- What the Acronym Means Here
- Where Phase I Fits in the Pathway
- Who Can Sit for Phase I
- The Four Examination Disciplines
- How the Blueprint Weights Knowledge Areas
- Format, Fees and Test-Day Rules
- Scoring, Results and What Is Not Published
- Sequencing Your Preparation by Domain
- After Phase I: Full Diplomate Status and Maintenance
- Frequently Asked Questions
- This article covers the ACVS Phase I Surgical Knowledge Examination; passing it alone does not award the Diplomate credential.
- The 2027 exam has 125 single-best-answer questions, about ten of them unscored pilots, in a seven-hour period.
- Anatomy is the largest knowledge area: 10% for small animals and 12% for large animals.
- The 2027 fee is USD 795, with registration open September 16 through October 30, 2026.
What the Acronym Means Here
In the veterinary surgery world, DACVS refers to Diplomate, American College of Veterinary Surgeons. The College is the board that certifies specialists in small animal surgery and large animal surgery in North America. This site and article focus on the first major hurdle on that road, the Phase I Surgical Knowledge Examination, which is administered by the American College of Veterinary Surgeons (ACVS). If you have seen the same letters attached to other professional credentials, set those aside: everything below concerns the veterinary surgical specialty and nothing else.
For a quick vocabulary tour, our related explainers cover what DACVS stands for, the meaning of the designation, and what a DACVS actually is as a practicing specialist. This article goes a level deeper into the examination that gates the credential.
Where Phase I Fits in the Pathway
Phase I is one requirement on the way to becoming a Diplomate. It is a knowledge examination taken during residency, and passing it does not by itself confer the credential. The full DACVS certification also requires:
- Completion of an approved residency of at least three years, or 156 weeks, including 110 weeks of surgical training
- An accepted scientific publication
- Approved credentials
- Passing both Phase I and Phase II
Entry to the training pathway itself requires a veterinary qualification and a twelve-month rotating internship or equivalent experience. Those full-credential completion requirements are not prerequisites to sitting Phase I during residency, which is why many residents take the exam well before their training ends. For a fuller walk-through of the eligibility chain, see DACVS Requirements: Eligibility, Prerequisites and How to Qualify.
Who Can Sit for Phase I
Eligibility is tied to residency status rather than to a minimum case log or years in practice. To register you need to be:
- An ACVS resident in good standing, without applicable probation or sanctions
- Supported by an adviser attestation
- Able to submit your own training and study-readiness attestation in CERT, the College's credentialing system
Residents may sit at any time during residency, and the College describes the second year as the optimal point. Candidates must pass within six years of starting residency, which creates a real outer deadline for anyone who has struggled or deferred. Because the exam covers fundamentals rather than clinical presentations, taking it earlier in training, while basic science coursework is fresh, is a common strategy.
The Four Examination Disciplines
The formal ACVS Phase I Examination Blueprint, effective April 2026 for the 2027 examination following the 2024-2025 Job Task Analysis, organizes content into four main disciplines. These are official examination disciplines, not curriculum headings invented for preparation courses. For a deeper treatment, read DACVS Exam Domains: Complete Guide to All 4 Content Areas.
Domain 1: Basic Science
The scientific foundation under every surgical decision. Systems include gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, respiratory, urogenital, musculoskeletal, neurological/special senses, integumentary, endocrine (small animal only) and non-system-specific content.
- Anatomy, physiology and pathobiology carry the heaviest weights
- Microbiology and biomechanics round out the area
- Small animal covers domestic canine, feline and non-species-specific content; large animal covers equine, food animal, small ruminant, camelid and non-species-specific content
Domain 2: Pharmacology
Drug classes and therapies a surgeon must handle confidently.
- Antimicrobials and fluid therapy appear in both animal forms
- Small animal adds cardiovascular/autonomic drugs; large animal adds anti-inflammatory drugs and intrasynovial therapy
- Biological therapy and "other drugs" appear in both
Domain 3: Principles of Anesthesia/Analgesia and Pain Management
The perioperative toolkit: equipment, general and local anesthesia, analgesics, anesthetic drugs and inflammatory modulation.
- General anesthesia is the heaviest line in this domain for small animals
- Analgesics are a substantial small-animal line
- Weights are spread more evenly across lines in the large-animal form
Domain 4: Surgical Methods
The craft fundamentals shared across every procedure.
- Tissue handling and hemostasis
- Aseptic technique
- Wound and tissue healing
- Instrumentation and implants
- Fundamentals and principles of surgery
How the Blueprint Weights Knowledge Areas
The blueprint prints approximate weights for knowledge areas separately for each animal form. It does not publish aggregate percentages for the four main disciplines, and this article will not manufacture them by adding lines together. The small-animal entries total 98% as printed and the large-animal entries total 100%; neither set has been normalized. Anatomy is the largest individual knowledge area at 10% for small animals and 12% for large animals.
| Knowledge Area | Small Animal | Large Animal |
|---|---|---|
| Anatomy | 10% | 12% |
| Physiology | 9% | 10% |
| Pathobiology | 9% | 9% |
| Microbiology | 2% | 3% |
| Biomechanics (and Locomotion in the small-animal form) | 4% | 2% |
| Antimicrobials | 3% | 4% |
| Fluid Therapy | 3% | 3% |
| General Anesthesia | 6% | 3% |
| Analgesics | 5% | 3% |
| Tissue Handling/Hemostasis | 8% | 7% |
| Aseptic Techniques | 6% | 5% |
| Wound/Tissue Healing | 6% | 7% |
| Instrumentation Implants | 6% | 7% |
| Fundamentals and Principles of Surgery | 6% | 4% |
Other lines exist beyond this excerpt. Small animal lists biological therapy at 1%, other drugs at 2%, cardiovascular/autonomic drugs at 2%, anesthetic equipment at 3%, local anesthesia at 3%, anesthetic drugs at 3% and inflammatory modulation at 1%. Large animal lists anti-inflammatory drugs at 3%, biological therapy at 2%, intrasynovial therapy at 3%, other drugs at 3%, anesthetic equipment at 2%, local anesthesia at 3%, anesthetic drugs at 3% and inflammatory modulation at 2%.
