Specialty Certificate Examination in Dermatology

Please ensure you apply for your examination within the application period and have submitted your reasonable adjustment request by the reasonable adjustment deadline.

The Specialty Certificate Examination (SCE) in Dermatology is delivered once a year.

Eligibility requirements

There are no entry requirements for the SCE in Dermatology, although candidates in UK training posts would normally take the SCE in Dermatology in their penultimate year of higher specialty training.

Qualification: Certificate in Dermatology

Trainees who hold MRCP(UK), have gained the Certificate in Dermatology and who are recommended for a CCT will be entitled to apply for the postnominal MRCP(UK) (Dermatology).

For further details please see the FAQs.

Curriculum and blueprint

The Specialty Training Curriculum for Dermatology is published by the Joint Royal Colleges of Physicians Training Board (JRCPTB).

The examination is made up of questions covering the whole curriculum, selected by a predetermined blueprint:

SCE in Dermatology blueprint

Resources for trainees

Preparation for the SCE requires a wide breadth of knowledge around the curriculum and should involve reading of textbooks, journals and guidelines. Experience of the MRCP(UK) examination provides an excellent background to the format of the examination.

Suggested sources and reading are listed below:

Textbooks

• Rook's Textbook of Dermatology (Eds DA Burns, SM Breathnach, N Cox, CE Griffiths. Published by Wiley-Blackwell)
• Textbook of Pediatric Dermatology (Eds AD Irvine, PH Hoeger, AC Yan. Published by Wiley-Blackwell)
• Dermatology (Eds JL Bolognia, JL Jorizzo, RP Rapini. Pub Elsevier)
• McKee’s Pathology of the Skin (JE Calonje, T Brenn, A Lazar, P McKee. Published by Elsevier)

Journals

• British Journal of Dermatology (BJD)
• Clinical and Experimental Dermatology (CED)
• Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology (JAAD)
• Journal of Investigative Dermatology
• The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)

Websites

• British Association of Dermatologists (BAD)
• British Society for Investigative Dermatology (BSID)
• British Society for Cutaneous Allergy
• British Society for Medical Dermatology
• British Society for Dermatological Surgery (BSDS)
• DermIS (dermatology image resource)
• eMedicine online reference
• DermNet NZ (New Zealand dermatology society)

• Dermatology e-learning resource

Sample questions

The questions are in ‘best of five’ multiple choice format. This format, in addition to testing core knowledge and comprehension, also assesses the ability to interpret information and to solve clinical problems. There will be five options – one correct answer and four alternatives to the correct answer. The four distractors will be closely related to the preferred option but less correct, therefore acting as plausible alternatives.

These questions give an indication of the type of question you can expect in the exam. Attempt the online sample questions:

• Dermatology sample questions

Results report

The selected metrics report provides details about the previous year's examination. All the statistics are intended to help candidates to be more informed and better prepared for the examination. The reports are also available to other stakeholders (e.g. deaneries’ representatives, board members, trainees’ supervisors) who would like to find out more about candidates’ performance in order to be able to make informed decisions about training programmes or examination standards.

Dermatology results report

Email updates

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