Articles

For many international medical graduates (IMGs) training to become GPs in the UK, one assessment stands between them and the end of training: the Simulated Consultation Assessment (SCA). In 2023-24, 51.56% of IMGs passed the SCA at their first attempt, compared with 94.28% of UK graduates. It is the same exam and the same standard,…

Most GP trainees struggle with a hard question: “Am I actually ready to sit the SCA exam?” Unsure, most do one of two things. They book the nearest sitting and hope the pressure forces them to prepare. Or they delay booking until they “feel ready”, which rarely happens. Both put the date before the plan.…

If you’ve sat the SCA more than once and failed marginally, this post was written for you. For twenty years, Dr Ali was a surgeon. She knew certainty. She knew protocols. She knew what it felt like to walk into a room, assess a problem and act confidently. Then she moved into general practice and…

“Oh my god, I can’t even describe it. It was such a relief. I cried on that day.” That’s Dr Thiha, describing the moment he finally saw a pass on his screen on his third attempt at the MRCGP SCA. Two attempts before that, the story looked very different. 66. Then 61. Worse the second…

Dr Ayo is a GP registrar who failed the MRCGP SCA exam twice before passing on his third attempt. His transformation, from failing across all three domains to passing despite a mid-exam computer crash came down to one fundamental shift: stopping a habit called cue-parking. What is the MRCGP SCA exam and why do doctors…

“I asked about Ideas, Concerns and Expectations. So why did I still lose marks?” I hear this frequently from GP registrars preparing for the MRCGP SCA. It feels confusing. You followed the framework. You asked the questions. You ticked the boxes. Yet the result came back with poor marks in Relating to Others. Here is…