Objective To compare the last generation of 3-dimensional imaging (3D) vs standard 2-dimensional imaging (2D) laparoscopy on the effect of novice surgeon performance of minimally invasive surgical skills. Methods 18 novice surgeons performed 8 repetitions of 4 surgical skills tasks using a new passive polarising stereoscopic display under 3D and 2D conditions. The previously validated tasks used were pick beans, paper cut, pass the curved needle and knot tying. Outcome measures included total error rate and time for task completion. Results Novice surgeons demonstrated a significant reduction in error rates and a significant improvement in mean time for all the tasks using the 3D laparoscopy compared with the 2D laparoscopy. The mean time for novice surgeons to complete the entire protocol was 3343.24 s using 3D and 4151.88 s using 2D. This represents an improvement in mean performance time of 19.47% when novice surgeons used the 3D system compared with the 2D system. The mean number of errors performed by novice surgeons completing the entire protocol was 77.41 using 3D and 138.64 using 2D. This represents a 44.16% reduction in mean error rate when novice surgeons used the 3D system compared with the 2D system. Conclusion Passive polarising 3D displays significantly improve the novice surgeon performance during acquisition of laparoscopy surgical skills.