Saudi Commission for Health Specialties — General Surgery classification examination
Gulf · SA · $99, the same everywhere
This exam has its own preparation
We publish the syllabus the SCFHS is actually set from — in full, free, on that page — along with the two others of the Gulf. No other vendor does: they describe the syllabus, we print it. The oral simulator runs in the Saudi MCSA format, with its four competence domains and the fatal-error rule.
How this examination works
The Saudi Commission for Health Specialties does not certify a specialty: it CLASSIFIES the practitioner — general practitioner, specialist or consultant — and that classification determines what you may practise and be paid. One fact is routinely missed and saves an entire examination: anyone who completed training in a country whose programmes the commission recognises — the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, the United States, Canada, Australia and Saudi Arabia itself — does NOT have to sit it. For everyone else the tests are computer-based through Prometric and Pearson VUE, and since March 2023 they run four and a half hours. Consultant classification adds an interview on top.
Who can sit it
A minimum of two years of experience in the specialty is required; Saudi practitioners are not asked for it unless they have been out of practice for more than two years. The application goes through the commission, and the examination can only be sat once credentials have been verified and approved.
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
What we have written against this syllabus
These are the domains as Saudi Commission for Health Specialties 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 |
|---|---|
| SA-01 Trauma Examination Content | 400 |
| SA-02 Shock and critical care Examination Content | 450 |
| SA-03 Surgical complications Examination Content | 250 |
| SA-04 Wound care Examination Content | 100 |
| SA-05 Breast Examination Content | 900 |
| SA-06 Endocrine Examination Content | 900 |
| SA-07 Skin and soft tissue Examination Content | 100 |
| SA-08 Abdominal wall hernia Examination Content | 300 |
| SA-09 Acute abdomen Examination Content | 400 |
| SA-10 Upper GI bleeding Examination Content | 600 |
| SA-11 Lower GI bleeding Examination Content | 651 |
| SA-12 Esophagus and stomach Examination Content | 1,050 |
| SA-13 Small intestine Examination Content | 400 |
| SA-14 Large intestine Examination Content | 1,001 |
| SA-15 Anorectal Examination Content | 150 |
| SA-16 Pancreas Examination Content | 1,050 |
| SA-17 Spleen Examination Content | 300 |
| SA-18 Liver and biliary surgery Examination Content | 1,050 |
3,951 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 SCFHS examination?
Saudi Commission for Health Specialties sets 2 components: Oral Evaluation for Professional Practice — Multiple Case Structured Assessment (MCSA) (an oral viva, 1 hours); Saudi Licensure Examination — General Surgery (classification) (a written multiple-choice paper, 200 questions, 4 hours).
How many questions are in the SCFHS examination?
200 across all written components, as published by Saudi Commission for Health Specialties.
What does the SCFHS syllabus cover?
18 domains published by Saudi Commission for Health Specialties: Trauma, Shock and critical care, Surgical complications, Wound care, Breast, Endocrine, and others.
Where is the official SCFHS syllabus published?
Saudi Commission for Health Specialties publishes it at https://scfhs.org.sa/sites/default/files/2024-10/khartt_alakhtbar_alshfwy_llmmarst_almhnyt_aljraht_al_amt.pdf. Our question mapping is taken from that document, domain by domain.
What is the SCFHS examination like?
The Saudi Commission for Health Specialties does not certify a specialty: it CLASSIFIES the practitioner — general practitioner, specialist or consultant — and that classification determines what you may practise and be paid. One fact is routinely missed and saves an entire examination: anyone who completed training in a country whose programmes the commission recognises — the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, the United States, Canada, Australia and Saudi Arabia itself — does NOT have to sit it. For everyone else the tests are computer-based through Prometric and Pearson VUE, and since March 2023 they run four and a half hours. Consultant classification adds an interview on top.
Who can sit the SCFHS?
A minimum of two years of experience in the specialty is required; Saudi practitioners are not asked for it unless they have been out of practice for more than two years. The application goes through the commission, and the examination can only be sat once credentials have been verified and approved.
Is there a question bank for the SCFHS?
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 SCFHS 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 SCFHS?
2,051 of the 5,000 — 41% — sit at the hardest level. For a licence like the SCFHS that matters differently than it does for an exit board: this is not measuring a residency curriculum but clinical breadth to practise, so what fails candidates is rarely the hard subspecialty question and usually the on-call one that was assumed known. That is why the Gulf bank is cut to the published syllabuses.
How do I practise the SCFHS 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 SCFHS 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. All three Gulf syllabuses are published in full and free, whether you buy anything or not.
Every answer above is taken from the examining body’s own published document, not from our reading of it.
Other examinations in Gulf
- Dubai Health Authority — General Surgery licensing examination — Dubai Health Authority
- Qatar Council for Healthcare Practitioners — General Surgery licensing examination — Qatar Council for Healthcare Practitioners — Department of Healthcare Professions
- UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention — General Surgery licensing examination — Ministry of Health and Prevention (northern emirates)
- Dubai Healthcare City Authority — General Surgery licensing examination — Dubai Healthcare City Authority
- Department of Health Abu Dhabi (formerly HAAD) — General Surgery licensing examination — Department of Health — Abu Dhabi
- Kuwait Ministry of Health — General Surgery licensing examination — Kuwait Ministry of Health
What the access covers for this examination
One access, one price: the whole bank, the timed mock papers and the oral simulator in the Saudi MCSA format. For this examination it also means the published syllabus, which is on that page in full and free whether you buy anything or not. One payment, no renewal, and the same price wherever you pay from.
180 days
$99
Up to 6 oral stations a day, examiner-led and marked by domain. The courses that prepare the Saudi oral charge for a single mock viva.