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by James Gill

FRCS part I

Key resources:

  • Miller’s Review of Orthopaedics by Mark D. Miller MD and Stephen R. Thompson
  • Miller lecture audio recordings
  • Orthobullets
  • Review Questions in Orthopaedics Dec. 2001 Craig et al (‘the Black Book’)
  • Postgraduate Orthopaedics: MCQs And EMQs for the FRCS (Tr & Ortho) – Kesavan Sri-Ram
  • FRCS (Tr&Orth) MCQs and Clinical Cases Vikas Khanduja

I tried to start one year before the exam however other commitments got in the way, I worked more consistently for eight months before the exam with a steady increase in application, motivation and fear. Start early to give yourself as much time as possible.

My approach was to read a chapter of Miller (~ 10 pages/hour). I would then read a section of Orthobullets from that Miller chapter, re-read the section in Miller and do the Orthobullets questions on it. I would read the explanations to the questions and highlight or annotate the learning points in Miller. I repeated this until I had covered all of Miller and orthobullets or just about. It is normal to run out of time. Throughout my revision I listened to Miller audio recordings while travelling to work again these complement the Miller text.

In the last two weeks before the exam I turned my attention to Sri Ram and the Black Book. I took a similar approach of re-reading chapters of Miller followed by doing the chapters of questions from Sri Ram and the Black Book. I also performed 60-minute Orthobullets tests consisting of questions from all topics.

Early in my preparations I started trying to make notes from Miller because I did not feel I was taking anything in however this slowed things down immensely and was not practical. Closer to the exam I kept a notebook to write down answers to some high yield topics and questions that I got incorrect repeatedly for example gene mutations.

My approach is just one approach, everyone who has passed part I becomes an expert on how to pass part I. Some good candidates do not get on with the format of Miller and do well without it. What I liked about Miller and Orthobullets is they are very consistent with one another and the questions of Orthobullets complement Miller. The questions in part I are more ambiguous than those of Orthobullets with more of an emphasis on clinical judgement. So, while the part I questions are quite different the process of doing Orthobullets questions stimulates learning.

Keys to success:

  • If I was doing it again I would be more ruthless about getting through Miller earlier in order to have more time to recover topics. You will not understand everything when reading Miller for the first time but do not worry just get through it. The more I read Miller the more I appreciated how good it was a resource.
  • Make sure you know the topic summaries at the end of each Miller chapter
  • Be organised and book leave to study in the run up to the exam. One can be extremely productive with the motivation of part I looming
  • Use the Black Book and Sri Ram questions in the last 2-3 weeks
  • If you have time do as many UKITE questions as you can
  • I kept a spreadsheet of my progress to keep me motivated
  • Clear yourself of other commitments where possible