A 2-year-old has painless, large-volume dark red rectal bleeding. He is now stable. Which investigation is most useful?

Technetium-99m pertechnetate scan

Colonoscopy under general anaesthesia

Barium small bowel follow-through

Abdominal ultrasound with Doppler

A 5-week-old with biopsy-proven Hirschsprung disease awaiting pull-through presents with fever, explosive foul diarrhoea and abdominal distension. He is mildly tachycardic. What is the best initial management?

Fluids, intravenous antibiotics and rectal washouts

Urgent pull-through procedure that day

Oral loperamide and continued feeds

Barium enema to assess the transition zone

A 6-week-old infant has persistent jaundice, pale stools and conjugated bilirubin 120 micromol/L. Ultrasound shows a small gallbladder and triangular cord sign. What is the most appropriate next step?

Intraoperative cholangiogram proceeding to Kasai portoenterostomy

Start ursodeoxycholic acid and repeat liver tests in 4 weeks

Refer for primary liver transplantation without surgery first

Percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage and observation

A term baby with antenatally diagnosed left congenital diaphragmatic hernia is born with poor respiratory effort. What is the correct initial airway management?

Immediate intubation and gastric tube decompression

Bag-mask ventilation until oxygen saturation improves

Nasal CPAP with high-flow oxygen

Emergency surgical repair in the delivery suite

Free DHA Pediatric Surgery mock test

12 original exam-style questions from our Pediatric Surgery bank, timed at the exam’s own pace, scored against the 65% DHA pass mark. They span 7 of the 8 blueprint domains, so you will see exactly where you are weakest - free, no sign-up.

Free diagnosticNo sign-up · no email · results instantly

Sit 12 original exam-style questions at real exam pace

These are 12 original questions taken from our Pediatric Surgery bank, spread across 7 of the 8 domains of the published blueprint. You get 72 seconds per question, which is exactly the pace of the real PED5492 exam (14 minutes for 12). At the end you will see which domains you are weakest in, and the full worked reasoning for every question.

12: questions
14:24: time limit
65%: DHA pass mark

A short diagnostic cannot predict whether you will pass - only the real exam does that. It will show you, honestly, where you currently stand.

What the real Pediatric Surgery licensing exam looks like

Candidates for a Pediatric Surgery licence in the UAE sit a computer-based multiple-choice examination - DHA exam code PED5492, delivered through Prometric for DHA, MOHAP and SHA, and through Pearson VUE for DOH Abu Dhabi. The DHA pass mark is 65% (DHA CBT Guideline, Sep 2026); other authorities set their own, so confirm yours before booking. The result is reported to you as pass or fail only - your score is never released.

Pass marks at a glance: DHA exam codes and pass marks for all written exams in one sourced table.

The paper is built to a published blueprint, which is why a domain-by-domain diagnostic is more useful than a raw percentage. Your questions above were drawn from across Abdominal and gastrointestinal surgery, Neonatal surgery and congenital anomalies, Paediatric surgical oncology, Paediatric trauma and 3 more - the same areas the real paper weights.

Before you can book the exam at all you need Dataflow primary source verification of your degree, licence and experience, which typically runs several weeks. Candidates routinely underestimate this and end up sitting the exam sooner after study than they planned. Check where you stand with our free eligibility checker or confirm whether your title even requires an exam using the Prometric exam checker.

You get three attempts in total across all UAE authorities - not three each - under the Unified Professional Qualification Requirements. At roughly AED 1,030 per attempt, plus the licensing delay each failure adds to your visa and start date, the cost of going in underprepared is not really the exam fee.

What is on the Pediatric Surgery exam: the full blueprint

The published blueprint splits into 8 domains and 50 testable sub-topics. The diagnostic above samples across them, which is why its breakdown maps onto the structure the real paper is built from.