Format, Fees and Test-Day Rules
Logistics below come from the 2027 Phase I Surgical Knowledge Examination Information Pamphlet (September 2026). Because dates and deadlines can shift, confirm against the ACVS registration page before you commit, and see DACVS Exam Dates: Testing Windows, Deadlines and Scheduling for planning help.
| Item | 2027 Details |
|---|---|
| Exam fee | USD 795 |
| Registration window | September 16 to October 30, 2026 |
| Payment due | January 8, 2027 |
| Exam date | April 19, 2027 (Americas and Europe); April 20 (Asia and Oceania) |
| Delivery | Computer-based at Pearson VUE/Pearson Professional Assessments centers, coordinated through HumRRO |
| Questions | 125 single-best-answer multiple-choice, including roughly ten unscored pilot questions |
| Published exam period | Seven hours in two equal-time parts |
| Break | Optional scheduled break of up to one hour; the test clock stops |
The fee is only one line of the full financial picture; DACVS Certification Cost: Complete Pricing Breakdown puts it in context alongside other expenses.
Rules that shape how you take the test
- Two parts, one direction: review is permitted within a part, but you cannot return to the first part after the break.
- The clock keeps running during any unscheduled break, so only the single scheduled break pauses it.
- No aids: information aids, books, notes and phones are prohibited. Laminated note paper is provided.
- Stay on site: candidates remain at the test center during breaks and cannot access phones, notes or study materials.
- Pilot items: about ten questions are unscored, but you cannot tell which, so treat all 125 seriously.
Key Takeaway
The no-return rule after the break is a pacing issue. Finish and flag within each part before the scheduled break, because anything you leave unresolved in part one stays unresolved.
Scoring, Results and What Is Not Published
The passing standard is criterion-referenced. Experts set it, it is equated across years, and it cannot be raised after the examination has been given. Results are ordinarily released in four to six weeks.
Equally important is what has not been verified: there is no confirmed fixed numerical pass mark, and no current issuer-wide Phase I pass rate was found. A published 2017-2021 small-animal residency-program survey exists, but it is historical research rather than a current cohort rate across all candidates. Treat any specific percentage you see circulating online with caution. Our pages on the passing score and the pass rate explain these limits in more detail, and How Hard Is the DACVS Exam? discusses difficulty without leaning on invented numbers.
Sequencing Your Preparation by Domain
Preparation should start from the official reading list and the Examination FAQ. The 2027 reading list is unchanged from 2026, so a resident who began collecting sources last year does not need to restart. A broader plan lives in the DACVS Study Guide, and the DACVS Cheat Sheet is useful for last-pass review. One domain-driven sequencing idea is below.
Basic Science first
- Anatomy leads because it is the single largest line in both forms
- Pair physiology and pathobiology with it, since all three are heavy
- Add biomechanics and microbiology afterward as shorter topics
Pharmacology and anesthesia together
- Study drug classes alongside the anesthetic and analgesic principles that use them
- Small-animal candidates should give general anesthesia and analgesics extra time
- Large-animal candidates should include intrasynovial and anti-inflammatory therapy
Surgical Methods and integration
- Cycle through tissue handling, asepsis, healing, implants and principles
- Finish with mixed practice so questions from all four domains interleave, as they will on test day
Choose your animal form's weights, not the other form's, when allocating time. Anatomy at 12% for large animals and general anesthesia at 6% for small animals are examples of lines that should shape each candidate's plan differently. Realistic practice under timed, closed-book conditions is available through the DACVS Exam Prep practice tests.
After Phase I: Full Diplomate Status and Maintenance
Clearing Phase I moves you closer to, but not across, the finish line. You still need to complete residency requirements, the accepted publication, approved credentials and Phase II. Many residents ask whether the investment pays off; Is the DACVS Certification Worth It? and the DACVS Salary Guide take up that question, and DACVS Jobs describes the employers and settings where board-certified surgeons work. For the training side, see DACVS Training.
Maintenance applies only to the full Diplomate credential after certification is complete. For Diplomates certified in 2016 or later, the initial certificate expires on the sixth December 31 after the examination, and later cycles last five years. Maintenance of Certification requires 100 qualifying activity points, at least 70 of them within the certified animal specialty (small animal surgery or large animal surgery), continued good standing and CERT submission by November 1 of the expiry year. The current MOC page specifies no submission fee.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Phase I is one requirement. Full DACVS certification also requires a completed approved residency, an accepted scientific publication, approved credentials and Phase II. Our guide to what DACVS certification is lays out the whole sequence.
Residents may sit at any time, and the second year is described as optimal. You must pass within six years of starting residency, so deferring indefinitely is not an option.
According to the current Examination FAQ, no. Phase I addresses surgical fundamentals and basic science, with clinical diseases and their specific treatment excluded.
There are 125 single-best-answer multiple-choice questions, including approximately ten unscored pilot questions. The published examination period is seven hours, divided into two equal-time parts with an optional scheduled break of up to one hour.
The standard is criterion-referenced and equated across years, but no fixed numerical pass mark was verified. Results typically arrive four to six weeks after the exam.
Understanding exactly what the Phase I examination covers, how it is delivered and where it sits in the larger certification pathway lets you prepare against the real blueprint rather than rumor. For a deeper definition of the credential itself, you can also revisit What Is DACVS? and What Does DACVS Mean?.