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Medibuddy gives you both a Core Surgical Training Question Bank and live practice with other candidates in one place.
The Question Bank covers over 40 scenarios that mirror the real interview across both stations, the combined Clinical and Management station and the Portfolio station, each with a model answer written and edited by high-scoring candidates who sat the CST interview in 2026.
But knowing a strong answer and delivering one under interview pressure are different skills. So we've also built live practice into the platform:
- Study Groups
- Unlimited Live Mocks with real people
- Peer Feedback on your mocks from a wide range of candidates
40+ scenarios across both stations, each with a model answer from a high-scoring candidate who sat this interview in 2026.
Most people only ever practise with one or two friends. Study Groups connect you with candidates right across the country sitting the same interview.
Arrange or get matched on demand with other candidates and run real scenarios out loud under interview conditions. Those who practise with a wide range of people tend to score the highest.
Submit your recorded mocks to candidates across the platform and get honest, varied feedback. Reviewing other people's mocks teaches you just as much.
Add the clinical depth behind your answers
The Revision Platform covers the questions that come up and shows you how to answer them well. But when you're doing well, interviewers tend to push past your first answer to see how far your knowledge actually goes, and that's where the CST Knowledge Course comes in: over 20 lectures taking you through the surgical presentations the Clinical and Management station is built on.
Over 40 scenarios with model answers, and Study Groups, Live Mocks and Peer Feedback to practise them live.
Get Instant AccessOver 20 video lectures on the surgical presentations the panel probes hardest, so when it pushes past your first answer you've got the depth to keep going. £55 added here, against £85 on its own.
Add the Knowledge CourseWhat to expect from the Core Surgical Training interview
Core Surgical Training is one of the most competitive entry points into surgical training: in 2025 there were over 5,300 applicants for 630 posts. You're invited to interview after the MSRA, and the interview then decides most of your score. It counts for 90%, with the MSRA making up the other 10%.
For 2027 the interview combines clinical and management into a single station, alongside a portfolio station.
Clinical & Management Station
Clinical and management questions are combined into one station. You're tested on how you assess and manage acute surgical presentations, and on the judgement and prioritisation behind a management problem. We keep clinical and management scenarios grouped separately in the bank so you can drill each style, each with a model answer.
Portfolio Station
A 3-minute pre-prepared presentation followed by 2 minutes of questions. You can rehearse presenting your portfolio with clarity and structure, so you communicate your strengths confidently and score well.
What the panel is looking for
Both stations are marked against the Core Surgical Training selection criteria. Our model answers are structured to hit those criteria, so you know exactly what a strong, well-organised answer looks like at each station.
Scored well, ranked high, got their first choice
The Medibuddy 2027 Core Surgical Training Interview Question Bank
Each of the 40-plus scenarios comes with a model answer showing how to structure your clinical reasoning and your delivery, written by high-scoring candidates who sat the CST interview in 2026.
Over 40 scenarios across both stations, each with a model answer from a candidate who sat this interview and scored well.
Get Instant AccessA model answer shows you how to structure a response. These 20-plus lectures give you the clinical understanding underneath it, which is what the follow-up question tests. £55 added here, against £85 on its own.
Add the Knowledge CourseWhat's included in the Core Surgical Training Interview Question Bank
| Area | What you'll practise |
|---|---|
| Clinical Scenarios | Focused questions on the surgical topics that come up every year, each with a model answer so you maximise your marks in the station. |
| Management Scenarios | Realistic management problems that test judgement, prioritisation and safe escalation, with structured model answers. |
| Portfolio | Rehearse the 3-minute pre-prepared presentation and the 2 minutes of questions that follow, so you present your strengths with clarity and structure. |
Updated for 2027: 15 management and clinical scenarios updated and 4 portfolio scenarios updated.
Try an example Core Surgical Training interview question
You are called to assess a 22-year-old woman struck by a car while crossing the road. The paramedics report a headache, a "bull's-eye" crack on the car's windscreen, three episodes of vomiting since the accident, and that she is slightly disorientated with chest and pelvic pain.
Observations: BP 120/89 mmHg, HR 88, respiratory rate 16, SpO2 98%, temperature 36.3, GCS 14/15.
Example answerDescribe your initial assessment.
Given the dangerous mechanism (pedestrian versus car) I'd put out a trauma call on 2222 and move the patient to the resus bay. I'd assess her using an ATLS C-ABCDE approach.
