The object of this study was to determine if the case exposure of the surgical clerks was a complete learning experience. The surgical cases identified as clinically important for the surgical clerk were divided into 18 related groups. The average number of important cases seen by the clerks was 63 × 18%. The number of cases seen by the clerks was higher in the first rotations and then decreased during the year. The number of cases seen correlated significantly to the clerks career choice (r=0.98 p < 0.001). This explained the changing pattern of case interest and exposure by the clerks during the year. The study also demonstrated that the clerks' case experience was incomplete due to the specialisation of the general surgical services. The study concludes that the clerks' case experience is incomplete. To improve the situation it is concluded that the students should (i) rotate to surgical clinics more often, (ii) rotate to smaller general hospitals, and (iii) use computer simulated problems and patients to complete their surgical exposure.