MRCPCH Exams will feature some changes from September 2024. The changes will be implemented in the MRCPCH FOP TAS exams. Moreover, RCPCH is making these changes after consulting with senior members of the faculty and representative trainees. Lastly, the General Medical Council has already given approval for the changes.

Foundation In Practice (FOP)

A total of 100 best-of-five single best answer (BO5 SBA) questions will be present in each exam. Each question will be worth one mark and the time allowed for the exam will be reduced to 120 minutes.

Theory And Science (TAS)

A total of 100 best-of-five single best answer (BO5 SBA) questions will feature in each exam. Each question will again be worth one mark. The time allowed for the exam will again be reduced to 120 minutes.

Applied Knowledge in Practice (AKP)

A total of 120 best-of-five single best answer (BO5 SBA) questions will be present in each exam. In addition, 60 BO5 SBAs will be present in each of the two parts of the exam. As usual, each question will be worth one mark. The time allowed for the exam will remain the same. A total of 300 minutes, with 150 minutes for each of the two parts of the exam.

Result Of the Change

Irrespective of the changes, the standard of the exam will remain the same and the syllabus will be followed. Besides, the standard setting processes will remain the same in spite of the change.

Reasons For the Change

The formats of the theory exams are being changed to provide the candidates with a simpler exam experience. The aim is also to further simplify the exam production processes for examiners.

SBA questions are efficient and reliable in assessment of knowledge. They are well established in the theory exams and are further used in high-stakes postgraduate exams.

Reasons For the Reduction in Time

A time analysis of the theory exams was conducted. The amount of time each of the candidates spent on each question type in each of the exams was monitored. The results of this analysis and the common timing rule used in SBA assessment were further used to make this decision to amend the time allowance.

The analysis further showed that candidates spend more time on average answering AKP questions due to their complexity. For this reason, the current time allowance for MRCPCH AKP exam was left unchanged.

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