^{Last update: November 30, 2025}

Our Golden Tips of How to Get an Offer in 2026

Ophthalmology has built the reputation as one of the most difficult specialties to get into as a doctor. Now with the decrease in morale generally within medicine, many see Ophthalmology as a perfect career option with a reasonable work life balance, excellent job satisfaction and balance of medical and surgical work. This has made Ophthalmology more and more competitive to go into and therefore is now the main barrier to entry.

 

Join our exclusive WhatsApp group for 2026 by emailing us on optimedic@gmail.com.

 

On this page:

• Scores needed to get an offer
• Awards Section Advice
• Commitment to Specialty Section Advice
• MSF Section Advice
• Publications Section Advice
• QI/Audit Section Advice
• Presentations Section Advice
• Teaching Section Advice
• Layout Section Advice
• 1:1 Tutoring Link
• Email for Questions

You have three things to concentrate on to get an Ophthalmology national training number:

• MSRA score
• Interview score
• Portfolio

Since last year the scoring has been split as follows:

• 50% = Portfolio
• 50% = Interview

How many points do you need to aim for?

Based on 2025 application cycle and prediction for 2026

• Total score = 100 points
• Excellent score (to rank around top 10) = 85-100
• Good score (to rank around top 60) = 75-85
• Decent score (for any offer) = ~71+
• Cut off after upgrades = ~68

 

2025

Total Number of Applicants in 2025 - 2197

Some example total scores per area based on avaliable information:

East of England (Cambridge)	79.85
North London	83.5
North East	70.5
North West	78
South West (Peninsula)	70.5
South West (Severn)	79
Wessex	75.9
West Midlands	72.7
Yorkshire and the Humber	72.2
Scotland	68.65
Wales	68.5

2024

Total Number of Applicants in 2024 - 1383.

**NB the MSRA accounted for 20% of the total score in this year with each candidate given a score given from 1 to 20 based on their decile in the top 300 MRSA scores. Hence the significantly lower overall scores in 2024 and 2023 compared to 2025.

 2023

**NB the MSRA accounted for 20% of the total score in this year with each candidate given a score given from 1 to 20 based on their decile in the top 300 MRSA scores. Hence the significantly lower overall scores in 2024 and 2023 compared to 2025.

2022

Each Section of Application

Portfolio

Estimated based on 2024 cycle and prediction for 2025.

• Total = 50 points
• Excellent score = 42+ points
• Good score = 37 - 41 points
• Average score = 28 - 33 points
• Below average = 23 - 27 points
• Cut off for portfolio = 22 points

Each year there are subtle changes in how the portfolio is scored each year but here are general principles and tips to hit a good score for 2026.

Qualifications (max 5):

This is the section which is most difficult to score points on. Most applicants will score 0 in this section and that is okay. No points for intercalated degrees.

1 point for at least 8 months full-time or equivalent - MSc, BSc, PG Cert.

3 points for an MD or MPhil.

4 points for PhD or DPhil.

Awards (max 5):

This is also a difficult section to score points on, but more doable than the qualifications section. Don’t be disheartened if you score 0 in this section too. You can still get a top offer with zero or minimal points in this section.

• Crombie Medal - 3 points.
• If you are a medical student then take advantage of this and aim to get honours in your medical degree, this scores good points in most medical applications! Its 2 points for you here.
• Ensure to contact your university admin to stamp a letter confirming that your 1st/distinction was achieved by <15% of others for each year of an undergraduate degree or equivalent. 2 points for each of these. You could max the points out from this section if you have 3 years of medical school where you were top 15% (2 points for each one).
• Sit the Duke Elder Award and aim for the top 10% (worth 2 points), top 20% = 1 point, ranking first = 3 points.
• Medical students you can also sit any other specialties undergraduate competitive specialty examinations e.g. The National Undergraduate Neuroanatomy Competition.
• If you are presenting at a national or international conference make sure you put 100% effort into it and aim to get the best poster/presentation prize, scores you 1 point (max 2)
• In medical school if you apply for a bursary / prize to fund attending a conference you could evidence this (but do not include if you are planning to use it in your presentations section).

Again any points in this section are a bonus.

Commitment to specialty (max 13):

Aim for full marks in this section if you can, if not and you have decided to go for ophthalmology close to application cycle, that's okay -  aim for a minimum of 9 points. This is definitely achievable even if you have zero prior commitment to Ophthalmology. Here's how:

Multi-Source Feedback (max 2):

• 0 points – for no information presented, negative comments or non-satisfactory scores
• 2 points – satisfactory scores with appropriate good comments

Presume that most will score 2 points in this section.

Once this has been completed, attach the full copy of your TAB/MSF to your portfolio and underline all superlative comments in your MSF.

Only include your best TAB/MSF, not multiple.

Must have taken place within 18 months of interview date.

Publications (max 6):

• 6 points max
• 3 points for first author, pubmed indexed
• 1 point for co-author, pubmed indexed 

3 points for each publication where you are 1st author or joint first author and 1 point for any other publications up to 4^th author (unless > 8 authors in total for article when 1^st author only counted). If you are one of three or more joint first authors then you will be scored as a second author. If there are more than 6 joint first authors then no score will be given.

No points will be awarded in this section if you are 5^th author or lower in the citation.