Neonatal surgery and congenital anomalies~20%8 topics
Abdominal and gastrointestinal surgery~18%7 topics
Paediatric trauma~12%6 topics
Paediatric surgical oncology~12%6 topics
Paediatric urology and genital surgery~12%6 topics
Thoracic, head and neck surgery~10%6 topics
Perioperative care, fluids and nutrition~10%6 topics
Ethics, consent, safeguarding and patient safety~6%5 topics

Questions: 150 multiple-choice (DHA PED5492)
Duration: 3 hours, including registration
DHA pass mark: 65% - reported as pass or fail only

Figures for the DHA exam, from the DHA CBT Guideline, Sep 2026. DOH, MOHAP, SCFHS, QCHP, NHRA and OMSB set their own length, timing and pass mark. See the DHA exam guide and pass marks for every DHA exam.

A worked Pediatric Surgery exam question

Every question in the diagnostic and in the paid bank is written to this standard: a clinical stem, four plausible options and the reasoning for the answer, with its source.

Abdominal and gastrointestinal surgery

A 5-week-old boy has projectile non-bilious vomiting and a palpable olive. What blood gas and electrolyte pattern is expected?

AHypochloraemic hypokalaemic metabolic alkalosisCorrect
BHyperchloraemic metabolic acidosis
CHyperkalaemic metabolic acidosis
DRespiratory alkalosis with hyponatraemia

Why: Loss of gastric acid causes hypochloraemic metabolic alkalosis, and renal compensation worsens potassium loss. This must be corrected with fluids and electrolytes before pyloromyotomy, which is never an emergency operation.

Source: Holcomb and Ashcraft's Pediatric Surgery, 7th ed.

Pediatric Surgery sample questions with answers

4 more original exam-style Pediatric Surgery questions, worked in full. They are not real or recalled exam questions, and none of them is in the diagnostic above, so sit that first if you have not.

Question 1 · Abdominal and gastrointestinal surgery
A 2-year-old has painless, large-volume dark red rectal bleeding. He is now stable. Which investigation is most useful?
1. ATechnetium-99m pertechnetate scan
2. BColonoscopy under general anaesthesia
3. CBarium small bowel follow-through
4. DAbdominal ultrasound with Doppler
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: A. Technetium-99m pertechnetate scan
Painless rectal bleeding in a toddler suggests a Meckel diverticulum with ectopic gastric mucosa, which is detected by pertechnetate scintigraphy. Colonoscopy does not reach the distal ileum reliably in this setting.
Reference: Holcomb and Ashcraft's Pediatric Surgery, 7th ed.
Question 2 · Neonatal surgery and congenital anomalies
A 5-week-old with biopsy-proven Hirschsprung disease awaiting pull-through presents with fever, explosive foul diarrhoea and abdominal distension. He is mildly tachycardic. What is the best initial management?
1. AUrgent pull-through procedure that day
2. BOral loperamide and continued feeds
3. CBarium enema to assess the transition zone
4. DFluids, intravenous antibiotics and rectal washouts
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: D. Fluids, intravenous antibiotics and rectal washouts
Hirschsprung-associated enterocolitis is treated with resuscitation, broad-spectrum antibiotics covering anaerobes, bowel decompression and rectal washouts; a stoma is needed if this fails. Definitive pull-through is not done during acute enterocolitis, and antimotility drugs are dangerous.
Reference: Holcomb and Ashcraft's Pediatric Surgery, 7th ed.
Question 3 · Neonatal surgery and congenital anomalies
A 6-week-old infant has persistent jaundice, pale stools and conjugated bilirubin 120 micromol/L. Ultrasound shows a small gallbladder and triangular cord sign. What is the most appropriate next step?
1. AStart ursodeoxycholic acid and repeat liver tests in 4 weeks
2. BIntraoperative cholangiogram proceeding to Kasai portoenterostomy
3. CRefer for primary liver transplantation without surgery first
4. DPercutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage and observation
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: B. Intraoperative cholangiogram proceeding to Kasai portoenterostomy
Biliary atresia is suggested by these findings and is confirmed at operative cholangiography; Kasai portoenterostomy has better outcomes when performed early, ideally before about 60 days. Waiting on medical therapy loses this window.
Reference: Holcomb and Ashcraft's Pediatric Surgery, 7th ed.
Question 4 · Neonatal surgery and congenital anomalies
A term baby with antenatally diagnosed left congenital diaphragmatic hernia is born with poor respiratory effort. What is the correct initial airway management?
1. AImmediate intubation and gastric tube decompression
2. BBag-mask ventilation until oxygen saturation improves
3. CNasal CPAP with high-flow oxygen
4. DEmergency surgical repair in the delivery suite
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: A. Immediate intubation and gastric tube decompression
Babies with CDH are intubated promptly and the stomach decompressed, avoiding bag-mask ventilation which distends herniated bowel and further compresses the lung. Repair is delayed until physiological stabilisation.
Reference: CDH EURO Consortium Consensus 2015 Update