C — catastrophic haemorrhage and C-spine
- Triple-immobilise the cervical spine (collar, blocks and tape) until it's formally cleared
- Look for catastrophic external haemorrhage (the floor and four more)
Airway
- Confirm a patent airway; if she responds when spoken to, the airway is patent
Breathing
- High-flow oxygen, 15L via a non-rebreathe mask
- Record oxygen saturations and respiratory rate, inspect and palpate the thorax for equal movement and signs of trauma, then auscultate and percuss
- If reduced breath sounds with tracheal deviation, treat a tension pneumothorax with needle decompression then a chest drain (bevel up); for a haemothorax, a chest drain (bevel down)
- ABG if any respiratory distress, and a CXR as needed
Circulation and haemorrhage control
- Assess haemodynamic stability: blood pressure, heart rate, ECG, and central and peripheral capillary refill
- Two wide-bore cannulas and bloods (FBC, U&E, LFT, clotting, group and save, and cross-match)
- If hypotensive, IV fluids or O-negative blood, and activate the major haemorrhage protocol if needed
- Auscultate heart sounds for muffled sounds suggesting tamponade
- Look for a bleeding source (chest, abdomen, pelvis, retroperitoneum, long bones) with palpation and a FAST scan; apply a pelvic binder for suspected pelvic injury or splint long-bone fractures, with imaging
Disability
- Conscious level (GCS or AVPU), lateralising signs, temperature and blood glucose
Exposure
- Fully expose to find missed injuries while avoiding hypothermia, with a four-person log roll to assess the spine; given the history, examine the head carefully; consider a urinary catheter, but cautiously if a pelvic fracture risks a urethral injury
Once stabilised she'd warrant a CT pan-scan (head, C-spine, chest, abdomen and pelvis) given the multiple potential injuries. Management then depends on the injuries found.
Example answerA boggy swelling to the right side of the head is the only injury on the primary survey. She becomes less responsive: eyes open to voice, localises to pain, and says inappropriate words. What is her GCS?
11/15. Eyes open to voice (3), inappropriate words (3), localises to pain (5).
| Score | Eyes | Voice | Movement |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | No response | No response | No response |
| 2 | Opens to pain | Incomprehensible sounds | Extends to pain |
| 3 | Opens to voice | Inappropriate words | Abnormal flexion to pain |
| 4 | Opens spontaneously | Confused | Withdraws to pain |
| 5 | Orientated | Localises to pain | |
| 6 | Obeys commands |
Example answerHow would immediate management differ if her GCS was 8/15?
A GCS of 8 or less indicates the need for a definitive airway.
Example answerDefine a definitive airway.
A cuffed tube below the level of the vocal cords, used to secure airway access.
Example answerWhat is the most important radiological investigation at this stage?
A CT head.
Example answerWhy is it indicated in this case?
More than one episode of vomiting, and a GCS below 13 on assessment.
Example answerWhich head injury guidelines are used in the UK?
The NICE guidelines for head injury.
Example answerWhat are the indications for a CT head in the trauma setting?
A previous candidate was pushed to name as many as possible. Learn the 1-hour criteria as an absolute minimum.
NICE head injury guidelines. Perform a CT head:
Within 1 hour
- GCS 12 or less on initial assessment in ED
- GCS below 15 at 2 hours after the injury
- Suspected open or depressed skull fracture
- Any sign of a basal skull fracture
- Post-traumatic seizure
- Focal neurological deficit
- More than one episode of vomiting
Within 8 hours
- Age over 65
- History of a bleeding or clotting disorder
- Dangerous mechanism (pedestrian or cyclist struck by a vehicle, ejection from a vehicle, or a fall over 1 metre or 5 stairs)
- More than 30 minutes of retrograde amnesia before the injury
Example answerWhat are some examples of intracranial bleeds?
- Extradural (epidural), lemon-shaped
- Subdural, crescent-shaped
- Subarachnoid
- Intracerebral
Example answerHow are intracranial bleeds managed?
- Medical: intracranial pressure and GCS monitoring, mannitol or osmotic diuresis, hypertonic saline, anti-epileptics if seizures, and short periods of hyperventilation
- Surgical: burr-hole decompression or craniotomy
That's one scenario. There are over 40 more.
Every scenario in the Question Bank, plus Study Groups, Live Mocks and Peer Feedback.
Get Instant AccessThe Clinical and Management station rests on how well you can reason through a surgical presentation, and that's what these 20-plus lectures build. £55 added here, against £85 on its own.
