Specialty Certificate Examination in Respiratory Medicine

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 Respiratory Medicine is delivered every nine months.

Eligibility requirements

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

Qualification: Certificate in Respiratory Medicine

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

For further details please see the FAQs.

Curriculum and blueprint

The Specialist Training Curriculum for Respiratory Medicine 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 Respiratory Medicine 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:

Guidelines

• American Thoracic Society
• British Thoracic Society
• European Respiratory Society
• National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)
• Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN)

Journals

• Amercian Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine
• CHEST
• European Respiratory Journal
• Thorax

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:

Online sample questions

Results report

The selected metrics report provides details about  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.

Respiratory Medicine results report

Email updates

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