The membership examination is designed to assess understanding of the basic principles of surgery and a broad knowledge of surgery in general. On the final year of training, the trainee will be required to register for the examination in which they will be required to pay examination fees by March of that particular year.
It is a requirement for Unsuccessful (failed) candidates to register on the year in which they intend to repeat the examination.
Click here to read Written Examination Guidelines-IMPORTANT!
More details about the examination fees click here
The qualifying candidates MUST comply with Section 4 of the Overall Curriculum
The examination is comprised of the following:
A written paper: two multiple choice question (MCQ) papers taken in the candidate’s own country in the first week of September. Only candidates who pass the written paper will be invited to attend the clinical and oral examination.
- Paper 1 is predominantly on principles of surgery in general (sections 1 to 9 of the syllabus)
- Paper 2 is predominantly on systematic surgery (sections 10 to 20 of the syllabus).
Sample MCQ written examination questions are available here.
An objective structured clinical examination which takes place in the first week of December at a site designated by the college.
See the below video or this document for more information about the MCS examinations.
Candidates may sit the examination at the end of their second year of training. The examination fee of $600 must be paid. On receipt of the fee, candidates will be informed of the precise times dates and places for the exams. Candidates should bring their logbooks and proof of identity to the examination.
If a candidate withdraws from an exam more than 12 weeks before the exam is due, then the fee can be transferred to a later exam date. Fees are not normally returned if the candidate withdraws permanently.
Notes:
- Candidates who fail one or more parts of the MCS examination need to reapply for the exam and pay a further fee of $200.
- Candidates who pass the multiple choice examination but fail the oral or clinical examinations are required to re-sit both the oral and clinical parts, but will need to reapply for this and pay a reduced fee of $200.
- Candidates must pass the examination within four years of their first attempt. After this they will not be allowed to re-sit. As noted above, if candidates have passed the MCQ, this will be considered valid for the next two years. If the clinical and written exam is being sat in the fourth year, the candidate will need to re-sit the MCQ.