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Intercollegiate Specialty Examination in General Surgery — Section 1 — Information & Free Practice

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About Intercollegiate Specialty Examination in General Surgery — Section 1

Intercollegiate Specialty Examination in General Surgery — Section 1 · GB

Key exam facts

Provider
The Joint Committee on Intercollegiate Examinations (JCIE), supported by its General Surgery Intercollegiate Specialty Board, governs and delivers the examination on behalf of the four Surgical Royal Colleges of the UK and Ireland. Pearson VUE provides Section 1 computer-based test delivery.
Format
Section 1 only: two written Single Best Answer (SBA) papers, taken on the same day using computer-based testing at Pearson VUE test centres in the UK and Ireland. Section 2 clinical and oral assessments are excluded.
Exam questions
Total questions: 240.
Time limit
2 hours 15 minutes of answering time per paper; 4 hours 30 minutes in total across the two papers. This does not include check-in, tutorials or breaks.
Passing score
A diet-specific pass mark, rather than a fixed percentage: the Angoff cut score for a competent day-one consultant in the generality of the specialty, plus one Standard Error of Measurement (SEM). Problematic items may be removed before scores are finalised.
Exam fee
GBP £580 for Section 1 examinations through 31 December 2026; £600 from 1 January 2027. The combined examination fee payable at online application is £2,000 through 2026 and £2,070 from 2027 (including Section 2). Fees are credited to an individual fee account, from which resit fees are deducted.

Topics covered

  • Elective General Surgery

    • SKIN AND SUBCUTANEOUS TISSUES
    • ABDOMINAL WALL
    • RETICULO-ENDOTHELIAL SYSTEM
    • VENOUS THROMBOSIS AND EMBOLISM
    • GENETIC ASPECTS OF SURGICAL DISEASE
    • ELECTIVE SURGERY FOR PATIENTS WITH SEVERE OBESITY
    • GENERIC ONCOLOGY FOR SURGEONS
    • ELECTIVE HERNIA
    • SURGICAL NUTRITION
    • NECK SWELLINGS
    • BREAST CONDITIONS
    • SURGICAL APPROACHES
    • MULTIDISCIPLINARY TEAM WORKING

  • Emergency General Surgery

    • SUPERFICIAL SEPSIS INCLUDING NECROTISING INFECTIONS
    • BREAST INFECTIONS
    • ACUTE ABDOMEN
    • EMERGENCY SURGICAL AMBULATORY CARE (ESAC)
    • ACUTE APPENDICITIS
    • OBSTRUCTED AND STRANGULATED HERNIA
    • GASTROINTESTINAL BLEEDING
    • SHOCK
    • COMPLICATIONS OF ABDOMINAL SURGERY
    • ABDOMINAL PAIN IN CHILDHOOD
    • INTUSSUSCEPTION
    • ACUTE GROIN AND SCROTAL CONDITIONS IN CHILDHOOD
    • ACUTE DYSPHAGIA
    • OESOPHAGEAL VARICES
    • OESOPHAGEAL PERFORATION including BOERHAAVE'S
    • ACUTE GASTRIC DILATION
    • ACUTE PERFORATION
    • ACUTE GASTRIC VOLVULUS
    • GALLSTONE DISEASE
    • ACUTE PANCREATITIS
    • CHRONIC PANCREATITIS
    • PERI-ANAL SEPSIS
    • ACUTE PAINFUL PERI-ANAL CONDITIONS
    • ACUTE COLONIC DIVERTICULITIS
    • COLONIC VOLVULUS
    • ACUTE COLITIS
    • EMERGENCY ANEURYSM DISEASE
    • COLON TRAUMA
    • ANORECTAL TRAUMA
    • MESENTERIC VASCULAR DISEASE
    • ACUTE LIMB ISCHAEMIA
    • TRAUMA PRINCIPLES
    • ABDOMEN AND THORAX TRAUMA
    • HEAD AND NECK TRAUMA
    • EXTREMITY AND SOFT TISSUE TRAUMA
    • VASCULAR TRAUMA
    • PANCREATIC TRAUMA
    • LIVER TRAUMA

