Specialty Certificate Examination in Neurology
| Diets | Exam date | Application period | Reasonable Adjustment Deadline | Results release | Certificates posted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024/01 | 17 July 2024 | 27 March-24 April 2024 | 01 May 2024 | 14 August 2024 | 09 October 2024 |
| 2025/01 | 14 May 2025 | 22 January - 19 February 2025 | 27 February 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 in Neurology is delivered every nine months.
Eligibility requirements
There are no entry requirements for the SCE in Neurology, although trainees in UK training posts would normally take the SCE in their penultimate year of higher specialty training.
Qualification: Certificate in Neurology
Trainees who hold MRCP(UK), have gained the Certificate in Neurology and who are recommended for a CCT will be entitled to apply for the postnominal MRCP(UK) (Neurology).
For further details please see the FAQs.
Curriculum and blueprint
The Specialty Training Curriculum for Neurology 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:
Courses
- Birmingham Movement Disorders Course
- British Association of Stroke Physicians Trainees Weekend
- BMJ Masterclass (Neurology)
- British Neuropsychiatry Association Teaching Weekend
- British Peripheral Nerve Society Training Day
- Cambridge Dementia Course
- ILAE Epilepsy Specialist Registrar Teaching Weekend
- ILAE EEG course
- Keele Headache Course
- Liverpool University NeuroID course
- Practical Cognition Course
- Sheffield Neuroradiology Course
Journals
- Practical Neurology (especially major reviews and Bare Essentials)
- Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry
- Neurology (especially Residents and Fellows section and Neurology in Practice supplement)
Textbooks
- Anon - Aids to the examination of the peripheral nervous system
- Compston A, et al. - McAlpine's Multiple Sclerosis (4th Ed)
- Bradley WG, Daroff RB, Fenichel G, and Jankovic J. - Neurology in Clinical Practice 5th Edition
- Patten J. - Neurological Differential Diagnosis (2nd Ed)
- Pendlebury, Anslow, Rothwell. - Neurological Case Histories: Case Histories in Acute Neurology and the Neurology of General Medicine (Oxford Case Histories)
- Shorvon S, Perucca E, Fish D, Dodson W - The treatment of epilepsy. (Blackwell)
- Walters RJ, Wills AD, Smith PE. - Specialist Training in Neurology
- Warlow CP, et al - Stroke: A practical guide to management
- Warlow CP - Lancet Handbook of Treatment in Neurology
Websites
- Doctors.net.uk - on-line training modules, including many neurology (all free)
Sample questions
The questions are in ‘best of five’ multiple choice format. 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.
These questions give an indication of the type of question you can expect in the exam:
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.