EBSQ Examinations
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Surgical Oncology EBSQ Examination

2024 EBSQ Examination

DateLanguageTypePlaceApplication deadline
5 June 2024
English, German, Spanish,
French, Italian, Portuguese and
Dutch 		WrittenOnline14 April 2024
2 October 2024GermanOralLeipzig (Germany)14 April 2024
4 & 5 October 2024English, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese and Dutch OralAntwerp (Belgium)14 April 2024

Please, do not miss the deadline date. The deadline will not be extended!

Please note that once the deadline date to apply is passed, the link won’t be accessible anymore.

No application will then be possible and acceptable by any means.

Please note that you have to submit all the required documents and paid the Eligibility fee before the deadline date. The further payment of the Examination fee may be possible after the deadline date within 2 weeks from the notification of your eligibility (sent by email).

All candidates, including new candidates and those who postponed or failed previously must apply through this website!

Surgical Oncology exam is held in the English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian and Dutch languages.

Please note, that in case of a low number of candidates for the oral part of the examination in a language other than English, candidates will be offered to take the oral examination in English or to postpone the oral examination to the following year.

IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR 2024 EXAMS!


The Written Exam in English, Spanish, German, Portuguese, French, Italian and Dutch languages will be organized online at candidates’ convenient locations.
Our online exam platform contains sufficient security mechanisms for that purpose. All candidates will receive on how to access the exam in due course.

Depending on COVID-19 situation at that time, the oral exam may also be organised completely online.

The EBSQ Examination consists of two parts: Part A (written part) and Part B (oral part). A candidate has to “pass” both parts in order to be qualified for the “FEBS in Surgical Oncology” Diploma.

The written exam (Multiple Choice Questions) is online based. English, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, German, Portuguese and French language exams run simultaneously online.
All candidates answer the same 60 MCQs. Each question has 5 possible answers and only one is correct. There are no negative points for wrong answers. The written exam takes 120 minutes.
For the exam in German language on-site, computers are provided by the Division (there is no need to bring your own laptops).

The written exam includes the questions from the following areas:

Only candidates who passed the written exam will be invited to take the oral exam. During the registration process, candidates will be asked to specify 3 sub-specialist areas of expertise. During the oral exam, examiners will select two areas out of the selected three which will form the focus of the oral examination. Please note that this applies ONLY for the oral exam. Written test includes questions from all above listed areas of expertise.

The oral examination

The oral examination consists of four 15-min tasks. Two tasks are clinical cases discussions and the another two tasks are to evaluate two clinical research papers.
Two Clinical Cases: details of a clinical case (patient’s history, tumour histology etc. and sometimes imaging and pictures of the clinical appearance of the patient) are given to the candidates at the time of the examination. Examiners will ask specific questions based on patient’s data as well as general questions related to issues arising from the case
Two Scientific Papers are provided 2 hours before the examination. The candidates are allowed to have the paper with them during the examination. Questions are related to the purpose of the study, design, results etc. 



EBSQ Exam in German language

There are two groups of candidates:

The first group of candidates are the members of the German Association of Surgical Oncology (ACO) who completed one-year fellowship program of Surgical Oncology in Germany. In case of successful exam, they will receive both UEMS and ACO certificate.

The second group of candidates are the non-members of ACO or those who did not complete one-year fellowship program of Surgical Oncology in Germany. In case of successful exam, they will receive UEMS certificate but not the ACO certificate. Please note that there is a limited number of available seats for this group of candidates. The candidates will be allocated on a first–come, first–served basis.

The Oral exam in 2024 will be held in Leipzig (Germany) on October 2nd.

EBSQ Exam in English, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian and Dutch languages

The oral exam in English, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian and Dutch languages will be held on: October 4 & 5, 2025 in Antwerp (Belgium), one day after the ESSO 43 Congress (in case the COVID situation allows that, otherwise it will be held virtual).

In case of cancellation or postponement of the exam due to the deterioration of the epidemiological situation, the UEMS waives any material responsibility or liability hereabout.

The content and the course of the exams in Spanish, German, English, Portuguese, French, Italian and Dutch languages as well as the eligibility criteria are the same.

