North of England FRCS Section 2 Viva Course — July 2026

The July 2026 course was held in Leeds and brought together twelve candidates preparing for the FRCS examination, supported by a faculty of consultant surgeons, senior trainees and post-CCT fellows. As with every North of England sitting, the aim was to simulate the real viva experience, sharpen exam readiness, and do it inside a collaborative environment rather than an adversarial one.

Course format

• Two days of mock viva stations, covering all exam stations — including two academic stations.
• Real-time feedback — every candidate received targeted feedback on performance, communication and clinical reasoning.
• Group debriefs — facilitated reflection and discussion of the key learning points.

What candidates said made this course distinctive

Asked what set the course apart, candidates pointed to its pace and realism — “short, quick and real feel”, “well organised, supportive”, and “mimics exam, high intensity viva, great range of examiners”. The academic stations drew particular praise: “really useful to have the academic station practice and glad I got to do two over the two days.” The face-to-face element and the sheer number of interactive stations were repeatedly named — “multiple interactive stations… the more, the better.”

Highlights from the course report

• Exceptional faculty engagement — candidates praised the depth of knowledge and the supportive approach.
• Realistic exam simulation — the format closely mirrored the actual FRCS viva, boosting confidence.
• Peer learning — interaction with post-CCT fellows added valuable recent exam insight.

Faculty and course coordinators

The course was delivered by a dedicated team whose expertise and generous investment of time were central to its success.

Faculty: Mr Bassem Amr (Course Founder & Convenor) · Mr Ahmed ElShaer (Course Director) · Mr Sameh Abogabal (Course Co-Director) · Abdelrahman Ali Gaffer Abdelrahman · Hazim A. Eltyeb · Amr Zaed · Mazuin Abu Talib · Mohamed Rabie · Aliaa Shamardal · Ahmed Hassan · Heather Davis · Raza Sayyed · Mariam Baig · Abubakr Elamin.

Course coordinators: Maryam Amr · Mahmoud Bashary · Hassan Abdulrahman.

Source: North of England FRCS General Surgery Course — July 2026 Course Report. Feedback was collected anonymously from course participants; the figures shown are the published rating distributions, and mean scores are calculated from them.

Gallery

What candidates said

What this course included

Like every North of England FRCS course, this cohort followed our established two-day, exam-replica format:

• A full circuit of exam-replica viva stations across the General Surgery curriculum
• A one-to-one / two-to-one examiner ratio under exam conditions
• Structured, candidate-specific feedback after every station
• Subspecialty breakouts and clinical case practice
• A calibrated faculty of consultant and recently-successful surgeons

Faculty vary by cohort and are drawn from consultant and subspecialty surgeons across the North of England, alongside recently-successful candidates and post-CCT fellows. Meet the named faculty →