Core Surgical Training
How to Prepare for the Core Surgical Training (CST) Interview
The current CST interview format, the cycle's key dates, scoring, and a preparation timeline from FY1 to the day itself.
By the TheatrePass editorial team · updated 3 September 2026 · 10 min read
Doing well in the Core Surgical Training interview is achievable with enough preparation and practice, and the preparation starts earlier than most candidates think. Applications open early in FY2, so the portfolio points are earned in FY1, the MSRA is sat in January, and the interview follows in March. This guide sets out the current format, the dates of the most recent cycle, how the score is built, and a timeline of targets from the year before to the day of the interview.
Key dates: the 2026 cycle
| Stage | Date |
|---|---|
| Applications open | 23 October 2025 |
| Applications close | 20 November 2025 |
| Invitations to the MSRA no later than | 15 December 2025 |
| MSRA exam window | 6 to 19 January 2026 |
| Invitations to interview | 13 February 2026 |
| Portfolio evidence upload window | 16 to 26 February 2026 |
| Interview window (online, Qpercom) | 2 to 11 March 2026 |
| Initial offers released | 24 March 2026 |
The 2026 window ran from 2 to 11 March, online on the Qpercom video platform; the 2027 cycle will follow the same pattern and its dates will appear in the applicant guidance. Your slot comes through Oriel, you register for Qpercom when told to, and on the day you join the call early and wait in a virtual lobby. Test your camera and microphone well before your slot.
How the score is built
| Component | Share of the final ranking |
|---|---|
| MSRA (scaled to a 0 to 10 point scale) | 10 per cent |
| Portfolio station | 45 per cent |
| Management and clinical station | 45 per cent |
Only the top 1200 MSRA scorers are invited to interview, so the MSRA decides who is interviewed at all and then contributes a tenth of the ranking score. With more than 5,000 applicants in recent cycles, a strong MSRA matters more than its 10 per cent suggests.
The interview format
The interview is two stations of 15 minutes each, and you rotate between them in either order. Every response is scored against published criteria on the same seven point scale.
| Points | Anchor |
|---|---|
| 0 | No Evidence |
| 1 | Very Poor |
| 2 | Weak |
| 3 | Satisfactory |
| 4 | Good |
| 5 | Excellent |
| 6 | Outstanding |
Management and clinical station
Since 2026 the management and clinical questions share one 15 minute station before a panel of two. There are three questions, each put to you on the spot: a management scenario, which tests how you make a decision and solve a problem under pressure using a framework, and two clinical scenarios, usually an emergency or a post-operative complication, which test your clinical judgement and what you prioritise. Each answer has five minutes, so the skill is a clear, concise, structured delivery. Clinical answers run opening statement, A to E, full assessment, investigations and definitive management, with escalation at the end; post-operative cases need you to know the common operations and what goes wrong after them. The management answer runs SPIIES DR: Spiel, Patient safety, Information, Initiative, Escalate, Support, Document, Reflect.
Portfolio station
The Oriel self-assessment has gone. Candidates who reach interview upload an index page that grades their own evidence A to E (A the highest) in each domain; the assessors use it as a guide and settle the grade at the station. The station itself is 15 minutes before three or four assessors: your prepared three minute presentation, two minutes of questions on it, and then two five minute questions on domains the assessors pick from surgical experience and commitment to surgery, quality improvement and audit, publications and presentations, and teaching. Upload every item accurately, and claim only what the evidence shows.
FY1, the year before
This is the year to maximise your portfolio. Read the scoring criteria in the portfolio guidance, set realistic goals for the twelve months, and remember that most of the high scoring opportunities are in FY1 because applications open early in FY2.
- Lead a quality improvement project from design through to a second cycle, surgically themed if at all possible. An early start gives you time to present both cycles at a meeting, which is what earns the top grade.
- Organise a teaching programme with the education department: four or more sessions designed with local educators, at least four delivered by you, with feedback collected.
- Secure a poster or oral presentation; ask around, because there is nearly always a project that needs a presenter.
- Build the surgical logbook. Nearly every FY1 post has a surgical rotation: get into theatre, assist, and log every case with consultant validation. Forty or more cases earns the top grade.
- Book a surgical taster week if you never did a surgical elective: foundation placements no longer count as surgical experience.
- Attend a Teach the Teacher course or similar; an educational activity focused on learning to teach earns a D in the teaching domain on its own.
- Consider a book chapter or a case report if a first-author research paper is out of reach; both score in the presentations and publications domain.
Six months to the interview
As FY2 starts, collect the evidence from your teaching and clinical activities into one professional folder. Aim to finish this months before the interview so you are not chasing missing documents in the upload window. Plan your preparation strategy: the resources you will use, a study partner, and the time you will set aside.
