FRCS (Plast) Section 1 Exam Guide

What is FRCS (Plast) Section 1?

The Intercollegiate Specialty Examination in Plastic Surgery — the FRCS (Plast) — is the specialty fellowship examination for plastic surgeons in the UK and Ireland, usually sat in the later years of higher specialty training. It is run by the JCIE on behalf of the four surgical Royal Colleges and taken in two sections: Section 1 is written, Section 2 clinical and oral.

The naming causes confusion. The JCIE’s regulations call the written component Section 1. Many trainees call it Part 1 and, colloquially, ‘Part A’. All three names describe the same two written papers.

Format

Section 1 is two Single Best Answer (SBA) papers, Paper 1 and Paper 2. Each paper has 120 questions and lasts 2 hours 15 minutes, which gives you a little over a minute per question. Both papers are computer-based and delivered at Pearson VUE test centres in the UK and Ireland.

Each question has five options. The four that are not best are usually plausible, and often right for a different patient, so the paper tests discrimination rather than recall.

Eligibility

Under the JCIE’s Regulations for the Intercollegiate Specialty Examination in Plastic Surgery (SR10 v8.0, last reviewed August 2025), to apply for Section 1 you must:

• hold a primary medical qualification recognised for registration by the General Medical Council (UK) or the Medical Council of Ireland;
• have been qualified for at least six years;
• provide three structured references in the format the JCIE prescribes; and
• provide evidence that you have reached the standard of clinical competence defined in the plastic surgery curriculum.

These rules are revised from time to time, so read the current regulations on jcie.org.uk before you apply.

Attempts and time limits

• Four attempts at most at each section.
• Two years for Section 1. All Section 1 attempts must fall within two years of your first attempt, and the regulations state that there is no re-entry.
• Seven years overall to complete the whole examination process.
• Section 1 comes first. You must meet the standard in Section 1 to become eligible for Section 2.

The two-year window matters most for planning: an early sitting starts a clock that cannot be reset, so treat your first attempt as a real one, not a practice run.

Section 1 vs Section 2

Section 1 tests knowledge and judgement on paper. Section 2 tests the same judgement face to face, in structured clinical interviews and orals.

The three Section 2 orals in the current regulations cover:

1. Trauma, burns and adult upper limb.
2. Acute head and neck tumours, congenital anomalies, and trunk and perineal reconstruction.
3. Generic techniques, complex wounds, vascular anomalies and aesthetics; skin cancer and sarcoma; and general professional capability.

The overlap is deliberate: what you learn for Section 1 is what you will apply out loud in Section 2.

When it runs and what it costs

Section 1 has typically been held twice a year. Dates, application windows and fees change, so check jcie.org.uk for the current ones before you plan around a sitting, and arrange your references early.

What the paper tests

The scope of the examination is the plastic surgery curriculum. The JCIE’s Plastic Surgery Syllabus Blueprint 2023 maps each part of that syllabus to the assessments that cover it, Section 1 among them. In practice the written paper ranges across the whole specialty:

• General principles: wound healing, grafts, flaps, microsurgery, local anaesthesia, implants and lasers
• Skin and soft tissue: skin cancer, vascular anomalies and sarcoma
• Head, neck and craniofacial: facial trauma, facial nerve, reconstruction, cleft and craniofacial surgery
• Breast: reconstruction, reduction, augmentation and congenital anomalies
• Trunk and perineum: chest wall, abdominal wall, back and perineal reconstruction
• Hand: trauma, tendons, nerve compression, Dupuytren’s disease, infection and congenital hand
• Upper limb and peripheral nerve: brachial plexus, nerve repair and nerve transfers
• Lower limb: open fractures, pressure sores, diabetic foot and lymphoedema
• Burns: assessment, resuscitation, critical care, surgery and reconstruction
• Paediatric: paediatric burns, congenital naevi, hypospadias and vascular anomalies
• Aesthetic: facial and body aesthetic surgery and non-surgical treatments
• Professional practice and statistics: consent, ethics, law, governance and evidence

The blueprint does not publish a number of questions per area, so be wary of anyone who quotes exact weightings. Breadth is the safe assumption.

How the questions are written

The JCIE’s published sample questions show the style. Stems are lean clinical vignettes. The lead-in usually asks for the most likely diagnosis or the most appropriate next step in management. The options tend to come from the same category — five flaps, five margins, five investigations — so you cannot eliminate by type. Several options are often reasonable; the mark goes to the one that is best for this patient, at this point, under current UK practice.

How to choose a question bank

Every bank describes itself as comprehensive. These are things you can check in ten minutes, before you pay:

Our own answers to these questions are set out on our editorial standards page.

How to prepare

Start with questions, not textbooks: a timed block shows where you are weak, and reading then fills those specific gaps.

• Follow a structure: the 12-week revision plan maps weeks to curriculum areas and can be compressed or stretched.
• Sample the style: free questions from every section, with full explanations.
• Know the scope: the syllabus lists every topic and subtopic our questions are mapped to.
• Fill gaps with short reads: the learning library covers recurring principles such as flap classification and burn resuscitation.
• Rehearse the day: sit at least one full two-paper mock exam under exam timing before the real thing.