Add the Knowledge CourseHow we keep our Question Banks up to date
We review and update every Question Bank twice a year: in April after the interviews, and again when the new recruitment guidance is published.
After reviewing the bank for the 2027 interview, we updated 15 management and clinical scenarios and a further four portfolio scenarios to keep them closely aligned with the real interview.
Updated for 2027 Interviews
The only interview resource where you can practise live with other candidates from across the country
Our CST Question Bank gives you the scenarios and the model answers. But it's how you practise with them that decides the day. The interview is spoken, and reading a strong answer on the page is nothing like delivering one out loud, under pressure, to a panel.
Most candidates get as far as a friend or two who happen to be applying: the same couple of people, the same feedback every time. Medibuddy opens that up to every Core Surgical Training candidate on the platform, across the country, so you rehearse with far more people and hear a far wider range of feedback than your own circle could ever give you.
Study Groups
Preparing on your own, you only ever revise from the questions you think to ask, and what catches candidates out on the day usually isn't in the person specification. Study Groups connect you with other doctors across the country preparing for the same CST interview: ask a question, share what's just come up, and compare how you'd approach a scenario. Everyone brings different experience from different hospitals and deaneries, so you hear the things no single group of friends could ever tell you.
Study Groups: connect and prepare with Core Surgical Training candidates from across the country.
Live MocksBeta
The panel doesn't score the answer on the page; it scores how you deliver it out loud, under pressure, and that's the one thing you can't rehearse by reading. Join the waiting room and we match you with a different CST candidate each time, taking turns as interviewer and candidate on real Question Bank scenarios. The candidates who practise with the widest range of people tend to be the ones who score highest.
Live Mocks: practise with a wide variety of different candidates.
Peer FeedbackBeta
You can't see how you actually come across, and the same one or two friends tend to give you the same narrow feedback every time. Record a mock and submit the whole thing, or just one answer you want a second opinion on, and get varied feedback from candidates right across the platform. Reviewing other people's mocks is just as valuable: it shows you how strong candidates handle the same scenarios, which is one of the fastest ways to improve your own.
Peer Feedback: reviews from candidates across the platform, not the same few friends.
Practising out loud, hearing how other candidates answer, and getting your performance reviewed are all included in the £85.
Choose the CST Revision Platform, the Knowledge Course, or both
The Revision Platform gives you the Question Bank, the model answers and all the live practice. It covers the common questions that come up and shows you how to score highly on them. But when you're doing well, interviewers will often push past your first answer to test the depth of your clinical knowledge, usually their way of deciding whether to give you the top mark. Those are the questions you can only answer well if you properly understand the presentation in front of you, and that's what the CST Knowledge Course is for: over 20 video lectures on the surgical presentations the Clinical and Management station is built around.
What the CST Knowledge Course covers
Over 20 video lectures, nearly 10 hours, taught by specialty registrars who've been through Core Surgical selection.
- Abdominal Trauma
- Acute Pancreatitis
- Appendicitis
- Chest Pain Following Trauma
- Cholangitis
- Gallstone Diseases
- GI Obstruction
- Lower Limb Ischaemia
- Lower Limb Trauma
- Peptic Ulcer Disease
- Post-op Drowsiness
- Post-op Abdominal Pain
- Pyelonephritis
- Pyrexia in General Surgery
- Renal Colic
- Supracondylar Fracture
- Upper GI Bleed
- Urological Cancers
Every lecture covers:
- Core clinical understanding
- Presentation and recognition
- Investigation and management principles
- Safety considerations and complications
Watch a lecture before you buy
This is the Appendicitis lecture: how to assess and manage a patient with suspected appendicitis, the investigations that matter, and the follow-up questions the panel asks.
| Core Surgical Training Revision PlatformBuy • £85 | CST Knowledge CourseBuy • £85 | Best value • save £30CST BundleBuy • £140 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Question Bank: over 40 interview scenarios | |||
| Clinical, management and portfolio scenarios | |||
| Study Groups & Live Mocks with other candidates | |||
| Peer Feedback from a wide range of candidates | |||
| Written by high-scoring candidates | |||
| Over 20 video lectures, nearly 10 hours of teaching | |||
| Surgical presentations taught in depth | |||
| Be prepared for curve-ball follow-up questions |
Instant access on web and the Medibuddy app. The Revision Platform and the Bundle both include Study Groups, Live Mocks and Peer Feedback.
