Knowledge-Based Assessments

• Latest News
• MRCP(UK)
• Specialty Certificate Examinations
• Other Methods of Knowledge Assessment

Latest News - GMC extends ruling on validity of exams taken outside training

The General Medical Council (GMC) has agreed that doctors who are in specialty training or who enter specialty training by 31 October 2013 will be able to have any valid passes in previously approved national professional examinations counted towards a Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT), even if they were obtained outside approved training.

02/06/2011

MRCP(UK)

The full MRCP(UK) Examination, consisting of Part 1, Part 2 Written and Part 2 Clinical (PACES), is the main form of knowledge assessment for the early years of physician training. 

The Joint Royal Colleges of Physicians Training Board (JRCPTB) have accepted that from August 2011, possession of the full MRCP(UK) will become a mandatory requirement for ST3 entry into any of the medical (physicianly) specialties. Candidates currently in UK training should note that doctors who entered CMT from August 2009 will not be able to exit successfully from the programme until they have the full MRCP(UK). Candidates expecting confirmation of any MRCP(UK) Examination results in time for application to ST3 posts will need to refer to the MRCP(UK) website for information about result release dates.  

The latest examination dates can be found on the MRCP(UK) website:

• MRCP(UK) Part 1 dates
• MRCP(UK) Part 2 dates

Regulations for MRCP(UK), including entry requirements,  can be found at http://www.mrcpuk.org/  

If you have any questions about any part of the MRCP(UK) examination please contact the MRCP(UK) office via one of the following email addresses:

   part1@mrcpuk.org

   part2written@mrcpuk.org

   paces.queries@mrcpuk.org

Alternative Qualifications to MRCP(UK) for Entry to Specialist Programmes in Medicine

One of the key elements built into the revised curricula to be introduced in August 2010 (subject to GMC approval) is the introduction of knowledge based assessment for Core Medical Training (CMT), in the form of the full MRCP(UK) examination, which has been mapped to the CMT curriculum specifically for this purpose.

It follows, and has been confirmed by the JRCPTB board, that CMT entrants to specialty programmes from August 2010 will have to demonstrate acquisition of the required assessment.     

Trainees offering any other altenrative qualification to the MRCP(UK), not mapped to the CMT curriculum, will not have complied with the requirements of a programme of training leading to a CCT, and will therefore be on a training programme leading to a CESR(CP).   

There are a number of specialties that accept entry from routes other than CMT.    Provided that trainees have complied with the requirements for these alternative pathways, they will continue onto a CCT programme.    The following alternative pathways apply:

Changes to the MRCP(UK) PACES Examination 

The marking scheme and format of Station 5 changed in October 2009.  Click here to read more. 

Specialty Certificate Examinations (SCE)

Introduction

A specialty certificate examination (SCE) is a compulsory component of assessment for Certificate of Training (CCT), or for a Certificate of Eligibility for Specialist Registration via the Combined Programme route (CESR(CP)), for those whose training began on or after 1st August 2007 and is in one of the specialities listed below.  

Trainees would normally take the Specialty Certificate Examination during specialist training, and should have made at least one attempt by the time of their penultimate year assessment. The Specialty Certificate Examination or other approved forms of knowledge based assessment are a prerequisite for attainment of the CCT.

All trainees who sat the SCEs in 2008, and those who enrol for the first time in the calendar years 2009 and 2010, will pay a one-off fee of £800, allowing up to two sittings of the exam in total. 

SCEs have been developed or are in the process of development for the following medical specialties:

In development (yet to hold an examination diet)

• Palliative Medicine (first diet in 2011)

Established (at least one examination diet held)

• Acute Internal Medicine  - except those on the 2007 GIM(Acute) curriculum which leads to a CCT in General Internal Medicine which does not attract an SCE
  
• Dermatology
• Endocrinology & Diabetes Mellitus
• Gastroenterology
• Geriatric Medicine
• Infectious Diseases
• Medical Oncology
• Nephrology
• Neurology
• Respiratory Medicine
• Rheumatology

The SCEs have been developed in close conjunction with the MRCP(UK) Examinations Department and the Specialist Societies. The MRCP(UK) Examinations Department takes responsibility for the validation and reliability of the exams.  All are based on the format of "best from 5" questions and test the knowledge to be expected of a recently appointed NHS consultant working in the specialty.  Because of this consistent approach, it is not appropriate to adopt different policies regarding the place of the SCE in the training pathway of different specialties.

