Tuesday, August 22, 2006

How to pass PACES

This is my advice on how to pass PACES. It worked for me and suited my revision style.
Books
You must buy/borrow/steal the following three books (~£100 in total):
Courses:
If you have lots of money and are desperate to pass, do this course:
If you need help with Neuro or Fundoscopy, do this course as well:
(when I did it it was over 2 days, not sure why they have tried to squeeze it into one day)
If you have limited funds, do this course instead of the two above:
As you will see on the 'net, there are lots of courses out there aiming to teach and take away your cash. Most are good from what I've heard. It feels like all they have to do is advertise a course and people are willing to bend over for them whilst they empty your bank account. Saying that, I did all three of the above courses and passed.
If you were trained in the UK and speak reasonable English you shouldn't need a separate Ethics/History taking course. But if you have money to burn do one as they are the 2 stations which are failed more than any other!
The MRCP PACES exam itself will cost about £900 if you include diploma fees/travel/hotels.
All of the above must be supplemented by seeing patients on the wards, honing your examination technique on friends/stuffed animals and learning those 3 textbooks. Passing PACES is then down to luck on the day.
If you have any questions / need advice for MRCP PACES I will answer them if I can via the comments section.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

How fat is Ross's Mum?

JM said...

Hi, just stopping by.
I'm studying for the USMLE Step 2 now--people have told me that it's not as tough as Step 1. I hope so.

Dr Vegas said...

Anonymous - I have no idea. That question did not come up in my exam.

Angel jr. - good luck! I'm sure all the hard effort will be worth it in the end.

Anonymous said...

i failed my paces in november...and i'm heart broken. I failed in station 3. I'm determined to pass this evil exam...any tips?

Anonymous said...

I am in a dilemma, do I really need to be facing internal medicine DAILY ward patients in order to pass the MRCP?? Or can I pass the MRCP with knowing the facts and putting an effort looking for cases and reflecting on them? i.e can I pass the MRCP by being in a GP setting? i.e can I pass the MRCP by being in a speciality setting like the diabetology unit? (with putting outside effort out of the working hours.... )....

email me back kindly on pinkfeets@hotmail.com

Dr Vegas said...

Pinkfeets:

You don't need to be seeing general (internal) medicine patients daily as part of your job, provided you are already generally clinically competent. You do need to have access to patients with good signs from all medical specialities though, either through friends on other wards or colleagues who you can ideally pair up with and study together. The best way to prepare is to find a strict, critical SpR who is willing to take you round after work and test you.

Anonymous said...

I hope you may answer me this before tommorrow, but how many courses do you recommend for a person to go for? I was planning to go for the pastest course, goahead paces course in st george and ealing course... all in one week as i live abroad. Is that too much or should I just DO IT?!

Thank u!

pink

Anonymous said...

Hello, I have to do my paces exam again, I thought i studied well for it and on the day it all went to pieces. I was making silly mistakes which i would not etc. Apart from the courses do you have any advice in a better way to prepare- especially presentation etc.

Anonymous said...

Check out PassPACES latest ebook! Heard it is quite useful!