Intercollegiate Exam Advice page

Intercollegiate Exam Advice

(correct at time of writing – August 2010)

When?

There is no official rule as to when you can sit the exam anymore, but the general advice is to aim for about 18 months prior to your CCT date. The Exam Board have raised concerns that some trainees are sitting it too early, as it is an exam of breadth of clinical knowledge – the standard expected is “the knowledge of a day one consultant”. Remember, if you fail it once you are statistically more likely to fail it a second time – so take advice from your consultants and colleagues and make sure you are ready for it.

From January 2012 there will be new rules in force regarding the number of attempts allowed at each part:
• Part 1: 4 attempts or 2 years from the first attempt
• Part 2: 3 attempts from the first attempt

How?

There are two sittings (or “diets”) per year
• Part 1: January/July
• Part 2 : April/November.

Applications have to be in approximately 3 months before Section 1 (MCQs) – calendars and application details can be found on the Intercollegiate Exam Board website (www.intercollegiate.org.uk).

The application form can be downloaded from the website, along with the structured referee forms, marking descriptors, sample questions and guidance for everything. Check with the website above but you need:

What?

Section 1 consists of two MCQ papers and will include clinical otolaryngology and head & neck surgery, but also includes basic sciences, statistics and research (eg what type of study to answer a certain research question). These are then unlikely to be tested again in Section 2 but there is no guarantee! The questions follow the curriculum but also include “Situational Judgement Questions” based on the General Medical Council’s – Good Medical Practice.

Paper 1 is 110 Single Best Answer (SBA) MCQs in 2 hours.
Paper 2 is 135 Extended Matching Items (EMI) in 2˝ hours.

This gives you just over a minute per question. This is very fast – you need to read the questions properly, answer quickly and finish both papers to have the best chance of passing. A good tip was to mark your answers directly onto the answer paper to avoid time transcribing. Also because of the modified Angoff marking scheme ambiguous questions or those that incorrectly split the candidates will be excluded as poor discriminators – so keep moving through.

The future:
From January 2011 Section 1 will be computer based. The plan is to allow candidates to sit the papers at one of the driving test centres all over the country, thereby avoiding travel to (usually) Edinburgh. Centres are yet to be confirmed, but again all details can be found on the Intercollegiate website.

Section 2 consists of:

The vivas are all clinically based, and tend to start with a prop eg clinical photograph, scan, audiogram etc. There are two examiners who ask questions for 15 minutes each, and you must get through at least 6 questions to have a chance at all the marks (ie 5 minutes per topic). It really is “what you do everyday in clinic” and they are not trying to catch you out. You must know your emergencies!

Operative Surgery is divided into three parts during which you will be asked questions while you’re drilling/scoping.
The clinicals have real patients in each station, and you will be asked to examine them, maybe ask a few questions, and then discuss your findings. It’s back to the old “driving test” examination techniques, introducing yourself, washing your hands and being courteous.

Communication Skills is you communicating with an actor, based on a clinical scenario you have been given. Halfway through, you will be given further information by the examiner, eg the results of a test, and you then continue where you left off. You have to be nice, let them speak, and try not to make them cry!

Section 2 is all about practice, practice, practice! Get together with others doing the exam and viva each other – it is surprisingly difficult to get a sensible answer out when you first start, even though you know it all. Practice examining each other, including free field hearing testing and make sure you’ve drilled a temporal bone recently.

Do an exam course if possible – Newcastle or Bristol in March, and Gray’s Inn Road or Birmingham in October. The St Thomas’s Mock Exam Day is also run twice a year and is a very useful thing to “observe” 6 months before actually taking part. These all tend to get booked up so apply well in advance (get details from colleagues who’ve just done the exam or from ENT News).

Which books?

Look at the syllabus on the ISCP website to get an idea of what to cover (www.iscp.ac.uk/home/syllabus.aspx). Use whichever ENT books you already do, or have a look at some in your library if you want to get a new one. Some suggestions, used by many over the years, are listed below - use one, some but not all!

“Handbooks”
“Textbooks”
“Reference only!”
Scott-Brown’s Otorhinolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery

Finally – Good Luck!

Jo Rimmer and Charlie Giddings