  • Upper GI

    • GASTRO-OESOPHAGEAL REFLUX DISEASE
    • HIATUS HERNIA
    • ACHALASIA AND OESOPHAGEAL MOTILITY DISORDERS
    • OESOPHAGEAL PERFORATION INCLUDING BOERHAAVE'S (specialist)
    • OESOPHAGEAL CANCER
    • PEPTIC ULCER (specialist)
    • GASTRIC AND DUODENAL POLYPS
    • ACUTE UPPER GI HAEMORRHAGE (specialist)
    • ACUTE GASTRIC DILATION AND GASTRIC VOLVULUS (specialist)
    • GASTRIC CARCINOMA
    • GIST AND LYMPHOMA
    • BARIATRIC SURGERY
    • GALLSTONE DISEASE
    • ACUTE PANCREATITIS (specialist)
    • CHRONIC PANCREATITIS (specialist)
    • OTHER PANCREATIC TUMOURS
    • PANCREATIC TRAUMA (specialist)
    • PANCREATIC CANCER / PERIAMPULLARY CANCER
    • LIVER METASTASES
    • PRIMARY LIVER CANCER
    • CHOLANGIOCARCINOMA AND GALLBLADDER CANCER
    • BENIGN AND CYSTIC TUMOURS
    • LIVER TRAUMA (specialist)
    • ENDOSCOPY

  • Colorectal

    • PILONIDAL DISEASE
    • BENIGN ANAL CONDITIONS
    • BENIGN COLORECTAL CONDITIONS
    • RECTAL BLEEDING
    • ANORECTAL TRAUMA (specialist)
    • COLORECTAL NEOPLASIA
    • RECTAL NEOPLASIA
    • MISCELLANEOUS COLORECTAL MALIGNANT LESIONS
    • ANAL NEOPLASIA
    • PRESACRAL LESIONS
    • FAECAL INCONTINENCE
    • STOMAS
    • ENDOSCOPY
    • RECTAL PROLAPSE
    • CONSTIPATION
    • IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME
    • INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE
    • OTHER COLITIDES

  • Gastrointestinal and General Surgery of Childhood

    • GASTRO-OESOPHAGEAL REFLUX DISEASE
    • HIATUS HERNIA
    • ACHALASIA AND OESOPHAGEAL MOTILITY DISORDERS
    • OESOPHAGEAL CANCER
    • PEPTIC ULCER (specialist)
    • GASTRIC AND DUODENAL POLYPS
    • ACUTE UPPER GI HAEMORRHAGE (specialist)
    • ACUTE GASTRIC DILATION AND GASTRIC VOLVULUS (specialist)
    • GASTRIC CARCINOMA
    • GIST AND LYMPHOMA
    • SEVERE OBESITY
    • GALLSTONE DISEASE
    • ACUTE PANCREATITIS (specialist)
    • CHRONIC PANCREATITIS (specialist)
    • PILONIDAL DISEASE
    • BENIGN ANAL CONDITIONS
    • BENIGN COLORECTAL CONDITIONS
    • RECTAL BLEEDING
    • ANORECTAL TRAUMA (specialist)
    • COLORECTAL NEOPLASIA
    • RECTAL NEOPLASIA
    • ANAL NEOPLASIA
    • IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME
    • INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE
    • OTHER COLITIDES
    • STOMAS
    • ENDOSCOPY
    • CHILD WITH VOMITING
    • CONSTIPATION
    • ABDOMINAL WALL CONDITIONS
    • CHILD WITH GROIN CONDITION
    • UROLOGICAL CONDITIONS
    • HEAD AND NECK SWELLINGS
    • MISCELLANEOUS SKIN CONDITIONS
    • Gastrointestinal Surgery
    • General Surgery of Childhood

