About us

The Standard Setting Groups are responsible for advising on the pass mark and ensuring the academic quality of the examinations. They review the difficulty and relevance of each question, ensuring alignment with current clinical practice and GMC standards. They also work closely with the Examining Boards to ensure the assessments remain fit for purpose.

The Standard Setting Group meets once a year with a full standard setting meeting every three years. While the full standard setting meeting is conducted every three years, annual meetings help maintain consistency and allow members to stay engaged with exam developments.

There are 13 Standard Setting Groups that which review the pass mark for 11 Speciality Certificate Examination’s and MRCP(UK) Part 1 and Part 2 examinations. During the yearly exercise you’ll review one Paper with 100 questions and during the full review you’ll score two papers with 200 questions in total. 

There are 13 examining boards, which are split between the MRCP(UK) Part 1 and Part 2 Exams, and the Speciality Certificate Exams.

The boards review three exam papers of 100 questions each over two days. They then decide on the 100 questions to be included in the final exam and discuss the outcomes and data from the previous diet.

The two MRCP(UK) examining boards, split into a Part 1 Board and Part 2 Board, consist of both trainees and consultants, and also host representatives from our Hong Kong and Singapore partners.  They meet three times a year and produce papers for the three MRCP(UK) exam diets that run yearly. The members are all volunteers however, the Board Chair and Secretary are salaried roles.

The 11 speciality examining boards are structured the same as the Part 1 and Part 2 boards, with the exception that there are no salaried roles, and three of the 11 boards include representation from Europe.

There are 38 Specialist Advisory Committees (SACs) at the Federation. The SACs meet intermittently throughout the year to discuss the higher specialty training in their specialism for the four years of training it spans.

The SACs consist of Training Programme Directors (TPDs), speciality specific experts such as members of speciality societies, trainees, and lay representatives.

There are seven main workstreams for the SACs:

• Ensuring the quality of training including collecting data from trainers and trainees on curriculum implementation, and education and training.
• Ascertaining the scope of the workforce, role distribution across the UK, and incoming and outgoing trainee numbers.
• Curriculum and assessment work, which ensures the curriculum is up to date and relevant.
• The ePortfolio, its structure and usability/suitability for ARCPs and PYAs.
• Certification and training work, which includes singing off on CCTs, assessing Portfolio Pathway Applications, etc.
• Evaluating academic opportunities for trainees, such as research opportunities or academic posts.
• The recruitment of new trainees and their placement.

There are two groups of SACs.

1. Group 1 specialities dual accredit with their speciality and General Internal Medicine.
2. Group 2 specialities do not dual accredit with General Internal Medicine, and only provide a single CCT.

There are two question writing groups: The MRCP(UK) (Speciality Question Group) SQG, and the SCE (Question Writing Group) QWG.

The MRCP(UK) SQG produces questions for the MRCP(UK) Part 1 and Part 2 exams. It is made up of consultants from all specialties, who have a three-year tenure. They meet once a year, across two days and work to produce and calibrate the exam questions.

The SCE QWG is made up of consultants from all specialties with a Speciality Certificate Exam. Much like the MRCP SQG, the SCE question writing group meets once a year across two days. The consultants split into their specialties and work to create a robust and quality Speciality Certificate Examination. Their tenure is also three years.

The Scenario Writing Group (SWG) plays a pivotal role in shaping the PACES Clinical Examination by developing all new scenarios for Stations 1 and 4 - the starting point of a scenario’s lifecycle. Comprising both consultants and trainees from a wide range of specialties, members serve a three-year term and bring diverse clinical perspectives to the group.

Meeting twice a year, the SWG collaborates in either hybrid or virtual formats to write and refine scenarios. All outputs are submitted to the Scenario Editorial Committee (SEC), which maintains oversight and approves scenarios before they are selected for examination diets.

The SWG’s work ensures that PACES scenarios remain clinically relevant, diverse, and reflective of real-world practice.

The Federation of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the UK is contracted by the General Medical Council (GMC) to assess applicants for Portfolio Pathway (formerly known as CESR). This process allows doctors who believe they have acquired the relevant curriculum competencies outside of an approved training programme to apply for direct specialist registration.