I Know How It Feels to Fail This Exam- The FRCS (Plastic Surgery)

The FRCS (Plast) written curriculum is enormous. I know, because I failed it.

I scored 151 when the pass mark was 158.

At my next sitting though, I passed with 183 (pass mark 154). What was the difference between the two?

The difference wasn't that I suddenly started working harder. I was already putting in the hours. I'd read Essentials in Plastic Surgery, Key Notes in Plastic Surgery, guidelines and past papers.

The problem wasn't understanding the material. It was recalling it quickly enough under exam conditions.

Time under exam pressure creates an additional submerging feeling

When you're faced with a long clinical vignette and five plausible answers, success comes down to remembering the small details:

• Are neutrophils or macrophages dominant on day 3 of wound healing?

• Is the most common thumb duplication Wassel I or Wassel IV?

• Is pectoralis minor a Mathes & Nahai Type 1 or Type 3 muscle?

• Does the radial nerve pass through the triangular space or the triangular interval?

• Is ulnar nerve compression caused by the ligament of Struthers or the arcade of Struthers?

  
  

Those details are the difference between passing and failing.

That's when I changed how I studied. Instead of repeatedly reading the same textbooks, I focused on strengthening my recall of every detail on-the go, between cases at work, when on call in hopsital and when sitting behind my cmputer desk.

The resources

Plastic Surgery Board Exam Podcast

I made a free podcast covering the FRCS (Plast) curriculum— ideal for commuting, exercising, or when I was too tired to read.

Available on Spotify, YouTube & Apple Podcasts

Plastic Surgery Board Exam Anki Deck

I converted my notes , sourced directly from key text references and UK guidelines into high-quality ANKI flashcards, 7800 to be exact. Using ANKI's spaced repetition, on my computer, on my phone, during on calls, between cases, I used the Plastic Surgery Board Exam ANKI deck to recite details from across the entire curriculum and passed the exam, with good margin too. I was the first guinea pig and when i saw my results I was very happy with the experiement results!

MRCS Accelerator

After seeing the impact Anki had on my own exam performance, I recommended it to a friend who was retaking the MRCS Part A. We built the same style of curriculum-based Anki resource, based on the MRCS Part A cirriculum with additional focus on popular topics and exam themes. As with any good story, he also passed on his next attempt and we called it, The MRCS Accelerator.

If you're preparing for the FRCS (Plast) written exam, my hope is that this deck helps you avoid the mistake I made—spending hundreds of hours reading without building the rapid recall the exam demands. The same applies for the MRCS.

They are focused

They are high volume

They work

There is no magic trick, it just requires hard work over a long enough period of time with afew resources. Whether you have used ANKI before or not try the deck you are interested in out here:

ANKI Trial Deck