# Practising for Neurosurgery (FRCS Neurosurgery oral) with MedMock

Canonical page: https://medmock.com/exams/neurosurgery-frcs-neurosurgery-oral

## What is the FRCS Neurosurgery viva, and how do you practise for it?

The Intercollegiate Specialty Examination in Neurosurgery (FRCS Neurosurgery) Section 2, set by the JCIE, is five sessions: two 40-minute clinicals and three 30-minute orals. In Clinical Intermediate Cases you see two volunteer patients; in Clinical Short Cases four clinical scenarios are discussed. The orals cover operative surgery and surgical anatomy, investigation of the neurosurgical patient including neuroradiology, and the non-operative clinical practice of neurosurgery. MedMock runs all five by voice. Physical examination is not simulated, and each Intermediate Cases sitting gives you one simulated patient rather than two volunteers. MedMock lets you practise it out loud against an AI examiner, with examiner-style feedback on any question you finish.

An illustrative example station, written by MedMock with example feedback, is at https://medmock.com/exams/neurosurgery-frcs-neurosurgery-oral/example

## What happens in the real FRCS Neurosurgery (checked against the official source on 2026-09-24)

Section 2 of the FRCS (Neurosurgery) is the clinical part of the exam, taken after passing the written Section 1. It has two 40-minute clinical sessions (intermediate cases: two volunteer encounters; short cases: four clinical scenario discussions) and three 30-minute orals. Examiners mark against the JCIE's marking descriptors on a scale of 4 to 8, and the pass standard is set at the level of a day one consultant in the generality of the specialty.

- **Clinical: intermediate cases** (40 minutes): Two cases in 40 minutes with volunteers, who are past or present patients relevant to the specialty, recruited by the host examiner.
- **Clinical: short cases** (40 minutes): Four cases in 40 minutes, run as clinical scenario discussions.
- **Oral: operative surgery and surgical anatomy** (30 minutes): A 30-minute oral on operative surgery and surgical anatomy.
- **Oral: investigation of the neurosurgical patient including neuro-radiology** (30 minutes): A 30-minute oral on investigating the neurosurgical patient, including neuro-radiology.
- **Oral: the non-operative clinical practice of neurosurgery** (30 minutes): A 30-minute oral on the non-operative clinical practice of neurosurgery.

Marking: Examiners use the JCIE marking descriptors, a rating scale from 4 to 8 covering basic knowledge, higher order processing, clinical skills and professionalism; a 6 describes competent knowledge, no major errors and safe practice. In the intermediate and short cases, generic skills are also assessed: information gathering and giving, professionalism and clinical conduct, structured approach and logical order, and clinical reasoning and judgement.

Passing: The JCIE states that the pass mark is set at the level of a day one consultant in the generality of the specialty. It does not publish a numerical pass mark for Section 2 or how the marks are combined.

Sources: https://www.jcie.org.uk/Utils/DocumentGenerator.aspx?Type=CMS&docID=eeeb9d9d-4052-4419-9c63-c003e4aafcfb https://www.jcie.org.uk/content/content.aspx?ID=15 https://www.jcie.org.uk/Utils/DocumentGenerator.aspx?Type=CMS&docID=386bbc69-2612-4727-8ed5-a0d8808ba9e7 https://www.jcie.org.uk/Utils/DocumentGenerator.aspx?Type=CMS&docID=58EA3EC7-DE60-4160-9D15-D8757F511D14 https://www.jcie.org.uk/content/content.aspx?ID=8 https://www.jcie.org.uk/Utils/DocumentGenerator.aspx?Type=CMS&docID=52bb7306-cbbd-4bd9-ba1e-f3d597feeb03 https://www.jcie.org.uk/Utils/DocumentGenerator.aspx?Type=CMS&docID=a40460eb-67b7-4919-9d70-857267d4d203
Full format page: https://medmock.com/exams/neurosurgery-frcs-neurosurgery-oral/format

## How to prepare for the FRCS Neurosurgery (facts checked against official sources on 2026-09-27)

FRCS (Neurosurgery) Section 2 is five sessions: two 40-minute clinicals (two volunteer patients in one, four scenario discussions in the other) and three 30-minute orals, marked on the JCIE's 4 to 8 descriptors at the standard of a day-one consultant in the generality of neurosurgery. Prepare from the neurosurgery curriculum and the JCIE syllabus blueprint, rehearse orals that run from a scenario to management and then complications, and have consultants observe you with real patients and question you on cases.

