r/MRCP

First read- 4-5 months of relaxed studying
Second read- 1 month
Condensed revision and mocks- 3-4 weeks

Used passmedicine only. Pastest for mocks only.

Most topics I studied at least twice, sometimes thrice (third is a quick reread of the topics in 1-2 days + incorrects) if the last time I studied the topics was 2+ months ago.
Any topic you study starts out slow, say 30-40 questions a day, then the second half you can do 100-200 questions a day.
Also, may be counterintuitive to some, but each topic I started out with easy questions, so I can come across at least most topics within it, then medium, then hard.
When you read a topic from the high-yield textbook in a short time frame it helps you understand everything better and organise your information, rather than studying random topics through questions only.
Doing incorrects is so important.

Also, it helped that I was an IM PGY2 resident, since you relate learnt info to clinical cases, plus you answer some exam questions based on information you came across during practice/rounds.

All passmedicine qbank - 81%

Mocks done and Scores
Passmed - Done 2 weeks prior to exam
Paper A - part 1 84%, part 2 85%
Paper B - part 1 86%, part 2 90%

RCP mock - 74% (144/193) (2 weeks prior to exam)

Pastest (all done 5 or less days prior to exam)
Jan 26 - 69%
Sep 25 - 72%
May 25 - 73%
Jan 25 - 86%
Oct 24 - 81%
Aug 24 - 81%
Apr 24 - 72%
(Average 76%)

Real deal: 656. Percentage 80.5%

I didn't feel that the real exam was hard. Felt exactly like the mocks. You can easily answer 100/200 questions. Some questions were difficult yes, but I didn't let my judgment of these questions cloud my thoughts about the entire exam, cuz no one gets 100%. Paper 1 and 2 were more or less similar in difficulty level.

Given this current scenario and respecting the prioritization rule ( UK people deserve your posts first and then only comes anyone else) I'd wanna know what do u think is the possibility for us to enter into training role

Asking as someone who is​ in UK with family ( husb working in uk over 2 yrs and I came recently with kid)

Ps : If this is worth adding plz consider : want to apply for st3/st4 eventually in coming cycle with MRCP.

Hi, doing the exam in Sept. Just wondering if there are any past mrcp part 1 papers that we have access to? So far can only find the 100 sample questions on the mrcp website. Thanks

Guys i want help regarding this situation i took my part one in center not online they sent me your result has been withheld due to statistical analysis by anomaly monitoring system that there is a high number of ( identical answers with other candidate sat in the same center )
While i didn’t do anything and i don’t know the people where i sat the exam in their country and i didn’t contact with anyone during the exam or even after i don’t know how this has happened or how by chance can this occur
In conclusion my heart is literally burning and im devastated to the level i want to kill myself for such allegations

Can anyone had have similar situation or know someone had such situation who took the exam on center and what the policy officers said to them

Please guys help me im literally dying of such an unfair situation
Please

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First of all, I just want to say that you have done extremely well to revise and sit the exam whilst being an IMT1, it is extremely stressful and difficult, and just remember that many people have taken time out, particularly those in other countries. It is really not easy to study for an exam like this while working on an IMT on-call rota, and you should be extremely proud of how you've done.

Secondly, you should reflect on your preparation attempt because you need to really understand what you have done and where the gaps are. Doing several past papers and achieving the pass mark but not reviewing where your mistakes were, and honing in on these, is less valuable than doing one or two past papers or even just the sample questions on the official RCP website and really trying to identify high-yield areas where you made mistakes.

Thirdly, just to reassure you: the IMT1 ARCP, while you should take it extremely seriously, is far more flexible than most ARCPs because there is no critical progression point to overcome. Additionally, as I mentioned earlier, working on the IMT rota is not easy, and you'll be extremely surprised to know there are several IMT3 and beyond medical registrars who have not even passed Part 1, it is now possible to complete IMT training without completing the MRCP exams. If you did this, you would get a non-standard ARCP outcome, and yes, you would not be able to enter ST3 or above without the exams, by all means take the exam seriously, they are important, but do not put so much pressure on yourself, particularly during IMT1, as this will not stop your progression to IMT2.

