OrthoVellum Exam Frequency Index · 2026
What the FRACS & FRCS exams actually test
Candidates revise from opinion; examiners ask from habit. This index closes the gap: 88,936 candidate-reported exam items, mined from FRACS and FRCS (Tr & Orth) recall collections and distilled into the conditions the exams return to, year after year — ranked by how often they appear.
The 25 most-reported conditions
Counted across all seven question formats. Near-identical condition names reported by candidates are merged (see methodology); each condition links to its OrthoVellum reference.
| # | Condition | Area | Reports |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) | Paediatrics | 558 |
| 2 | Slipped capital femoral epiphysis (SCFE) | Paediatrics | 432 |
| 3 | Periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) | Infection | 371 |
| 4 | Clubfoot (congenital talipes equinovarus) | Paediatrics | 263 |
| 5 | Supracondylar humerus fracture | Paediatrics | 256 |
| 6 | Hallux valgus | Foot & Ankle | 243 |
| 7 | Total hip arthroplasty | Hip | 227 |
| 8 | Lisfranc injury | Foot & Ankle | 206 |
| 9 | Compartment syndrome | Trauma | 203 |
| 10 | Hallux rigidus | Foot & Ankle | 192 |
| 11 | Total knee arthroplasty | Knee | 188 |
| 12 | Osteosarcoma | Oncology | 184 |
| 13 | ACL reconstruction | Sports Medicine | 182 |
| 14 | Osteoporosis | Basic Science | 171 |
| 15 | Osteogenesis imperfecta | Paediatrics | 170 |
| 16 | Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis | Spine | 165 |
| 17 | Scaphoid fracture | Hand & Wrist | 164 |
| 18 | Distal radius fracture | Hand & Wrist | 157 |
| 19 | Lumbar disc herniation | Spine | 153 |
| 20 | Knee dislocation | Trauma | 152 |
| 21 | Tibial plateau fracture | Trauma | 151 |
| 22 | Unicameral bone cyst | Paediatrics | 148 |
| 23 | Femoroacetabular impingement | Hip | 147 |
| 24 | High tibial osteotomy | Knee | 147 |
| 25 | Achondroplasia | Paediatrics | 142 |
The image-scenario top 10
The conditions examiners most often put on the screen — 7,656 reported image-based scenarios (X-ray, CT, MRI, clinical photos).
The exam is a long tail
How many top conditions you need before the reported scenarios are covered.
What this means: there is no short list. The ten hottest conditions cover barely 6% of what examiners show — a top-200 mastery is what separates a pass from a near-miss.
Where the marks live
Share of all reported image scenarios by subspecialty — a data-driven weighting for your revision hours. Paediatrics alone is one report in five.
Methodology — read before citing
- Sources. Candidate-reported recall collections from FRACS and FRCS (Tr & Orth) sittings (three independent collections), converted to text and mined for examinable scenarios.
- Distillation. Each scenario is reduced to its condition, variant, subspecialty and question format, then de-duplicated. No exam text, questions or figures are retained or reproduced — condition names are facts, not copyrightable content.
- Counting. 88,936 item records across 29,546 mcq items, 27,620 viva prompts, 9,624 image scenarios (isawe), 7,525 operative topics, 6,084 clinical exam items, 4,942 essay topics, 3,595 cim investigations. Candidate-near-identical names for the same condition are merged (e.g. “slipped capital” and “slipped upper” femoral epiphysis); genuinely different entities are never merged.
- Limits. Recall data skews to memorable sittings and recent years. Frequency means “repeatedly reported”, not “guaranteed next diet”. Use it to sequence revision, not to gamble on exclusions.
Cite this dataset
OrthoVellum Exam Frequency Index (2026). Condition-level analysis of 88,936 candidate-reported FRACS/FRCS orthopaedic exam items. orthovellum.com/exam-frequency. Dataset generated 2026-07-24. CC BY 4.0 — attribution with a link is all we ask.
Frequently asked questions
What comes up most in the FRACS and FRCS orthopaedic exams?
Across 88,936 candidate-reported items, the most frequently reported condition is developmental dysplasia of the hip (558 reports), followed by slipped capital femoral epiphysis (432), periprosthetic joint infection (371), clubfoot (263) and the supracondylar humerus fracture (256). The full ranked list is in the table above.
How much of the exam do the top conditions cover?
The exam is broad, not concentrated. In the image-scenario set, the top 10 conditions account for only 6% of reports, the top 50 for 18.4%, and it takes the top 200 conditions to reach 40%. High-yield lists are a starting point, not a substitute for wide coverage.
Is this based on real exam papers?
No. It is built from candidate-reported recall collections — notes candidates write after sitting the FRACS and FRCS (Tr & Orth) exams — de-duplicated and distilled to condition-level frequency. No exam text, questions or figures are reproduced. Recall data shows what has been asked repeatedly, not what will be asked next.
How should I use this in my revision?
Use the frequency tables to sequence your reading: master the top quartile first, then work down the long tail — the data shows a wide syllabus is unavoidable. Each condition links to its OrthoVellum reference page. Treat paediatrics, hand, and foot & ankle as core: together they account for over two-fifths of reported image scenarios.
How often is the Exam Frequency Index updated?
The underlying index is extended as new recall collections are processed, and the published figures are regenerated from the dataset each time — the page header shows the dataset date. Counts only ever grow more accurate as more exam sittings are incorporated.
Every condition above is covered in the library
Work down the table: each linked condition opens its full OrthoVellum reference — classifications, management, complications and viva traps, with sources cited.