Part 1
The contingency exam, for candidates whose centre place was cancelled and any candidates who experienced technical issues with the remote online exam, will take place on 30 March 2021. This will run entirely online, and affected candidates will have been enrolled into it automatically.
Part 2
The 2021/1 diet of the MRCP(UK) Part 2 written examination will take place on 23 March 2021 completely online. Candidates from the Republic of Ireland who had intended to sit the exam in Northern Ireland will also be able to apply to sit the examination online.
Any candidate who is unable to sit the online examination because they need a reasonable adjustment, should get in contact here.
Part 2 International
The Part 2 examination is currently due to run in physical centres as already planned. For selected areas where candidates need to sit the examination for their career progression, an online provision will be offered; the MRCP(UK) candidate office has contacted such candidates directly.
Specialty Certificate Exams / European Specialty Exams
All SCE / ESE exams for 2021 are currently planned to run as scheduled, in Pearson Vue centres; details for each specialty, including contingency exams (for candidates registered to take the SCE but who subsequently are unable to, for example due to clinical pressures at their hospital or need to isolate) can be found here.
Online exams – important information for candidates who finish early
Although the majority of candidates use up most of the allocated 3 hours on a paper, some candidates finish early. Our regulations stipulate that such candidates are required to remain in place until the end of the paper, no matter how early they finish. Although this is simpler to enforce in written centres, we would like to emphasise that exactly the same applies to candidates sitting their exams online: they must remain in place, with no access to communication facilities or outside materials, until the end of the 3 hours allocated to their paper.
This is important to help ensure the security of our exams, and any candidates failing to do so will be considered to be in breach of our regulations and may render their examination attempt void.
Security
We wish to reiterate that safeguarding the security of our exams is vital to maintaining their validity and integrity. Any candidate who makes available any of our questions to others, for whatever reason, will be liable to disciplinary action, which will not only include rendering their examination attempt void but also reporting them to the relevant regulator (GMC in the UK or equivalent internationally).
Live Twitter chats
Live Q&A sessions about the exams occur on our Twitter account on a regular basis, arranged around the time of upcoming exams. The next live Q&A is on Tuesday 2 March at 3pm.
Feedback
We are always keen on feedback. If you have specific queries relating to your exam day please contact the exams office at your College of entry.
For other general queries or suggestions please email: Policy.Officer@mrcpuk.org.
For all updates visit the COVID-19 hub here.