Help! The EBIR is almost here!

March 6, 2025

On March 20^th, nearly 200 physicians will sit the European Board of Interventional Radiology in the endeavour to codify their expertise and earn the title of “EBIR”.

Are you one of these EBIR hopefuls? Don’t panic – read on to learn how to make the most of your final weeks of exam preparation!

While balancing a preparation schedule with a busy workload can be challenging, EBIR holders shared with us that resting, seeking advice from colleagues, and making time for a concentrated review in the weeks leading up to the exam is essential.

“My preparation schedule in the weeks leading up to the EBIR exam was to clear my schedule as much as possible.”  says Dr. Matthew Clifford, EBIR. “Cancel, postpone and reschedule all non-essential engagements, focus on having good quality sleep and regular low-intensity short periods of exercise (for me that was running).”

“I spoke to as many colleagues as I could who have taken the exam.” says Dr. Matthew Seager, EBIR, “One of the recurring things that came up was how important preparing from the syllabus [CIRSE’s European Curriculum and Syllabus for Interventional Radiology] is, and now that I’ve taken the exam I can really appreciate why that’s so important. I think all the questions are very clearly mapped to the different areas of the curriculum, so focusing and basing your revision around the syllabus is really important.”

The syllabus includes a traffic light system that represents how often a topic is tested in the examination, reflecting the overall frequency with which a treatment is carried out in Europe. This is to ensure that relevant topics are examined often while those that do not occur in everyday practice are examined less frequently.

The document is not only the basis for the EBIR exam but also for the CIRSE Academy and the EBIR Preparation section in the CIRSE Library, making it your ideal exam prep companion. Physicians juggling responsibilities at their hospital in the weeks leading up to the exam told us that they had an easy time fitting CIRSE Library lectures and Academy modules into their busy schedules.

 Dr. Jimena González-Nieto shared her experience at ECIO 2024 in English and Spanish.

Prospective EBIR candidates attending CIRSE congresses will find great opportunities for networking and learning from EBIR holders. 

“I especially recommend preparing with the CIRSE Library.” says Dr. Jimena González Nieto, “The talks in the library allow you to learn from the world’s leading figures in interventional radiology any time, in any place.”

“The most useful resources for me were the Academy and other CIRSE [Library] lectures on the high-value topics (outlined in the curriculum), as well as the notes I prepared in the previous months. I also left the study of areas that I don’t practice as much to the week before the exam so that they’d be fresh in my mind, and I think it paid off.” says Dr. Clifford.

“What I liked most about the CIRSE Academy courses was how easy it was to integrate them into my day-to-day life,” says Dr. Lucía Fernández, EBIR. “Studying for an exam can often feel daunting and even overwhelming at times, but the well-structured preparation material offered by CIRSE really helped to stay organised and boost my confidence in my knowledge and skills.”

Candidates can click here to review the full exam structure, or here to access a hub including all of CIRSE’s exam preparation materials, including sample questions.

Exam day: Keep calm and check your internet connection.  

The EBIR has been a fully remote, online proctored exam since 2021. Though the exam initially went fully remote due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it quickly became clear that this format was logistically simpler and more comfortable for doctors while also allowing more candidates than ever before to sit the exam at the same time.

Candidates take the exam via the online examination application. During the entirety of the exam, this application records audio and video to supervise the candidates to ensure that no suspicious activity takes place during the exam. Candidates can check that their computer and internet meet the minimum requirements for the exam here.

“Beforehand, ensure that you do a test to make sure you’ve downloaded the correct software, that your computer and internet are all sufficient to run smoothly – ideally this day-of prep would happen a couple of weeks before the exam!” says Dr. Seager.

The EBIR team conducts a practice test in the weeks before the exam – if you were unable to join the practice test, someone from the EBIR team will get in contact with you to ensure that you’re ready for exam day.

“My tip for the exam day is to make sure that you do whatever it takes to be in the best form possible on the day.” says Dr. Clifford. “By this, I mean making sure that you’ve had a good night’s sleep, that you have the right amount of caffeine before the exam (too much or too little is bad), and that your area for the exam is well set up with a reliable internet connection. On the day, don’t second-guess yourself too much. The examiners are not trying to trick you, so go with what you think is right in that scenario not what you think they might think.  Ultimately, this is your area of expertise and the area of medicine that interests you most, so trust your preparation and enjoy the ride!”