmacology, behavioral therapeutics, instrumentation,
methodology, and sleep health. The specific organization for the examination into three parts as follows:
Part
1- Basic and clinical science (60 questions)
Part 2- Applied methods and standards in sleep medicine (60 questions)
Part 3- Clinical practice (30 questions)
For specific information about the prerequisites for sitting for the
WASM exam and the spectrum of topics covered see the WASM Curriculum posted on
this website.
All questions will be multiple-choice. Some questions will refer to
graphic illustrations and some will refer to case scenarios. Examples are
provided below.
Example 1:
In which of the following states do cholinergic neurons
in the basal forebrain have the highest firing rate?
a- Stage N3 sleep
b- REM and Stage
N3 sleep
c- Waking and REM
sleep
d- Waking and
Stage N3 sleep
e- Stage N2 sleep
Example 2:
Cheyne-Stokes breathing pattern involves sleep-disordered
breathing events that have a crescendo-decrescendo pattern of tidal volume.
Which of the following diagnostic criteria for the frequency of these events is
required by the International Classification of Sleep Disorders, second edition
(ICSD-2)?
a- Five central
apnea per hour of sleep
b- Ten central apnea per hour of sleep
c- Five central
apnea or central hypopnea per hour of sleep
d- Ten central
apnea or central hypopnea per hour of sleep
e- none of the above
Example 3:
A 25-year old man presents at the sleep clinic with excessive
sleepiness during the day and insomnia at night. He generally goes to bed at
midnight but does not fall asleep until 2 A.M. He has difficulty arising at 7
A.M. to go to work. Because of his sleep deprivation, he sleeps until noon on
Saturday and Sunday. He does not drink caffeine. He describes hypnopompic
hallucinations and has experienced sleep paralysis five or six times in this
life. He does not describe symptoms of cataplexy. Which of the following would
be the best provisional diagnosis?
a- idiopathic
hypersomnia
b- delayed sleep phase syndrome
c- narcolepsy without cataplexy
d- maladaptive syndrome
e- atypical depression
Example 4:
Which of the following best describes the activity on EMGLAT
and EMGRAT illustrated on the figure below?
a- Restless leg
activity
b- Attempted
walking during a dream in a patient with REM Sleep Behavior Disorder
c- Severe,
repeating, multiple muscle cramps during sleep
d- Alternating
PLMs
e- Movements
associated with the march of a Jacksonian Seizure