Membership of the Royal College of Physicians (MRCP) is a postgraduate diploma in medicine inside the UK. This article will provide you with the Upcoming MRCP part 2 exam guidance. You can find part 1 on the same blog.
Summary
Part 2 is a like part 1, a written examination carried out by the doctors after they pass part 1. The test after 2018 will consist of 200 MCQs on a two set paper carried out on the same day. The time limit for each paper is 3 hours strictly upon incompletion of which you are disqualified. This tests emphasizes mostly on your clinical knowledge, management plans put forward, diagnosis of the cases and analyzing the prognosis. The total number of attempts for the test is 6 in a lifetime. After which your physician dream in the UK ends.
Table of Contents
The topics along with their grip on the test are shown in the table below
| Topics | Number of Questions |
| Cardiology | 19 |
| Endocrinology | 19 |
| Gastroenterology | 19 |
| Infectious diseases and GUM | 19 |
| Nephrology | 19 |
| Respiratory system | 19 |
| Therapeutics and Toxicology | 18 |
| Neurology | 17 |
| Dermatology | 9 |
| Geriatic medicine | 9 |
| Haematology | 9 |
| Oncology and Palliative medicine | 9 |
| Rheumatology | 9 |
| Opthalmology | 3 |
| Psychiatry | 3 |
The exam contents are subject to change in the coming years but this table covers almost all you have to worry about.
Criterion of Questioning
The questions asked are mostly clinical scenario based i.e require thorough thinking containing graphs, scans, charts, readings, ECG, photographs and pathological slides. The scoring system is based on the difficulty of the question I.e in short there are a certain number of tough questions that provide more scores than all the other usual ones but their scoring is hidden. All you need to know is the minimum passing marks for MRCP part 2 is 454 out of a total 999. This is the borderline folks you’re either in or out. There is no negative marking so if you leave some blank, the jokes on you.
Applications and Exam dates
There are three sessions each year and below are the session dates for the year 2018.
Session 1 (applications) : 8th January to 19th January
Session 1 (exam) : 27th march
Session 2 (applications) : 9th April to 20th April
Session 2 (exam) : 27th june
Session 3 (applications) : 20th august to 31st august
Session 3 (exam) : 24th October
Fee structure
Approximately £420 for students of the UK
And £600 for students not from the UK
International test Centers
Bahrain (Manama)
Bangladesh (Dhaka)
Egypt (Cairo)
Hong Kong
Iceland (Reykjavik)
India (Chennai, Kerala, Calcutta, Mumbai, New Delhi)
Iraq (Baghdad, Erbil)
Jordan (Amman)
Kuwait (City)
Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur)
Malta
Myanmar (Yangon)
Oman (Muscat)
Pakistan (Karachi, Lahore)
Qatar (Doha)
Saudi Arabia (Jeddah, Riyadh)
Singapore
Sri Lanka
Sudan (Khartoum)
UAE (Abu Dhabi, Dubai)
West Indies (Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad)
National Examination Centers
Edinburgh
Manchester
Newcastle
Belfast
Glasgow
Birmingham
Cardiff
London
That’s all about Upcoming MRCP part 2 exam guidance and contents. If im missing out on something you can let me know in the comments. Don’t forget to pass MRCP Part 1 before you get to work on Part 2. And that’s not the end of the line you will have PACES too which is the third and final step and I will post a blog about all that soon. Till then, Happy Studying.
