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In the first couple months only 1-1.5 hours per day, sometimes you can’t if you’re on call / nights etc. in the final month or two months I will build up to a few hours in the evening and longer on off days / weekends.

Anecdotally the following have come up - Abstract paper for crit appraisal (usually accompanied by one of the below, rarely alone) - Some sort of graph eg forest plot, survival KM curves - Key methodological things, eg CONSORT diagram for an RCT - Results table eg with odds / risks ratios / hazard ratios / p-values etc - Shortened manuscript with redacted bits to an appropriate length

Thank you Kitty

Hi, 2 years is plenty of time to get something out, just be aware that it always takes a couple months longer than you think to get something published. Even if you don’t manage a publication at the time of applications, outside of London, lots of deaneries value ‘white space questions’ where you can showcase your research experience aside from counting the numbers. Unfortunately within London it is very much about the number of prizes/publicationss/presentations.

Email the host institution and they may or may not disclose to you. I was told when preparing for the ACF by the head of academic school to ask as the policy here was more transparent; but may be different elsewhere.

Hi, a PhD has to be done as time out of training (TOOT-R) and does not form part of the ACF or ACL. The prerequisite for applying for ACL posts usually states you must already have a PhD.

That makes sense thanks for your help!

The clinical benchmarking often happens after the ACF application. If you get the ACF offer it will then be ‘on-hold’ until you get the benchmark. For reference I applied to ACF in October, CST applications were in November. ACF interview in December. ACF conditional offer in late Jan. CST interviews in March, notified CST interviews successful in April at which time I have ‘fulfilled’ the conditional criteria to fully accept my ACF. Hope that makes sense!

Hi Kitty, thanks for this interview! Do you know, if you are successful at ACF interviews - will you automatically be invited for national interviews? Or only if you have scored enough points to qualify for a national interview? @@KittyWongHF

@@hermaleightownsley7545 you need to apply to both separately, one does not automatically enroll you in the other!

If it’s just the oriel application (non-white space) then just list them in each box. If it’s a WSQ asking for presentations I would briefly summarise the project and then say where it was presented, e.g. I conducted a systematic review examining XYZ which was presented orally at the international xxx conference.

1. Separate applications. You need to apply to CST just like everyone else i.e. the standard application. Theoretically this is so that if you get an ACF post you want to turn down you can preference CST jobs like everyone else. 2. I can only speak for research themed ACFs as that’s what I’m doing (and education ACFs are quite rare). The main benefit is that ACF is part of the training pathway for your specialty and comes with a runthrough number; where as an education fellow would be taken as an F3/F4 without counting towards training. If you are applying to an education ACF, I imagine yes this might be helpful. 3. The ACF posts are specifically advertised for certain specialties and you apply to as many as you want. Some are specialty specific (e.g. GP ACF or cardiology ACF), some are themed (e.g. Acute care suitable for GP / cardiology / ED / IM trainees). You can apply to multiple posts per deanery, for example, the deanery might have 2x ACF posts for GP and additional theme post also suitable to GPs. In this case you can make 3 applications. 4. As above - unlike AFP, you only apply for the post with the specialty and theme already in mind and there is no changing the specialty or theme afterwards.

Cranial nerves come up often especially the bigger ones eg trigeminal / facial / glossopharyngeal etc, common to get questions on innervation and path of the cranial nerve so yes you need to know it

@@KittyWongHF and dr wong what about whole neuroanatomy??

@@shafaatgoraya9089 Yes you need to know it, like the ventricles / venous drainage / arterial supply etc. Head and neck also contains a lot of high yield areas that often come up in questions. Tbh you just need to be familiar with all of it for part A, as I said teachmeanatomy is a good level of knowledge required for all areas of the body.

@@KittyWongHF JAZAKALLAH thank you so much dr wong but this anatomy section is tough one to memorize .

And we have to memorize all the muscle attachments or only the important landmarks???

It’s down to personal preference I think. The methodology and research questions are inherently very different in lab based vs clinical research. The main reasons I personally preferred clinical: - Feels more directly applicable to your day to day practice and can give results that immediately impact practice; where as lab based projects often focus more on in vivo specific markers etc that can feel a little more dissociated and takes a long time to give “real life” practical changes - Lab based work not for everyone, lots of unexpected events that I found somewhat frustrating to plan for, eg cells getting infected, rats not breeding as planned, materials not arriving on time - Lab based research more about tweaking your experiment to get the result; clinical research more about getting mass data to support hypothesis which I prefer - clinical research often ties you to clinicians and patients and policymakers / public whereas lab based research often more science focused - Equally others might prefer lab research for a more controlled environment than in clinical where there are lots of confounding and issues with getting patient participation Of course there is huge variation in what constitutes ‘clinical research’ (qualitative v quantitative, RCT vs observational data, methodology…) and translational science (animal studies, immunohistochemistry, physiology…) so it is impossible to generalise. No real tips - all depends on the research groups you get involved in (some will be very lab focused others clinical oriented). Still experience in both is good for early career researchers as you can then try it out and talk about it in interviews too.

@@KittyWongHF thanks so much for your detailed reply. I have subscribed to your channel, your CV building series in particular was great!

I don’t think one gets asked more than the other but limbs have a lot of “high yield” exam areas like the brachial plexus and compartments so might come up more often, but equally there’s lots in abdo pelvis so I wouldn’t say one trumps the other

Also , Does it mean if you are not currently in the nhs you can not apply ? Thanks

You can either pay to access Aclands directly; or with PasstheMRCS the subscription will include Aclands access for no additional cost.

I did not memorise the book from cover to cover at all. I found teachmeanatomy and an anatomy atlas a better way to learn anatomy than the Raftery book so I basically skipped this section of the book. I read through the physiology and science sections about a month before the exam to solidify what I already learnt from the Qbanks and that was enough to pass.

@@KittyWongHF what about the neuroanatomy and head and neck???

See the MRCS part A videos - I found MCQ banks sufficient as long as you read up on the topic after doing a question whether’s it’s a google search or teachmesurgery website or whatever you fancy

No they’re different banks so unfortunately you’ll need to get both if you want access to that. If you wait til closer to the exam pastest’s price goes down based on time to the exam (eg 1 month rather than 4 months); whereas emrcs is a fixed price any time of the year

@@KittyWongHF What I meant was how different are the questions on eMRCS vs the Pastest past papers

@@ramirami7840 I think generally eMRCS questions are more similar to the exam questions. The pastest questions aren’t as good but the past papers are okay for getting the different prose you might have in the exam.

@@KittyWongHF Ah I got it Thanks sooo much for taking the time out to reply to me! Honestly it means a lot! So what I basically meant to ask was, eMRCS is a compilation of previous exam questions taken by students as well as surgeons setting the exam questions, right? So eMRCS in itself should have the questions covered in the PastTest Past papers, won't it?

@@ramirami7840 No problem. eMRCS is made by surgical consultants and trainees and yes, is ‘based on’ previous exam questions and very representative (sometimes almost identical) to questions I encountered in the actual exam. I would not say however that it covers ‘all’ past exam questions as they do not have access to that and definitely there were questions in the exam that I have not seen before on eMRCS. I haven’t checked question-by-question but my impression of the pastest ‘past papers’ questions were a bit different to eMRCS, generally a bit more detailed and a bit more prose, I have not encountered many questions that strikes me as being ‘the same’ as the eMRCS ones. TBH at this point it is more about just getting volume in your questions and exposure to different Q&As which will all help.