Thoracic Surgery Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling

The 2026 Testing Window

Unlike exams that offer rolling appointments across months, the American Board of Thoracic Surgery (ABTS) delivers the Part I Written/Qualifying Examination during a single, tightly defined window. For 2026, that window is December 7-11. This is a computer-based exam administered through Pearson Professional Testing Centers in the United States, which means your actual appointment day falls somewhere inside that five-day span rather than on a fixed universal date.

Because there's no second sitting later in the year if you miss it, treat this window as immovable. Everything else in your preparation - study calendar, mock exams, travel plans, even clinical schedule swaps - should be built backward from early December, not forward from "whenever I feel ready."

Registration Timeline & Fee Mechanics

Candidates pursuing initial certification through ABTS work through an approved thoracic surgery training pathway - traditional, integrated six-year, or an approved joint pathway - with documented operative experience and an unrestricted U.S. medical license before they're eligible to register. If you haven't confirmed your pathway eligibility yet, review the specifics in our Thoracic Surgery Requirements guide before locking in a testing date.

The fee structure is straightforward but easy to underestimate if you're only budgeting for the written exam:

• $650 application fee
• $1,750 written examination fee
• $2,400 total through Part I
• $2,500 separate oral examination fee
• $4,900 combined application and examination fees across both written and oral

For a full breakdown of how these fees stack against training investment and time off clinical duties, see our dedicated Thoracic Surgery Certification Cost breakdown. The short version for scheduling purposes: register early enough that a processing delay or documentation request doesn't push you past the deadline tied to the December window.

Exam Day Format at Pearson Centers

Knowing the day's structure in advance removes one more variable from an already high-stakes appointment. The Part I Written/Qualifying Exam consists of 250 multiple-choice questions, including clinical vignettes and possible images, split into two equal sections of 2 hours 45 minutes each, for a total seat time of 5 hours 30 minutes.

Practically, that means:

• You'll answer roughly 125 questions per section
• Image-based items (imaging studies, pathology, intraoperative findings) require you to interpret visual data under the same time pressure as text-only vignettes
• The break between sections is your only reset point during the entire appointment - plan your pacing accordingly rather than assuming you can "catch up" later

If you're unsure whether your pacing and content depth are exam-ready, our difficulty guide walks through what makes this exam demanding beyond raw question count, and the passing score article explains what "ready" actually needs to look like numerically.

Scheduling Study Around the Two Domains

Part I is built around two content areas of roughly equal weight, which should directly shape how you divide your remaining weeks before the window opens.

Because these two domains split the exam almost evenly, a study plan that leans heavily into one at the expense of the other is a common and costly mistake. For a full topic-by-topic breakdown of both content areas, see our Exam Domains Guide.

After Part I: Scheduling the Oral Exam

Both the written and oral examinations are required for initial certification - passing Part I is a gateway, not the finish line. The oral exam carries its own separate fee ($2,500) and its own scheduling logic outside the December written window. Because the two exams are sequenced rather than simultaneous, candidates who pass the written portion should start planning oral exam logistics immediately rather than treating it as a distant future task.

Given the case-based, defend-your-reasoning nature of oral board formats generally used for surgical certification, the content foundation you build for Part I - particularly your command of both General Thoracic and Cardiac reasoning, not just fact recall - carries forward directly into oral preparation. Our Study Guide covers how to structure preparation so the transition from written to oral prep doesn't require starting from scratch.

Results Timeline & What the Numbers Mean

Official 2025 written results showed 136 passes among 172 candidates, calculating to 79.1%. That figure isn't identified as a first-attempt-only cohort, so treat it as a general benchmark for the exam's overall difficulty rather than a precise predictor of your individual outcome. A deeper look at how this figure compares across recent cycles is available in our Pass Rate analysis.

Practically, results timing matters for scheduling too: if you don't pass, your next opportunity is tied to the following year's window, not a quick retake weeks later. That reality alone is a strong argument for treating the December window as a one-shot commitment and preparing accordingly rather than as a low-stakes dry run.

A Six-Week Calendar Built Around One Testing Window

A generic study calendar doesn't account for the fact that this exam has exactly two content domains of near-equal weight and a fixed, once-a-year testing window. Here's a structure that respects both realities in the final stretch before the December window.

Standard techniques like spaced repetition and interleaved practice work well here specifically because the exam has only two domains - you can rotate between them every few days without fragmenting your review across too many categories. For a one-page reference to keep review focused in the final weeks, see the Cheat Sheet, and for broader practice repetition, our practice test platform lets you run timed sections that mirror the actual 2h45m format.

Continuing Certification Dates You Can't Ignore

Once you clear both the written and oral exams, certification is non-time-limited but subject to continuing certification requirements with milestones every five years. Each five-year cycle requires 150 AMA Category 1 CME credits, including at least 75 in cardiothoracic surgery specifically, plus ongoing licensure and professional-standing requirements and periodic assessment.

These aren't exam "dates" in the scheduling sense of Part I, but they are recurring deadlines that require the same forward-planning discipline. Missing a five-year milestone creates a very different kind of problem than missing a single testing window - one that affects an already-earned certification rather than a pending one. If you're still deciding whether the full certification path - application, written exam, oral exam, and ongoing CME cycles - is worth the investment relative to career outcomes, our ROI analysis and salary guide lay out the broader picture, and our jobs overview covers how employers weigh certification status.

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