The first time I sat down with the FRCR physics syllabus I closed it after twenty minutes. Half-life, filtration, k-space, and I had a full reporting list waiting. Anatomy at least felt familiar, until I opened a past paper and could not name an arrowed structure on a coronal MRI I had reported that same week. That gap, between knowing radiology and answering a First FRCR question about it, is the whole problem. Most candidates who fail are not lazy. They prepared for the wrong exam.
Part of the confusion is that the two modules barely resemble each other. One is free text recall against a clock, the other is true or false statements about physics you have never had to explain out loud. They need separate methods, separate timelines, and honestly separate moods. Everything below is what I tell candidates in the first week of our FRCR Part 1 course, including the parts about booking that cost people a whole sitting.
What the First FRCR actually is
Two modules, anatomy and physics, sat on separate days over a two day period, three times a year in March, June and September.
They are independent of each other. You can attempt both at one sitting or split them, and you can pass them in either order. The First FRCR is awarded once you have both.
A few rules people learn too late:
- You need to hold, or to have held, a formal clinical radiology training post where you were actively receiving training. There is no minimum period of experience required before you apply.
- No other qualification exempts you from the First FRCR. FCPS, MD, an American board, none of it substitutes.
- You get six attempts at any module. A seventh requires you to demonstrate additional educational experience, and the count is backdated to include everything you have already sat.
Six sounds generous until you meet someone on attempt four who is now paying international fees for a module they have failed three times.
Inside the anatomy module
A hundred images, ninety minutes. Each image has one or more arrows pointing at a single structure, with one question attached to it. You type your answer into a box.
Do the arithmetic: fifty four seconds per image, including reading the question and typing. There is no time to deliberate. This is recognition, not reasoning.
The marking is where candidates lose points they thought they had. Two marks for an answer with complete accuracy, one mark for something less accurate but still correct, zero for wrong. So “artery” earns nothing useful where “left circumflex artery” earns full marks. Examiners review every response before results are awarded, but they are matching your words against acceptable answers, and vagueness costs you half.
What I drill with candidates:
- Name structures out loud with full specificity, including side and segment, every single time you report
- Cover the whole range of modalities, since images come from plain films, contrast studies, CT, MRI, ultrasound and nuclear medicine
- Practice typing answers rather than saying them in your head, because your recall speed on a keyboard is slower than you think
- Do timed sets of a hundred, not leisurely sets of twenty
Inside the physics module
Forty questions, two hours, delivered on Speedwell. Each question has a stem and five statements labelled (a) to (e), and you mark each one true or false. That is two hundred separate decisions.
There is no restriction on how many statements in a question are true. All five can be true, or all five false, so hunting for a pattern is wasted effort. Nothing is negatively marked, which means a blank is simply a discarded mark. Answer everything. Calculators are not required.
The topic split is published, and it is the most useful revision map you will find:
| Topic | Questions |
|---|---|
| Radiography and fluoroscopy | 6 |
| Radionuclide imaging | 6 |
| Radiation safety | 6 |
| Computed tomography | 6 |
| Magnetic resonance imaging | 6 |
| Ultrasound | 6 |
| Matter and radiation | 3 |
| Other | 1 |
Six modality blocks carrying equal weight, which is why abandoning ultrasound because it feels dull is such an expensive decision. Radiation safety questions are built on the current regulations, IRR17 and IR(ME)R 2017, so old notes circulating in WhatsApp groups can be actively wrong. The molecular imaging sections of the syllabus are not currently examined. Confirm all of this against the RCR guidance notes before you plan around it.
The two modules side by side
| Anatomy | Physics | |
|---|---|---|
| Format | 100 images, one arrowed structure each | 40 stems, five true or false statements each |
| Time | 90 minutes | 2 hours |
| Answer type | Typed free text | True or false |
| Marking | 2, 1 or 0 marks per item | 1 mark per correct statement, no penalty |
| Platform | Assess | Speedwell |
| What it rewards | Speed and precise naming | Coverage and understanding |
The pass mark is not fixed in advance. The RCR uses a modified Angoff method with standard setters, then finalises the mark after the exam using the Hofstee compromise method, so the pass rate genuinely varies between sittings. You are not competing with the room, but you also cannot bank on last year’s threshold.
