# Practising for Vascular Surgery (FRCS Vascular oral) with MedMock

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

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

JCIE intercollegiate exit oral — four 30-minute examiner-led stations covering aneurysm and lower-limb disease, endovascular intervention, vascular emergencies, and elective vascular surgery with academic foundation, plus the 40-minute Short Cases session in which clinical scenarios are discussed. The long cases use real patients and are not simulated here. Examiners grade each scenario from 4 to 8 against the standard of a day-one consultant; MedMock's feedback marks to that standard but reports practice scores, not JCIE grades. MedMock lets you practise it out loud against an AI examiner, with examiner-style feedback on any question you finish.

## What happens in the real FRCS Vascular (checked against the official source on 2026-09-27)

Section 2 of the FRCS (Vascular Surgery) is the clinical part of the exam, taken after passing the written Section 1. It has two 40-minute clinicals, Long Cases (two volunteer patients are seen) and Short Cases (four clinical scenarios are discussed), and four 30-minute orals: two case-based discussions (aneurysm and lower limb; endovascular and miscellaneous), an emergency vascular surgery oral, and an elective vascular surgery oral that includes academic foundation. 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: Long Cases** (40 minutes): A 40-minute clinical in which two volunteers are seen: past or present patients relevant to the specialty, recruited by the host examiner.
- **Clinical: Short Cases** (40 minutes): A 40-minute clinical in which four clinical scenarios are discussed.
- **Oral: Case-Based Discussion – Aneurysm & Lower Limb** (30 minutes): A 30-minute case-based discussion in which two cases are covered.
- **Oral: Case-Based Discussion – Endovascular & Miscellaneous** (30 minutes): A 30-minute case-based discussion in which two cases are covered.
- **Oral: Emergency Vascular Surgery** (30 minutes): A 30-minute oral covering two themes in trauma and four themes in peri-operative management and critical care.
- **Oral: Elective Vascular Surgery** (30 minutes): A 30-minute oral covering four themes in basic principles and interventional radiology, and Academic Foundation: understanding and methodology analysis, critical appraisal and interpretation. You may be tested on any one of the key published randomised controlled trials and important vascular papers chosen by the SAC in Vascular Surgery; the list is available through the Vascular Surgery curriculum on the ISCP website.

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 4 describes poor basic knowledge and a lack of understanding to a level of concern; a 6 describes competent knowledge, no major errors and safe practice; an 8 describes excellent basic knowledge and knowing the breadth and depth of the topic.

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=a067854a-66b4-406a-91fd-c442a5c85ff8 https://www.jcie.org.uk/content/content.aspx?ID=44 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/content/content.aspx?ID=7
Full format page: https://medmock.com/exams/vascular-surgery-frcs-vascular-oral/format

Upcoming sittings: from 9 November 2026 (Hull); from 10 May 2027 (venue to be confirmed); from 15 November 2027 (venue to be confirmed) (source: JCIE (the four surgical Royal Colleges), checked 2026-09-23).
All FRCS Vascular dates: https://medmock.com/exams/vascular-surgery-frcs-vascular-oral#dates

## Stations you can practise

- **Case‐Based Discussion – Aneurysm & Lower Limb** — Probes management of AAA, carotid disease, peripheral arterial disease, and lower-limb revascularisation, anchored against ESVS / NICE NG156 / VSGBI standards.
- **Case‐Based Discussion – Endovascular & Miscellaneous** — Probes endovascular planning and execution — EVAR / FEVAR / TEVAR sizing, complications, endoleak typology — plus dialysis access, venous disease, and rarer vascular pathology.
- **Emergency Vascular Surgery Oral** — Trauma and peri-operative critical care: ruptured AAA (IMPROVE evidence base), acute limb ischaemia (Rutherford classification), penetrating vascular trauma, traumatic aortic injury, acute mesenteric ischaemia.
- **Elective Vascular Surgery Oral** — Four basic principles and interventional radiology themes, then Academic Foundation: the methodology, critical appraisal and interpretation of one of the key randomised controlled trials or important vascular papers set by the SAC in Vascular Surgery. On MedMock the examiner names the trial and no paper is shown.
- **Short Cases** — Short Cases session: four clinical scenarios discussed with the examiners, one after another. No patient is present.

## Sample FRCS Vascular questions

- *Case‐Based Discussion – Endovascular & Miscellaneous:* A 75-year-old considering aortic graft replacement. Discuss approach.
- *Elective Vascular Surgery Oral:* A 65-year-old with 70% symptomatic carotid stenosis. Discuss CEA timing.

## Example scenarios

- *Case‐Based Discussion – Aneurysm & Lower Limb:* A 70-year-old man with a 6 cm infrarenal AAA on screening surveillance — discuss surveillance versus intervention, anatomical suitability for EVAR, and your evidence base from EVAR-1, EVAR-2 and IMPROVE.
- *Case‐Based Discussion – Endovascular & Miscellaneous:* Walk me through anatomical suitability for EVAR in a 70-year-old with a hostile neck, your decision threshold for fenestrated repair, and management of a type II endoleak with 5 mm sac expansion at 2-year surveillance.
- *Emergency Vascular Surgery Oral:* A 75-year-old collapses in resus with a tender pulsatile abdominal mass, BP 80 systolic — manage him to theatre using IMPROVE-anchored permissive hypotension and walk through your EVAR-first strategy.
- *Elective Vascular Surgery Oral:* Critically appraise BASIL-2 (Lancet 2023) — primary outcome, sample size, risk of bias, and applicability to UK CLTI practice alongside BEST-CLI.

## How a practice session works

1. **Choose a question** — Pick from the FRCS Vascular 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 Vascular 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