This is a make or break part of the portfolio. Start early if you can and contact your local ophthalmology department at the tertiary hospital. Show you are eager to commit time to things but also be aware of which projects are time consuming. If a project looks like it will take too long then think about prioritising other projects.

For a fast turnaround you can use Cureus, a legitimate pubmed indexed journal that typically has a turnaround time of 4-6 weeks from submission to publication. https://www.cureus.com/ 

It does not have to be an ophthalmology related publication.

Quality of the work presented and impact of the journal may be considered when scoring.

Quality Improvement/Audit (max 5):

• 0 points – if no evidence of QI / audit work in portfolio.                              
• 1 point – for participation but no specific roles documented or specific format followed.
  2 points – for initiation and design of the QIP / audit and some evidence of specific format.
• 3 points – for initiation, design and writing up the QIP / audit and specific format followed.
• 4 points – as above and was personally involved in implementing the QI strategy / completing the audit loop and implementing change
• 5 points – for published audit (not to be added to Publications or Presentations sections) or QI guidelines implemented supra-regionally.

 For this section, to score up to 4 points you will need to evidence:

• Copy of the QI/Audit including the standards used, results/findings and recommendations made based on project

• Consultant signed letter summarising your role

Make sure to review the potential letter that you will have signed as your confirmation by a consultant.

Ensure you include in the text for the summary of your role, that you …:

• Initiated the project

• Designed the QI

• Used specific guidelines for your QI

• Led the QI

• Completed more than 1 cycle 

• Implemented a change

• Wrote up the QI findings

"Note: Some modification of these marks may be made dependent on quality of project and impact of the work. If you are not clearly lead on the project then the maximum score is 1 point (as stated by the supervisor, being first listed in authors on documents is not proof of being lead on a project)."

Good ideas for topics that you can independently initiate, write up and publish are most quality improvement projects you do on the wards. For example a QIP on improving the accurate documentation of ward rounds in AMU or benefit of making an operation note template for appendectomies. 

Here are some published examples you can take inspiration from:

• “Assessing the Correct Documentation of Time and Physician Information on MedicalRecords in the Emergency Department of Queen's Hospital: An Audit and Re-audit” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36712708/ 

• “Improving acute eye consultations in general practice: a practical approach” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26734292/ 

• “Improving medicines reconciliation rates at Ashford and St. Peter's Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28824809/ 

• “Improving door to CT scanner times for potential stroke thrombolysis candidates - The Emergency Department's role” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28824806/ 

If you are looking to publish an audit, look for specific journals related to your project's specialty. General journals that can be used include BMJ’s quality improvement section journal and Cureus. Both are pubmed indexed.

Again, it does not have to be Ophthalmology related.

Presentations (max 6):

If you are presenter or first author points are as follow:

 

Second author or lower scores a half of the oral presentation. Points will only be given if the candidate presents evidence they gave the presentation in lieu of the first author. Second author or lower does not score for posters.

If you are a co-author then points are as follows:

Examples of conferences:

• Regional: any conference which is specific to an area only such as "England, Scotland, Welsh meetings" or other subregions). For example: London Trainees Network, North of England Ophthalmology Society, Yorkshire School of Paediatrics.
  
• National: any conference by a national society in the UK. For example: ASiT annual congress, UK Paediatric Glaucoma Society, British Orthopaedic Association Congress, Foundation Trainees Surgical Society National Conference.
  
• International: any conference by a society culminating attendees from multiple countries. For example: European Society of Endocrine Surgeons Congress, European Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgeons, World Congress of Psychiatry. 

If you have a project and are not sure where to submit it, ask your supervisor. If not, google which societies are linked to your project’s topic and submit it to them. Conferences usually accept abstracts as long as it is legitimate research. If you’re still stuck then you can drop us an email and we can see if we can help you find somewhere.

If you are including a presentation on a project that you have used in the publication section you will NOT score the points unfortunately.

Current guidance states accepted but not yet presented presentations WILL be awarded points. The evidence that will need to be provided in this case can be the email/letter of acceptance, along with the abstract.

Meetings included in this section must not be included in Ophthalmology Specialty Links section. You should choose which domain to include the work in.

 Tip: Often the biggest barrier to getting these points is the anxiety of submitting an abstract. Once you’re over that, the points roll in! Most conference have a 70-80% abstract acceptance rate.

Tip: one thing that also puts us off these points is the cost of conferences. There are some free conference you can go to e.g. ASiT Future Surgery. Most regional conferences are free so you can try and stack up those points if you can.

If you’re an F2 you can get the cost of a national conference FULLY funded using the discretionary funding. Or get 50% of the full cost of an international conference. Both decent options for return of investment!

 Aim to get 6/6 in this section, it is doable!

Education and Teaching:

 Layout:

This is a subjective score up to 3 points.

Rumours are that points are deducted in this section if too much unnecessary information is included in the portfolio.

Aim for 3 points but expect 2, it was notoriously difficult to get 3 points for this section in 2024 & 2025.

Use Canva to organise your portfolio. 

 

1:1 Tutoring:

Hope you found this useful, if you would like further guidance on the portfolio or a 1 to 1 session to go over your porfolio then follow this link:
https://www.optimedic.co.uk/tutors 

 

Questions:

Email us at optimedic.ltd@gmail.com