Last reviewed September 2026. About these questions: every item is original, written to the published blueprint, with a rationale and a reference, and no recalled or leaked exam content is used. How we write our questions.

How to use this diagnostic properly

1Sit it cold, once. Do not look anything up. A diagnostic you help yourself through tells you nothing. The number you get is only useful if it is honest.
2Read every rationale - especially the ones you got right. Getting a question right by elimination is not the same as knowing it. The worked reasoning is free above, whether or not you buy anything.
3Work weakest domain first. The breakdown orders your domains worst-first for exactly this reason. Studying what you are already good at feels productive and moves nothing.
4Re-sit under full exam conditions later. The real paper is far longer than this and stamina matters. Full-length timed papers are what the paid bank is for.

Frequently asked questions

Is this Pediatric Surgery mock exam really free?

Yes. All 12 questions, your score, the domain breakdown and the full worked answers are free, with no sign-up and no email required. The paid bank is a separate, much larger set of 450 questions.

Are these real Pediatric Surgery exam questions?

No. They are original questions written to the official Pediatric Surgery blueprint and drawn from our full bank - not leaked or recalled items, which would breach exam security and are frequently out of date. They follow the exam's format and domain weighting.

What is the pass mark for the Pediatric Surgery exam?

65% for the DHA Pediatric Surgery exam (PED5492), as published in the DHA CBT Guideline, Sep 2026. Other authorities set their own pass marks, so confirm yours before booking. DHA reports only pass or fail - your actual score is never released to you, which is why a diagnostic like this is useful for seeing where you stand.

Does passing this mock mean I will pass the real exam?

No, and we will not claim otherwise. 12 questions cannot predict a full-length paper. What it does reliably show is which blueprint domains you are currently weakest in.

How many attempts do I get at the real exam?

Three in total across all UAE authorities under the Unified Professional Qualification Requirements - not three per authority. Each attempt costs roughly AED 1,030.

What topics does the Pediatric Surgery exam cover?

The published blueprint splits into 8 domains covering 50 testable sub-topics: Neonatal surgery and congenital anomalies, Abdominal and gastrointestinal surgery, Paediatric trauma, Paediatric surgical oncology, Paediatric urology and genital surgery, Thoracic, head and neck surgery, Perioperative care, fluids and nutrition, Ethics, consent, safeguarding and patient safety. The full weighting table is on this page.

How long is the Pediatric Surgery exam and how many questions?

The DHA Pediatric Surgery exam (PED5492) is 150 multiple-choice questions in 3 hours, including registration and the introduction, as published in the DHA CBT Guideline, Sep 2026. Other authorities set their own length and timing, so confirm theirs in the current candidate bulletin.

Do I need to create an account to take this mock exam?

No. There is no sign-up, no email capture and no payment. The questions, your score, the domain breakdown and the full worked answers are all free, and nothing is held back behind a form.