Successful completion of the Primary Certification Part I (Written) exam is a requirement for admission to the Primary Certification Part II (Oral) examination.  The Primary Oral Examination is designed to test the candidate's knowledge, judgment, and ability to correlate information in the management of clinical problems in all aspects of general thoracic and cardiac surgery (including congenital cardiac surgery).

ORAL EXAM FORMAT

The format of the Oral Examinations is as follows:

The Oral Examination will be administered in June of every year to eligible candidates.

The Oral Exam will be administered virtually by video-conference or in-person (format to be determined later).  Candidates will have a 15-minute briefing, three 30-minutes exam sessions, and a 15-minute debriefing for a total of 2 hours.  Candidates will have three exam rooms with two examiners in each room for a total of 6 examiners.  One room will have 4 cardiac protocols, one room will have 4 general thoracic protocols, and one room will be split (2 cardiac and 2 general thoracic protocols).   In order to pass the exam, candidates must receive a passing grade from the majority of cardiac examiners and from the majority of the general thoracic examiners.

EXAM RESULTS

At this time, Oral Exam results will be mailed to the candidate usually within two to four weeks to the address on file on the candidate's portal.  No results are given over the phone or posted on the Internet.