Look, this is not the most comprehensive guide you will find. No, sir, I am too lazy for that and why even bother to improve on things which others have already done well. Think of this is a short funny guide to guide you to other guides. (No guarantees on the fun bit)
Why do you want to do the FRCR exams?
If you are thinking that this is a really weird way to start an FRCR guide, you would be quite correct.
- If you’re a trainee who literally cannot progress in training without passing these exams (Like UK and some other countries), this bit is totally not for you. You can skip right to the next heading: Eligibility.
- If you are an IMG looking to embellish themselves with an FRCR, I would ask you to thoroughly interrogate your own motives. If you find yourself unhappy in your home country and want to move to UK (or another country), then yes, please go ahead give RCR your money. If however, you think this degree will give you an advantage in your country, think again. Most hospitals prioritise service provision so it’s a good idea to do your research before you embark on this arduous journey.
Eligibility
If you are just getting started, you just need to know about the first one and I have good news for you.
Only one requirement if you are an IMG: You need to be in or have been in radiology training at some point in your life. That’s it. Rest is just details that you can check on the official page. If you are a UK trainee (or maybe from Singapore and Hong-Kong), you probably need to bother a bit with permissions from the programme director. Please take it seriusly and check it out.
Not happy? You want to know about the 2A and 2B requirement? Quite the planner, aren’t you? Well, if you must, I do have separate guides for them FRCR 2A and FRCR 2B.
First FRCR – Anatomy and Physics
The Royal College probably believes in that pain makes people stronger because that is the only reason why they make their physics exam so hard to pass. There are 40 questions (stems) each coupled with five answers (options) – all or none of the options can be correct/true/false – It’s a gnarly exam.
The Royal College is also reasonable and so they make their anatomy important very relevant and quite easy to pass. 90 questions in 100 minutes. Each question has an image and one (usually) arrow pointing to a structure that you have to identify. Left-right confusion/lateral-medial slip-ups/finger-toe counting errors are encouraged as it allows them to deduct marks.
You need to pass both of this exam before you can put the update on your Social Media that you passed the First FRCR. You also cannot sit for 2A or 2B – the website does’t even allow you to book those exams so it’s a silly warning but people still ask so I made it a point to clarify this.
To read more about how to get ready for battle, you can read my full article on First FRCR.
FRCR 2A aka Final FRCR Part A
This is a radiology exam that tests your knowledge and it somehow manages to do that without a single image in the exams. Oh you’re laughing now but believe me this exam can kick your ass if you do not prepare for it seriously. It has 120 Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) with a Single Best Answer (SBA) from five available choices that you answer in 180 minutes. I wouldn’t worry about the time too much because if you know the answers you finish with time to spare but if you don’t know the answer, time is going to be the least of your worries.
It provides equal weightage all 6 subspecialities equally so that’s something to keep in mind . By that I mean there will be thirty questions each from so the amount of time you have should be divided equally among these –
- Cardiothoracic and Vascular
- Musculoskeletal and Trauma
- Gastro-intestinal
- Genito-urinary, Adrenal, Obstetrics & Gynaecology and Breast
- Paediatric
- Central Nervous and Head & Neck
Here’s my full guide to the FRCR 2A.
FRCR 2B aka Final FRCR Part B
You have reached the final boss. This exam has two parts – written and oral. The written comprises rapids (which can fail you rapidly if you do not take it seriously) and Longs (which can cause long periods of pain if not given it’s due importance). It’s very difficult to bullshit your way out of this exam – it is designed to test you thoroughly and if you are caught unprepared, all your weaknesses will be laid bare for your viva examiners to see. But no pressure (lol). All kidding aside, exam takes serious prep especially if you are not comfortable presenting cases orally and unfamiliar with the way of the NHS.
The Written Component has the Rapids where you answer 30 radiographs in 35 minutes and you have to get 27 correct in order to pass. Then comes the Longs where you get 6 long cases where you have to write you detailed observation and inferences.
The viva component lasts 60 minutes with 4 vivas with 4 different examiners each lasting 15 minutes. They try as test you with multiple cases spanning all subspecialties and all levels of difficulty. Here’s my full guide to the FRCR 2B.
Pass Marks
While I will talk about this in a bit more detail in their respective sections, the most important bit of information is that the First FRCR and FRCR 2A are semi-competitive exams. I don’t know if that is a real term but what I mean by that is the pass marks are dynamic and vary each session. They depend upon a complicated formula that calculates the marks taking into account the difficulty of the questions (according to exam setters) and the scores of the candidates.
The FRCR 2B does not believe in all that and has clear pass marks for each of the components – this is not necessarily good news as it is the hardest exam overall but more on that later.
I want to know more about everything links
Some of you clearly aren’t happy with all the information I have provided above. It is evident that you seek more knowledge and nothing shall deter you. For that reason I have deigned to share some secret (or very commonly known) comprehensive guides that you should go through.
PS: None of them have paid me to put their links here. They are just decent people who have worked hard to curate content and write exhaustive guides for FRCR.
This was so helpful and am glad u didn bail out on the fun part ,lol