Examination fee and payment details

The fee for applying for the EBSQ Examination in Surgical Oncology is €1000:

  1. €450 for the Eligibility Assessment which must be paid at the time of application and which is non refundable in case of non-selection or withdrawal.
  2. €550 for the Examination which must be paid within two weeks following confirmation of selection. Candidates will be informed about the exact deadline for this in due course.

Payments must be made via Paypal directly on our website.

Cancellation policy

Cancellation/Postponement up to 30 days before the exam:
Exam fees (if paid) postponed to next sitting + an admin charge of 90 euro will be charged when candidate re-apply for the exam.

Cancellation/Postponement less than 30 days before the exam:
Exam fees are not transferred to the next exam and not refundable.  When re-applying for the exam, the candidate must pay the exam fee again + 90 euros administration fee.
Reasonable cancellations within 30 days of the exam will be considered on a case by case basis at the discretion of the Board of Examination. Supporting documentation is required.
 
For those who have been assessed eligible, you may postpone for up to 24 months. After 24 months you must go through the eligibility assessment again.
All fees paid are non-refundable. The exam fee may be transferred to another exam sitting if more than 30 days notice is given..

Candidates who fail the exam may resit within 2 years without undergoing a further eligibility assessment/eligibility fee but will have to pay the Examination fee (€450) each time they resit.

Recommended literature (updated Dec. 2020)

Basic Science
Surgical Oncology
Site Specific References
Clinical Oncology, Palliative Care
Online sources
Significant clinical articles

Eligibility Criteria for EBSQ Surgical Oncology Examination (May 18th, 2015)

  1. Each candidate must hold a current licence to practise as a surgeon (general, abdominal, colorectal, HPB …)
    at the time of the examination.
  2. Each candidate must have received certificate of specialist training from a
    European Union or associated country. Since 2010, candidates trained outside
    Europe are entitled to apply for the examination. A COPY OF THE CERTIFICATE
    OF COMPLETION OF TRAINING MUST BE ENCLOSED WITH THE APPLICATION
  3. Each candidate must be able to demonstrate that he/she had worked for
    a minimum of two years in a designated oncology centre specialising in surgical oncology*

    (*or a minimum of three years if this experience was not in a designated oncology
    centre or had followed a surgical oncology clinical fellowship of one year’

    or a specialist training of one year working as a surgeon in a recognised oncology related field

    or a surgical oncology research fellowship plus two years in a clinical surgical oncology setting)

    In addition to a completed application form and a curriculum vitae
    candidates will be required to submit a letter from their Head of Department
    supporting the application.
  4. A log book of operative procedures in surgical oncology, covering a period of
    at least three years, including information on whether the candidate was first assistant (A),
    principal surgeon assisted by trainer (B) or principal surgeon not assisted by trainer
    (C) must be included with this application. Please note that at the beginning of the logbook,
    all operations must be grouped, sorted and counted by the type of operation and position
    of the candidate (e.g.: modified radical mastectomy – first assistant – 4 operations,
    low anterior resection – principal surgeon – 3 operations and so on). Without this,
    log book will not be accepted. The list of operative procedures must be signed
    and stamped by the appropriate trainer.

List of supporting documents that a candidate must submit along with an exam application

Logbook and Declaration templates

Surgical Oncology Logbook template can be downloaded from the following links:

Logbook in Microsoft Word format
(Some browsers cannot download logbook in Microsfot Word format due to the security settings. In that case right-click on the link and select “Save link as…” and then allow saving on your computer.)

Logbook in Adobe PDF format

Please note, that logbook must be prepared according to the rules described under item No. 4 in “Eligibilty criteria”, otherwise, it will not be accepted.

Declaration by applicant and trainers template in Adobe PDF format can be downloaded from the following link:

Declaration by applicant and trainers

Pass Mark

The “pass mark” of the written exam is different every year. It is calculated before the exam using international standard-setting procedure (Anghoff Scoring) and depends on complexity of the questions. Calculated values are usually (not always) between 55-65%.

Percentiles based system (Cohen) is not used.