Exams

As part of Psychiatry training the exams play a key competent in ensuring trainees progress into higher training at ST4. Trainees are expected to sit every exam at the earliest available opportunity.

Passing the exams

The best way to pass the exams is to prepare in advance. Other trainees will be in the same position that you are in, so you might want to create study groups. Higher trainees or trainees who have passed the exams are best placed to advise on what they did which you could learn from. Anyone can have a bad day and fail the exam by a few marks, but failure to prepare or leaving preparation until the last minute could give you less of an opportunity to pass. If you fail a few of the written papers within the first year you will still have time to make this up, but you do not want to put unnecessary pressure on yourself by failing to even take exams. There is also some useful tips from trainees who have successfully passed the exams:

http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/Docs/Passing_the_MRCPsych_Exams_120110a.doc

Written papers 1, 2 and 3

The College has recently revised the exam entry requirements and CT1 trainees can sit the written exams immediately. The new rules also mean trainees must have 2 written exam passes before entry into CT3. Failure to achieve this will result in additional training time and failure to achieve this within the timeframe given willresult in trainees being released from the training programme.

CASC

Trainees will now be eligible to sit the CASC exam after 24 months of training. Although trainees should be aware that all applicants for the CASC must hold a valid pass in Papers 1, 2 and 3 OR a valid pass in MRCPsych Part I and Paper 3.

ST4 applications

Trainees should be aware of the application windows for exam entry and ensure their application is completed and returned in advance of the deadline.

Exam dates

Below are the exam dates and when results are released and the full exam timetable and application window is available on the Royal College of Psychiatrists website:

Paper 1

Paper 2 and 3

 CASC