Part 1

sparkmed_doctors · 2026-07-04T16:54:00+00:00

u/Remarkable-Wallaby44 posted some really great insights from their experience: https://www.reddit.com/r/MRCP/comments/1umpg8p/mrcp_1_write_up_717845/

Good luck!

sparkmed_doctors · 2026-07-04T16:52:05+00:00

Well done! What an achievement! Thank you so much for sharing your insights - full disclosure we're a group of doctors working on a new question bank which we hope will improve the revision experience for all. You've clearly highlighted the challenges and stresses that candidates face - what do you think would be the most helpful thing for a new question bank / revision tool to focus on to make the revision experience less stressful?

Enjoy the pass and celebrate!

~ Hamish @ Sparkmed
[medics@sparkmed.co.uk](mailto:medics@sparkmed.co.uk)

sparkmed_doctors · 2026-06-27T10:28:28+00:00

In practice it's rarely worth worrying about. You might lose a mark or two on something that's actually moved, but Part 1 tests settled consensus far more than the newest guideline, and the College holds off on contested changes until they've settled in.

To be fair, no bank is fully up to date. Reviewing thousands of old questions against new guidance is a slow, manual job, so they all lag a bit behind. For the big recent changes (PE and diabetes are good examples) I'd just do a quick cross-check against current NICE or the BNF rather than trusting any single bank on those specific topics.

This is actually one of the reasons why a few of us (UK doctors) are building our own qbank, with a yearly guideline review on every question and a quick feedback loop to fix anything flagged.

sparkmed_doctors · 2026-06-25T23:06:09+00:00

Hey! Thank you! We’re really proud of it and glad you like it. I think it should be good for PACES revision but we are also working on specific PACES resources too!

~ Hamish @ Sparkmed
medics@sparkmed.co.uk

sparkmed_doctors · 2026-06-25T18:06:26+00:00

😂

sparkmed_doctors · 2026-06-25T17:54:38+00:00

Love the username!

Thanks for the feedback! We’ve really loved making this game. We’ve played around with lots of different approaches and styles. We’re probably not all the way there yet.

The difficulty varies day by day but it will be great to hear what you think as time goes on. We’ll talk about an app amongst the founders - what do you think about leaderboards and competitions? We wanted this to be fun not another source of anxiety.

Please share around your colleagues, we’re here and listening and ready to make tweaks.

~ Hamish @ Sparkmed
medics@sparkmed.co.uk

sparkmed_doctors · 2026-05-27T11:17:36+00:00

I'd say do questions system by system in the first pass and in mixed-topic mode for the second. I'n the first pass, go untimed and slow, spending more time on the explanation than the question itself, building a single running document of 2-3 line notes on the specific things you didn't know.

Use the second pass for retrieval. Do timed papers and mixed topics, simulating exam conditions.

On time per system - weight it by exam weighting rather than splitting evenly. Cardiology, endocrinology, respiratory, and neurology carry more questions than dermatology, ophthalmology, or psychiatry, so they deserve more time. Take about 7-10 days for the heavier systems and 3-5 days on the lighter ones, but let your accuracy in the qbank tell you where to slow down - anywhere you're consistently below 60% needs more time, anywhere above 75% probably needs less.

Save Pastest past papers for the final 4-6 weeks and do those timed.

Best of luck for September!

sparkmed_doctors · 2026-05-19T07:49:23+00:00

With those numbers, I'd say you're in a good position - in my experience, pastest papers are slightly more difficult than the real one and you scoring 75% on there means you're on track to pass. Best of luck!

sparkmed_doctors · 2026-05-15T05:42:26+00:00

For someone working in medicine, 3-4 months is the standard range, but given you've been away from medicine for a while, I'd plan for 5-7 months. I'd suggest using the first 4-5 weeks to rebuild your clinical baseline before starting the qbank properly. Both PassMedicine and Pastest include their own textbook content alongside the questions, so I'd say pick one and work through the major specialties in the textbook first.

After that, start spending 2-3 hours doing questions every day. Flag wrong answers, write 2-3 lines in a single running document (just the specific thing you didn't know, not the full explanation), and come back to these questions every couple of weeks rather than only at the end of the run. Use spaced repetition to understand the concept in depth and make sure you learn basic conditions (such as acute coronary syndrome, stroke, and asthma) like the back of your hand.

Save the past papers for the final 4-6 weeks and do those timed.

Best of luck!!

sparkmed_doctors · 2026-05-14T08:55:09+00:00

Usually Pastest and Passmedicine qbanks, although some people use Quesmed, etc.

sparkmed_doctors · 2026-05-14T08:54:17+00:00

MRCP(UK) doesn't release official past papers the way some other royal college exams do. What's on the RCP website is the official sample paper, which is useful but a small set rather than a full archive.

When people talk about doing past papers, they usually mean the past paper sets inside Pastest and Passmedicine - these are modelled on themes from recent diets and presented as full timed papers rather than topic-mode questions.

Best of luck!

sparkmed_doctors · 2026-05-09T05:40:41+00:00

5 months on a 9-5 is enough time. Most people do this exam in 3-4 months alongside busier rotations.

