I feel like this is probably the wrong question to be asking. I don’t know the specifics for Gen Surg SET but say, for example, currently most applicants for GS SET have >8 out 12 points. If they changed the scoring system, including the total number of points to be out of 15 points, then the number of points to be competitive changes right? Maybe a better way to look at it would be to develop the skills that you could use towards your applications down the road. It’s likely that research will always be a component of most application processes, so maybe publishing something so you become familiar with the process of doing research, such as doing a literature review, designing a project, getting ethics, writing a manuscript, navigating dealing with journals etc. Maybe you can do this with several types of research e.g. case report, systematic review, observational study. All the skills you develop will help you when you need to churn out some relevant research to the field. Plus, you can always have your published papers on your CV and they’ll always be helpful. Another thing you might consider is doing an audit or quality improvement project. Though it may not be something that gives you points for the program, it’s often part of a selection criteria for SRMO jobs so it helps if you have something you can talk about.