Primary FRCA
Primary FRCA exam dates and application windows: planning your sitting
How the RCoA examination calendar works for the Primary FRCA MCQ, OSCE and SOE — where to find dates, when application windows open, and a backwards-planned revision timeline.
Primary FRCA exam dates and application windows: planning your sitting
The Primary FRCA has three components — the Written (MCQ), the OSCE and the SOE — each with its own dates and its own application window. The College publishes a calendar a year or more ahead, and windows can shift. Candidates lose sittings to missed deadlines far more often than to missed content.
Where the authoritative dates live
The College publishes separate calendars per academic year (for example 2025–2026 and 2026–2027) and issues corrections against them — it has, for instance, notified a changed application-window opening date for a Primary MCQ sitting after the calendar was first published. Read the notes on the calendar page, not just the grid. Never plan from a date quoted on a third-party site, including this one.
Dates that matter for each component
| Component | Dates to record |
|---|---|
| Written (MCQ) | Application opens, application closes, reasonable-adjustment deadline, exam date, results date |
| OSCE | Application window, exam dates (often run alongside the SOE), results date |
| SOE | Application window, exam dates, results date |
Add two derived dates to your own diary: the closing date for the next MCQ sitting (so a resit does not cost you a full cycle), and the date you must have passed the MCQ by in order to be eligible for the OSCE/SOE sitting you are aiming at. That eligibility chain is what actually drives your timeline.
The MCQ is delivered online with remote invigilation via the College's supplier, TestReach — so your logistics are a quiet room, a compliant machine and a working connection, not travel. Confirm the current delivery arrangements before each sitting; the College also flags changes in preparation for curriculum transitions.
Working the calendar backwards: a 20-week plan
The Primary FRCA syllabus is large (pharmacology, physiology, physics and clinical measurement, statistics, and clinical anaesthesia) and most candidates are working full clinical rotas. Twenty weeks at 8–12 hours a week is a realistic frame.
Weeks 20–15 — Coverage. One pass across the whole syllabus: read a topic, then immediately do questions on it. Do not stall on the hard basic sciences; mark them and move.
Weeks 14–9 — Volume and the sciences. 40–60 questions a day in timed blocks, with dedicated sessions on pharmacokinetics, physics and clinical measurement, and statistics. These are the topics where structured effort converts most directly into marks.
Weeks 8–4 — Data-driven consolidation. Use your per-topic accuracy. The three weakest topics get scheduled sessions each week. Re-do previously wrong questions.
Weeks 3–1 — Rehearsal. Full-length timed papers under exam conditions, at the time of day you will sit, on the machine and in the room you will use for remote invigilation. Then targeted review only.
Final 48 hours. Equipment check, ID, invigilation set-up, sleep. No new material.
After the Written: OSCE and SOE
Once the MCQ is passed, the clock on the OSCE and SOE starts and the skills are different — structured stations and viva-style questioning under time pressure. Two things matter more than extra reading:
- Speaking out loud, repeatedly. Reading physiology does not train verbal fluency. Practising spoken answers does.
- Structure. Examiners reward a stable framework — classify, then define, then explain, then apply clinically.
Examrix includes AI viva practice built to the Primary FRCA SOE format, with realtime spoken questioning and follow-up probing, which is the closest most candidates can get to repeated practice without borrowing a consultant's afternoon.
Scheduling traps
- Rota and leave. Request study/exam leave as soon as your application is accepted.
- Nights before a sitting. Swap them. Sleep loss costs more than extra revision gains.
- Fees and withdrawal. Refund rules attach to the application window — read them before you pay.
- Reasonable adjustments. These deadlines fall earlier than standard application deadlines. Apply early.
Deciding whether to defer
If, four weeks out, your rolling timed accuracy is still around the borderline and physics or pharmacokinetics remains far below your average, deferring one sitting is usually the better bet — first-attempt pass rates are the highest of any group. See what the RCoA's published pass rates show.
Dates, application windows, fees and delivery arrangements are set by the RCoA and change, including after publication. Confirm everything on the official examination calendars page.