Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-nr4z6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-01T15:19:09.699Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Appendix 3 - The MRCPsych examination

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2018

Edited by
Amit Malik ,
Dinesh Bhugra  and
Andrew Brittlebank
Get access

Summary

The MRCPsych examination consists of three written papers and a Clinical Assessment of Skills and Competencies (CASC) examination. The eligibility criteria and other regulations for each paper can be found on the College website (www.rcpsych.ac.uk/exams.aspx). The different examination components are briefly outlined below.

The MRCPsych written papers

All three MRCPsych written papers are 3 hours’ long and contain 200 questions. Each paper includes both ‘best answer 1 of 5’ style multiple choice questions (MCQs) and extended matching items (EMIs).

The following subject areas are tested in each of the written papers:

MRCPsych Paper 1

  • • General adult psychiatry

  • • History and mental state examination

  • • Cognitive assessment

  • • Neurological examination

  • • Assessment

  • • Aetiology

  • • Diagnosis

  • • Classification

  • • Basic psychopharmacology

  • • Basic psychological processes

  • • Human psychological development

  • • Social psychology

  • • Description and measurement

  • • Basic psychological treatments

  • • Prevention of psychiatric disorder

  • • Descriptive psychopathology

  • • Dynamic psychopathology

  • • History of psychiatry

  • • Basic ethics and philosophy of psychiatry

  • • Stigma and culture

    • MRCPsych Paper 2

  • • General adult psychiatry

  • • General principles of psychopharmacology (pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics)

  • • Psychotropic drugs

  • • Adverse reactions

  • • Evaluation of treatments

  • • Neuropsychiatry (physiology, endocrinology, chemistry, anatomy, pathology)

  • • Genetics

  • • Epidemiology

  • • Advanced psychological processes and treatments

    • MRCPsych Paper 3

  • • General adult psychiatry

  • • Research methods

  • • Evidence-based practice

  • • Statistics

  • • Critical appraisal

  • • Clinical topics

  • • Liaison psychiatry

  • • Forensic psychiatry

  • • Addiction psychiatry

  • • Child and adolescent psychiatry

  • • Psychotherapy

  • • Learning disability psychiatry

  • • Rehabilitation psychiatry

  • • Old age psychiatry

    • MRCPsych CASC

    The CASC assesses a range of skills and competencies across six specialties of psychiatry (general adult, old age, child and adolescent, learning disabilities, psychotherapy and forensic psychiatry). The domains assessed are:

  • • history

  • • mental state examination

  • • risk assessment

  • • cognitive examination

  • • physical examination

  • • case discussion

  • • difficult communication.

    • The examination format consists of two circuits completed on the same day. One circuit consists of eight individual stations of 7 min each. The other circuit consists of four pairs of linked stations. Here the stations each last 10 min. Each station is marked individually and overall the CASC is marked over 16 individual stations.

    Type
    Chapter
    Information
    Workplace-Based Assessments in Psychiatry , pp. 215 - 217
    Publisher: Royal College of Psychiatrists
    Print publication year: 2011

    Access options

    Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

    Save book to Kindle

    To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

    Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

    Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

    Available formats
    ×

    Save book to Dropbox

    To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

    Available formats
    ×

    Save book to Google Drive

    To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

    Available formats
    ×