Governance of the Specialty Certificate Examinations

Ultimate authority for the Specialty Certificate Examinations lies jointly with the Federation of Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United Kingdom (the Federation) and the Specialist Societies.

Responsibility for the academic activities of the Specialty Certificate Examinations is delegated to the following bodies:

• MRCP(UK) Management Board
• Specialty Certificate Steering Group
• Specialty Certificate Examining Board
• Specialty Certificate Question Writing Group
• Specialty Certificate Standard Setting Group

The Specialty Certificate Steering Group’s remit is to evaluate the progress and success of the Specialty Certificate Examinations, in which capacity it is responsible for advising the MRCP(UK) Management Board on all policy and academic matters relating to the Examinations. Additionally, it monitors the performance of the Specialty Certificate Examining Boards, Question Writing Group and Standard Setting Groups.

For more information about the remits and responsibilities of these groups please see the Remits and Responsibilities document:

  Remits and Responsibilities

Standard Setting

Specialty Certificate Examinations are criterion-referenced with a pass mark determined in advance. Prior to the test, the difficulty of each question is considered by the Standard Setting Group, comprising practising Consultant Physicians who have participated in setting the Specialty Certificate Examination and those who have medical education experience relevant to this process. This is exactly the same process as used in the MRCP(UK) Part 1 and 2 Written examinations for many years. For more information see the document on criterion referencing:

  Introduction to Criterion Referencing

Further information about standard setting is available in the Regulations.