MRCS Part B Revision · Anatomy
Urinary System — MRCS Part B Anatomy
By Dr Richard Miller, MBChB FRCS · Reviewed
Urinary System 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 Urinary System station
The Urinary System
The Renal System
Located at the rear of the abdominal cavity in the retroperitoneal space, the kidneys receive blood from the paired renal arteries, and drain into the paired renal veins. Each kidney excretes urine into a ureter, that empties into the bladder.
The ureters are tubes made of smooth muscle fibers that propel urine from the kidneys to the urinary bladder. In the adult, the ureters are usually 25–30 cm (10–12 in) long and ~3–4 mm in diameter. Histologically, the ureter contains transitional epithelium and an additional smooth muscle layer in the more distal one-third to assist with peristalsis.
Images from this station
What are you asked at the Urinary System station?
The station runs to 15 questions over nine minutes. These are the questions as they are put to you; the model answers are in the question bank.
- Identify structures 1-2
- Identify areas 3-4
- Identify structure 5
- What is the term and name given to structure 6?
- Identify vessels 7-10
- Identify vessels 11-14
- Identify vessels 15-17
- How does the blood supply of the right and left kidney differ?
- Describe the path of the ureters in the abdomen and pelvis in a male patient
- At which points in the ureter are renal stones likely to become lodged?
- Describe the structure of the kidney
- Describe the surrounding delations of the kidneys
And 3 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 Urinary System station ask?
It opens with "Identify structures 1-2" and runs to 15 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