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Membership Examinations
 

MRCPI in General Medicine

 

General Medicine Part I

 

Summary

The MRCPI in General Medicine examination is accredited by the Medical Council of Ireland as the foremost knowledge-based assessment for internal medicine in Ireland.

If you are undertaking Basic Specialist Training in Ireland, achieving MRCPI means you are ready to apply to enter Higher Specialist Training, the final stage of training before independent practice.

 

Exam Structure

  • The MRCPI General Medicine Part I examination consists of one paper with 100 Single Best Answer questions. You have three hours to complete the exam. There is no negative marking and each question is equally weighted so we advise you to attempt all questions.
  • Single Best Answer questions consist of a 'vignette' (clinical scenario) followed by five possible answers. You must select the single best answer.
  • The questions in this paper are selected to achieve a balanced spread across medical specialties, the sciences underlying evidence-based medical practice, and the basic skills required in general medicine.
  • In general, the questions will be on common or important diseases in hospital or community practice. At least 75% of the questions will concern direct clinical care of inpatients and outpatients in hospital medical practice. Correct answers will be within up-to-date guidelines for diagnosis and management.
  • Basic science questions may cover anatomy, bacteriology, biochemistry, ethics, genetics, immunology, metabolics, physiology, principles of evidence-based practice and statistics.
 

How to Prepare

It is important to prepare for MRCPI exams and not to underestimate how long it takes to get ready to sit Part I. Having an understanding of how each exam is formatted and how questions are constructed will help you prepare and develop good answering strategies. When working in a busy clinical job with acute medical take, you should allow three to four months to prepare for MRCPI Part I. You should practise Single Best Answer questions by using books or online resources.

When you're preparing your study plan, make sure to refer to the curriculum for Basic Specialist Training in General Internal Medicine, as the MRCPI in General Medicine is based on this curriculum. It serves as a 'blueprint' for the exam. .

For more information on the exam, please refer to the MRCPI Regulations and Information. The free GM Skills Course is under redevelopment and is not available currently. Please note that any information that you may need in relation to the Part I exam can be found in the General Medicine Regulations document.

 

Frequently Asked Questions