Its a pleasure to write for the best group for bangladeshi doctors. I will divide my write ups into several parts to make it easier to understand.
1st part :
This is a guideline for those who are planning to sit for MRCP part 1 soon.
1.For me , Passmedicine is the best question bank for part 1. Its good to read through once and mark the tough question and revise it 15 days prior to exam.
2. Some people do read onexam. Thats another good question bank.
3. I liked Kalra for basic science and nephrology part. Not the whole of it.
4. When I started one system, I used to keep kumar and clark with me. Whenever i struggled with the basics of a difficult topic (e.g. Diffuse parenchymal lung disease, Long QT syndrome etc ) , Kumar and clark helped me a lot to have a clear idea.
5. I made notes of few things : cardio, neuro , endocrine, rheumato, infectious. I think questions from these 5 systems are usually quite tough and confusing. So my advice is alway write down whatever you feel difficult to memorize. Trust me, it helps. I just revised these topics 2 days before the exam. Life easy!!
6. Psychiatry and biostat – these are sleep provoking, least fruitful topics. But beware of 1 thing- psych has 4 questions and biostat has 5 – if anyone scores 0 in 1 particular topic , he/she will finally fail just because of a percentage conversion. So scoring in every block is a must. No matter how terrible these topics are , try to be patient and give enough time.
7. Tips before the exam : if possible, get a 7 day break from job, revise thoroughly. In Mrcpuk.org there are sample questions. So you can give mock test and assess your preparation. There is a website called revisemrcp.com which is the collection of old question which may be deemed to be helpful.
8. Time management in the exam is important. Make sure you do not spend much time thinking in the initial hours of the exam. Plan to answer more in 1st 1.5 hours than the 2nd half. Trickier questions come in the second half, consume more time.
9. Any postgraduation exam is nerve wrecking. But at the same time, nothing is end of the world. So be confident, try hard for the best , if not, there is always a second time 🙂
10. MRCP is a very structured exam. It will teach u more than it actually tests. Its better to be thorough while preparing for part 1 as it will help in part 2 and more precisely, to be an amazing medicine doctor.
Last but not the least, these are my made easy, everyone has different ways to memorize and recapitulate. My aim was to share my experience with a hope to help others 🙂
For those who wants to know more details about How to appear in the exam, Mrcpuk.org is the website to look into. Have a good read of the website before planning for the exam.
I also run a dedicated group for bangladeshi doctors who are planning to work and study abroad known as Plan Your Post graduation – Bangladesh & Abroad Happy to help if anyone needs guidance.
Best wishes.
Aurin Mahjabin
DMC 2005-06