2027 dates, fees and the booking window that catches people
Booking is where I see candidates lose a sitting without sitting anything. Candidates in formal training in the UK, Singapore and Hong Kong, and those working in NHS radiology, get a priority 1 window. Everyone else applies for remaining places in a later priority 2 window. If you are in Pakistan, you are in the second group, and places are finite.
| Sitting | Physics | Anatomy | Non-member booking opens | Booking closes | Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2027 | Thu 11 March | Fri 12 March | Tue 13 October 2026 | Fri 8 January 2027 | Thu 1 April 2027 |
| June 2027 | Thu 10 June | Fri 11 June | Tue 22 December 2026 | Fri 9 April 2027 | Thu 1 July 2027 |
| September 2027 | Thu 9 September | Fri 10 September | Tue 13 April 2027 | Fri 9 July 2027 | Thu 30 September 2027 |
For the Pakistan venue in 2027, the fee is £571 per module for RCR members and £760 per module for non-members, inclusive of local taxes. Both modules together is £1,142 or £1,520 depending on your membership status, which is worth checking against the cost of joining the College before you book. Dates, venues and fees all come from the RCR exam page, and venue booking times are staggered, so read the booking FAQs before the window opens rather than on the morning.
One more thing that should not need saying. Any electronic device on you during the exam means disqualification, as does writing down or sharing case details afterwards.
Why candidates fail, and what I do differently
In my batches, physics is where people come back for a second attempt. Anatomy failures are usually a speed problem. Physics failures are almost always a coverage problem, someone who understood CT beautifully and skimmed radionuclide imaging.
The strategy I use with repeat candidates:
- Split the day. Physics in the morning when your brain tolerates equations, anatomy in the evening when pattern recognition still works after a shift.
- Study physics by modality block, finishing one before opening the next. Six blocks over roughly ten weeks is achievable alongside work.
- Treat anatomy as a daily habit rather than a subject. Twenty images every day beats four hours on Sunday.
- Sit at least three full timed anatomy papers and three full physics papers before the real thing.
- Rebuild your notes from the current regulations rather than inheriting a senior’s file from three years ago.
Whether you need a course at all comes down to one test. Try explaining why a grid improves contrast to someone who does not work in radiology. If you can do it without reciting a memorised sentence, your physics is probably fine and you need question practice, not teaching. If you cannot, no amount of extra reading will fix it, because the gap is conceptual. You can see who teaches which module on our mentors page.
Book the sitting, then build the plan
Pick a sitting, note the day the priority 2 window opens, and set a reminder for it now. Then work backwards: fourteen weeks of preparation, ten of them building physics block by block, all fourteen with anatomy running underneath, and the last two given entirely to timed papers.
Two candidates from my last batch had almost identical knowledge in week one. One passed both modules. The difference was ninety protected minutes a day and a willingness to sit timed papers while still getting things wrong, which is uncomfortable and works.
If you want that structure built for you, our FRCR Part 1 course runs to the RCR calendar with live physics teaching, daily anatomy sets and full mocks. Candidates already through Part 1 can look at the FRCR 2A crash course next.
FAQs
Can I sit anatomy and physics separately? Yes. You can attempt them at the same sitting or at different ones, and pass them in any order. The First FRCR is awarded once both are passed.
Do I need a certain number of years in radiology first? No minimum period is required. You do need to hold, or to have held, a formal clinical radiology training post where you were actively receiving training.
Does FCPS or MD Radiology exempt me from Part 1? No. The RCR grants no exemption from the First FRCR on the basis of success in any other examination.
How many attempts do I get? Six at each module. A seventh attempt requires you to demonstrate additional educational experience, and previous attempts count towards the six.
Which module should I take first if I can only afford one? Anatomy, in most cases. It builds on work you already do daily, and passing one module early makes the second sitting feel survivable rather than decisive.
Is the pass mark a fixed percentage? No. Standard setters use a modified Angoff method, and the final mark is set after the exam using the Hofstee compromise method, so it shifts between sittings.
