EDAIC Exam Fees in 2026: How the Costs Actually Work

If you are an anaesthesia trainee weighing up the European Diploma, one of the first practical questions is money. The good news is that edaic exam fees follow a logical structure once you understand the moving parts — they are not a single flat charge, and what you actually pay depends on which part you are sitting, whether you are an ESAIC member, and where you live and work. This guide explains how the costs are built up, so you can budget with confidence rather than guesswork.

A quick, important caveat up front: fees change every cycle, and I am deliberately not quoting exact euro amounts here, because anything I print today could be out of date by the time you read it. Instead I will explain the shape of the costs and point you to the official ESAIC/EDAIC (myESAIC) fees page for the current figures. Treat this as a map, not a price list.

How EDAIC exam fees are structured

The single most useful thing to understand is that the EDAIC is not one exam with one fee. It is a diploma — the European Diploma in Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care, awarded by ESAIC, the European Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care — made up of separate assessments, and each has its own charge. So when someone asks how much does EDAIC cost, the honest answer is "it depends on which pieces you are paying for, and when."

There are three main cost drivers:

• Which part you are sitting — Part 1 (the written exam) and Part 2 (the oral/SOE) are billed separately, and you pay for them in different years of your journey.
• Your membership status — ESAIC members and non-members are typically charged different rates.
• Where you are based — ESAIC operates an income-tier system, so candidates from lower-income countries are usually charged a reduced fee compared with those from high-income countries.

On top of those, there is the OLA (On-Line Assessment) — a formative tool rather than a diploma exam, but one that many candidates pay for along the way, and one that can change your costs significantly.

Let me take each of these in turn.

Part 1 vs Part 2: two separate fees

The EDAIC has two examinations, and the edaic part 1 fee and the edaic part 2 fee are charged independently.

• Part 1 is the written examination. It is built from two papers: Paper A covers the basic sciences (anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, pharmacology, physics and clinical measurement, equipment, and statistics), while Paper B covers clinical anaesthesia and intensive care — regional anaesthesia, special and sub-specialty anaesthesia, intensive care, emergency medicine, and pain. The question format is MTF (Multiple True/False): each stem is followed by five statements, A to E, each judged independently as true or false. If you want the full picture of what you are paying to sit, the EDAIC Part 1 format guide for Paper A and Paper B breaks it down.
• Part 2 is the structured oral examination (the SOE, or viva), with guided clinical questions, taken only after you have passed Part 1. It is a different beast — and a different invoice. The EDAIC Part 2 oral exam SOE guide walks through what the day involves.

Because the two parts are separated by at least one exam cycle, you do not pay for both at once. That is genuinely helpful for budgeting: you can spread the cost of the diploma across two years rather than facing it all in a single hit. Plan for the Part 1 fee first, then the Part 2 fee once you have passed Part 1.

ESAIC members vs non-members

The second lever is membership. ESAIC — which awards the diploma — typically charges a lower exam fee to its members than to non-members.

It is worth doing the arithmetic for your own situation. Membership carries its own annual cost, so the question is whether the member discount on the exam fee, plus the other benefits of membership, outweighs that subscription. For candidates sitting both parts (and possibly resitting one), the member rate can change the total edaic cost meaningfully. For someone sitting a single exam once, it may not. Check the current member and non-member rates side by side on the official fees page before you decide.

Country income tiers

The third lever is the one that matters most to the cost-sensitive international audience this guide is written for — trainees in India, Pakistan, Egypt, the Gulf and elsewhere.

ESAIC applies an income-tier model: the exam fee is scaled according to the income classification of the country you are in. Candidates from lower-income and middle-income countries are generally charged a reduced fee relative to candidates from high-income countries. This is an explicit, deliberate effort to keep the diploma accessible internationally, and it can make a substantial difference to what you pay.

The practical implications:

• Find out which tier your country falls into on the current ESAIC fees page — do not assume.
• If you are an international medical graduate, your eligibility and your fee tier are two separate questions. Sort out eligibility first; our guide to EDAIC eligibility for international doctors covers who can sit and what documentation you need.
• The tier is based on where you are, which can matter if you train in one country and hold citizenship in another. The official guidance is the arbiter here, so confirm your own situation on the myESAIC site.

The OLA: a separate fee, and often misunderstood

Beyond the two diploma exams, ESAIC runs the OLA, a formative assessment. It is not the EDAIC itself, but it belongs in the cost conversation because many candidates pay for it — and because it can reshape your budget.

OLA (On-Line Assessment) is a formative, in-training online assessment that uses EDAIC Part 1-style content. It is the most important adjacent assessment to understand, because passing the OLA under ESAIC's conditions can exempt you from sitting the Part 1 written exam. If that route applies to you, your cost calculus changes entirely — you may pay an OLA fee instead of a Part 1 exam fee. Read our explainer on the EDAIC OLA online assessment to see whether this path fits your training programme.

The key budgeting point: the OLA is a formative tool that helps you gauge readiness and, under the right conditions, can potentially replace a Part 1 sitting. It is billed separately from the diploma exams. Whether it is worth the money depends on your training pathway — for many international candidates without access to an in-training route, the standard Part 1 written exam remains the way in. Confirm the current conditions and eligibility for any exemption on the official site before relying on this route.

A simple way to think about the total

Here is a qualitative breakdown to frame your budget. No euro amounts — just the components and what drives each one.

