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MRCPsych examination – too expensive?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Jon van Niekerk
Jon van Niekerk*
Affiliation:
Royal Bolton Hospital, Bolton BL4 0JR, e-mail: jjvanniekerk@doctors.net.uk
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Psychiatric Bulletin , Volume 30 , Issue 4 , April 2006 , pp. 154
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Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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Copyright © 2006. The Royal College of Psychiatrists

Few topics will engage senior house officers (SHOs) in such animated discussions as the MRCPsych exams. I read with interest the comments made by Dr Finlayson regarding the high pass mark for the MRCPsych part I exam (Psychiatric Bulletin, January 2006, 30, 35). Although I found the exam stressful, the standard was comparable to that of the last 10 years (part of the exam preparation involves working through past papers).

The ‘horror’ is the cost of the exams given that under the new European Working Time Directive most SHOs have seen their salaries shrink over the last 2 years. The added cost of exam-orientated courses run by private companies and books has made this truly expensive. Long gone are the days when Band 3 SHOs could afford all these.

I understand that to maintain high standards and quality the College needs to spend accordingly. The problem is that the MRCPsych courses run by universities are not sufficiently focused. This inevitably means having to pay for a course that runs the total cost way beyond £1000 per exam. With this kind of pressure a lot of SHOs can't afford to fail.

I am already dreading my part II exam - not because of the standard of the exam but I don't know how I will be able to pay the £593 cost on a 1B salary. With the modernising process underway, is the MRCPsych going to be a ‘luxury’ that future SHOs will not be able to afford?

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