Specialist Certificate Examination (SCE) Resources
About the SCE
The SCE is an exam set by the Federation of the Royal Colleges of Physicians. It takes place once every nine months and is a compulsory examination for all respiratory medicine trainees. The British Thoracic Society runs a short course to prepare for the exam each year.
Most trainees consider taking the SCE during their ST5 or ST6 year. The exam is held once a year and passing the exam is a requirement for CCT. Once a trainee has gained their CCT in Respiratory Medicine, they will be eligible to use the post-nominal “MRCP (UK) (Resp Med)” provided that the SCE in Respiratory Medicine has been passed.
The SCE comprises two 3-hour papers, with 100 questions in each paper. There is a one-hour break between the two papers. The questions are in ‘best of five’ multiple choice format.
Find out more and register for the SCE
See exam dates and sample questions
Advice on preparing for the exam
- Work hard.
- Read the respiratory curriculum.
- Attend Multi-disciplinary meetings (MDM) in the various specialty blocks.
- Interpret lung function tests including spirometry, flow volume loops, full pulmonary function tests, exercise physiology and arterial blood gases.
- Interpret chest radiology including chest radiography, CT scanning and PET scanning.
- Read all the available guidelines by the British Thoracic Society and guidelines from other Societies such as the European and American Thoracic Societies.
- Read the key Respiratory Journals and keep up to date, for example the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Thorax, European Respiratory Journal, CHEST and many others.
- Read relevant guidelines from NICE and SIGN.
- Attend BTS Short Courses, and in particular the Preparing for the SCE Course held each year.
How are the questions created?
There are several steps involved in creating the exam each year.
- The Specialist Question Writing Group (SQG) of the RCP creates a bank of questions. The questions are based on the core Respiratory Curriculum.
- The SQG meet up, peer review the questions and agree on the correct answers.
- Questions are then checked for formatting and written in the correct style.
- If there are major changes, these questions are resubmitted to the next SQG meeting for review.
- The secretary of the SCE examination board selects questions for the examination from this bank.
- The board reviews the questions, checks the images or results, checks they are appropriate for the examination and once again checks the correct answers.
- The Standard Setting Group then approves the questions and answers and sets the pass mark. There is a potential range of pass marks based on the standard deviation calculated by the group, and this range is adjusted to allow the predicted number of candidates to pass. The aim is to have an 80% or greater pass rate.
Resources to help you prepare for the SCE
Question banks
Guidelines
- All BTS Guidelines as they essentially cover the breadth of the curriculum.
- BTS Quality Standards and Clinical Statements are also a useful resource.
- European Respiratory Society guidelines.
Books
- MRCP SCE in Respiratory Medicine: 300 SBAs (By Laura-Jane Smith and James Murray)
- Oxford Handbook of Respiratory Medicine (by Stephen Chapman, Grace Robinson, et al.)
- Revision Notes for the Respiratory Medicine SCE (Oxford Higher Specialty Training) – 50 questions, plus brief summaries of key point for all topics (by Caroline Patterson and Meg Coleman)
- Oxford Specialty Handbooks in Radiology: Thoracic Imaging (By Sujal R. Desai, Susan J. Copley, Zelena A. Aziz, David M. Hansell)
Courses
- BTS SCE Examination Course: Held every year where expert examiners go over the syllabus and how to tackle questions. Details in the short courses section of the website.
Author: Dr Hina Ifitkhar and Dr David Lodge