Reassure yourself that performance in the exam is not correlated to your self-worth and your competency as a doctor (I know that's slightly paradoxical, as exam performance is part of the competencies assessed for the ARCP). There are many incredible doctors who have failed this exam many, many times. The two examples that come to my mind: one colleague of mine failed so many times that they went over the six-attempt limit and had to obtain a letter of good standing and recommendation in order to be allowed to sit again, they are now universally understood to be one of the best consultants in their specialty, and many people are even aware of the history of the previous attempts, and it is nothing more than a passing joke. Another colleague of mine failed Part 1 multiple times, had no exams, and entered IMT2, and was teased by all their junior colleagues, who were F1s and F2s, with comments like "why should we listen to an IMT2 who doesn't have any exams?" This colleague has not only passed Part 1 and Part 2, but has stepped up as a medical registrar while still being an IMT2, and most recently, during one of their shifts as the on-call medical registrar, they saved a patient's life with a life-threatening tension pneumothorax, when none of the other, more senior colleagues around them (including an ITU and an anaesthetics registrar) attempted any form of chest drain. So you should also be aware the opposite is true: there are several colleagues who passed the exam on the first attempt and are not as competent clinically.

I'm not sharing these stories to belittle other colleagues. Studying for exams and practising as a holistic and thorough clinician in an extremely overwhelmed system like the NHS are completely different skill sets.

I don't know how old you are or your background, where you graduated from, etc., but just know that IMT training is extremely brutal, and the exams are just the icing on top.

So you need to really understand how to revise and prepare for them whilst also balancing your own life, which may be a new skill for you, or a skill set you have to thoroughly review and adapt.

Many people who passed university exams by preparing through Passmedicine (a great website, by the way) feel they should do exactly the same thing when preparing for these exams during training on-call rotas, doing 10,000 questions in the question bank before the exam. This is completely unrealistic given your situation as a trainee, and may actually be a very counterproductive way to learn.

Putting this all together: people will give you surface-level advice like "just do the questions this many times and you'll pass," but I would strongly encourage you to reflect on your scores, analyse your performance, and compare this to your preparation.

Be honest with yourself too, because remember the official performance feedback you receive for this exam is limited. For example, if you guessed the answer to a random question and happened to get it right, you may have scored "100%" for a specialty like "ophthalmology" , you need to be honest with yourself, compare this to your preparation, and ask yourself whether you actually feel 100% confident in that area.

What worked for several of my colleagues who struggled with Part 1 multiple times, particularly with demanding on-call rotas and family commitments, was an extremely laser-focused preparation, which consisted of the following:

- *Doing no more than the last four to five years of past papers*. While doing more questions will improve your exposure to new topics, guidelines change significantly over time, and looking at past papers from 2014 is unlikely to help you when you're already pushed for time. If you're really struggling for time, only do the last 10 papers starting from the most recent year and diet.

- *Categorise your errors*. When you complete a past paper, don't just look at the breakdown by correct vs. incorrect or by specialty. Go question by question and analyse the category of mistake: was it a silly mistake, did you misread the final question stem (some questions have a long stem but a negative final question e.g. "which of the following is least likely a side effect"), was it a knowledge gap, or, if it was a maths question, at what step did you actually go wrong? Do this for questions you got right too, because sometimes your logic was wrong even though you got the right answer, and you need to catch that early before the pattern cements. Also account for lucky guesses.

- Before answering, *understand what concept they're testing*. There are repeated concepts across the MRCP curriculum, e.g. differentiating specific kidney diseases, or mechanisms of action of specific medications. Once you understand this, you can eliminate wrong answers much faster. For example, you'll notice some questions give answers that are logical opposites (e.g. SIADH and diabetes insipidus appearing as options in the same question) that's a clue you need to understand which concept the question is actually testing.

- *Evaluate all options in direct response to the question stem*. There's usually a specific concept or focus to the question, and sometimes every option is technically a reasonable response or not incorrect, but if you revisit the stem, it's asking something specific, like "most immediate management," "most definitive investigation," or "most likely to yield the diagnosis." These phrasings are subtly different, and with the same stem and same options, the correct answer can change entirely depending on the exact question being asked.

- *Group things together*. Rote-learning the side effects of every medication in pharmacology tends to fail. Instead, group them, e.g. learn the side effects of each anti-epileptic and compare/contrast them, and you'll remember them far better.

- *Identify your biggest high-yield gaps early*. We all have gaps somewhere, maybe from being ill during a topic at university, your university not covering it, never enjoying a topic, or never having a rotation in a high-yield specialty like cardiology, respiratory, or gastroenterology. Focus on the areas dragging your score down.

- *Be patient with yourself*. Some days you'll struggle to do many questions; your scores will go up and down and progress will feel slow, that's part of the process. Many candidates don't see a real jump until the last few weeks, or even days.

