Examinations

Candidates must submit the Withdrawal Request form below (or a letter or email will be accepted) to their administrative office as soon as possible, providing their name, RCP code number and date of birth.

Candidates can request to withdraw prior to the examination but the proportion of the fee they receive as a refund will vary depending on when they submit the request as a percentage will be retained to cover administrative costs:

a) During the application period: 90%

b) After the application period closes and more than 28 days before the examination:

i. 60%

ii. 80% if evidence of exceptional circumstances (e.g., ill health or bereavement) is provided

c) Candidates who request to withdraw within 28 days of an examination will only receive a refund (of 80%) if they provide evidence of exceptional circumstances. Where possible, candidates should contact MRCP(UK) or the relevant college administrative office before the examination. Evidence must be submitted within four weeks after their scheduled examination date.

For further information please refer to section 3.11 of the SCE Regulations for full details on our withdrawal process.

Fees are also used to support the activities of the three colleges (RCP, RCPE and RCPSG) in educating doctors and improving standards in patient care in the UK and across the world. Each of these Colleges are charities, and also membership subscription organisations. It is important to note that none receive any direct funding from government, the commercial or pharmaceutical sector, or other external organisations. See the information from each of the colleges below for more.

Royal College of Physicians, London

Since its foundation in 1518 the RCP's focus has been to support doctors and ultimately improve patient care and reduce illness. We aim to drive improvement in the diagnosis of disease, the care of individual patients and the health of the whole population.

As a registered charity, our vision is for the best health and care for all. Income from all our activities focuses on educating physicians and supporting them to fulfil their potential, improving services and leading the prevention of ill health across communities, alongside influencing the way that health care is designed and delivered.

This translates into a wide range of support for our 40,000+ members and wider healthcare community. We run a broad programme of educational opportunities including leadership development programmes aimed at promoting greater diversity and those which are career specific. This is in addition to the medical streaming service RCP Player. For trainees specifically, our active Trainees' Committee provides a voice for junior doctors to shape our work programmes and our policy and campaigns approach. Other examples of support include our interview skills training course which hundreds of members have benefitted from to date and the MTI scheme which supports overseas doctors to work in the NHS.

We encourage trainees to thrive in their careers with leadership support such as the Chief Registrar programme and Emerging Women Leaders, and on the ground support from the RCP network of college tutors and associates. For aspiring doctors at the very start of their careers, we offer free medical student membership and heavily discounted membership for foundation doctors. Initiatives such as the Turner-Warwick lectures provide trainees the opportunity to showcase research at the national level, and our dedicated programme of trainee events includes the increasingly popular Call the Med Reg and Medicine careers showcase. Many of our awards and scholarships are focussed on trainee doctors, providing both research and development opportunities, promoting new personal skills and career advancement. We host two academic journals, Clinical Medicine and Future Healthcare Journal, in which publishing for members is free. Trainee members shape our conferences programme and new quality improvement website, Medical care – driving change.

Our ambition for the best possible health and care is worldwide. We have an active global membership programme which includes discounted membership and targeted education and events.

Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh

We have a strong UK and international presence with Fellows and Members based in over 100 countries. Our Fellows and Members are the driving force of the College. As a membership organisation and a registered charity, all of our work is enriched by the voluntary leadership, contributions and expertise of our global community of healthcare professionals. Income received from subscriptions, examination fees, donations and events enables us to put in place the infrastructure to help promote and improve the quality of health and patient care worldwide.

We recognise the value and contribution of trainees and are here to support you at all stages of your career. The College offers free membership to medical students and colleagues within the first two years of training and to refugees who are currently living in the UK and who have trained as doctors or who began studying medicine in their home country. We also offer substantial discounts to those working less than full time (LTFT) and those who are on maternity leave, paternity leave or adoption leave.

The College offers a vast education programme of specialty and general medical education as well as regular medical and training updates. We offer international access to events and symposia – watch live or catch up on demand at a time to suit you through the Education Portal, which also offers online and blended learning modules. This includes access to free information hubs, such as our digital hub on drug-related harms.

We are committed to playing our part in international efforts to develop a coordinated strategy towards achieving equity of health status and healthcare provision globally. We facilitate partnerships to support training and education internationally and to enable delivery of high-quality, sustainable healthcare locally in countries including Malawi and Zambia. We maintain competitive rates for our international Fellows and Members and use a system of tiered reduced subscription rates based on the World Bank Development Indicators.

