FRCS General Surgery - Section 1 revision

The part 1 of the FRCS examination in general surgery is the written component of the final examination sat by senior surgical trainees. From January 2021 the examination will comprise two papers of 2 hours and 15 minutes duration. Each paper will contain 120 questions which will be presented as single best answer format. This will not be any further extended matching format questions.

Candidates have four attempts at passing the exam.

The exam is usually delivered digitally via a specific online platform. Full details of this process are provided by the Joint Committee on Intercollegiate examinations. Visit https://www.jcie.org.uk for full details.

Questions can cover any aspect of the general surgical syllabus and there is considerable breadth to the topics covered. The level of knowledge required is generally that of a newly appointed consultant surgeon.

We have provided a comprehensive resource of topics that are relevant to the exam. The resource is being updated to reflect the changes to the FRCS exam format and I hope that this will provide a suitable adjunct to your studies.

Best wishes

Edward Smyth

MB, ChB, B Med Sci, DPhil, FRCS