Fellowship of the College of Surgeons of South Africa
Africa · ZA · $99, the same everywhere
How this examination works
The Fellowship of the College of Surgeons of South Africa is climbed in three steps. The Primary examines the applied basic sciences and is two multiple-choice papers with no viva. The Intermediate examines the principles of general surgery and of the surgical specialties. The Final examines the theory and practice of general surgery including operative surgery and anatomy, physiology and pathology: two written essay papers, an OSCE, two clinical cases and two vivas. There is a deadline worth keeping in view: the Final must be passed within six years of passing the Intermediate.
Who can sit it
The Intermediate requires having passed the Primary and accumulated not less than twelve months of approved surgical training as a registered medical practitioner, of which at least six months in general surgery, three in intensive care and three in trauma or emergency surgery. The Health Professions Council of South Africa has appointed the CMSA as the country’s sole examining body for postgraduate medical specialists.
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.
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.
5,000
active questions
20
topics with questions
No weighted breakdown for this examination, and why
Colleges of Medicine of South Africa does not publish a general surgery syllabus we have been able to obtain, so this page shows no domains and no percentages. Anywhere you see a weighted breakdown for this exam, ask which document it came from. Where an authority does publish one, we transcribe it with the page number and link the original.
Common questions about this examination
What is the FC Surg(SA) examination like?
The Fellowship of the College of Surgeons of South Africa is climbed in three steps. The Primary examines the applied basic sciences and is two multiple-choice papers with no viva. The Intermediate examines the principles of general surgery and of the surgical specialties. The Final examines the theory and practice of general surgery including operative surgery and anatomy, physiology and pathology: two written essay papers, an OSCE, two clinical cases and two vivas. There is a deadline worth keeping in view: the Final must be passed within six years of passing the Intermediate.
Who can sit the FC Surg(SA)?
The Intermediate requires having passed the Primary and accumulated not less than twelve months of approved surgical training as a registered medical practitioner, of which at least six months in general surgery, three in intensive care and three in trauma or emergency surgery. The Health Professions Council of South Africa has appointed the CMSA as the country’s sole examining body for postgraduate medical specialists.
Is there a question bank for the FC Surg(SA)?
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 FC Surg(SA) 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 FC Surg(SA)?
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 FC Surg(SA) is decided at. Fifty questions are free with an account, so you can judge the level before paying.
How do I practise the FC Surg(SA) 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 FC Surg(SA) 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 Africa
- College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa — FCS General Surgery — College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa
- National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria — Fellowship in Surgery — National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria
- Fellowship of the West African College of Surgeons — General Surgery — West African College of Surgeons
- Fellowship in General Surgery (Ghana) — Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons
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.