Our Trainees and Members' Committee is one of the UK's most active and influential trainee groups and it ensures that the views and experiences of trainees are represented both within the College and externally to policymakers. Together with our Associate Regional Adviser (ARA) network, this helps to bring physicianly communities together in all regions of the UK, developing a strong ecosystem of College support for our current and future Fellows and Members.

Our podcast website hosts a wide range of content including a regular series by our Trainees and Members' Committee which discusses a range of career and clinical topics, such as Less Than Full Time and Treatment escalation plans. These podcasts often feature topic experts – further cementing the College as a "one stop shop" for educational content and career advice. We also offer a fortnightly podcast from the Physicians' Gallery at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh which explores the history of medicine.

Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow

The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow was established in 1599 with the purpose of improving standards of medical and surgical care. It was then, and remains today, the only multi-disciplinary Royal College in the UK.

Working together as one College, with care and compassion which reflects our charitable status, we ensure our 15,000+ members are able to deliver the best outcomes for their patients and inspire the next generation of healthcare professionals. Our College is an international community with Fellows and Members in the United Kingdom and across the globe and we ensure that our education and training advance professional development.

We use our income to invest in and deliver on priorities that allow us to continue to fulfil our charitable purpose, including:

• Developing and delivering an educational and assessment programme that responds to and meets the needs of our members and their patients
• Engaging with and connecting our members here in the UK and across the world
• Amplifying the voices of our members to help inform public policy and ultimately, improve patient safety

Our College has a vibrant and dedicated Trainees Committee, operating on a UK-wide basis, that works to promote the interests and wellbeing of trainees.

We sponsor a number of trainee events in hospitals through our dedicated Membership Engagement team and our network of UK Regional Advisors, which provides invaluable support to our trainees locally.  We run assimilation programmes, in conjunction with NES (NHS Education for Scotland) for international medical graduates, who are new to working in the UK and the NHS. Our College also has one of the most generous scholarships and awards schemes in the UK.

As the only multidisciplinary medical Royal College in the UK, we are uniquely placed to amplify the voices of our members and help shape discussions around the future of health.

SCEs are a computer-based exam that consists of two papers. You will sit Paper 1 in the morning and Paper 2 in the afternoon. Each paper will be 3 hours long and consist of 100 questions which will all be multiple choice, best of 5. There will be one-hour break between the papers.

We don't accept late applications for any reason once the registration period has closed. Please see section 3.2 of the Specialty Certificate Examination Regulations.

All candidates who pass the SCE are entitled to use the post-nominal ‘SCE (Specialty)’. This replaces the previous regulation which linked use of the post-nominal to completion of the relevant UK training programme and passing MRCP(UK). For more information on the SCE please click here.

You should arrive at the venue at the reporting time detailed on your admission document. You will not be admitted to any paper if you arrive more than 30 minutes after the examination has started. Candidates who arrive after the scheduled start time will not be permitted any additional time to complete the paper. If a candidate is not permitted to enter the test room because they arrive late, they will be considered absent.

From June 2026, all UK and International SCEs will be delivered in centre. Further information about exam locations can be found here             

We do not have set centres for UK and international candidates. On applying to sit the examination, UK and international candidates are given the choice to select a country and city/town where they would prefer to sit. We are then able to send this request to our exam provider who will either accommodate you in your first choice of examination centre, or allocate you to the next nearest available test centre.

Please see your Specialty page and the exams dates section for more details about when the SCE in your specialty will be held.

Certificates will be dispatched to successful candidates within eight weeks of results being released. All certificates are sent via second class post within the UK, and via standard, non-trackable, airmail to all other destinations. Please ensure the postal address in your online account is up to date once results have been released, as this is the address that certificates will be posted.

The process for setting examination fees starts in the previous July (eg. July 2012 for fees running from January to December 2013). All the economic and political factors are taken into consideration at the July MRCP(UK) Management Board. Over the past few years it has been agreed that increases should be based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for July which is published in August. There follows a period of consultation with trainees and our partners in the SCEs, the specialist societies. The fees are then formally set at the September MRCP(UK) Management Board and published in October.

For more information on the financial aspects of the SCEs please view the financial FAQs:

SCE financial FAQs

There are no restrictions on taking the SCEs, however UK trainees would usually take it during their penultimate year of higher specialist training and international candidates are advised to take the SCE at a similar or later point in their training/career. You must hold a M.D or MBBS degree before attempting a SCE exam. You do not need to have sat any MRCP(UK) examinations prior to taking an SCE.

Please see your Specialty page for further information.