- *The RCP sample questions are criminally undervalued*. Past papers are important, but remember they're reconstructed from candidates' memories, the exact answers and explanations may not be fully accurate, since they don't come from the RCP itself. Dedicate real time to the RCP's own sample questions, because not only are they the most representative of the real exam, they also show you the explanation and the line of reasoning the examiners want. For example, some stems are deliberately vague, and the explanation will simply say something like "X type of cancer is the most common, and in the absence of further information this is the most likely answer." There are also spot-diagnosis stems that recur across multiple MRCP questions, which are clearly shown in the RCP sample questions.

I appreciate this is an extremely long response, but I find more and more people are struggling to pass these exams as the years go on, particularly with challenging on-call rotas, and I wanted to give you the best possible advice combining my own experience and that of close colleagues, so you can go into the next exam with the best preparation possible.

I seem to struggle with the mocks trying to mimic exam conditions for 3 hours, I lose track of the questions I’m reading and lose focus pretty much after 10questions.

Anyone got tricks to tackle this?

Whats the passing score percentage of MRCP part 1

Is it 60% or 65% ?

And what score equal to 100 % ?

Thanx

Just got results and just to recommend Ealing Paces who really gave me the tips I needed a week before my exam. I am really grateful to all the tutors especially the neurologist who was amazing.

I just passed MRCP Part 1 yesterday 🎉

I'm now planning to sit MRCP Part 2 in November, so I have around 3–4 months to prepare.

I'm a bit confused about which resources are worth using. There seem to be so many options:

PassMedicine

Pastest

BMJ OnExamination

Quesmed

If you've recently passed Part 2, I'd really appreciate your advice.

Which question bank did you find most representative of the actual exam?

Is one resource enough, or is it worth doing two?

Any other high-yield resources or tips you wish you'd known before starting?

Thanks in advance!

​

Hello guys i believe there's something that you may benefit from my writeup.

Resources used: passmedicine x 1 pass followed by redoing of incorrect questions. Pastest pastpapers, RCP mock 2 days before the exam.

Background:

I'm an internal medicine resident from East Africa, now in my 3rd year of residency in a west african country, in a rular mission hospital. Due to financial constraints, I had everything to lose if I failed this exam.

I usually work Mon to Friday 7am till 4/5 pm and on saturdays 7am to noon. On Sundays I'm off unless I'm supposed to be on call. I usually have a call schedule with 36 hours of shift once or rarely twice a week (possibly on weekends too).

Aside from hours of residency I'm also father of a toddler and a husband who needs to spend time with my family

Prep:

I knew I'd have less study time per day hence I planned it out over 7 months give or take. Started late October 2025 for may 2026 exam.

Started solving Q's inconsistently, but still kept going. Some days 20 some days 0. There was a 3 week gap also that I didn't study, but Near the end of my prep I was doing UpTo 100-200 Q's per day. But usually I'd be too tired to even read on my incorrects.

I knew I was weak on basic sciences, hence when I started, I started with basic sciences solving passmedicine Q's. I was scoring 55% initially but slowly went up to mid 70s.

My plan was to solve systematically finishing only 70% of the specific system before jumping to another system. When I did 70% of all the systems I did the remaining Q's random timed mode.

Overall passmedicine score was 79% with average daily Q of 39% (initially lower but went up)

I then did my incorrects and then around 12 pastpapers

Scores:

Passmedicine Qbank 1st pass: 79%

Passmedicine Mock 1 : 76% (didn't take it seriously and made silly mistakes)

Pastest pastpapers: 77 to 87% average was around 82 I believe

RCP mock: 82.9%

Lessons I learned:

- I I didnt take notes, instead I wrote short quizzes for me in passmedicine notes section. Instead of rereading the whole note on a specific topic, I just quiz myself That helped me with active recall and spaced repetition.

- the Ai summary in Passmedicine is gold, I'd say nearly every question comes from it. Even in very info dense topics.

for instance in clusters of differentiation, it lists only the important ones, CD15,30,21,28... Memories them, not every detail.

- In passmedicine for some topics, I used the linked osmosis videos and felt they helped me immensely for an overview of a subject.

- The more questions you do the more likely you're to pass

- if you can't commit to read regularly couple of hours a day, start early. Reading for Mrcp also helps you in your clinical practice.

- Past papers are important. Their importance is that you'll notice specific topics repeat again and again and again. But I'd say overall the pastest questions are poorly written, sometimes I didn't even agree with the answer of some of the questions. (I sometimes entered the question into chatgpt and it will pick the answer I chose too ).

The RCP mock seemed more similar to pastpapers but more clearer and made sense.

As expected I believe the real deal seemed more like RCP mock but I felt it was harder than most of the tests (except for some specific pastpapers)

- also anki use helped me in volatile topics like acquired immunodeficiencies, familial dyslipidemias, drug side effects.