After consultation with MRCP(UK) and individual specialties, JRCPTB is publishing the following guidelines regarding the place of SCEs, eligibility for the exams and implications of failure.

Guidance

• Specialty Registrars (StRs) will normally be expected to take the SCE at any time from the second year of specialty training (ST4) onwards.

• It is hoped eventually that more than one ‘diet' of each SCE will be held each year but for the foreseeable future only one diet per annum will be possible.

• StRs are strongly encouraged to make sure that they allow sufficient time for at least 2 attempts at the SCE before they reach their anticipated CCT date. StRs will not be limited in the number of attempts they may make at the SCE during training.

• StRs, in relevant specialties listed above, will not be able to exit the training programme and receive a CCT or CESR(CP) until they have passed the SCE, except those on the 2007 GIM(Acute) curriculum which leads to a CCT in General Internal Medicine which does not attract an SCE.
  

• Failure to achieve the SCE by a particular stage of training before CCT should not trigger ARCP outcomes necessitating targeted (ARCP2) or repeat (ARCP3) training.

• It is expected that every StR should allow themselves two attempts at the SCE before the anticipated completion of their training programme. It would therefore be unreasonable for an StR not to have made their first attempt at the SCE by the penultimate year of training. 

• If an StR does not achieve the SCE by the anticipated CCT date, they would need to apply to the Postgraduate Dean for an extension of their training contract to allow further attempt(s) at the SCE. Extension of training would be at the discretion of the Postgraduate Dean. If an StR had made two attempts at the SCE and had achieved other satisfactory training goals, an extension of training could reasonably be anticipated.

Information about SCEs is available on the MRCP(UK) website www.mrcpuk.org/SCE.  If you have any questions about the SCEs please see the FAQs or email sce.queries@mrcpuk.org

UK trainees: post-nominals

Trainees with MRCP(UK) who pass the Specialty Certificate Examination in their specialty and who are recommended for a CCT are granted the postnominal MRCP(UK) (Specialty).

Trainees who have joined a higher specialty training programme with a diploma from an alternative UK Royal College, e.g. MRCGP, MRCPCH, who pass the Specialty Certificate Examination in their specialty and who are recommended for a CCT are also granted the postnominal MRCP(UK) (Specialty).

Trainees who have joined a higher specialty training programme with non-GMC-approved training, passed the Specialty Certificate Examination and are recommended for a CESR(CP) and in addition have passed MRCP(UK) are also granted the postnominal MRCP(UK) (Specialty). 

Trainees who are recommended for a CESR(CP) but who have not passed the MRCP(UK) are not granted the use of the postnominal. They may decide to take MRCP(UK) and if successful will then become eligible for the postnominal.

For more information about CCT and CESR(CP), visit the GMC website.

Specialty Certificate Examinations - Not Mandatory for SpRs

It has been brought to our attention that at RITA some SpRs are being put under some pressure to sit the Specialty Certificate Examinations (SCE).   Only those trainees who commenced specialty training on or after 1st August 2007 need to sit the SCE for their specialty.  JRCPTB wishes to make it clear that SpRs are not required to sit SCEs, but may do so if they wish, and this would be entirely at individuals' discretion. 

It has also been suggested that success in the SCE may provide some advantage at appointments committee, but again it will be solely for trainees to make a judgment as to whether or not to sit the examination.

Other Methods of Knowledge Assessment

Please note that many specialties, including Haematology, Genitourinary Medicine, Audiological Medicine, Cardiology and Immunology will not have an SCE and will be using alternative forms of Knowledge Based Assessment.  Please refer to the curriculum for the relevant specialty on this website for details.

Research and Pilots

Knowledge Based Assessment Final Project Report - October 2006