MRCS Part A Preparation
Advice and information to help pass MRCS part A
MRCS Part A Information
MRCS (membership of the royal college of surgeons) exam is a collegiate exam of the Royal College of Surgeons. It is needed to mainly to enter surgical specialty training but also to practice a surgical specialty at a higher level.
It consists of 2 parts- Part A and B . Part B can only be attempted after successfully completing part A. I will focus only on Part A in this website.
It occurs three times a year (January, May and September). September sitting is unofficially the hardest.
Part A consists of 2 papers sat on the same day.
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Paper 1: Applied Basic Science
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180 MCQ in 180 minutes
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Paper 2: Principles of Surgery in General
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120 MCQ in 120 minutes
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You have to gain atleast 70% in each paper with an overall passmark of 73% to pass the exam. The overall exam pass rate is approximately 40%.
When is the best time to sit the MRCS examination?
BMJ 2017; 356 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.j461 (Published 06 February 2017)Cite this as: BMJ 2017;356:j461
From the evidence, it is best to start early if possible. Medical school knowledge is useful for paper 1 and clinical knowledge is useful for paper 2. Paper 1 is the harder paper where people mainly fail on.
I would say 4 months are needed to prepare for the exam. In terms of going through exam banks- approximately 6000-8000 questions are needed to gain enough information. I would also state that the final percentage of the exam bank must be at least 80% to be confident of passing the exam.
Learning whilst working- it is vital to try and keep learning whilst working. Keep asking yourself how does that drug work or what are the common symptons/signs of the disease.
Aim to have a week off before the exam. Apply for this early to avoid conflict with others applying at the same time. Try and swap on-calls to after the exam to maximise weekends one month before the exam.
Try and choose a lessy busy rotation and minimise any other distractions e.g. QIP or any other projects. Especially in the last month before the exam.