1. **Know your attempts and timeline** — You reach Section 2 by meeting the standard in Section 1's two written papers. Section 2 allows four attempts with no re-entry, counted together with any attempts at the Joint Surgical Colleges Fellowship Examination, and the whole process must be completed within seven years.
2. **Revise from the curriculum and the blueprint** — The JCIE tells candidates to consult the neurosurgery curriculum published by the SAC for the exam's scope, and its Neurosurgery Syllabus Blueprint 2023 marks which syllabus items Section 2 can assess. Work through the blueprint topic by topic and list the conditions you have not managed yourself.
3. **Learn how you are marked** — Examiners rate you from 4 to 8 on the JCIE marking descriptors, which cover basic knowledge, higher order processing, clinical skills and professionalism; a 6 is competent knowledge, no major errors and safe practice. The descriptors separate adequate responses with no or minimal prompting from poor ones that needed significant prompting, so practise giving complete answers without waiting to be led.
4. **Rehearse the oral structure** — The JCIE's sample orals open with a scenario and an introductory question, then move to management, applied pathophysiology or anatomy, and finally complications. Its question-writing guidance tells examiners to avoid simple recall and ask open questions that make you justify decisions as a day-one consultant, including unexpected events during surgery, so practise every topic through to its complications.
5. **Cover all three oral subjects** — The orals are operative surgery and surgical anatomy; investigation of the neurosurgical patient including neuroradiology; and the non-operative clinical practice of neurosurgery. For the investigation oral, practise interpreting plain films, CT and MRI aloud in a fixed order, since the JCIE's sample moves from a plain film to CT and then MRI.
6. **Prepare for both clinical sessions** — Intermediate cases use volunteers who are past or present patients recruited by the host examiner; short cases are clinical scenario discussions. In both, examiners also assess information gathering and giving, professionalism and clinical conduct, a structured and logical approach, and clinical reasoning and judgement. Ask consultants to watch you assess clinic patients and to question you on four cases in 40 minutes.
7. **Get the logistics right** — Section 2 is held at pre-selected host centres in the UK and Ireland. No allowance is made if you are late or absent through misreading the instructions or timetable, and withdrawing during the examination counts as an attempt.

Official resources:

- JCIE: Neurosurgery (https://www.jcie.org.uk/content/content.aspx?ID=15): The JCIE's neurosurgery page, linking the regulations, the syllabus blueprint and sample questions.
- Regulations relating to the Intercollegiate Specialty Examination in Neurosurgery (SR6) (https://www.jcie.org.uk/Utils/DocumentGenerator.aspx?Type=CMS&docID=eeeb9d9d-4052-4419-9c63-c003e4aafcfb): Eligibility, attempts and the Section 2 format, including the JCIE's guide to the scope and format of the examination.
- Neurosurgery Syllabus Blueprint 2023 (https://www.jcie.org.uk/Utils/DocumentGenerator.aspx?Type=CMS&docID=550e38a8-b518-432d-b212-dfc8ff15a3cf): The syllabus mapped to each assessment, with a column showing what Section 2 can test.
- JCIE Marking Descriptors (https://www.jcie.org.uk/Utils/DocumentGenerator.aspx?Type=CMS&docID=58EA3EC7-DE60-4160-9D15-D8757F511D14): The 4 to 8 rating grid examiners use; mark your practice answers against it.
- Intercollegiate Specialty Examination in Neurosurgery: sample oral questions (https://www.jcie.org.uk/Utils/DocumentGenerator.aspx?Type=CMS&docID=a40460eb-67b7-4919-9d70-857267d4d203): Three published oral items with key points for discussion and, for two of them, a competence guide of appropriate and inappropriate answers.
- Neurosurgery Curriculum (ISCP) (https://www.iscp.ac.uk/iscp/curriculum/neurosurgery-curriculum/): The specialty curriculum on the JCST's ISCP site, which the JCIE names as the guide to the exam's scope.

