“For part 1 do lots of practice questions, which you can get from books,” advises Meena Patel, senior house officer at Great Ormond Street, London. She did part 1 in her first year of SHO training, and part 2 in her second year, passing both first time. The college has sample papers that Meena used as the basis of her revision rather than using books first.
“I did lots of questions,” she continues, “mainly from the Pastest series and Churchill Livingstone. The Pastest books are very good. I particularly like the one by Beattie. And go on courses. I went on a Pastest as they give you a huge range of questions.”
“It's not a pleasant thing,” said Meena reminiscing about part 2. “Because this is a new style of exam we weren't sure what to expect. It was quite stressful. The main advice everybody gave me for the written is to do lots of questions as you are revising, then look at books rather than the other way round. The more questions you do the more likely you are to come across cases that will come up.”
There still aren't many revision books focusing on the new part 2. Meena recommends “the Churchill Livingstone series: they've got good data books, they've got picture books. A great book I used was Grey Cases for the MRCPCH Part Two.”
She used these books to look up and learn answers to questions rather than trying to read them. “Everyone does different things but a lot of people advised me to do that,” she explains. “The same questions come up year after year so the more you see the more you recognise. That is one of the most useful things.”
“With the clinicals, learning is different,” says Meena, “Do lots of practice with registrars grilling you with viva questions so when examiners do the same you're not thrown.” She adds: “Put a bad case behind you and don't let it fluff you. If you get flustered you are at a disadvantage for your next short case or OSCE station.”
Meena suggests candidates think carefully about when to do the exam: “Do part 1 early, but part 2 needs clinical experience,” she says, “In certain jobs like neonates it is difficult to find patients suitable for exam practice. Busy jobs make it difficult to study.”
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