Specialist Certificate Examination (SCE) Resources

The SCE takes place once every nine months and is a compulsory examination for all respiratory medicine trainees. Further information about the examination and the registration process is available on the SCE page of the Membership of the Royal College of Physicians website. The British Thoracic Society runs a short course to prepare for the exam each year.

Most trainees consider taking the SCE during their ST5 or ST6 year. The exam is held once a year and passing the exam is a requirement for CCT. Once a trainee has gained their CCT in Respiratory Medicine, they will be eligible to use the post-nominal “MRCP (UK) (Resp Med)” provided that the SCE in Respiratory Medicine has been passed.

The SCE comprises two 3-hour papers, with 100 questions in each paper. There is a one-hour break between the two papers. The questions are in ‘best of five’ multiple choice format. Example questions can be found via this link.

Advice on preparing for the exam

• Work hard.
• Read the respiratory curriculum.
• Attend Multi-disciplinary meetings (MDM) in the various specialty blocks.
• Interpret lung function tests including spirometry, flow volume loops, full pulmonary function tests, exercise physiology and arterial blood gases.
• Interpret chest radiology including chest radiography, CT scanning and PET scanning.
• Read all the available guidelines by the British Thoracic Society and guidelines from other Societies such as the European and American Thoracic Societies. 
• Read the key Respiratory Journals and keep up-to-date, for example the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Thorax, European Respiratory Journal, CHEST and many others.
• Read relevant guidelines from NICE and SIGN.
• Attend BTS Short Courses, and in particular the Preparing for the SCE Course held each year.

How are the questions created?

There is a complex process which can be summarised as follows. The Specialist Question Writing Group (SQG) of the RCP creates a bank of questions for the exam. The questions are based on the core Respiratory Curriculum. This group meet up, peer review the questions and agree on the correct answers. Questions are then checked by the college for formatting and written in the correct style. If there are major changes, these questions are resubmitted to the next SQG meeting for review. The secretary of the SCE examination board selects questions for the examination from this bank.

An examination board meeting is held to review all the questions chosen to feature in the papers, check the images or results, check they are appropriate for the examination and once again check the correct answers. Following this, the final step is dealt by the Standard Setting Group - this is the group that create the pass mark for the examination. The group review the papers set by the examination board and once again check that it is appropriate for the examination and agree on the correct answer.

This group also estimates what percentage of the candidates will pass each individual question and, after statistical analysis, decide on a pass mark for the exam. There is a potential range of pass marks based on the standard deviation calculated by the group, and this range is adjusted to allow the predicted number of candidates to pass. The aim is to have an 80% or greater pass rate with the exam.

Resources that trainees have found helpful 

Author: Dr Hina Ifitkhar and Dr David Lodge