Everyone Works Differently but This Was My Take on the Exam

FRCS Experience:

Everyone works differently but this was my take on the exam.

Did the UKITE in December didn’t excel myself but this was perfect to get myself into gear to start proper revision for the MCQ’s in June.

MCQ’s

I thought they were fairly random. I think it’s just a case of bookwork, some people go on the Miller revision course (I was warned off it...too costly for what you got). 5% of the whole exam is reviewing a paper.

My tactic was to buy every book. I used the following:

Post Graduate Orthopaedics MCQ’s and EMQ’s for the FRCS (Orth). Sri Ram

Excellent.

Orthopaedic Surgery review, questions and answers. Sokolowski

Not many people get this book but I think I used it more than any other. Good points for the MCQs and picks out the essential bits.

Miller. Used it a bit

Current Orthopaedic practice: a concise guide for postgraduate exams Agarwal

This is much easier to read than Miller, doesn’t go into as much detail.

Orthopaedic Basic Science for the postgraduate examination. Dawson-Bowling

Worth doing but very difficult.

Apley. Never opened it

First Aid for the Orthopaedic boards. Malinzak.

Concise, certainly not essential to get.

The Black Book.

Quite old now but still worth doing.

Basic Orthopaedic Science. The Stanmore Guide. Ramachandran

Very good, especially for the viva’s.

Anatomy: Hoppenfeld and Netter’s. Netter’s is shorter and has all the information in it.

Orthobullets MCQ’s: Fine, but not that similar to the exam

Orthobullets webinars: Excellent

Viva’s and clinicals.

Had MCQ’s in June took one month off. Then started for the orals in November.

Everyone says get a study group. I found this logistically quite difficult, but if you can I would do it.

I met up with someone from NW Thames about 10 times and we just went through examinations, which was helpful.

Did a couple of sessions with bosses at RLH, these were very helpful. And a few sessions at Stanmore seeing patients.

I also did quite a lot of courses. This was my take on them:

ORUK Basic Science course in London.Lectures in the morning viva’s pm, two day course. Did it a year before the exam to scare myself. Good course.

RCS anatomy course for FRCS Orth. Good course (although I thought the Wessex anatomy day was a lot better).

Cardiff Spinal FRCS Course. If you haven’t done a great deal of spines this is excellent. Viva’s and clinicals.

Chertsey FRCS course.2 day course, only £100. Only about 8 people on the course, covered a lot of basic sciences and lots of viva’ing, 2 long days.

BOFAS foot and ankle course. This a free 2 day course, they keep saying its not targeted towards the exam (it is!) and people of different levels on the course. But they get in a lot of patients. I would highly recommend it.

Bristol Paeds FRCS Course. 2 day course lectures, viva’s, clinicals. Excellent, all 3 questions I had in my paeds viva I had been asked on the course.

Imperial FRCS course. This is a 4 day course (expensive), viva’s and clinicals. By the 4th afternoon people are losing interest, I felt it ran on reputation, was slightly disorganized. (That’s purely my view). Other people speak highly of it.

Wessex Clinical and anatomy course. This was a new course. Did it 2 weeks before the exam. V reasonably priced only 12 people on it. Was excellent. Groups of 3, 12 stations and each person got a long case at each station. V realistic. Then on the 3rd day anatomy, 6 viva stations covering every area and approach.

The exam:

It’s stressful.

I also bought: FRCS trauma and Orthopaedics viva: Davies. Worth getting and similar to the style of questions being asked.

Post graduate Orthopaedics: viva guide for the FRCS (TrOrth) Examination. Banaszkiewiccz. Very good

I didn’t get round to doing it but on the people in the Northern Deanery have put on the website the questions they were asked. A lot of people say this was very useful.

Clinicals:

Upper Limb short:

FPL rupture, Mannerfelt syndrome

SNAC wrist

Massive supraspinatus tear, biceps rupture

Lower limb short:

Scoliosis

Morton’s neuroma!

Girdlestones procedure

Upper limb long:

SLAC wrist...talked all about PRC and 4 corner fusion, differences etc

Lower limb long:

V mild hip OA in someone who wasn’t really in any pain, with proximal femur racture when they were younger

Viva’s

Adult path:

Caudaequina

NecrotisingFascitiis, how do all the organisms work etc (!!)

Shoulder dislocation

Osteosarcoma

Metal on metal resurfacing

Valgus knee in a young man

Trauma:

Old achilles tendon rupture management, how to do the operation for this

Hip fracture (this was tricky examiner wanted evidence why we use a cemented polished taper rather than a Thompson’s....couldn’t give him the evidence, just said follow guidelines)

SH 2 distal tibia (these 3 cases were tricky)

LisFranc/ foot compartment syndrome

Supracondylar

Periprostheticdistsal femoral fracture management (had done exactly the same case in a viva session with PB)

Hands and paeds:

Flexor tendon rupture

Volar plate injury

SNAC

Calcaneonavicular coalition

DDH in an older patient

Proximal femoral fracture in a simple bone cyst

Basic science:

Bone and how do osteocytes work

Nerves of foot and all the incisions you make for different cases and what nerves are at risk

Prosthetics and how they work (the week before the exam I read through the whole of the Ramachandran BS book but left out the chapter on prosthetics as I thought it would never be asked!)

Fracture healing (in quite a lot of detail)

Infections in theatre, laminar flow

Metalossis (the science behind it)

Good luck. You need a very supportive family before embarking on the journey!