How to prepare for the Core Surgical Training interview
1. Start with the CST Question Bank
Work through over 40 scenarios across the clinical, management and portfolio stations, each with a model answer from a candidate who sat the interview in 2026 and scored well. Read how a strong answer is built, then close it and rebuild it in your own words, so you can deliver it and not just recognise it.
2. Talk the hard ones through in Study Groups
Take the scenarios you find toughest into the Study Groups and see how candidates from other hospitals and deaneries approach them. What catches people out on the day usually isn't in the person specification, and this is where you hear it first.
3. Rehearse out loud in Live Mocks
The interview is spoken, so reading isn't enough. Get matched with a different CST candidate each time and take turns as interviewer and candidate on real scenarios, until answering out loud under pressure feels normal.
4. Get reviewed with Peer Feedback
Record a mock, including your portfolio presentation, and have other members review it, so you find out how you actually come across while there's still time to fix it. Reviewing other people's mocks in return is one of the fastest ways to sharpen your own.
5. Build the clinical depth behind your answers
Add the CST Knowledge Course for the follow-up questions the panel uses to test how far your knowledge really goes: over 20 lectures on the surgical presentations the Clinical and Management station is built on, so when they push past your first answer you've got somewhere to go.
Frequently asked questions
What does the Core Surgical Training interview involve?
For 2027 it's a combined Clinical and Management station plus a Portfolio station (a 3-minute pre-prepared presentation and 2 minutes of questions). You're invited to interview after the MSRA, and the interview counts for 90% of your selection score.
How competitive is the CST interview?
Very. In 2025 there were over 5,300 applicants for 630 posts. Once you're through the MSRA, the interview is where candidates are separated, since it counts for 90% of the final score.
Do I need the MSRA for Core Surgical Training?
Yes. The MSRA is used to shortlist, and it contributes 10% of your total selection score, with the remaining 90% coming from the interview.
Who writes the model answers?
High-scoring candidates who sat the CST interview in 2026. That's the whole idea of Medibuddy, the buddy in the year above: the answers reflect what actually came up and what actually scored, this year.
Can I practise with other candidates?
Yes. Every purchase includes Study Groups, Live Mocks and Peer Feedback.
How do the Live Mocks work?
Join the waiting room and we match you with another CST candidate, then take turns as interviewer and candidate on real Question Bank scenarios. The point is simple: you get used to answering out loud, to a real person, before you ever sit in front of the panel.
What are Study Groups and how do they help?
They're community forums for doctors across the country preparing for the same CST interview. Ask questions, share what's coming up, and compare how you'd approach a scenario. Instead of preparing alone, you're learning from the whole cohort.
Can I get feedback on my interview performance?
Yes. Record a mock and other members review it, telling you what landed and what to sharpen. It's the honest, outside review most candidates never get before the day.
How do you keep the CST Question Bank up to date?
Twice a year. In April, after that year's interviews, we review the scenarios and model answers against what candidates actually met on the day; then again when the new recruitment guidance is published. For 2027 we updated 15 management and clinical scenarios and four portfolio scenarios.
Why use Medibuddy over other interview question banks?
We've spent 10 years preparing doctors for interviews, and the bank is updated every year by editors who recently sat this interview and scored well, so the scenarios reflect this year's interview rather than the one it was first written for.
And it doesn't stop at model answers. Every purchase includes Study Groups, Live Mocks and Peer Feedback, so you can practise out loud with candidates across the country. Most resources hand you a list of questions and leave you to it.
How long do I get access for?
Access runs for 12 months from purchase.
What's the difference between the Question Bank and the Knowledge Course?
The Question Bank is 40+ scenarios with worked answers and all the live practice. The Knowledge Course teaches the clinical depth behind your answers with over 20 video lectures. Most use both; adding the Course to the Platform is £55.
Start preparing for the Core Surgical Training interview
The Revision Platform is everything you need for the interview itself: over 40 scenarios across the clinical, management and portfolio stations, model answers from candidates who sat it in 2026, and Study Groups, Live Mocks and Peer Feedback so you can practise them out loud with other candidates. That's £85.
Most candidates add the Knowledge Course for £55, which brings in over 20 lectures on the surgical presentations the panel follows up on hardest, taught by specialty registrars who've been through Core Surgical selection. £140 for both, against £170 if you buy them separately.
Ten years preparing doctors for interviews, and the questions, model answers, live practice and clinical teaching in one place.