MRCS PART A REVISION COURSES

Why SMASHING Education Courses?

Mr Sanjeev Pathak is an MCQ writer for the FRCS (Urology) examination at the Royal College of Surgeons.

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He has mastered the ability to deliver knowledge required to pass the MRCS Part A exam. He has more than 25 years teaching experience. He will simplify complex facts that you will easily be able to recall during the exam. He will deliver ALL of the lectures over the 3-day period: Click here for more information about Mr Sanjeev Pathak, Course Director & Educator.

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We are sympathetically aware that surgical trainees are under immense pressure. They are clinically dedicated to their patients thus, often only getting time to study during the evenings and weekends. Often, sacrificing time spent with their family and friends. Furthermore, we have all experienced the daunting feeling of opening textbooks after a busy day and becoming overwhelmed!

To alleviate all the pitfalls, we have assembled a dedicated premier faculty consisting of experienced Lecturers, Clinicians, OSCE examiners and FRCS exam question writers. The exam has a significant failure rate, let us save you the time, stress and money.​​

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MRCS Part A: Reviews​

SMASHING Education aims to help you pass the exam!

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| SMASHING Education:

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• Proven track record in teaching and candidates succeeding!

• Understand the Exam!

• Structured teaching!

• Simplification of facts!

You will leave the course with confidence, energy and enthusiasm!

SAMPLE VIDEO

MRCS Part A 3 day Online Revision Course 

UPCOMING LIVE ONLINE COURSES:

Suitable for September 2021 Examination

Click each course for more details & booking

UPCOMING LIVE ONLINE COURSES:

Suitable for January 2022 Examination: 

Click each course for more details & booking

SMASHING Education

| MRCS Part A 3 Day Revision Course Itinerary 

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The MRCS Part A 3-day revision course will be held currently, online.

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We have restricted the number of delegates to 20. This will ensure the quality of the course delivered is maintained and will allow delegates to interact during the Q&A sessions & MCQ session.

The structured lectures will cover the key areas of the MRCS Part A syllabus - Applied Basic Sciences (Anatomy, Pathology and Physiology) and Principles of Surgery in General (Management of trauma, clinical surgical specialities and perioperative and critical care).

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Day 1:  Basic and Applied Anatomy - Mr Sanjeev Pathak

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Day 2:  Basic and Applied Pathology and Physiology - Mr Sanjeev Pathak

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Day 3:  Principles of Surgery in General  & Interactive MCQ session - Mr Sanjeev Pathak

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SMASHING Education

| MRCS Part A Interactive Mock MCQ Day Itinerary 

The interactive Mock MCQ day will cover a range of topics from the MRCS syllabus. This day complements the teaching from the revision course as we go through many questions and explain using the mnemonics from the course which will help you to memorise these for the exam.

Unlike a question bank, you will be able to ask questions if you don't understand the answers. We will show you how to break down the question to understand what the examiner is looking for and we will highlight the distractors which are designed to throw candidates.

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Previous candidates have found this to be an excellent resource for final preparation and have also used it as a tool to identify any knowledge gaps. 

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The MRCS Part A courses are suitable for junior surgical trainees preparing for the examination.

         - Please note,  the 3 day course is a revision course which is usually held 6 weeks before the exam.

Prior preparation is strongly advised to maximise the benefits of this revision course. 

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Feedback from previous candidates - What I would do differently to prepare for the courses:

1. Study in advance so that I can focus on my weak subjects

2. Ask and prepare more questions  

3. Interact more! This is key to all of our courses! The more you interact and engage, the more you will get out of the course. It will also help you to remember the topics, keep you focus and engaged.  

SMASHING Education

| How to pass the MRCS Part A exam

Many candidates fail to understand how to prepare for the MRCS part A examination. We quite often hear from candidates that their strategy has been,  “ I will have a go”. Why would you want to waste money but more importantly, several months of your life “to have a go” at an exam with significant failure rate? 

There is limited guidance on how to pass this exam.  SMASHING Education has devised a successful strategy that will help you pass the exam.  Furthermore, this will provide an excellent foundation for the Part B examination too.  

SMASHING Education | MRCS Part A strategy:

1.    Familiarise yourself with the syllabus - Understand the exam format - which topics are examined and how many questions per topic. This will allow you to allocate the proportionate time for each topic.  

2.    Study - Using the syllabus, read around these topics and study to understand the concepts that are examined. Give yourself enough time to study and do not try and cram it all in just before the exam. 

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Many candidates fail to understand the concept and assumptions of MCQ's - MCQs test your knowledge. The assumption is that candidates have studied and have the required knowledge to answer any question on any topic. You must be able to answer any question in the exam from syllabus - without study, this is not possible. 

3.    Revision course - Attend a revision course. SMASHING Education offers an interactive 3-day revision course which is taught by a FRCS MCQ writer so you will be given tips on tackling questions and the rationale of exam questions. The course is high yield and specific to the exam. We focus on the areas which are commonly tested in the exam. Topics are explained in a logical, bitesize chunks with mnemonics to make them easier to remember. (See feedback from previous candidates)

4.    MCQ mock day - Attend a MCQ mock day. SMASHING Education offers an interactive mock day which compliments the 3-day revision course. You will have the opportunity to go through hundreds of MCQ’s but unlike a question bank, you will have someone who will be able to provide explanations of the answers. (See feedback from previous candidates)

5.    Annual leave - We have seen so many candidates fail because they did not take enough time off prior to the exam. Make sure you book a week off before the exam to not only study but to also relax and mentally prepare yourself for the exam.

6.    Relax - It is important you relax, unwind and chill on the night before the exam. You have done all you can and trying to cram the study in the night before will be counterproductive. You should wake up fresh and ready to go.

Another misconception - completing question banks repeatedly will guarantee a pass. There are many risks with this strategy: 
1.    You memorise the question and answer but do not fully understand the concepts being examined. 
2.    You get used a certain format of questions - New questions have been recently added to the exam and candidates found these tough as they were lengthy, descriptive and were not familiar with this new style. 
3.    Some questions do not go into enough detail and provide generic answers eg. “Flaps” whereas the exam will list different types of flaps. 
4.    You don’t understand why you got the answer wrong – the explanations don’t make sense due to lack of underlying knowledge. 
5.    You don’t cover the whole syllabus and you can’t easily identify your weak topics.
 

We have had candidates who scored +90% with the online question banks but only scored average of 60% in the actual exam. The common response when asked why they failed - they didn’t supplement the question banks with other study or resources. 

Many candidates fail to understand the concept and assumptions of MCQ's - MCQs test your knowledge. The assumption is that candidates have studied and have the required knowledge to answer any question on any topic. You must be able to answer any question in the exam from syllabus - without study, this is not possible. 
 

We are here to help! We will teach you the concepts for this exam. You will not only be taught by a MCQ writer, but also a qualified and experienced consultant surgeon. 

SMASHING Education aims to help you pass the exam!

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| SMASHING Education:

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• Proven track record in teaching and candidates succeeding!

• Understand the Exam!

• Structured teaching!

• Simplification of facts!

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