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Welcome to MCQ techniques page
Advice on MCQ technique can be found in many books.
We have included some techniques and advice, mostly those we haven't seen anywhere, but
have helped us in playing the MCQ game right.
As with anything else in MRCPsych exams, needless to say, practice is of paramount
importance.
However we have found following points as well important, in doing practice MCQs and in
the real examination.
Get hold of good MCQs. (Good MCQs mean MCQs in areas that appear in the exam) These are
really not that hard to find. If you speak to your colleagues, specially the ones who have
done the exam already, may have a reasonable collection and may be willing to help. Some
courses will also give you a collection of good MCQs and answers. If you read around the
MCQ topics and spend time in targeted reading, it is not difficult to feel confident about
answering MCQ papers before you sit the examination.
Group MCQ
You are lucky, unlike your predecessors as there is no negative marking and you should
attempt all the questions. However it is a good idea to do the ones you are sure first and
return to the difficult ones later. You may find that an answer to a question that you
didn't know is hidden in a another question. Read all five responses before attempting
each question as this allows material to sink in and you may also perhaps find that one or
more responses lead to the answer to the other one. (e.g. you may have two responses
that can't be true together, as even though examiners try hard to avoid interdependency in
responses these can still appear)
At least once, before the examination do a MCQ paper under the exam conditions. (find your
self a dummy answer sheet or make one yourself) Give yourself only the allocated time and
make sure you transfer all your answers to the answer sheet. This is very important now,
as unlike in the past you are going to attempt all the questions and therefore you
have to make sure that you have sufficient time for transferring all your answers to the
answer sheet. By doing this under the exam conditions you will learn your weaknesses (not
only in knowledge but also in the method of answering the paper) so that you can think
about how to avoid them in the real examination.
You will find that MCQs are set from all sorts of text books. This again is a reason why
you must form a MCQ study group (or a night club) as between the members you will be able
to refer to many
It is important to know the meaning of common terms used in MCQs. Following is an attempt
to explain some of them.
characteristic: you would doubt the diagnosis without this
commonly: more than 50%
pathognomonic: occurs in that disease and no other
recognised: this has been reported (and you can be reasonably expected to know it)
specific: same as pathognomonic
typical: same as characteristic
rare: less than 5%
almost never: 1-2%
Look out for grammatical clues as, though examiners try to avoid them, they still keep
creeping in.
e.g.
true responses
false
responses
may
always
may be
necessarily
can be
is necessarily
can appear
same as
is possible
essential
never
However use help from grammatical clues with care as for e.g. even if the response
includes the term may be it is possible that the correct answer may still
be false. (Hopefully you may be able to pickup these paradoxical ones easily.)
It is worthwhile to make a lists of MCQable material so that you can have a last look at
it on the day prior to the examination.
e.g.
list of inherited diseases with the mode of inheritance
list of diseases causing learning disability
list of causes of dementia
treatable causes of dementia
segmental values of tendon jerks/dermatomes
lists of classes of medication (e.g.neuroleptics/anti depressants) etc
side effects of common drugs
receptors and subtypes and second messenger systems etc
epidemiology lists etc.
Finally don't forget to send us your good MCQs as they will help the future candidates.
Reading list
1. Oxford text book of psychiatry, Gelder et al
2. Examination notes in psychiatry, Bird et al
3. Companion to psychiatric studies, Kendall et al
4. College seminar series, Gaskell publications
5. Scientific basis of psychiatry, Weller and Eysenk
6. ICD 10, WHO
7. DSM IV. American psychiatric association
8. BNF
9. Revision notes in psychiatry, Puri and Hall
10. Critical dictionary of psychoanalysis, Penguin publications
11. Sciences basic to psychiatry, Puri and Tyrer
12. Clinical Medicine, Kumar and Clark
13. Symptoms in the mind, Sims
14. Pass MRCPsych examination, Williams et al
15. Psychotrophic drug directory, Bashir (Lundbeck)
16. Simple statistics, Frances Clegg
17. Organic psychiatry, Leishman