How to Prepare for MRCS Part B: An 8-Week Plan

Most candidates have two to three months between their Part A result and their Part B date. Here is a practical eight-week plan built around how the OSCE is marked. Stretch or squeeze the weeks to fit your own timeline: the order matters more than the exact dates.

Before you start

• Check the current exam format and dates on the Intercollegiate MRCS website.
• Choose one main revision source for each domain instead of five half-read books.
• Find a study partner or group. Communication stations can't be practised alone.

Weeks 1 and 2: anatomy and examination routines

• Revise anatomy region by region (head and neck, thorax, abdomen, limbs, neuroanatomy), answering out loud as if to an examiner.
• Learn a fixed routine for each common clinical examination: neck lump and thyroid, breast, abdomen, hernia, arterial and venous, cranial nerves, joints.
• Practise every examination on a colleague, with a timer.

Weeks 3 and 4: pathology, critical care and procedures

• Work through surgical pathology: tumours, inflammation, healing, and the pathology behind common operations.
• Revise applied physiology and critical care: shock, fluids, blood gases, sepsis, the deteriorating patient and perioperative care.
• Rehearse procedural skills step by step: scrubbing and gowning, suturing and knot tying, excising a skin lesion, draining an abscess, catheterisation, chest drains and blood cultures.

Weeks 5 and 6: communication

• History taking: build a structure you can apply to any presenting complaint and still finish in time.
• Information giving: explain a diagnosis or operation in plain language, check understanding and handle questions.
• Phone calls: practise structured referrals and handovers. SBAR works well.
• Difficult conversations: angry relatives, breaking bad news, consent and refusal.

Week 7: a full mock under exam conditions

Sit at least one full mock marked by examiners who know the real mark sheets. Treat their feedback as your revision list for the final week.

Week 8: fix the gaps, then rest

• Go back only to the stations flagged in your mock feedback.
• Do short, timed run-throughs instead of long new reading.
• Sleep properly in the last few days. Fatigue costs more marks than one more chapter gains.

Five habits that make the difference

1. Always practise out loud.
2. Always practise against a timer.
3. Start every station the same way: introduce yourself, confirm the patient, explain and gain consent.
4. Finish every station with a summary and a safe plan.
5. When you are unsure, say what you would do to keep the patient safe and who you would call.

Our recorded lectures follow the same order as this plan, and you can book a one-to-one mock station with an examiner in any week you want feedback.