- focus on clarity and comparing/contrasting two disease entities rather than only rote memorisation.. even drug side effects try to make it make sense

- Not everything comes up on the exam. Even the highyield passmedicine note, not all of it is asked. You'll know what will be asked when you do questions. Some of the info there is noise. I believe the Ai summary feature also helps with that. Focus on the commonly tested concepts rather than niche things . Follow 80/20 rule... Obviously every exam has majority chunk of it come from high-yield things , and very very small percentage obscure facts that are oddballs. Don't wear yourself chasing obscure facts.

Wrong thing I believe that I did:

- at the end of my prep mostly I was just indifferent and usually after doing a 100 pastpaper question set, I wouldn't revise it. when I just see my score I become reassured and call it a day. I think my scores didn't improve much and has stagnated bc of that. I see many people start out in early 60s and trend up as they do questions, so I think revising the high yield topics is the way to go.

- Saw Dr Chirag Madaans MRCP 1 pastest course, for some systems, didn't finish it. It's not worth the hefty price tag. But if you don't mind the price it can be used as a passive learning tool.

- found MRCP preparatory books (notes and notes, El Maghrby)... Didnt use them. They are info dense textbooks at this point, not condensed notes. Dont read them, just do the questions and quiz yourself.

In addition, testimony from My colleague and study partner who also did one pass of passmedicine and around 12 pastpapers. she scored 79 on RCP mock and 80% on real deal. 2 of my seniors just passed the January exam with around 3 months of prep, one pass of passmedicine and around 5 pastpapers(I don't know their scores).

I believe the exam is fairly doable, just have a system to understand and remember the things. When reading focus on understanding (making it make sense) and quizzing yourself to retain it.

Sorry for the long writeup. I'm open for any inquiries. Stay blessed

Incoming IMT1

Was very confused about specialty choice and only really commited to medicine after getting into IMT so did not sit mrcp before starting.

I was planning to do the September part 1 sitting and started revising properly end of May. I’m coming to realise I’m completely underprepared. I’ve only covered about 1/8th of the content and only really getting 60 percent on the stuff I’ve covered.
If I wasn’t working full time I know I could grind, but starting to think it’s futile while working full time and I should just sit in January.
I’m conflicted because everyone says get it done as quick as you can, but at this rate I think I’ll fail the September sitting.

What are your thoughts ?

How do we get them? Do they come in the email ? Good luck to all of us

My results are withheld and just got an email from policy officer stating - An aspect of my examination performance was identified which requires further investigation before result can be confirmed. At this stage no determination has been made regarding the matter. However, in the interest of fairness and due process, we are writing to give you the opportunity to provide any information or comments that you consider relevant.

It's extremely stressful and I'm very scared about this.

Only issues I can recollect is - connection issue once and another tab opened. Proctor corrected my posture once.

Can anyone please please help me with this if you know anyone if similar situation 🙏🏼🥺.

Not sure what to do😖

Hello everyone,

Congratulation to those who passed today, and hard luck to those who didn't, myself included.

This was my fourth attempt, unfourtanlty. I did around 80% on Passmed question, and past papers on Pastest, yet I scored 55%, which is a shame because I used to score >60% in the past papers.

I'm considering going for the September exam to get it over with, I can't wait for January 2027.
I'm thinking of doing the MRCP Part 1 Exam Essentials course on Pastest, and subscribe to quesmed instead of Past test as it includes past papers as well.

Also, how would this affect my ARCP? I'm currently an IMT-1 (clearing part 1 is the only thing I'm missing)

Would really appreciate any advice..

Looking for some advice coming towards end of F2 and start IMT in August. Hoping to sit part 1 in September. I’m currently only half way through my first attempt at passmedicine and aiming to do 50-100 questions per day while working full time. Am I doing enough or should I be doing more? When should I start doing pastest mocks? Any advice greatly appreciated! Thanks :)

Hello I'm an indian national finished md Philippines in June 2017 haven't cleared fmg /USMLE step 1/ step 2 ck

Looking for indians or Filipinos who cleared mrcp step and how they planned it and if the sat in chennai for the exams.

Thank you

Im too scared to open my results. Can someone tell me thepassmark and raw mark so can prepare😪

Has anyone got a working pastest discount code please

Hello everyone.
I have just passed my part 1 and have a few questions about part 2 study materials.
I liked passmed because of the easy to remember short explanations but felt the questions are not similar to the actual exam and for pastest, I liked that it was similar to exam format but disliked that the explanations are wayyyy toooo lengthy.
Can anyone kindly recommend me the study materials and strategies for part 2 exam please?
Thank you in advance!