My GPST Stage 2 Experience

Stage 2 or Multi-Specialty Recruitment Assessment is the second of three steps for entering GP training. This article contains my experience of Stage 2. You can read more about the overview of the application process here.

 

Success After Multiple Failures

I passed this exam in April 2019 after having failed it three times before. I failed three times because I did not take the exam seriously. The first time that I took it seriously, I passed it easily.

 

First Attempt: August 2017 - Failed ❌

I took the exam after going through 300 clinical questions and 50 SJTs from Pass Medicine. I took the exam without preparing much as this was my first month in the NHS.
Result: Passed SJTs ; Failed clinical questions ❌.

Second Attempt: January 2018 - Failed ❌

I took the exam after going through roughly the same questions from Pass Medicine. I again did not study much.
Result: Passed SJTs ; Failed clinical questions ❌.

Third Attempt: January 2019 - Failed ❌

I took the exam after going through 2,252 clinical questions and 200+ SJTs from Pass Medicine and 400 clinical questions from Emedica. I studied mostly two months before the exam. I was unable to study much for two months before the exam. I also found it difficult to manage time during the clinical questions as I had not practiced any timed-mocks at home.
Result: Passed SJTs; Failed clinical questions ❌.

Fourth Attempt: April 2019 - Passed ✅

I took the exam after going through all of MCQ bank questions thrice and 70% of Emedica questions once. I studied seriously for the first time. I revised properly.
Result: Passed SJTs ; Passed clinical questions .

.

Summary of Four Attempts

Attempts

Hours

Sources

Results

First

10

Pass Med (15%)

SJT✅. Clinical❌
Second

10

Pass Med (15%)

SJT✅. Clinical❌

Third

50

Pass Med (100%) + Emedica (25%)

SJT✅. Clinical❌

Fourth

100

MCQ Bank (100% x3) + Emedica (70%)

SJT✅. Clinical✅

.

Starting Preparation

I had been studying on an off in October 2018. But I stopped studying after that and restarted preparation for the exam in February 2019.

 

Professional Dilemma Questions

I found these questions easy as I felt their answers were based on doing the ethically right thing at work. I passed this part of the exam in all four attempts without studying much.

 

Clinical Questions

In my fourth attempt, I finished MCQ Bank questions three times, followed by Emedica once. I was only able to complete 70% of Emedica questions. You can check my review of all three question banks here.

 

Mocks

I practiced all the mocks provided by Emedica. This helped my preparation the most. My score in the exam was the same as my scores in the mocks.

 

Courses

I did not take any courses for the exam. I did not have time to take a course; I felt they were very expensive; and I felt they were not needed. I only used the online question banks.

 

Results

I was not sure at all if I would pass or not. But I did pass with the following scores:

Clinical Problem Solving (CPS)

203

CPS Band

2

Professional Dilemma (PD)

241

PD Band

3

MSRA Total

444

.

Top Tips

  • Practice as many questions you can.
  • Practice as many timed-mocks as you can.

.

Useful Links

Leave a Reply