Feedback policy for FRCR exams

There is a widely held opinion amongst both candidates and exam providers that it is important to provide feedback to candidates on exam performance, beyond simple pass/fail classification. In January 2025 the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AoMRC) published guidance on standards for candidate feedback following summative exams, an update on previous guidance from 2015.

This document describes the RCR’s policy on the provision of exam feedback. More details on the specific content, format and approaches to standard setting and quality assurance are provided on the RCR website for individual exam components.

The 2015 AoMRC definition of feedback, adopted by the RCR is: ‘Specific information about the comparison between a trainee’s observed performance and a standard, given with the intention to improve the trainee’s performance.’

Ideally we want all candidates to acquire, and be able to demonstrate, the knowledge and skills needed to achieve success in FRCR exams.

We will provide feedback to candidates who fail that they and their trainers can use to increase their chance of passing at a subsequent sitting of the same exam. Written feedback will be provided with results letters.

Where practical we will provide the same feedback to candidates who pass to provide them with information about areas of relative strength and weakness.

The exams are purely designed to demonstrate a pass/fail standard, and any information provided as feedback should not be considered as a basis for ranking candidates by ability.

Where practical, candidates who fail will be provided with the number of remaining attempts they have at that exam.

As a minimum, all candidates will receive details of the scores they achieved and the level of performance that was required to pass.

Where the exam structure and scoring mechanism allows for it, we will provide a more detailed breakdown of performance. However, it must be recognised that some of our exam formats may not allow for more detail than the overall score and passing standard.

For UK resident doctors, results and feedback may be shared with their training programme directors.

With a high volume of candidates and limits on examiner time it is not possible to provide individually tailored feedback to all candidates at all exams.

No additional fee will be charged to candidates for the provision of routine feedback.