General Medicine Part I

About MRCPI General Medicine Part I

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.

Single Best Answer questions consist of a 'vignette' (clinical scenario) followed by five possible answers. You must select the single best answer.

Questions in Part I 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.

Questions will be on common or important diseases in hospital or community practice as outlined in the curriculum for Basic Specialist Training in General Internal Medicine, available below.

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.

You can read about the benefits of Membership of RCPI here

COVID-19: Impact on RCPI exams

If you are due to sit an exam in March or April 2020, please check the status of your exam here.

Entry requirements

Six months, six times, six years

There must be at least six months between the date of your primary medical degree graduation and the date of the exam.

From January 2019 the maximum number of times a candidate can sit any Part of an MRCPI examination will be limited to six attempts.

This will mean that you have six attempts at each component of the MRCPI exams (i.e. 18 attempts in total across the three Parts).

You must pass the Part I examination within six years of your first attempt.

What to include with your application

When you apply for this exam you will need to upload a scanned attested copy of your primary medical degree. The attestation must appear on the front of the copy. Your degree can be attested by:

An Garda Siochana (Irish police force)
The issuing University or Medical School
A solicitor/ notary public/ lawyer
A Commissioner for oaths
An Irish or British Consulate
Your Embassy or High Commissioner

Official translations will only be accepted if they have been prepared and/or authenticated by:

The issuing University or Medical School
An Irish or British Consulate
Your Embassy or High Commissioner

Candidates who are registered with the Medical Council (Ireland or UK) may provide proof of Medical Council registration instead of uploading their Primary Medical Degree.

You must also upload a recent colour passport-style photograph (minimum resolution of 100*100 pixels).

This is an online application process - Please do not post your application or any supporting documents.

Are you exempt?

If you have one of the qualifications listed below, you are exempt from MRCPI General Medicine Part I, which means you are eligible to apply to MRCPI General Medicine Part II Written now.

As part of the application process you will be asked to upload an attested copy of your equivalent qualification(s).

MRCP(UK)
MRCPath
MRCPCH
MRACP
FRCP(C)
FCP(SA)
Arab Boards in Medicine and Paediatrics
Saudi Boards in Medicine and Paediatrics
Omani Specialty Boards in General Medicine and Paediatrics
Kuwait Boards of Medicine and Paediatrics
MRCPsych
FCPS in Medicine and Paediatrics (Pakistan)
The American Boards in General (Internal) Medicine and Paediatrics
MMed (Malaysia)

Application fee

The fee to sit Part I is €630 in Ireland, or €710 if you are taking the exam outside Ireland. The method of payment is credit or debit card, taken at the end of the online application process.

Don't forget, if you're in Ireland you can claim a refund of €450 under the HSE Clinical Course and Examination Refund Scheme.

If you require a visa

If you require a visa to sit an exam, it is your responsibility to ensure the visa application is made in sufficient time before the examination date. We have no role in granting or refusing visas.

A refund will not be given if you are unable to attend the examination as a result of a visa-related problem.

How to prepare

It's 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.

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.

You should practise Single Best Answer questions by using books or online resources.

You should also read the regulations document for this exam, also available below.

Examinations Department

Our Examinations Department is happy to talk to you about applying to any of our postgraduate examinations. Please note, at present the fastest way to contact this department is via email.

Occupational Medicine: Iain Martel, IainMartel@RCPI.ie, +353 1 8639 723
General Medicine Clinical: Gerard Kearns, GerardKearns@RCPI.IE, +353 1 8639 786
General Medicine Part II Written / Public Health: Marianna Kyjovska, MariannaKyjovska@RCPI.ie, +353 1 8639 762
General Medicine Part I/ Diploma in Clinical Psychiatry/ MRCPI Conferring Ceremony: Theresa Murphy, TheresaMurphy@RCPI.ie, +353 1 8639 778
Paediatrics Part I & II Written: Louise Treacy, LouiseTreacy@RCPI.IE, +353 1 8639 614
Obstetrics and Gynecology Part II Written & Part II OSCE/Clinical: Paediatrics Clinical, Virginia Cidfuente, VirginiaCidfuentes@RCPI.IE, +353 1 8639 606