  • Breast

    • BREAST AND AXILLARY ASSESSMENT
    • BREAST INFECTIONS
    • BREAST CANCER
    • PRINCIPLES OF ONCOPLASTIC BREAST SURGERY
    • IMPLANT BASED/ASSISTED RECONSTRUCTION
    • AUTOLOGOUS RECONSTRUCTION
    • BENIGN SURGERY OF THE BREAST

  • Endocrine

    • PARATHYROID
    • ADRENAL
    • THYROID
    • PANCREATIC ENDOCRINE
    • GENETIC SYNDROMES

  • Transplant

    • ACCESS FOR DIALYSIS
    • KIDNEY TRANSPLANT
    • PAEDIATRIC KIDNEY TRANSPLANTATION
    • PRINCIPLES OF TRANPLANTATION
    • PANCREATIC TRANSPLANTATION
    • LIVER TRANSPLANTATION
    • ORGAN RETRIEVAL

  • General Surgery of Childhood

    • ABDOMINAL WALL CONDITIONS
    • CHILD WITH GROIN CONDITION
    • UROLOGICAL CONDITIONS
    • HEAD AND NECK SWELLINGS
    • MISCELLANEOUS SKIN CONDITIONS

  • Vascular

    • EXPOSURE AND CONTROL OF MAJOR PERIPHERAL ARTERIES

  • Remote and Rural

    • MANAGEMENT OF HEAD INJURED PATIENTS
    • FACIAL FRACTURES
    • OBSTETRICS
    • GYNAECOLOGY
    • OPTHALMOLOGY
    • PAEDIATRIC OTOLARYGOLOGY
    • HEAD AND NECK
    • OTOLOGY
    • RHINOLOGY
    • PLASTIC SURGERY
    • TRAUMA
    • ORTHOPAEDICS
    • STONE DISEASE
    • URINARY TRACT OBSTRUCTION
    • URINARY TRACT INFECTIONS
    • UROLOGICAL ONCOLOGY
    • ANDROLOGY
    • EMERGENCY UROLOGY
    • TRAUMA TO THE URINARY TRACT
    • Cranial Trauma
    • Cranio Maxillofacial Trauma
    • Obstetrics and Gynaecology
    • Otolaryngology
    • Adults
    • Trauma and Orthopaedics
    • Urology

  • Trauma

    • GENERAL PRINCIPLES
    • ABDOMEN AND THORAX
    • HEAD AND NECK
    • EXTREMITY AND SOFT TISSUE TRAUMA
    • VASCULAR TRAUMA
    • SYSTEM SPECIFIC TRAUMA
    • ON GOING CARE OF INJURED PATIENTS
    • TRAUMA SYSTEM MANAGEMENT

How to prepare

Work through the topics, read the explanation after each answer, and revisit the areas where you miss questions. Use the official outline and reference materials below to guide your study.

These independent practice questions are not actual exam items and do not guarantee a passing result.

Frequently asked questions

What is the exam format?

Section 1 only: two written Single Best Answer (SBA) papers, taken on the same day using computer-based testing at Pearson VUE test centres in the UK and Ireland. Section 2 clinical and oral assessments are excluded.

How many questions are on the exam?

Total questions: 240.

How long is the exam?

2 hours 15 minutes of answering time per paper; 4 hours 30 minutes in total across the two papers. This does not include check-in, tutorials or breaks.

What is the passing score?

A diet-specific pass mark, rather than a fixed percentage: the Angoff cut score for a competent day-one consultant in the generality of the specialty, plus one Standard Error of Measurement (SEM). Problematic items may be removed before scores are finalised.

How much does the exam cost?

GBP £580 for Section 1 examinations through 31 December 2026; £600 from 1 January 2027. The combined examination fee payable at online application is £2,000 through 2026 and £2,070 from 2027 (including Section 2). Fees are credited to an individual fee account, from which resit fees are deducted.

Official sources and references

Confirm current exam arrangements with the exam provider.