- ISC Medical, Medical Interviews: detailed guidance on structuring answers, with model answers on portfolio, motivation and governance questions. Good for structure, but much of it is not CST specific.
- A question bank that reflects the real stations: TheatrePass's CST bank holds the management, clinical and portfolio scenarios with model answers written to the structures the panel rewards, and every one can be practised aloud and marked.
- A practice partner: verbal practice is the whole method, and a partner keeps you accountable. Practise with current core trainees, and get comfortable talking through scenarios with registrars and consultants.
Three to four months to the interview
This is the main preparation phase. Set yourself one to two hours a day, building up nearer the interview, and organise it around the MSRA, which you are preparing for at the same time.
- 1First two months: learn the territoryWork through the bank by station. Develop a clear idea of how to structure each common answer, with examples from your own experience where appropriate. Learn the ATLS approach to trauma and the CCrISP approach to the deteriorating patient, and the common post-operative scenarios. Most of the theory is in the model answers.
- 2Final two months: speak every answerPractise unseen questions with friends and colleagues, out loud and timed. Build and rehearse the three minute presentation. Become so familiar with your portfolio that you can navigate it with ease and forget none of your achievements. To score highly you will practise the common questions over and over again.
- 3The final fortnight: rehearse under interruptionFull mock interviews under timed conditions, with follow-up questions, daily if you can. The goal is that nothing on the day happens to you for the first time.
The MSRA
The Multi-Specialty Recruitment Assessment is sat in January and has two papers.
| Paper | What it is |
|---|---|
| Professional Dilemmas | A situational judgement test of 50 scenarios about challenging professional situations |
| Clinical Problem Solving | 86 questions that test applying clinical knowledge and making clinical decisions in everyday practice |
The TheatrePass MSRA section covers both papers with practice questions and an adaptive tutor, and our MSRA guide explains the exam in full.
Interview day
Join the call early, in a quiet room with a plain background, your laptop plugged in and your connection tested. Have your presentation, your index page and your portfolio summary to hand. Whichever station comes first, use the structure you have practised, prioritise out loud, escalate early, and stop when the point is made. Our interview tips article covers body language, speech and the online set-up in detail.
Interview Library › Management and clinical › Postoperative Sepsis After Emergency Laparotomy
Management and clinical
Postoperative Sepsis After Emergency Laparotomy
You are the surgical SHO covering the wards overnight. A nurse asks you to review a woman in her sixties who is three days after an emergency Hartmann's procedure for perforated diverticulitis. Her NEWS2 score is 7: temperature 38.6, heart rate 118, blood pressure 96 over 58, respiratory rate 24, oxygen saturations 94 per cent on air,…
How would you assess and manage this patient?
“"I have been called about a post-operative patient with a NEWS2 of 7, three days after an emergency Hartmann's procedureSigmoid resection with end colostomy and closure of the rectal stump, described by the French surgeon Henri Hartmann in 1921.Hartmann H, 1921. This patient sounds critically unwell and I would go and assess her immediately. I would ask the nurse to prepare the drug chart, fluid chart and operative notes for my arrival, would kindly request a fresh set of observations, and would alert my registrar on the way that there is a septic…”
“At the bedside, I would first ensure that the patient is stable and would put out an emergency call if there was any concern of haemodynamic compromise. Otherwise, I would begin my assessment following the CCrISP protocol and would first examine the airway. If the patient is talking, then the airway is patent and I would move on to assess breathing.”
Why this scores
“would alert my registrar on the way that there is a septic post-operative patient on the ward”
the CCrISP opening statement: prioritisation is signposted before the bedside is reached, and the senior is warned early rather…
“I would take blood cultures before starting broad-spectrum intravenous antibiotics according to the trust…”
the circulation stage delivers the sepsis six in the correct order, cultures before antibiotics, so treatment does not destroy…
References
Suspected sepsis in people aged 16 or over: recognition, assessment and early management… National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
Management and clinical · 62 scenarios
8 more…
How TheatrePass helps
TheatrePass is built around the part of CST preparation most candidates never do: rehearsal. The CST bank gives you the management, clinical and portfolio scenarios with model answers written to SPIIES DR, CCrISP and ATLS, and Context, Outcome, Reflection, with the phrases that score highlighted on the answer. The spoken tutor and the timed mock interviews make you deliver them aloud, with follow-up questions and marking against the published criteria, and your dashboard charts management, clinical and portfolio separately so you know where the marks are.
Interview formats and selection criteria change between recruitment cycles. Content is reviewed each cycle and dated; always confirm details against the current national recruitment guidance.
