Core Surgical Training
How to Prepare for the CST Interview Portfolio Station
The current portfolio station format, the four domains, the index page and evidence rules, and how to structure your presentation and answers.
By the TheatrePass editorial team · updated 3 September 2026 · 8 min read
The portfolio station is worth 45 per cent of your final ranking, and it is the part of the interview you can prepare most completely, because the assessors question you on evidence you chose and uploaded. This guide covers what changed for 2026, how the station runs, the four domains it draws from, and how to structure the presentation and the two domain answers.
Key updates for 2026
The station remains largely as it was in 2025. You must upload an index page on the portal showing which category (A to E) your evidence fits for each domain; the assessors use it as a guide and confirm the grade at the interview. Three changes catch candidates who prepared against older guidance:
- Intensive care placements no longer count as surgical experience.
- A foundation surgical placement no longer earns surgical experience points; a taster week or a student elective is now the only route to that grade.
- Quality improvement and audit projects need to show actual impact, for example presenting the first cycle locally.
How the station runs
| Segment | Time | What scores |
|---|---|---|
| Assessors review your uploaded evidence (before you join) | 10 to 15 minutes | A clear index page and evidence that is easy to navigate |
| Pre-prepared presentation | 3 minutes | Content and presentation skills |
| Questions on the presentation | 2 minutes | Questioning: the thinking behind it, under brief pressure |
| Portfolio question 1 | 5 minutes | Skills and knowledge shown through your evidence |
| Portfolio question 2 | 5 minutes | A second domain, chosen by the assessors |
The panel is three or four assessors, sometimes joined by a lay representative. Each response is scored 0 to 6 (No Evidence to Outstanding), and the overall score combines the strength of your evidence with the quality of your answers.
The portfolio domains you may be asked about
- Surgical experience and commitment to surgery
- Quality improvement and audit
- Publications and presentations
- Teaching experience
You do not choose which two are asked about, so every domain needs a spoken defence, including a thin one. The full A to E scoring tables for each domain are in our portfolio points guide and on your Overview pages.
Preparing your evidence
- Upload only the evidence that supports the top grade you are claiming in each domain, accurately and briefly: one item per box.
- Make it straightforward for the assessors to review, so they can score it accurately in the time they have.
- Anonymise everything, keep the index page to one line per claim in domain order, and upload inside the window (16 to 26 February in the 2026 cycle).
Preparing your answers
The minimum preparation is to summarise your achievements in each domain concisely, with the scoring criteria in mind. Then structure, practise and refine each answer aloud.
- 1Open with a strong lineOne sentence that summarises your top achievements in the domain, referenced against the scoring criteria: the assessors have just read your index page, so show them you know exactly where your points are.
- 2Signpost the answerFor a wide question use CAMP (Clinical, Academic, Management, Personal) so nothing in your evidence is left unsaid. For a narrow question tell one example in depth.
- 3Tell each example with Context, Outcome, ReflectionYour role and contribution, the positive impact with a number where honest, and what it taught you.
- 4Close on the outcomeEnd with an action, an outcome, or how the achievement makes you a better surgical trainee.
- 5Expect general follow-upsIf a follow-up is general (what makes a good teacher, what is clinical governance), include a personal experience rather than a definition alone.
The three minute presentation
Answer the question directly, choose two or three impactful examples (ideally one each from Clinical or Management, Academic and Personal), and build each on Context, Outcome and Reflection, naming the attributes from the person specification you want to showcase. Open by setting the scene, close on a positive outlook, and rehearse aloud and timed until it finishes at about two minutes fifty. The two minutes of questions can relate to your presentation or be generic (audit, research, clinical governance), and there is a high chance they concern leadership or teamwork: prepare a short structured answer with a personal example for each.
General technique
- Remain calm and composed even when the assessors press on an area of contention in your grading; agree with what is true and add the context that matters.
- Demonstrate enthusiasm and passion for surgery throughout.
- Use the online interview technique in our interview tips article: camera, lighting, pace and pauses.
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…
References
- NHS England, core surgical training portfolio guidance for candidates (the scoring indicators and evidence rules).
- NHS England, core surgery interviews overview (station format and scoring criteria).
- TheatrePass, Core Surgical Training Interview Tips 2026.
How TheatrePass helps
TheatrePass mock interviews rehearse the portfolio station the way it happens: your presentation delivered aloud, probed for two minutes, then two domain questions with follow-ups about role, result and reflection. The CST bank holds a model answer for every domain and every common presentation follow-up, written to Context, Outcome, Reflection with the phrases that score highlighted.
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.
