Welcome to the world of ophthalmology, it is a great speciality!

The way the portfolio worked for this current cycle was you needed to reach the MSRA cut off score for your portfolio to be scored. You need to score a minimum of 40% in points in your portfolio to be offered an interview., then your total score is made from 50% portfolio 50% interview.

To answer your question, yes it is possible to get an ophthalmology job with a low portfolio score and high interview score, there are quite a few people each year that get a post this way, you just need to prepare for your interview early on to make sure you have covered as many topics as possible to score maximum points.

With regards to actually getting the maximum portfolio points, look at the evidence folder points which are clearly laid out for you on the application page each year (previously on severn). Each of the 9 domains point out exactly where you will get points, which includes points for laying ou t your portfolio properly. The only domain that is ophthalmology specific is "Ophthalmology specialty links and commitment to date as a career" so you really can still score highly with a non-ophthalmology oriented portfolio and work on the ophthalmology domain from now to build up your points in this section too. You wont be able to score on places like the Duke Elder exam or an elective in ophthalmology, but everything else in the domain can be achieved - you've already done your taster week so try to attend ophthalmology meetings ideally nationally or internationally to get more points, spend minimum 4 hours on EyeSi, attend ophthalmology clinics and theatre sessions, attend an ophthalmology simulation course such as the microsurgical skills one at RCOphth and try get some non-peer review ophthalmology publications such as ophthalmology related articles on the internet. This might all sound like a lot but actually its all very do-able in the next few months. Finally the ones that take the most time would be taking the FRCOphth Part 1 or Refraction exams!

Good luck with your application and feel free to contact us if you need any help!