Hey all ,
Winters make you overthink and act lazy. So here I am making a comeback before summer strikes.
Professional setbacks are points where you either redirection or pivot your goals or come back stronger.
The exam that really tested my persistence and grit was MRCEM Intermediate. I failed thrice .The pattern of the exam changed after my second attempt with alot of additions and subtraction . A person who was always above average had to fail to get a perspective on life and explore her personality and get a reality check.
So , I call myself an exam veteran now after having appeared for exam sitting four times. For all those enthusiastic emergency physicians who want to get over this milestone, I have some 10 cents that might help you achieve your targets. I am the best person to give you an insight on the roadblocks , I saw them all.
1. Books to avoid : Moussa Issa text book.
Reason: It's a copy of RCEM learning. The text is totally picked up line to line. If you really are keen on reading the book , go to RCEM Learning website , you'll have good context and images to the text. It's too much of text to read and revise in 6 months. Still you'll miss on important components.
Read OHEM 5th edition, MRCEM Success , Previous exam paper recalls if you find last 10 years.Dont study too much. Study limited and revise it.
2. Subscription: MRCEM Success is amazing! Especially for medicine. Trauma , you have to work up as RCEM team gets very innovative with questions on trauma. You will have to complete all the questions and revise twice ATLEAST before appearing for the exam.
Protip 3 friends can share the subscription, just see that you dont login at the same time.
3. Curriculum: Curriculum might sound monotonous and boring to look at , but if you sit down and spend a day to understand what it's trying to ask , you'll save ample of time from revising unnecessary topics.
4. Guidelines: Royal College wants you to understand their guidelines on issues that are of value in their setup like Palliative care , organ donation, child abuse , consent , mental capacity, difficult cross referals , call for help. Year on year the questions are turning more complex. Advise would be to go to their ethics page and study them. You don't want to be losing your marks on such things.
5. Coaching: If you were attempting MRCEM 5 years back, the questions then were simpler, the competition was relatively less , the likelihood of clearing the examination was high. The reality now is the question are getting more complicated when I say that questions might sound simpler to somebody who is working in UK setup over somebody who is working in South Asia. Almost everyone has mentorship on what to study and how to study. If you're a average student like me , you would miss your pass mark by handful of marks (like I lost 3 times) . There are so many people like us. To have a competitive advantage you will have to figure out your weak points which would be RCEM , NICE guidelines on end of life care, transplant , capacity etc and practise over again and again. So that you can ace over it. There are a couple of people who are conducting online MRCEM classes , you can follow them as they handover concise syllabus and make you practise .You can save that time and spend on discussion and revision. Prefer somebody who is conducting mocktests and classes over 1 to 2 months atleast. 1 or 2 day crash courses are useless.
6. It's difficult to study by yourself especially if you're average full time Emergency Physician like me. By studying alone you're stressing nobody but your pocket for that 350-450 pounds. Ofcourse, there are exceptions.
7. You will have to start planning for the exam 5 months prior with a proper schedule and focus. No doubt there are exceptions,people who can just wake up and attempt the exam and clear it as well.
8. Mocks : You should attempts atleast 3 mocks in last 10 days before appearing to the exam.
9. Study group. It should have not more than 3 people. Too many cooks spoil the broth.
10. Last moment tips : Good sleep , food , revision is vital in last one week. Take atleast 2 days off prior your exam. You lose your focus if you are working till one day before in your ED. Any stress or conflict from there carries forward to your exam.
If you still have doubts , comment below. Or DM directly on LinkedIn or Instagram.
So far so much!
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