Primary and Final FRCA examinations regulations

All sections have to be passed to pass the whole examination at Primary and Final levels.
In all sections of the examination, the performance of borderline candidates is reviewed by the board of examiners before the final marks are awarded. The Board reserves the right to review a candidate who performs particularly badly in any sub-section. If, in the opinion of the examiners, a candidate’s answers in the SOEs have been dangerous then the candidate’s performance is reviewed by the Board of Examiners before the marks are confirmed. The Chair reserves the right to send a letter to the candidate where, in the opinion of the Board of Examiners, poor performance raises concern. Letters are designed to inform a candidate of ways to improve their performance and to offer College support.

Primary FRCA Examination

Multiple Choice Question (MCQ) examination

One mark will be awarded for each correct answer in the MTF section of the paper and four marks will be awarded for each correct question in the SBA section. Negative marking is not used. The marks for each section of the MCQ are combined to produce the total mark. With 30 MTF and 60 SBA questions, the maximum mark obtainable for the MCQ paper is 390 marks. 

The pass mark is provisionally set by the examiners using a modified Angoff standard setting method approved by the GMC. To allow for the examination’s reliability this mark is subject to a Standard Error of Measurement (SEM) adjustment to give the final pass mark. The MCQ core group reserve the right to remove questions from the overall marks, where error or ambiguity is found. Candidates will not be disadvantaged where this occurs.

Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE)

Each station is marked out of 20 with the pass mark (the Angoff score) for each station/question being determined by the examiners before the examination, using modified Angoff referencing. The Angoff score for each of the 16 live stations are summed to obtain the pass mark for the whole examination. Up to two additional (test) stations may be included in an examination to test new questions. Neither the candidates nor the examiners will know which stations these are and the marks will not contribute to the final result.

Structured Oral Examination (SOE)

Two examiners mark each part of the SOE. Both examiners independently mark every question. There are 12 questions, 2 marks are given for a pass, 1 mark for a borderline performance and 0 marks for a fail, giving a maximum total score of 48 marks. The pass mark is 37 which was determined using two years of data from the pre -2009 exams.

Final FRCA Examination

Final FRCA Written Section

The pass mark for the written section is the sum of the percentage pass marks of the MCQ and CRQ papers. The pass mark for each paper will be calculated as a percentage and rounded down to two decimal places. The resultant pass mark for each paper will be added together and the combined percentage score will be rounded down to one decimal place, which will be the published examination pass mark. Candidate combined scores will also be given to one decimal place, with scores rounded up.

Multiple Choice Question (MCQ) examination

One mark will be awarded for each correct answer in the MTF section of the paper and four marks will be awarded for each correct question in the SBA section. Negative marking is not used. The marks for each section of the MCQ are combined to produce the total mark. With 30 MTF and 60 SBA questions, the maximum mark obtainable for the MCQ paper is 390 marks. 

The pass mark is provisionally set by the examiners using a modified Angoff standard setting method approved by the GMC. To allow for the examination’s reliability this mark is subject to a Standard Error of Measurement (SEM) adjustment to give the final pass mark. The MCQ core group reserve the right to remove questions from the overall marks, where error or ambiguity is found. Candidates will not be disadvantaged where this occurs.

Constructed Response Question (CRQ) examination

All 12 questions must be attempted.  Each question is marked out of 20 with the pass mark for each question being determined by the examiners collectively before the examination using a modified Angoff standard setting method.

Examiners mark two questions each therefore each exam paper has a total of six separate examiners marking using strict marking guides. Before the marking process begins, all examiners attend a standard setting meeting which ensures the accuracy and consistency of marking is of a high standard. The pass marks for the 12 questions are summed to give a total mark for the whole paper. To allow for the examination’s reliability this mark is subject to a Standard Error of Measurement (SEM) adjustment to give the final pass mark.

Structured Oral Examination (SOE)

Two examiners are present for each subsection of the SOE (SOE1A, SOE1B and SOE2). Each examiner marks every question independently. Linked clinical short cases and science questions are marked separately. Therefore, there are 12 questions/sections, four linked short cases, four linked science questions, two sections of a long case and two stand-alone short cases. Examiners can apply a score of 0, 1 or 2 for each question/section, giving a total of 48 marks. The pass mark is determined using standard setting methods approved by the GMC.