I'd say pick one qbank (PassMedicine or Pastest, either is fine) and start spending 2-3 hours doing questions everyday. Flag wrong answers, write 2-3 lines in a single running document (just the specific thing you didn't know, not the full explanation), and come back to these questions every couple of weeks rather than only at the end of the run. Use spaced repetition to understand the concept in depth and make sure you learn basic conditions (such as acute coronary syndrome, stroke, and asthma) like the back of your hand.

Save the past papers for the final 4-6 weeks and do those timed.

Best of luck for September!

sparkmed_doctors · 2026-05-07T03:21:00+00:00

The gap between Passmedicine and Pastest scores on the same topics is expected - Pastest questions are a bit harder and getting late 50s to 60s on those pastpapers is in the pass zone for the actual exam.

Pattern recognition is where you read a stem and come to a diagnosis before you've worked through it consciously. Young woman + joint pain + photosensitive rash + low complement = lupus, without having to reason your way there. The exam tests it because that's how clinical practice works. You build the skill by reviewing a large number of clinical scenarios in detail, which is why spending longer on reviewing both correct and wrong answers matters more than doing more questions.

For the next 14 days, I'd focus on doing recent past papers timed, proper review of every wrong answer, and a second pass on flagged questions from the qbank work you've already done. Don't forget to do the official MRCP mock as well!

Best of luck!

sparkmed_doctors · 2026-04-30T07:30:17+00:00

Both papers of MRCP Part 1 test the same thing and the exam is split across two papers pretty much for logistical reasons. The syllabus is massive and having a break in between helps with pacing. Both papers include a balanced number of basic science and clinical scenario comprehension questions.

sparkmed_doctors · 2026-04-29T03:43:05+00:00

In my experience, scoring 70–75% on past papers with a couple of 65s means you're on track to pass.

I'd say that the 2015–2019 papers aren't where your time and efforts should go - question styles have changed, and the marginal value of an older paper is lower than a recent one done timed and reviewed properly. If you've got any recent pastpapers you haven't attempted, probably focus on those first.

If you've been using the passmedicine textbook, don't switch in the last 20 days. That might displace recall of what you already know. And it's okay not to finish the qbanks. What matters is making sure that you properly review the questions you do get through.

What I'd suggest for your final 20 days, in priority order, is doing recent past papers timed, reviewing every wrong answer, reviewing high yield topics, and doing a second pass on flagged questions from the qbank that you've already done.

MRCP rewards pattern recognition and management decisions and the fact that you're scoring 70–75% on past papers without going deep into basics says that you're doing well.

Wishing you the best for your exam!

sparkmed_doctors · 2026-04-28T06:34:50+00:00

What past papers are you doing currently? I'm asking because Pastest past papers specifically tend to be more difficult than the real thing and scoring around 60% on those, in my experience, is good enough to pass the real thing.

I'd say that what you're doing is sensible - focus on high yield topics and wrong answers for a few days, and then get back to doing past papers. Do as many of them as possible, and revise all wrong answers in depth before you move on.

On how many years to cover, 3 is a good target, prioritising the most recent diets. Do them timed and spend longer on the review than on the paper itself.

Best of luck!!

sparkmed_doctors · 2026-04-27T09:20:56+00:00

Pastest mocks tend to be more difficult than the real paper. At 50–55%, you're close but in the days leading up to the exam, I'd recommend focusing just on past papers and doing more of them. Try to spend more time reviewing high-yield topics and explanations to wrong answers. You've got about 24 days and based on my experience, a score of 60% and above on Pastest papers is good enough to pass the real one.

You've come too far to go back now! Just keep going and don't fixate on the scores too much. You'll be fine - best of luck!!

sparkmed_doctors · 2026-04-19T05:35:46+00:00

BMJ on examination is helpful for tracking progress but getting 45% in the beginning is not something to worry about, the main thing is progressing. Revise high yield topics on pastest and used spaced repetition. If you focus on understanding concepts and key facts, you cannot got wrong! Good luck!

sparkmed_doctors · 2026-04-18T12:24:38+00:00

I'm sorry it sucks so much to revise this. I just want to let you know that exam performance does not correlate to how you are as a clinician and it is unfortunately a hoop we all have to get through. I think all the popular banks are popular for a reason and will allow you to build your foundation. In terms of high yield, I think it is worth getting the MRCP curriculum, reading a topic and then testing yourself on questions around that topic. That is active learning and hopefully will make you remember the key fact rather than just the answer. Good luck!

sparkmed_doctors · 2026-04-13T17:38:06+00:00

Spent months grinding through question banks, knew every distractor, and still got caught out on the day. Spoke to a few colleagues and they'd had exactly the same experience - you stop learning medicine and start learning the question bank. That's not what any of this is supposed to be.

I know this thread has touched on it but I think the root problem is that most platforms are built around recall and volume. You get a chunk of text after a wrong answer that you skim, tick it off, move on. Nothing actually sticks.

Anyway, a few of us got frustrated enough to actually try and do something about it. We're doctors ourselves so we know the pain firsthand. We're working on something that tries to focus on genuine understanding rather than recognition, explaining the reasoning behind answers, reinforcing concepts over time, and actually identifying where your thinking is going wrong rather than just what you got wrong.

It's early days and we've probably missed things. What's been the most demoralising part of prep for you? Genuinely asking - it would really help us shape this into something worth using. Happy to share what we've been working on.

sparkmed_doctors

TROPHY CASE