Cardiac room
4 protocols
A 30-minute room focused entirely on cardiac surgery.
ABTS Part II oral examination preparation
Cardiothoracic Surgery Oral Boards. Master both sides of the room.
Practice cardiac and general thoracic protocols aloud, defend complex operations, manage high-consequence complications, and receive structured feedback without hiding either domain inside one blended score.
3
30-minute rooms
12
Equal scenarios
2 of 3
In each domain
Independent educational platform. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the American Board of Thoracic Surgery. Original educational scenarios only; no secure or recalled examination content.
Current public format
Prepare for the examination ABTS actually describes.
The current Part II format is in person: a 15-minute briefing, three 30-minute exam sessions, and a 15-minute debriefing for a total of two hours.
Six examiners evaluate 12 equally weighted protocols. One room is cardiac, one is general thoracic, and one is mixed. The candidate must earn a majority in both domains.
Review the official ABTS formatGeneral thoracic room
4 protocols
A 30-minute room focused entirely on general thoracic surgery.
Mixed room
2 + 2
Two cardiac and two thoracic protocols requiring clean cognitive switching.
Pass architecture
2 of 3 + 2 of 3
At least two of three examiners in cardiac and two of three in thoracic.
Current cycle note
As reviewed July 27, 2026, ABTS lists June 4–5, 2027 for Part II, subject to change. The ABTS homepage currently lists Dallas, while the detailed dates table displays location TBD. Verify the candidate portal before travel.
Three rooms · two independent standards
One examination. Separate cardiac and general thoracic readiness.
The public ABTS standard requires a majority of passing examiners in both domains. SurgiTest keeps those signals visible instead of hiding them inside one comfortable average.
Room 01
Cardiac
30 minutes · 4 protocols
Ischemic
Valvular
Aortic / breadth
Room 02
General thoracic
30 minutes · 4 protocols
Lung
Esophageal
Pleural / mediastinal
Room 03
Mixed
30 minutes · 2 + 2 protocols
Cardiac reset
Thoracic reset
Equal stakes
06
Cardiac scenarios
06
Thoracic scenarios
2 of 3
Examiners in each domain
The decision arc
Practice the transition from ideal plan to high-consequence rescue.
Cardiothoracic oral performance is not a static recital. The case advances, physiology changes, and the examiner asks whether your plan still protects the patient.
01 · Frame
Identify the problem that changes the clock.
Name stability, urgency, the dominant lesion, and the one missing fact that changes candidacy or treatment sequence.
Stability
Stage / anatomy
Physiologic reserve
02 · Commit
Choose one plan and make the operation executable.
Defend the indication, setup, protection strategy, ordered technical sequence, verification, and bailout.
Primary plan
Protection
Bailout
03 · Rescue
Recognize deterioration before the diagnosis is obvious.
Shift to parallel stabilization, focused diagnosis, decisive destination, and an explicit threshold for reoperation or support.
Resuscitate
Discriminate
Act
04 · Reset
Clear the second domain without carrying the first room with you.
Move cleanly between cardiac and general thoracic language while preserving the same discipline of priority, commitment, and reassessment.
6 cardiac
6 thoracic
12 equal
Public blueprint, original practice
Build breadth around the published 6-and-6 matrix.
SurgiTest uses original educational cases organized around the public ABTS topic distribution. The matrix guides balance; it does not reveal secure stems or examiner sequences.
2 cardiac scenarios
Ischemic heart disease
Revascularization strategy, conduit planning, incomplete or failed revascularization, ischemia, hemodynamics, and postoperative rescue.
2 cardiac scenarios
Valvular heart disease
Open and transcatheter options, timing, repair versus replacement, prosthesis choices, combined disease, and complication management.
1 cardiac scenario
Aortic disease
Root, ascending, and arch disease; operative extent; cerebral and end-organ protection; malperfusion; bleeding; and bailout strategy.
0–1 cardiac scenario
Additional cardiac breadth
Mechanical circulatory support, adult congenital anomalies, or rhythm disorders integrated with patient selection and perioperative judgment.
2 thoracic scenarios
Malignant lung disease
Diagnosis, staging, physiologic assessment, resectability, extent of resection, nodal strategy, multimodality planning, and complications.
1 thoracic scenario
Malignant esophageal disease
Staging, induction strategy, operative candidacy, conduit and reconstruction planning, leak, ischemia, airway, and nutrition.
1 thoracic scenario
Benign esophageal disease
Motility, reflux, diverticular disease, perforation, obstruction, reoperative anatomy, and the balance between repair and resection.
0–1 each
Remaining general thoracic breadth
Benign lung, pleural, mediastinal, and chest-wall disease with diagnostic, operative, oncologic, and rescue decisions.
