Trauma & Orthopaedic (FRCS T&O oral)
Sit your FRCS T&O viva after rehearsing every answer out loud
Rehearse FRCS T&O Trauma & Orthopaedics viva scenarios out loud against a senior examiner who probes your reasoning. Get examiner-style feedback on any station you finish, in seconds.
What is the FRCS T&O viva, and how do you practise for it?
The JCIE publishes the FRCS T&O Section 2 format in one place — policy SR11 v8.0, “Examination format (from August 2022)”. It is four 30-minute orals (adult elective orthopaedics including spine; trauma including spine; children's orthopaedics / hand and upper limb; applied basic sciences) and four 15-minute clinical stations: “Clinical Intermediate Cases (2 x 15 minutes)” and “Clinical Short Cases (1 x 15 minutes Upper Limb / 1 x 15 minutes Lower Limb)”. SR11 also says which of them uses a real person: “Volunteers are used for Intermediate Cases. Clinical scenarios are used for Short Cases.” MedMock runs all eight by voice. Two things here are MedMock's own and are labelled as such wherever they appear. First, the intermediate cases run WITHOUT hands-on examination — you take the history and the examiner supplies the findings — so they practise history, interpretation and discussion, not examination technique, and the JCIE's published “Clinical examination skills” domain cannot be assessed on this platform. Second, the way a 30-minute oral is divided inside the half hour is MedMock's practice structure: examiner pairs are official (GMC-approved T&O curriculum 5.3.6, “independently marked by examiners working in pairs”), but the JCIE publishes no handover time and no topic count, and its own oral question template shows one theme taken through three progressively harder questions. The JCIE publishes no aggregation rule, pass mark or domain weighting for Section 2, so MedMock reports a practice score and never a predicted result. MedMock lets you practise it out loud against an AI examiner, with examiner-style feedback on any question you finish.
Last updated 29 October 2026
FRCS T&O viva practice, on demand
MedMock gives you a senior examiner who probes your reasoning, available 24/7. Pick a question, have a spoken conversation, and ask for examiner-style feedback when you finish, scored against what genuinely matters in the FRCS T&O.
How it works
Choose a question
Pick from the FRCS T&O questions — all 9 that MedMock runs, or let MedMock surprise you the way exam day will.
Have the conversation
Speak naturally, out loud. The AI examiner listens, follows up and probes further, exactly like the viva.
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.
Practise every station
MedMock covers the questions you will face in the FRCS T&O viva. Rehearse each one until it feels routine.
Adult elective orthopaedics including spine
30-minute JCIE oral table on adult elective orthopaedics including spine. Each topic opens with a clinical scenario, often with imaging, and is taken through clinic approach, management and complications before the examiner moves on. Examiner pairs are official; the six topics of roughly five minutes and the handover halfway are MedMock's practice structure, not a published JCIE format.
Trauma including spine
30-minute JCIE oral table on trauma including spine. Each topic opens with a case, often with imaging, and is taken through classification and biomechanics, treatment strategy, and soft-tissue / complication management. Examiner pairs are official; the six topics of roughly five minutes and the handover halfway are MedMock's practice structure, not a published JCIE format.
Children’s orthopaedics / Hand and upper limb
30-minute JCIE oral table on children's orthopaedics and hand / upper limb. Each topic is taken through presentation anatomy and diagnosis, management, and complications or procedural approach. Examiner pairs are official; the six topics of roughly five minutes and the handover halfway are MedMock's practice structure, not a published JCIE format.
Applied basic sciences related to orthopaedics, including anatomy and surgical approaches, pathology, biomechanics, audit, methodology & outcome based medicine
30-minute JCIE oral table on applied basic sciences — surgical anatomy and approaches, pathology, biomechanics and biomaterials, and audit / methodology / outcome-based medicine, each often opened from a stimulus such as a departmental guideline or a radiograph. Examiner pairs are official; the six topics of roughly five minutes and the handover halfway are MedMock's practice structure, not a published JCIE format.
Intermediate case 1 — history & discussion
15-minute Clinical Intermediate Case. In the real exam a volunteer — a past or present patient — is in the room and you examine them. MedMock has no patient to examine, so this station is a platform adaptation: you take a focused orthopaedic history, then the examiner supplies the examination findings verbally with relevant imaging and leads the discussion — interpretation, differential, investigations, management and complications. It practises history, interpretation and discussion, not examination technique, and the JCIE's “Clinical examination skills” domain cannot be assessed here. The JCIE publishes no anatomical split and no internal timing for the intermediate cases; drawing this one from the upper limb and spine, and the five-minute history, are MedMock's own choices.
Intermediate case 2 — history & discussion
15-minute Clinical Intermediate Case. In the real exam a volunteer — a past or present patient — is in the room and you examine them. MedMock has no patient to examine, so this station is a platform adaptation: you take a focused orthopaedic history, then the examiner supplies the examination findings verbally with relevant imaging and leads the discussion — interpretation, differential, investigations, management and complications. It practises history, interpretation and discussion, not examination technique, and the JCIE's “Clinical examination skills” domain cannot be assessed here. The JCIE publishes no anatomical split and no internal timing for the intermediate cases; drawing this one from the lower limb, and the five-minute history, are MedMock's own choices.
