MRCP is a postgraduate Diploma which is designed to test the skills, knowledge and behaviour of doctors in training. It consists of three exams.
MRCP Part 1 written.
MRCP Part 2 written.
MRCP Part 2 Clinical (PACES).
In this blog, I will only focus on MRCP Part 1.
MRCP PART 1 FORMAT
The exam consists of 200 MCQs in total. There will be two papers with a break of 1.5 - 2 hours between them. Each paper is 3 hours long and contains 100 MCQs. All the details about the exam are available at the official MRCPUK website.
EXAM FEE
MRCP Part 1 takes place all over the world. The fee is 419 GBP if you are taking it in the UK and 594 GBP if you are taking it outside the UK.
EXAM DATES AND BOOKING
This exam takes place 3 times a year. January, May and September. The booking window for these attempts open in October, February and June respectively.
PRE-REQUISITES
The only condition to take the exam is that you must have a 12-month post-graduate experience. So, you can take it any time after completing your housejob.
FEW TIPS
If you are a recent graduate and wish to work in the UK but are stuck in PLAB exams due to COVID situation, this would be the ideal time to start preparing for the January 2021 attempt of MRCP 1. Even if you find a 3-4 months gap at any time before starting to work in the UK, MRCP 1 would be the best idea. Why? Because:
We usually forget many important things and principles that we had learnt in medical school because we didn’t integrate those concepts with our medical practice, MRCP 1 provides the best opportunity to revise all basics that are actually used in clinical practice hence giving an added advantage from the very start of professional life.
If you prepare or take MRCP 1 in time, it will benefit you in PLAB1, PLAB2 and even in securing a job in the UK, having said that you shouldn’t delay your PLAB exams for it.
When you come to the UK it takes a considerable amount of time to understand the NHS system and your job feels way more hectic in the beginning as compared to a job at home and you can’t give as much time to your study as you can in your country.
MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
One resource if you know 100% gives you more chances to pass the exam rather than 2-3 resources which you know 50-70%. For part 1, the only Q bank that is necessary and the one you can’t afford to skip is Passmedicine. Give it 3-4 reads and you can easily pass the exam. Now the strategy I would recommend to prepare for it is:
Take an online subscription. (Only 40 GBP fee for a 6 months subscription, up to date, helps in better concentration as compared to books for which publishers just change the year on the outer-cover).
Make notes from the online subscription.
If you will start making notes on the register it will take months, search ‘Suda notes’ on google chrome, download them and print them. They are word to word copy of 2012 Passmedicine in a better and arranged topic wise manner. Just make the changes on these notes according to updated Passmedicine and your own notes will be ready in a very short time.
Revise them and now you’ll just need to do questions from Q bank and you won’t need to read explanations, imagine how fast you’ll finish Q bank in revisions while reading from Suda notes.
Some seniors also mentioned other Q banks like 'PassTest' and 'OneTest'. If you have time, you can do CVS, CNS, GIT and Endo portion from them. I had no time so I didn’t do it.
One extra resource that I came to know at about 11 pm the night before exam day was MRCP official website 200 pattern MCQs. I could only attempt 10-15 and I guess I got 2-3 questions out of those in the real exam.
One last thing regarding the timeline is to find out booking dates for your exam and aim that the day you submit your fees, you should have done at least 80% of your first read. After fees closing date there are usually close to 3 months in which you can complete your preparation in the best manner possible.
P.S. After graduation all exams are taken with a job so don’t think of quitting your job for any of the exams.
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