Build the complete practice matrix
See case concepts, complication branches, and a full mixed-room design.
The exam demand → the practice behavior
Train the decisions that have to be spoken.
Passive recognition is not oral performance. Every feature is connected to an observable behavior the examiner can hear.
Think aloud under pressure
Voice-first case defense
Speak the clinical priority, decision, rationale, operation, and rescue plan while the examiner advances the scenario.
Clear two independent standards
Dual-domain readiness
Review cardiac and general thoracic evidence separately so one strong domain cannot hide the other.
Commit to an executable plan
Adaptive examiner follow-up
Defend selection, staging, hemodynamics, operative strategy, alternatives, verification, and the finding that makes you pivot.
Rescue the complication
Progressive deterioration
Cases evolve into bleeding, low output, ischemia, airway failure, leak, sepsis, or another high-consequence branch.
Describe the operation clearly
Operative communication drills
Practice setup, exposure, protection, ordered technique, verification, bailout, and postoperative priorities at the right resolution.
Know exactly what to repair
Evidence-based feedback
Review observable behavior across framing, selection, operation, postoperative care, rescue, safety, and communication.
Transparent educational feedback
See the behavior behind the score.
SurgiTest does not claim to reproduce ABTS psychometrics. It shows the evidence that made an answer clear, incomplete, or unsafe—and keeps cardiac and thoracic trends separate.
Understand the public scoring structureDecision evidence
Mixed room · review
✓
Problem, stability, and urgency stated first
✓
Selection, stage, anatomy, and physiology connected to the plan
✓
One primary strategy with a named pivot point
✓
Operation described with protection, verification, and bailout
!
Postoperative priorities linked to the chosen operation
!
Complication recognized, stabilized, diagnosed, and definitively rescued
Cardiac trend
Operative clarity improving
Thoracic trend
Rescue threshold needs repair
Twelve-week preparation architecture
Build breadth first. Then make it hold under pressure.
The plan moves from separate-domain diagnostics to complete cardiac and thoracic rooms, mixed-room switching, full simulations, and a controlled taper.
Open the complete 12-week planWeeks 1–3
Structure and core matrix
Baseline rooms, answer architecture, ischemic and lung malignancy, valves and esophageal disease
Weeks 4–6
Breadth and first rooms
Aorta, benign esophagus, cardiac breadth, thoracic breadth, first complete 30-minute rooms
Weeks 7–9
Technique and rescue
Daily operations, complication drills, mixed-room switching, separate-domain analytics
Weeks 10–12
Integration and taper
Full three-room simulations, targeted repair, execution, logistics, sleep, and voice preservation
Complete preparation library
Eleven guides. One coherent path from format to exam day.
Each guide is independently indexable, source-aware, internally linked, mobile-first, and designed to answer a real candidate question—not a thin keyword variation.
Candidate questions
Clear answers without manufactured certainty.
What is the current ABTS Part II Oral Examination format?
ABTS publicly describes an in-person examination with a 15-minute briefing, three 30-minute exam sessions, and a 15-minute debriefing. Candidates rotate through three rooms with two examiners in each room: one cardiac room, one general thoracic room, and one mixed room.
How many scenarios are on the ABTS oral examination?
The published blueprint contains 12 equally weighted scenarios: six cardiac and six general thoracic. The cardiac room has four cardiac protocols, the thoracic room has four general thoracic protocols, and the mixed room has two of each.
Do candidates have to pass cardiac and general thoracic separately?
Yes. ABTS states that candidates must receive a passing grade from a majority of cardiac examiners and a majority of general thoracic examiners. The published blueprint expresses this as passing at least two of three examiners in both cardiac and thoracic.
Are a candidate’s operative-log cases used as the oral exam scenarios?
The public ABTS oral-exam description presents 12 standardized protocols. Operative logs support training and credentialing requirements; ABTS does not publicly describe the candidate’s logged cases as the source of the 12 oral scenarios.
Does SurgiTest use official or recalled ABTS questions?
No. SurgiTest uses original educational scenarios aligned to the public format and topic matrix. It does not reproduce, solicit, or distribute secure examination content.
Does SurgiTest calculate an official ABTS score or guarantee a result?
No. SurgiTest provides educational feedback for deliberate practice. It does not reproduce ABTS psychometrics, assign an official pass or fail, or guarantee certification.
One case is enough to expose the next repair
Speak the plan. Defend the operation. Rescue the complication.
Start with an original cardiothoracic case and see how clearly your judgment survives examiner follow-up.
Start a Cardiothoracic CaseEducational practice only. SurgiTest is not affiliated with or endorsed by ABTS, does not reproduce secure examination content, and does not calculate an official score or guarantee a result.