Common mistakes examiners report:

- Needing to be led. The JCIE descriptors rate 'poor responses which required significant prompting' at 5, below the competent 6. (source: https://www.jcie.org.uk/Utils/DocumentGenerator.aspx?Type=CMS&docID=58EA3EC7-DE60-4160-9D15-D8757F511D14)
- Suggesting a course of action that would harm a volunteer, which the descriptors place at the lowest rating, 4. (source: https://www.jcie.org.uk/Utils/DocumentGenerator.aspx?Type=CMS&docID=58EA3EC7-DE60-4160-9D15-D8757F511D14)
- Stopping at the first management step. In the JCIE's published sample, difficulty dealing with intra-operative complications is listed as an inappropriate performance. (source: https://www.jcie.org.uk/Utils/DocumentGenerator.aspx?Type=CMS&docID=a40460eb-67b7-4919-9d70-857267d4d203)

Sources: https://www.jcie.org.uk/Utils/DocumentGenerator.aspx?Type=CMS&docID=eeeb9d9d-4052-4419-9c63-c003e4aafcfb https://www.jcie.org.uk/Utils/DocumentGenerator.aspx?Type=CMS&docID=386bbc69-2612-4727-8ed5-a0d8808ba9e7 https://www.jcie.org.uk/Utils/DocumentGenerator.aspx?Type=CMS&docID=58EA3EC7-DE60-4160-9D15-D8757F511D14 https://www.jcie.org.uk/Utils/DocumentGenerator.aspx?Type=CMS&docID=52bb7306-cbbd-4bd9-ba1e-f3d597feeb03 https://www.jcie.org.uk/Utils/DocumentGenerator.aspx?Type=CMS&docID=a40460eb-67b7-4919-9d70-857267d4d203 https://www.jcie.org.uk/Utils/DocumentGenerator.aspx?Type=CMS&docID=550e38a8-b518-432d-b212-dfc8ff15a3cf https://www.jcie.org.uk/content/content.aspx?ID=15 https://www.iscp.ac.uk/iscp/curriculum/neurosurgery-curriculum/
Full guide: https://medmock.com/exams/neurosurgery-frcs-neurosurgery-oral/prepare

Upcoming sittings: from 4 March 2027 (Edinburgh); from 7 October 2027 (Leeds) (source: JCIE (the four surgical Royal Colleges), checked 2026-09-23).
All FRCS Neurosurgery dates: https://medmock.com/exams/neurosurgery-frcs-neurosurgery-oral#dates

## Stations you can practise

- **Clinical Intermediate Cases** — 40-minute clinical session. The real exam uses two volunteer patients; MedMock gives you one simulated patient per sitting, by voice and without physical examination. Information gathering and giving, professionalism and clinical reasoning are assessed.
- **Clinical Short Cases** — 40-minute clinical session in which four clinical scenarios are discussed with the examiners, one after another. No patient is present.
- **Operative Surgery and Surgical Anatomy** — 30-minute oral on operative neurosurgery and the surgical anatomy behind it: approaches, anatomical relations and the decisions you make in theatre.
- **Investigation of the Neurosurgical patient including Neuro‐Radiology** — 30-minute oral on investigating the neurosurgical patient, including the imaging: what you would request, what it shows and what it changes.
- **The Non‐Operative Clinical Practice of Neurosurgery** — 30-minute oral on the non-operative side of neurosurgery: medical management, critical care, rehabilitation, prognosis and the decision not to operate.

