Interview with Nicolas Dziadulewicz

This article is from a transcript of an interview with passed FRCR 2B candidate Nicolas Dziadulewicz. Nicolas used the Revise Radiology Spring Ultimate Course Bundle to pass the 2B examination and shares his experience with us.

Q. Could you tell us a bit about yourself and your career to date?

I'm currently an ST4 radiologist in Plymouth, UK. I trained in the UK. I've never worked outside of the UK.

Q. Please could you take us through your FRCR journey?

I started my ST1 in 2019 and sat the Part 1 and 2A examinations. I needed to do the 2B twice and have now passed the second time.

Q. Please could you tell us a bit about how you prepared for the FRCR? How much time did you spend on revision? What was your 2B preparation like? What resources and materials did you use for revision?

I think I went through a relatively standard route in preparing for Part 1. I tried to read FARS and just gave up. The RCR has modules that are basically flash animations covering the whole curriculum. They take a long time to go through, but they are quite comprehensive. I used anatomy books, question books and anatomy outlets.

For 2A, I used a standard textbook and question books. For 2B, I went on quite a few courses, most of them organised by Revise Radiology, and then some other ones. Just tried to get as much practice with the vivas, both on courses and with local consultants. Then for the Rapids, I did your packets and then some other packets that were available. For the written component, I used the Revised Radiology packets mostly. I did look at some books but found those less useful than having cases that you can scroll through.

Q: How has passing the FRCR changed your life?

I'm no longer having to spend every waking moment revising, which is nice.

Q. How did you hear about Revise Radiology?

When I realised I needed to re-do the 2B examination, I considered what I'd done to prepare the first time. I realised I'd spent a lot of time writing notes from books. And not enough time looking at images and trying to answer questions in the way that the exam would expect. So I just googled around, saw what was available and decided that I needed to try everything. So I signed up for your subscriptions and then all the courses. I spent a few days looking around for how I was going to approach it differently the second time around. So I found your website and then took it from there.

Q. How has Revise Radiology helped you in your FRCR Journey? What subscriptions/courses did you get?

Well, they helped me pass my second attempt. It's the format of having the exam questions the same as the actual exam. Also being able to practise it while keeping time, especially with the courses. I went on pretty much all of them. So, I racked up an extra 12 or more packets of practice papers to keep going through. One case in the exam was very similar to a case in one of the practice cases, which was helpful. Practising as expected to perform in the exam was helpful. The study group sessions that you run three times a week are really good. The volume of them is good. We'd see in 30 plus or more cases a week, probably a lot more than that.

Nicolas was on the FRCR 2B Spring Ultimate Course Bundle, which is a combination of the 2B Combined subscription and hotseats on the upcoming courses that are relevant to the nearest examination.