Guides
Exam guides
Plain, method-led guides to the UK royal college written exams and the MSRA: what each paper tests, how its blueprint is weighted, and how to revise it without wasting the little time you have.
- Study method
Blueprint-weighted revision: why the exam's own weighting should set your study plan
What an exam blueprint is, why revising in proportion to it beats an undirected question bank, and how to combine it with weakest-first study and spaced repetition.
- FRCR 2A FRCR 2A
Final FRCR Part A explained: format, curriculum areas, and how to revise it
Why Final FRCR Part A is text only with no images, the RCR's eleven curriculum areas, and why the exam carries no published per-area weighting.
- Item types MRCOG
How extended matching questions work, and how to practise them
The structure of an extended matching question, which UK exams use them, why they trip candidates up, and how to practise them in the real layout.
- MRCEM MRCEM
MRCEM Primary vs MRCEM SBA: what each stage tests
How MRCEM Primary and MRCEM SBA differ, RCEM's own published category and SLO weightings, and how to revise each stage.
- MRCOG MRCOG
MRCOG Part 1 vs Part 2: what each part tests
How MRCOG Part 1 and Part 2 differ in content and item type, where extended matching enters, and how to revise each stage.
- Choosing a bank
MRCOG, MRCPsych and FRCR 2A: the question banks worth knowing about
The three exams the big general-purpose platforms don't sell, what does exist for each — SPMM, MRCPsychMentor, Revise Radiology and others — and where SpecialityMCQs fits.
- MRCPCH MRCPCH
MRCPCH Foundation of Practice and Theory and Science: what each paper tests
How MRCPCH's two theory papers differ, the RCPCH's tiered subspecialty blueprint, and how to revise Foundation of Practice and Theory and Science.
- MRCPsych MRCPsych
MRCPsych Paper A vs Paper B: what each paper tests
How MRCPsych Paper A and Paper B differ in content, where EMIs enter, and what RCPsych does and does not publish about how each is weighted.
- MRCS Part A MRCS
MRCS Part A: format, blueprint, and how to revise it
The two papers of MRCS Part A, the topics the ICBSE actually weights most heavily, and a revision approach that follows that weighting.
- MSRA MSRA
MSRA Professional Dilemmas: how to reason through a ranking
What Professional Dilemmas marks, the principles that decide a ranking, and where candidates typically lose marks in the MSRA's situational judgement paper.
- Study method
Revising in twenty minutes between clinics
A session structure for doctors revising in short, unpredictable gaps: what to run first, what to do post-nights, and why consistency beats occasional long sessions.
- Study method
Spaced repetition for medical exams: why misses need to come back
What spaced repetition is, why one-pass revision evaporates, and how a review deck should bring your misses back before you forget them.
- Comparison MRCS
SpecialityMCQs vs eMRCS for MRCS Part A
How SpecialityMCQs and eMRCS compare on price and coverage for MRCS Part A, using the eMRCS price listed in iatroX's comparison, and the arithmetic once MRCOG is next.
- Comparison
SpecialityMCQs vs iatroX: what free covers, and what it doesn't
quiz iatroX is free and unlimited for several exams — said plainly first — then the honest differences in coverage, method and price with SpecialityMCQs.
- Comparison
SpecialityMCQs vs Pastest: what each actually covers
Pastest's own published prices exam by exam, the exams it doesn't sell, and where SpecialityMCQs differs on price and coverage.
- Choosing a bank MSRA
The best MSRA question banks, compared honestly
PassMedicine, Emedica, Medibuddy, Pass the MSRA, Pastest, the free quiz iatroX and SpecialityMCQs — what each publishes about itself, in one place.
- MSRA MSRA
The MSRA explained: Clinical Problem Solving and Professional Dilemmas
What the MSRA is, how its two papers are built, and how to revise Clinical Problem Solving and Professional Dilemmas without wasting time.