MRCS Part B Revision · Anatomy
Brain — MRCS Part B Anatomy
By Dr Richard Miller, MBChB FRCS · Reviewed
Brain is a surgical anatomy station. Three of the seventeen examined stations in the MRCS Part B OSCE are surgical anatomy. The anatomy stations put a prosected specimen, a model or an image in front of you and ask you to identify structures and say what they do, what they relate to and what happens when they are injured.
What you need to know for the Brain station
The Brain
The dura mater has several functions and layers. The dura mater is a sac (aka thecal sac) that envelops the arachnoid mater. It surrounds and supports the dural sinuses (also called dural venous sinuses, cerebral sinuses, or cranial sinuses) and carries blood from the brain toward the heart.
The dura mater has two layers, or lamellae: The superficial layer (also called the periosteal layer), which serves as the skull's inner periosteum, called the endocranium; and a deep layer called the meningeal layer; the actual dura mater.
Dural Folds
The dura separates into two layers at dural reflections (also known as dural folds), places where the inner dural layer is reflected as sheet-like protrusions into the cranial cavity. There are two main dural reflections:
The tentorium cerebelli exists between and separates the cerebellum and brainstem from the occipital lobes of the cerebrum.
The falx cerebri, which separates the two hemispheres of the brain, is located in the longitudinal cerebral fissure between the hemispheres.
Two other dural infoldings are the cerebellar falx and the sellar diaphragm:
The cerebellar falx (or falx cerebelli) is a vertical dural infolding that lies inferior to the cerebellar tentorium in the posterior part of the posterior cranial fossa. It partially separates the cerebellar hemispheres.
The sellar diaphragm is the smallest dural infolding and is a circular sheet of dura that is suspended between the clinoid processes, forming a partial roof over the hypophysial fossa. The sellar diaphgram covers the pituitary gland in this fossa and has an aperture for passage of the infundibulum (pituitary stalk) and hypophysial veins.
Images from this station
What are you asked at the Brain station?
The station runs to 19 questions over nine minutes. These are the questions as they are put to you; the model answers are in the question bank.
- What is Broca's Area and where is it located in the brain?
- Where in the brain is the sensory cortex located?
- What clinical findings might you expect if the motor cortex was damaged?
- Describe the meninges
- What is the purpose of the dural folds?
- Describe the four dural folds
- Describe the venous sinuses, their role and their relationships to the dural folds
- What structures pass through and close to the cavernous sinus?
- What is the clinical relevance of the cavernous sinus?
- Identify structures 1 and 2
- Identify structures 3 and 4
- Identify structures 5-7
And 7 more at this station.
How is the anatomy station marked in MRCS Part B?
An anatomy station is marked out of 20, and all 20 marks go to clinical knowledge and its application. No communication, technical-skill or professionalism marks are available in an anatomy bay, which is unusual: in most other stations more than half the marks sit outside your factual knowledge.
FAQ
What does the Brain station ask?
It opens with "What is Broca's Area and where is it located in the brain?" and runs to 19 questions over nine minutes. An anatomy station is marked out of 20, and all 20 marks go to clinical knowledge and its application. No communication, technical-skill or professionalism marks are available in an anatomy bay, which is unusual: in most other stations more than half the marks sit outside your factual knowledge.
How many anatomy stations are there in MRCS Part B?
Three of the seventeen examined stations are surgical anatomy, and two more are surgical pathology. Together they make up the five Anatomy and surgical pathology stations of the Applied Knowledge component.
How are the anatomy stations marked?
Each station is marked out of 20 and all 20 marks are awarded for clinical knowledge and its application. You also receive a separate global rating of pass, borderline or fail for the station.
Are the specimens real?
Yes. Anatomy bays use prosected cadaveric specimens, models and images. Candidates report being shown photographs of specimens as well as the specimens themselves, so practise on real dissection photography rather than diagrams alone.
What happens if I get an early question wrong?
The intercollegiate guidance says that if a wrong answer would affect your performance on later questions at the same station, the examiner gives you the correct answer before moving on. One mistake does not have to cost you the whole bay.
How many stations are in the MRCS Part B OSCE?
Seventeen examined stations of nine minutes each, with a minute to read the task before each one. Two preparation stations and at least one rest station bring the circuit to about twenty, and the exam takes about three and a half hours.
What is the pass mark for MRCS Part B?
There is no published pass mark. The cut score is set separately for Applied Knowledge and Applied Skills, for each circuit, by borderline regression. Published pass rates across the 2024/25 diets ranged from 51% to 66%.
Can I fail a station and still pass?
Yes. There is no rule about how many stations you may fail: the cut score applies to your total mark in each component, so a weak station costs the marks you lost on it and strong stations elsewhere can make them back. Applied Knowledge and Applied Skills are passed separately and must both be passed at the same sitting, so a strong anatomy performance cannot rescue a weak communication one.
Dr Richard Miller, MBChB FRCS
Station summaries are reviewed against the current intercollegiate MRCS syllabus and the published marking blueprint. Guidance changes between diets: check the royal colleges' own pages before relying on a date, a fee or a threshold.
Practise this station
The question bank carries the model answer to every question above, with the rest of the anatomy stations.
More anatomy stations