Arab Board of Health Specializations — General Surgery
Middle East · multi-country · $99, the same everywhere
How this examination works
The Arab Board final splits into two blocks: the written on one side and the clinical and oral on the other. What matters about the second is that it is not a loose conversation: there is an OSCE with stations in history taking, physical examination, communication skills — including breaking bad news — explaining procedures and data interpretation, and a slide examination presenting a short history with questions on it. Preparing the communication component separately from the clinical content is what most candidates neglect, because it appears in no question bank.
Who can sit it
Access is through the Arab Board’s own training programmes in its member states, which examine in several countries at once. For this examination we do hold the official syllabus transcribed domain by domain: the coverage table on this page comes from that document, not from our summary of it.
Checked against the body itself on 1 September 2026. Procedures change; if this no longer matches what you were asked for, write and tell us.
Examination structure
Source: https://www.arab-board.org/file-download/download/public/2325
The structure above is taken from the examining body. What we have not done yet is transcribe its published syllabus domain by domain, which is what lets us show a coverage table instead of asking you to take our word for it.
What we have written against this syllabus
These are the domains as Arab Board of Health Specializations publishes them, not our summary of them, with the number of questions we hold against each. A domain we have not covered is shown as zero rather than hidden.
| Domain | Questions |
|---|---|
| LB-01 Neck and Salivary Gland Surgery logbook, 6 procedimientos | 150 |
| LB-02 Breast Surgery logbook, 6 procedimientos | 150 |
| LB-03 Vascular and Lymphatic Surgery logbook, 7 procedimientos | 150 |
| LB-04 Plastic Surgery logbook, 7 procedimientos | 100 |
| LB-05 Endocrine Surgery logbook, 3 procedimientos | 150 |
| LB-06 Cardiothoracic Surgery logbook, 3 procedimientos | 100 |
| LB-07 Neurosurgery logbook, 7 procedimientos | 400 |
| LB-08 Orthopedic Surgery logbook, 3 procedimientos | 400 |
| LB-09 GIT and Abdominal Surgery logbook, 29 procedimientos — el bloque grande | 1,451 |
| LB-10 Pediatric Surgery logbook, 4 procedimientos | 150 |
| LB-11 Urogenital Procedures logbook, 10 procedimientos | 400 |
| LB-12 Miscellaneous logbook, 4 procedimientos | 250 |
2,901 distinct questions map to this syllabus. A question counts once per domain it serves, so the column adds up to more than the bank.
Common questions about this examination
What are the parts of the Arab Board examination?
Arab Board of Health Specializations sets 3 components: Examen preliminar — MCQ electrónico (a written multiple-choice paper); Examen final de conocimiento — MCQ (a written multiple-choice paper); Examen final práctico — OSCE y formatos afines (an OSCE).
What does the Arab Board syllabus cover?
12 domains published by Arab Board of Health Specializations: Neck and Salivary Gland Surgery, Breast Surgery, Vascular and Lymphatic Surgery, Plastic Surgery, Endocrine Surgery, Cardiothoracic Surgery, and others.
Where is the official Arab Board syllabus published?
Arab Board of Health Specializations publishes it at https://www.arab-board.org/file-download/download/public/2325. Our question mapping is taken from that document, domain by domain.
What is the Arab Board examination like?
The Arab Board final splits into two blocks: the written on one side and the clinical and oral on the other. What matters about the second is that it is not a loose conversation: there is an OSCE with stations in history taking, physical examination, communication skills — including breaking bad news — explaining procedures and data interpretation, and a slide examination presenting a short history with questions on it. Preparing the communication component separately from the clinical content is what most candidates neglect, because it appears in no question bank.
Who can sit the Arab Board?
Access is through the Arab Board’s own training programmes in its member states, which examine in several countries at once. For this examination we do hold the official syllabus transcribed domain by domain: the coverage table on this page comes from that document, not from our summary of it.
Is there a question bank for the Arab Board?
This one. 5,000 single-best-answer questions across the whole of general surgery, each with the reasoning for every option rather than only the correct one, written by a consultant surgical oncologist. It is written to the discipline, not transcribed from the Arab Board blueprint — general surgery is general surgery wherever it is examined, and we say plainly which boards we have mapped and which we have not.
What level are the questions for the Arab Board?
2,051 of the 5,000 — 41% — sit at the hardest of three levels: trial results, guideline nuance and the cases that split examiners, which is the level an exit examination like the Arab Board is decided at. Fifty questions are free with an account, so you can judge the level before paying.
How do I practise the Arab Board oral component?
With the oral simulator, included in a subscription. Six stations as an examination sets them; you choose the station and the examiner chooses the case from more than a hundred scenarios built on this bank. It presses when an answer is vague and marks by domain — reasoning, guidelines, decision-making and communication.
What does preparation for the Arab Board cost?
One payment of $99 for 180 days, the same from wherever you pay — there is no country pricing. It covers the whole bank, the oral simulator and the timed mock papers. Nothing renews and no card is kept on file afterwards. Fifty questions are free with an account, so you can judge the level before paying.
Every answer above is taken from the examining body’s own published document, not from our reading of it.
Other examinations in Middle East
- Iraqi Board of Medical Specializations — General Surgery — Iraqi Board of Medical Specializations
Price for this board
One price, the same from every country. What you see is what you are charged, and nothing renews.
$99 · 180 days of full access
This examination has a viva or clinical component, and the access includes the oral simulator: an examiner that presents a case, listens to what you actually say and questions you back. It marks on the four competence domains the Saudi Commission publishes — the only oral rubric for general surgery published in full — which are the same competencies every one of these boards is testing.