FRCR 2A Exam Format and Curriculum

FRCR 2A is commonly used to mean the Final FRCR Part A examination in clinical radiology. It is the final written knowledge component before Part B and assesses broad general radiology across imaging modalities, anatomy, technique and applied clinical decision-making.

Current RCR regulations state that candidates must have passed the First FRCR and have acquired 24 months in a formal clinical radiology training post by the month of the examination. Always confirm your own eligibility and booking requirements directly with the RCR.

Each paper contains 120 SBAs and lasts three hours. The examination does not produce a separate pass or fail outcome for one paper: all 240 questions are treated as one assessment. A difficult first paper therefore should not trigger a change in approach to the second; continue answering every question and protect your pacing.

The average available time is 90 seconds per question. Some items can be answered much faster, creating time for longer vignettes. Practise flagging uncertainty, choosing the best available answer and moving on rather than allowing one item to consume several minutes.

Correct answers score one and incorrect answers score zero. There is no negative marking. After the sitting, the RCR carries out statistical and expert quality review; questions can be removed where error or material ambiguity is identified, with the pass mark adjusted so candidates are not disadvantaged.

There is no fixed percentage published in advance. The dedicated FRCR 2A pass-mark guide explains modified Angoff standard setting, the Hofstee compromise and why a commercial mock score is not a guaranteed pass prediction.

The RCR publishes six broad areas. Candidate guidance does not specify a permanent equal quota for each one, so preparation should aim for broad competence rather than trying to predict an exact distribution.

The examination is broader than diagnosis alone. Questions can test normal anatomy and variants, imaging appearances, differential diagnosis, appropriate investigation, technique and protocol, staging, treatment response, intervention, complications, contrast and drug safety, applied physics, statistics and interpretation of evidence.

Read the lead-in before settling on the diagnosis. The same stem could ask for the most likely lesion, the decisive imaging feature, the best next investigation, an anatomical structure, a complication or a management-relevant finding.

1. Identify the exact task in the lead-in.
2. Form a provisional answer before looking at the options.
3. Review all five options rather than stopping at the first plausible one.
4. Use the clinical context, distribution and decisive imaging feature to remove distractors.
5. If two options remain, choose the one that best answers this stem—not the one that is generally true.
6. Offer an answer and move on; there is no negative marking.

Build broad coverage first, then introduce mixed questions and full unseen mocks. Image-rich learning remains essential, but written practice exposes whether you can retrieve the relevant discriminator and apply it within roughly 90 seconds.

Use clinical work, MDTs, R-ITI, textbooks, review articles and current guidance alongside question practice. Do not rely on recalled official questions or treat any one commercial resource as a replacement for broad radiology training.

• RCR FRCR Part 2A guidance notes for candidates
• RCR exam regulations and policies
• RCR clinical radiology curriculum

The 2A Bank provides targeted curriculum-mapped Practice and ten protected 120-question mock papers. The free mock is a complete paper and can be sat timed or untimed before reviewing your score, unanswered questions, curriculum breakdown and explanations.