RACS publishes an official reading list for the GSSE — a three-page PDF, last updated November 2024.1 This page reproduces it in full.
RACS describes the listed publications as containing examinable material that may assist candidates in their preparation.2 Read that wording carefully. It stops short of calling the list complete, and it stops short of calling it sufficient.
Every table below is taken from the RACS GSSE Reading List, November 2024. The editions shown are the editions RACS names.2
Anatomy
| Book | Edition | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Last’s Anatomy: Regional and Applied McMinn | 9th, revised 2019 | The core anatomy text |
| A Companion Guide to Last’s Anatomy Mirjalili & Fogg | 1st, 2021 | Companion to the above |
| Wheater’s Functional Histology Young, O’Dowd & Woodford | 6th, 2014 | Histology |
| Langman’s Medical Embryology Sadler | 15th, 2024 | Embryology |
| Anatomy: A Photographic Atlas Rohen, Yokochi & Lütjen-Drecoll | 8th, 2016 | Atlas — for the spot test |
Anatomy carries about half the marks, and the spot test is 40 per cent of the anatomy paper.3 That is the case for buying the atlas as well as the core textbook, rather than instead of it.
How the anatomy paper is built and marked →
Physiology
| Book | Edition | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| West’s Respiratory Physiology: The Essentials West & Luks | 11th, 2021 | Respiratory |
| Ganong’s Review of Medical Physiology Barrett et al. | 26th, 2019 and 27th, 2025 | General physiology |
| Guyton and Hall Textbook of Medical Physiology Hall & Hall | 14th, 2021 and 15th, 2026 | General physiology |
Ganong and Guyton & Hall each appear twice, in two different editions. You do not need both books, and you do not need both editions of either. Pick the one you find easier to read, in the later edition. Both titles are on the official list, so neither choice is wrong.
Pathology and immunology
| Book | Edition | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Robbins, Cotran & Kumar Pathologic Basis of Disease Aster, Abbas, Kumar et al. | 11th, 2026 | General pathology and immunology |
Pathology is roughly a quarter of the marks, and the official list covers it with a single textbook. RACS publishes a syllabus for anatomy and one for physiology, but none for pathology. One book and no syllabus is thin coverage for a quarter of the exam.
Why we built our own syllabus →
Pharmacology
| Book | Edition | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Rang and Dale’s Pharmacology Ritter et al. | 10th, 2024 | General pharmacology |
| Acute Pain Management: Scientific Evidence Schug et al., ANZCA & FPM | 5th, 2020 | Analgesia — free online |
| Opie’s Cardiovascular Drugs Bhatt | 9th, 2020 | Cardiovascular drugs — free online |
| Patient Blood Management Guidelines National Blood Authority | Online | Transfusion — free online |
Statistics
| Book | Edition | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Intuitive Biostatistics Motulsky | 4th, 2018 | Statistics and study design |
A reading list is not a syllabus
You could own every book on this page and still not know which of the nine subject areas you are weakest in. That matters, because anatomy, pathology and physiology are each marked against their own minimum.4 Your weakest subject decides the result.
Textbooks give you coverage. What they cannot give you is any evidence of what you have retained — and reading is very good at feeling like progress. Practice questions are what close that gap, and practice questions are what we sell, so weigh this paragraph accordingly. The list above is RACS’s recommendation, not ours.
What the pass rate looks like by attempt →
Start with the free question bank →
References
- Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. Recommended reading. Available at: https://www.surgeons.org/Examinations/generic-surgical-sciences-examination-gsse/gsse-preparation/recommended-reading
- Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. GSSE Reading List, updated November 2024 (PDF). Available at: https://www.surgeons.org/-/media/GSSE-Reading-List—Updated-November-2024.pdf
- Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. Exam structure. Available at: https://www.surgeons.org/Examinations/generic-surgical-sciences-examination-gsse/gsse-preparation/exam-structure
- Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. Passing the GSSE. Available at: https://www.surgeons.org/en/Examinations/generic-surgical-sciences-examination-gsse/gsse-preparation/passing-the-gsse
GSSEPrep is an independent educational platform and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.