ESMO EXAMINATION 2025
The ESMO examination 2025 will be held on Saturday 18 October 2025 during the ESMO Congress 2025.
Online registration will be possible from mid-January 2025 all information will be published on this page.
The Exam 2025 will be available in English, French, Spanish and Slovenian.
The ESMO examination is open to MDs who are ESMO members or members of the AIO and/or DGHO (Germany) and to members of the FMH (Switzerland).
About the Exam
The ESMO Examination is a valuable assessment tool for practicing medical oncologists and an excellent opportunity for medical oncologists in training to assess their knowledge. The ESMO Examination is the written part of the Board Certification in Medical Oncology in Switzerland and Slovenia. In all other countries the ESMO Examination certifies an excellent knowledge in the field of Medical Oncology according to the criteria of the European Society for Medical Oncology.
The ESMO Examination has no legal standing since only national authorities can grant physicians the right to practice.
Successful candidates will be certified for five years. After five years recertification can be attained either by re-taking the ESMO Examination (on passing, recertification is valid for a further five years) or for ESMO members participation in the ESMO Medical Oncologist’s Recertification Approval (MORA) which is a proof of continuing medical education – allowing ESMO members to remain certified in medical oncology. If approved, the recertification is also valid for five years.
CME Points
The ESMO Examination is accredited with 50 category 1 ESMO-MORA CME points.
Examination Format
Questions cover all fields of medical oncology, including: basic elements of tumour path histology, epidemiology and biology. Besides all cancer types, the ESMO Examination includes practice-oriented issues on diagnosis, staging, management, evaluation and prognosis of cancer patients.
- Written Examination of 150 minutes
- 100 multiple choice questions are divided as follows:
- 75 type A questions
- 25 type K' questions
- Pass score: according to the Rasch procedure, the pass score will fluctuate around 60% (empirically ± 5% than in previous years) to keep exam difficulty comparable from year to year
Preparing for the Examination
To prepare for the ESMO Examination, we recommend that applicants follow scientific updates published in the major oncology journals, including Annals of Oncology and ESMO Open, and other educational material produced by ESMO.
The OncologyPRO Education Library groups ESMO resources according to the disease or the topic area and will help you find the educational material more easily.
Webcasts from the ESMO Academy 2024 can also be accessed via OncologyPRO. (ESMO members and event attendees)
Privacy Policy
No information about the participation to the ESMO Examination or the obtained results will be communicated to third parties unless authorised by the candidate and only if requested.
ESMO Examination 2023
Read the report from the 2023 ESMO Examination
Examination analysis
ESMO Examination analysis is powered by the University of Bern, Switzerland. Representatives from the Institute for Medical Education of the University of Bern have acknowledged the authority of the ESMO Examination and its value as a high-quality assessment tool.