Final FRCA CRQ examination update and results date
I would like to thank candidates who attempted the Final FRCA CRQ examination on 14 September 2021 for their feedback and continued patience following disruption to the online exam.
I am writing to provide further details of the options that were considered alongside the final decision to void the exam, the results of a review of what went wrong, and the date on which we will issue the final exam results.
The recent CRQ online exam experience for candidates was so inconsistent that we took the decision to void that CRQ exam and base the September 2021 Final FRCA Written exam purely on the MCQ component. We have committed to provide a free resit for any candidate who did not go on to pass the September 2021 Final FRCA Written examination.
I want to reiterate our President Dr Fiona Donald’s apology to candidates. Although there are lessons to learn for everyone involved, the final responsibility for the exam lies with the College, and as such we must accept ownership for what happened and do everything we can to prevent it happening again. We are truly sorry, for the distress and disruption caused and believe that the steps we’ve taken are the fairest for the candidates given the situation.
In making the decision, our senior Examiners and Council Members updated the General Medical Council and the Association of Anaesthetists, taking a number of factors into consideration, which I can share here.
We have also concluded our analysis of what went wrong in the exam itself.
Our online examinations supplier TestReach was sent, from the RCoA, two requests to change the character counts in the text boxes - formally the College had asked for the count to be limited to 10,000 characters, however subsequently a separate request for an 80-character restriction bypassed the agreed change protocols and was incorrectly sent and implemented. This was a mistake and something we are committed to learn from.
We have worked with TestReach to reinforce the approvals protocols and are confident that the situation will not arise again.
We have similarly worked with TestReach to strengthen in-exam communications between examination proctors and candidates, so that everyone receives a consistent and timely message if there are problems with the exams.
As part of our investigation and our commitment to learn from this situation and prevent further situations arising in the future, we will be developing a set of actions that both the College and TestReach should implement to strengthen the development and approval processes. Furthermore, we hope that this, alongside the on-going review of our examinations and governance will strengthen the reliability validity and delivery of the examination.
The College will be announcing the results of the September 2021 Final FRCA Written examination on Monday 11 October. I would like to thank our volunteer Examiners and our staff team for working extremely hard to complete marking and standard setting processes quickly to complete the results process sooner than expected. This is an intricate and complicated piece of work which cannot be rushed. I thank them for their dedication and focus to this task.
I would again like to sincerely apologise to affected candidates and thank you for your understanding and patience.
Chief Executive Officer, Royal College of Anaesthetists