Overview of Core Surgery Training CT1/ST1

Core Surgery Training

An overview of Core Surgery Training CT1/ST1.

Applies to: England, Scotland and Wales. See guidance for Northern Ireland.

Important: Accuracy

Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained on this page. The information presented is accurate at the time of publication.

Working alongside the Royal College of Surgeons, we manage a centralised process aimed at delivering a fair and consistent experience for all.

For more information about Core Surgical Training, please refer to the Royal College of Surgeons’ website.

For careers advice please visit the Health Careers Website.

Detailed information including person specifications, competition ratios and the national medical specialty recruitment applicant handbook are available here.

These pages aim to provide you with information regarding the 2023 Core Surgical Training CT1 recruitment process.

General information regarding recruitment to all specialty training posts are available here.

Summary of 2024 recruitment

Details of the 2024 recruitment process are provided throughout these pages in conjunction with central guidance issued by the national recruitment team that applies across specialties. You can find the central guidance on the Medical Specialty Recruitment page.

You must read these pages and the guidance on the Medical Specialty Recruitment pages before beginning your application.

CST recruitment will involve the following stages (which are outlined in more detail in the relevant sections of these pages):

  1. As part of the Oriel application form you will be asked to provide a self-assessment score depending on your personal achievements.
  2. You will be invited to sit an MSRA exam.
  3. All applicants sitting the MSRA exam will be invited to upload evidence of their achievements to the Evidence Upload Portal.
  4. Only the top 1200 applicants will have their self-assessment evidence and score reviewed by Surgical consultants for the Portfolio section. They will verify that you have claimed the correct number of points and can change your score if they feel your evidence merits a different score from your self-assessment. This produces your verified evidence score..
  5. A combination of your MSRA score, verified evidence score and scores at interview will be used to determine your final total score and ranking.

Non-urgent advice: Important

Please note that all communication with applicants will be via Oriel, or via the contact details you provide as part of your Oriel application. You must ensure that your contact details are correct and kept up to date throughout the recruitment process.

Page last reviewed: 18 October 2023
Next review due: 18 October 2024