ABPS General Surgery

It is a board certification offered by the American Board of Physician Specialties, a multi-specialty certifying body that certifies both allopathic and osteopathic physicians. General Surgery appears on ABPS's published specialty list. Certification is voluntary and is presented by ABPS as evidence that a surgeon has the knowledge and skills to deliver quality care.

Eight domains, each weighted equally at 12.5%: alimentary tract and abdominal surgery; surgical oncology including breast and endocrine; trauma and acute care surgery; surgical critical care; vascular and thoracic surgery; hepatobiliary, pancreatic and transplant surgery; perioperative care, anesthesia and pain management; and pediatric, plastic and reconstructive surgery plus professional practice.

ABPS does not publish those figures on the pages reviewed for this guide, so we do not state a number. Candidates should confirm item count, time limit, and delivery format directly with ABPS before building a timed practice plan, since guessing here leads to badly calibrated pacing on exam day.

No pass rate is published in the material reviewed, so any figure you see elsewhere should be treated as unverified. Difficulty in practice comes from breadth: eight equally weighted domains mean a subspecialty-heavy surgeon must still perform across critical care, vascular, thoracic, pediatric, and perioperative content to pass comfortably.

Retake terms are set by ABPS and are not described in the source material reviewed here, so confirm the current policy, waiting period, and any fee directly with the board. Plan as though a single attempt is the goal: build your schedule so that a retake would be a contingency rather than part of the strategy.

Start with your two weakest equally weighted domains, because each is worth the same 12.5% as your strongest. Then cycle through all eight in short blocks rather than finishing one before starting the next. Interleaving keeps low-volume topics such as pediatric and plastic surgery from being forgotten by the final month.

Neglecting low-volume domains is the classic one: a candidate drills hernia and colorectal material for weeks while pediatric, plastic, and perioperative content goes untouched, then loses a quarter of the exam. Other frequent problems are single-pass reading with no recall testing, no timed practice, and skipping critical care because it feels like someone else's specialty.

Shift from reading to retrieval. Work scenario-based questions across all eight domains under time pressure, then review every miss by writing out the underlying decision rule, not just the correct answer. Keep one short daily block for the domains you like least, since those are the ones that quietly decay during a heavy review cycle.

Contact ABPS directly. The organization lists a Tampa, Florida office and a published telephone number on its website, and it maintains separate pages for board certifications, Diplomate categories and fees, and the annual examination schedule. Those pages, not third-party summaries, are the authoritative source for deadlines and costs.

Renewal and maintenance-of-certification requirements are governed by ABPS and were not specified in the material reviewed for this page. Before you enroll, ask the board in writing what ongoing requirements apply, how long the credential remains valid, and what continuing education or re-examination obligations you will carry afterward.