Short cases — upper limb
15-minute Clinical Short Case station, upper limb. The JCIE runs these on clinical scenarios rather than on a volunteer patient, so MedMock runs this station the way the exam runs it: the examiner opens each case on a scenario, often a clinical photograph or radiograph, and takes you through what you see, how you would examine for it and what you would expect to find, the named clinical tests and what a positive result means, then diagnosis and management. The JCIE does not publish how many short cases sit inside the 15 minutes; MedMock runs three of about five minutes, which is MedMock's structure.
Short cases — lower limb
15-minute Clinical Short Case station, lower limb. The JCIE runs these on clinical scenarios rather than on a volunteer patient, so MedMock runs this station the way the exam runs it: the examiner opens each case on a scenario, often a clinical photograph or radiograph, and takes you through what you see, how you would examine for it and what you would expect to find, the named clinical tests and what a positive result means, then diagnosis and management. The JCIE does not publish how many short cases sit inside the 15 minutes; MedMock runs three of about five minutes, which is MedMock's structure.
5 Minute Drill
One topic from a real oral, not a whole station. MedMock runs the 30-minute JCIE orals as six topics of about five minutes each — that shape is MedMock's practice structure, not a published JCIE format — and this is a single one of those topics, examined the same way, for drilling a weak area between full mocks. Pick any topic across the syllabus, or take a random one.
Sample FRCS T&O questions
Two questions from the topics that come up most in MedMock's FRCS T&O bank.
“Why does acute haematogenous osteomyelitis begin in the metaphysis, and how does the local anatomy dictate where the pus goes and how you drain it? Include the joints where the anatomy converts osteomyelitis into septic arthritis.”
“A 65-year-old woman with adhesive capsulitis. Discuss management.”
Example scenarios
A sample of the FRCS T&O scenarios you can practise, each as a spoken conversation.
“A 25-year-old polytrauma patient with a Gustilo IIIb open tibial fracture, 5 cm segmental bone loss, and absent distal pulses after splinting. Talk through your damage-control strategy, the orthoplastic plan under BOAST 4, and limb-salvage vs amputation decision-making.”
“A 68-year-old with painful knee osteoarthritis despite non-operative care. Discuss your assessment, suitability for knee replacement, and management of complications.”
“A 5-year-old with a displaced Gartland III supracondylar humeral fracture post-fall, AIN palsy, hand pink and pulseless. Discuss assessment, classification, management and consent the parents.”
“Describe the deltopectoral approach to the shoulder and the structures at risk, discuss the biomechanics of glenoid component wear in modern reverse arthroplasty design, and outline an audit cycle around 30-day readmission after primary shoulder arthroplasty.”
“A 58-year-old right-hand-dominant electrician with six months of night pain and weakness in the right shoulder. Take a focused history; the examiner will then give you the examination findings and imaging, and discuss diagnosis, investigations and management with you.”
“A 68-year-old with groin pain on walking, now limiting them to 400 yards, ten years after a right total hip replacement. Take a focused history; the examiner will then give you the examination findings and radiographs, and discuss the differential for the painful THR and your management plan.”
“Look at this photograph of a 54-year-old's hand. Describe what you see. How would you examine this patient, what would you expect to find, and which clinical tests would you use? Then take me through your diagnosis and management.”
“This 62-year-old walks in with the gait you can see here. Describe it. How would you examine the hip and knee for this, what would you expect to find, and what would you do next?”
FRCS T&O dates 2026–27
The next FRCS T&O sitting we hold is: from 7 February 2027 (Edinburgh). Checked against JCIE (the four surgical Royal Colleges) on 23 September 2026.
Time until from 7 February 2027 (Edinburgh)
— d — h — m — sJCIE publishes the first day of each Trauma & Orthopaedic Surgery Section 2 diet; the oral exam runs over several days from that date. Application deadlines fall three to five months earlier.
Exam dates change. MedMock is not affiliated with JCIE (the four surgical Royal Colleges); confirm every date, application window and venue on the official site before you book. JCIE (the four surgical Royal Colleges)
FRCS T&O practice — your questions answered
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 T&O questions?
Yes. You can pick any of the 9 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.
Formats change from year to year: check the official candidate guidance or applicant handbook from the body that runs your exam or interview (the Royal Colleges, NHS England, the GMC and others) for your sitting.
Ready for your FRCS T&O viva?
Rehearse real FRCS T&O scenarios out loud and get instant, examiner-style feedback.
- Instant, personalised feedback
- Real voice-to-voice conversation
- Repeatable attempts, a different run every time
Be ready for your FRCS T&O viva before you walk in
Start with the £5 taster, a one-off payment for 30 credits: practise FRCS T&O viva scenarios out loud and get any of them marked when you are ready.
Practise the FRCS T&O viva