Specialty Certificate Examination in Acute Medicine
| Diets | Exam date | Application period | Reasonable Adjustment Deadline | Results release | Certificates posted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024/01 | 15 May 2024 | 24 January- 21 February 2024 | 28 February 2024 | 12 June 2024 | 22 August 2024 |
| 2025/01 | 5 March 2025 | 13 November - 11 December 2024 | 19 December 2024 | 4 weeks after exam | 8 weeks after results release |
| 2025/02 | 10 December 2025 | 20 August - 17 September 2025 | 25 September 2025 | 4 weeks after exam | 8 weeks after results release |
Please ensure you apply for your examination within the application period and have submitted your reasonable adjustment request by the reasonable adjustment deadline.
The Specialty Certificate Examination (SCE) in Acute Medicine is delivered every nine months.
Eligibility requirements
There are no entry requirements for the SCE in Acute Medicine, although candidates in UK training posts would normally take the SCE in Acute Medicine in their penultimate year of higher specialty training.
Qualification: Certificate in Acute Medicine
Trainees who hold MRCP(UK), have gained the Certificate in Acute Medicine and who are recommended for a CCT will be entitled to apply for the postnominal MRCP(UK) (Acute Medicine).
For further details please see the FAQs.
Curriculum and blueprint
The Specialty Training Curriculum for Acute Internal Medicine is published by the Joint Royal Colleges of Physicians Training Board (JRCPTB).
The examination is made up of questions covering the whole curriculum, selected by a predetermined blueprint:
Resources for trainees
Preparation for the SCE requires a wide breadth of knowledge around the curriculum and should involve reading of textbooks, journals and guidelines. Experience of the MRCP(UK) examination provides an excellent background to the format of the examination.
Suggested sources and reading are listed below:
Guidelines
- National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)
- Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN)
- The Society for Acute Medicine (SAM)
Textbooks
- Oxford Textbook of Medicine (Eds David A. Warrell, Timothy M. Cox, John D. Firth. Published by Oxford University Press)
- Oxford Handbook of Acute Medicine (Eds Punit Ramrakha, Kevin Moore, Amir Sam. Published by Oxford University Press)
Journals
- Acute Medicine (Published by Rila)
- Clinical Medicine (Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of London)
- Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
Sample questions
These are sample ‘Best of Five’ questions in the style of the SCE. This format, in addition to testing core knowledge and comprehension, also assesses the ability to interpret information and to solve clinical problems. There will be five options – one correct answer and four alternatives to the correct answer. The four distractors will be closely related to the preferred option but less correct, therefore acting as plausible alternatives.
Many of these questions are straightforward and candidates should be aware that questions in the actual examination are likely to be more difficult.
Results report
The selected metrics report provides details about the previous year's examination. All the statistics are intended to help candidates to be more informed and better prepared for the examination. The reports are also available to other stakeholders (e.g. deaneries’ representatives, board members, trainees’ supervisors) who would like to find out more about candidates’ performance in order to be able to make informed decisions about training programmes or examination standards.