Two things are easy to forget when first-timers budget. First, resits: there is no shame in resitting, but each attempt carries its own fee, so a realistic budget allows for the possibility. Second, travel — Part 1 is offered in several European languages and at various centres, while Part 2 is generally conducted in English, and getting to a Part 2 centre can be a real line item for international candidates. Confirm current centres and arrangements on the official site rather than assuming.

Exam fees vs preparation costs — the part people get wrong

Now the reframe that actually matters for your wallet and your result.

The exam fee is a fixed, unavoidable cost. You will pay it whether you are well prepared or not — and if you are under-prepared, you may pay it twice. The single biggest financial risk in the whole EDAIC process is not the headline fee; it is failing and having to pay the fee again, plus losing another cycle of your career.

That reframes preparation spending. Good preparation is not an extra cost on top of the exam — it is insurance against paying the exam fee twice. Seen that way, a structured study plan and a high-quality question bank are among the most cost-effective things you can buy, because they protect a fee you have already committed to. It also helps to know what you are walking into; our honest take on whether the EDAIC is difficult and what to expect sets realistic expectations.

Where does the money go furthest in preparation?

• A serious question bank. Part 1 is an MTF exam, and the only way to get fluent with that format is volume and feedback. Practising thousands of well-explained MTF items is the closest thing to sitting the real paper. Our EDAIC question bank is built specifically around Part 1-style MTF questions with explanations, and our guide on how to use an EDAIC question bank effectively shows how to turn practice into retained knowledge.
• The right exam technique. Because there is no negative marking — it was removed in 2014 — you should answer every statement, since a blank scores the same as a wrong answer (zero) while a correct one scores. The pass mark itself is criterion-referenced (set against a defined standard of competence, not a fixed quota), so your job is simply to clear that standard. Internalising tactics like this is free and can lift your mark; the MTF question strategy guide goes deeper, and how the EDAIC pass rate and pass mark are explained demystifies the scoring.
• A study method that sticks. Spreading revision over time using spaced repetition beats cramming for a syllabus this broad, and costs nothing but discipline.

If you want a sense of how the whole package fits together — practice, structure and progress tracking — our AnesCORE plans are designed to be far cheaper than a single resit, which is rather the point.

A worked budgeting approach

Try this five-minute exercise:

1. Open the official ESAIC/EDAIC fees page and note your Part 1 fee for your membership status and country tier.
2. Note your Part 2 fee the same way (you will pay it later, but budget for it now).
3. Decide whether ESAIC membership pays for itself given the member discount across both sittings.
4. Add a realistic travel and accommodation estimate, mainly for Part 2.
5. Set aside a contingency for one possible resit — and then invest in preparation so you (hopefully) never use it.

That gives you a complete, honest figure for the diploma — and it makes clear why preparation, the one cost you fully control, deserves real attention. For a fuller walk-through of the cycle as a whole, our EDAIC 2026 dates, fees and registration guide ties the timeline and the costs together.

How does it compare with other exams?

Many international trainees weigh the EDAIC against national or regional qualifications, and cost is part of that comparison. The most common comparator for English-speaking candidates is the FRCA (Fellowship of the Royal College of Anaesthetists), the UK examination made up of the Primary FRCA and Final FRCA. The EDAIC is the broadly comparable pan-European diploma, but they are separate qualifications with different awarding bodies, different structures and entirely different fee schedules — so you cannot read across from one fee to the other. If you are genuinely choosing between routes, our comparison of the EDAIC versus the FRCA lays out the trade-offs beyond price alone.

Frequently asked questions

How much does EDAIC cost in total?

There is no single number, because the diploma is made up of separate assessments billed at different times. Your total depends on the Part 1 fee, the Part 2 fee, whether you pay member or non-member rates, your country's income tier, and any optional OLA assessment or resits. Use the official ESAIC/EDAIC fees page to add up the components for your situation — and budget separately for travel, especially for Part 2.

Is the EDAIC Part 1 fee the same as the Part 2 fee?

No. The Part 1 (written) and Part 2 (oral/SOE) examinations are charged independently, and you pay them in different exam cycles. You sit and pay for Part 1 first; only after passing it do you register and pay for Part 2. This separation actually helps, because it spreads the cost across two years rather than one.

Do international candidates pay less?

Often, yes. ESAIC scales exam fees by country income tier, so candidates based in lower- and middle-income countries are generally charged a reduced rate compared with those in high-income countries. ESAIC members also typically pay less than non-members. Check your specific tier and membership rate on the official fees page, and sort out your eligibility as an international doctor first.

Can I avoid the Part 1 exam fee through the OLA?

Possibly. The OLA (On-Line Assessment) uses Part 1-style content, and passing it under ESAIC's conditions can exempt you from sitting the Part 1 written exam — which changes your costs. The OLA is billed separately and is mainly relevant to candidates within an in-training pathway. Confirm the current conditions on the official site before relying on this route.

When is the 2026 exam, and has registration closed?

The Part 1 written exam for 2026 is confirmed for 19 September 2026. The registration window for that sitting has already closed, so do not treat any registration deadline as still open. For the current deadlines and the next cycle's dates and fees, check the official ESAIC/EDAIC (myESAIC) website, which is always the authoritative source.

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Understanding the fee structure is the easy part; passing on the first attempt is what truly protects your money. The smartest financial move you can make is to prepare well enough that you only pay each fee once. Create a free AnesCORE account to start practising today, and put the EDAIC question bank to work so that the exam fee you have committed to becomes a one-time cost, not a recurring one.