Face-to-Face Day

The face-to-face exam simulation viva practice is conducted on 2^nd Saturday of April, July, and December every year.

This course aims at giving candidates a real-life experience of FRCS part B exams with practice of long case, short cases, table vivas, and academic viva with 30 minutes paper reading time. Candidates practice and observe on each station in pairs. To maximise the peer learning benefits, the candidates are shuffled on each station.

The programme includes talks on exams structure, marking schemes, tips and tricks for viva in all aspects of exams.

The feedback is provided on improving viva techniques for different stations.

A marksheet is provided at the end of the course with the breakdown of marking in each component and faculty feedback.

Online Curriculum Revision

The online curriculum revision programme starts after April 2026. This is delivered via Zoom as an interactive session with timed viva practice embedded in the programme. The sessions are not recorded as they are tailored to each group and individual needs of candidates.

There are 3 blocks of the online revision programme.

Block 1: Subspecialist interest:

A: Colorectal – runs over 2 weeks. The sessions run from Monday-Thursday starting at 2000 and finishing once the topics of the day are covered. Extra sessions are to ensure the complete curriculum is covered.

B: UGI – runs over a weekend with morning and evening sessions on Saturday and Sunday.

C: HPB – runs over 2 weeks with the dates and times agreed by faculty and candidates.

Block 2: Critical Care, Emergency and Trauma surgery x 2 weeks with the same framework as Block A – Colorectal.

Block 3: General Surgery, Academic Viva and Biostatistics, Speciality Revision for Non-specialists x 2 weeks. In the speciality for non-specialists’ sessions, Colorectal candidates will have sessions of UGI and HPB, UGI candidates will have sessions of Colorectal and HPB, and HPB candidates will have sessions of UGI and Colorectal revision. All candidates will also have Breast and Endocrine surgery sessions.