## Sample FRCS Neurosurgery questions

- *Investigation of the Neurosurgical patient including Neuro‐Radiology:* Examiner image viva: MRI showing thoracic spinal cord injury. Describe findings.
- *Clinical Short Cases:* Please demonstrate the focused clinical assessment of a patient with pituitary apoplexy.

## Example scenarios

- *Operative Surgery and Surgical Anatomy:* Discuss the surgical approach and complications of clipping a ruptured middle cerebral artery aneurysm.
- *Clinical Short Cases:* A 58-year-old man has a six-month history of clumsy hands and an unsteady gait. How would you assess him, and what would change your management?

## How a practice session works

1. **Choose a question** — Pick from the FRCS Neurosurgery questions — all 5 that MedMock runs, or let MedMock surprise you the way exam day will.
2. **Have the conversation** — Speak naturally, out loud. The AI examiner listens, follows up and probes further, exactly like the viva.
3. **Get instant feedback** — The moment you finish, you get specific, examiner-style feedback and a score — what you did well, what cost you marks, and precisely what to fix before the next attempt.

## Price

Start with a one-off £5 taster: 30 credits (30 minutes of speaking practice), not a subscription. After that, or instead, £119 per month for 600 credits. One credit is one minute of spoken practice, or two typed exchanges, and where the examiner or patient speaks first, that opening line is free. Examiner scorecards, mark schemes and model answers for finished sessions are included at no extra credit cost. Cancel at any time. Full details: https://medmock.com/pricing

## Frequently asked questions

### How does the feedback work?

When you finish a question you can have it marked, and the scorecard comes back in seconds — what you did well, what cost you marks, and exactly what to work on next. Scorecards, mark schemes and model answers are included at no extra credit cost.

### Can I practise specific FRCS Neurosurgery questions?

Yes. You can pick any of the 5 questions to drill a weak area, or run a mixed set to simulate the real exam.

### How much does it cost?

You can start with a one-off £5 taster: 30 credits, which is 30 minutes of speaking practice, with no subscription. After that, or at any time, you can choose a monthly plan, which includes a monthly credit allowance. Current prices are on the pricing page.

## About MedMock

MedMock is a web app for practising the spoken parts of UK medical and dental exams and interviews out loud. The candidate talks; an AI patient, examiner or interview panel answers in real time by voice; and when the station ends MedMock marks the performance against that exam's assessment domains and shows the model answer.

It covers 104 spoken exams and interviews — OSCEs, vivas, structured oral exams, simulated consultations, and specialty-training and consultant interviews. It does not cover written or multiple-choice papers, and it is not a question bank.

It was founded by Mr Sam Nahas, MBBS BSc MEd FRCS (Tr & Orth), a practising consultant orthopaedic surgeon in the UK, with co-founder and CTO Arjan Jandu. It is operated by VirtualPatients Ltd (company no. 16303492).

Pricing: a one-off £5 taster of 30 credits to try it (not a subscription, one per account), and a monthly subscription from £20 to £129 depending on the exam (student exams cost least, fellowship exit exams and consultant interviews most), or £199 to £275 for the Intensive plans, which carry more credits. One credit is one minute of spoken practice, or two typed exchanges, and where the examiner or patient speaks first, that opening line is free. Examiner scorecards, mark schemes and model answers for finished sessions are included at no extra credit cost. Subscriptions can be cancelled at any time.

It runs in a web browser on a laptop or phone; spoken practice needs a microphone. There is no public demo: practice needs an account with credits, usually from the taster or a monthly plan.

MedMock is for adults aged 18 or over. Sign-up asks every new account to confirm it.

MedMock is a revision tool. The patients, examiners and cases are fictional and AI-generated; it is not clinical guidance and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any Royal College, the GMC, the GDC or any examining body.

Start with the £5 taster: https://medmock.com/auth/signup