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Original papers: Femi Oyebode and Elizabeth Furlong MRCPsych examinations: cumulative results 1997–2002 Psychiatr Bull 2007; 31: 61-64 [Abstract] [Full text] [PDF]

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Pass rate in MRCPsych

Sudip Sikdar   (16 February 2007)

Passing examinations is an art.

Sunanda Ghosh   (16 February 2007)

Low pass rate for asian doctors

Ruchi Thakur, VIjay Natarajan   (26 February 2007)

College to provide proper feedback

Dr Ashish Rana   (26 February 2007)

Interesting paper

AK Al-Sheikhli   (16 March 2007)

Pass rate in MRCPsych 16 February 2007
Sudip Sikdar, consultant psychiatrist, college examiner MBBS, MD, MRCPsych Send letter to journal: Re: Pass rate in MRCPsych sudip.sikdar{at}merseycare.nhs.uk Sudip Sikdar	I read Oyebode and Furlong's article with particular interest especially as an overseas doctor as well as a college examiner. Other than the possible reasons for a poorer pass rate for overseas doctors that have already been elucidated in the article, there are some other possible reasons which may account for this disparity. Over the last few years, I have found that the quality of overseas trainees has deteriorated as many of them were forced to take up psychiatry as a last resort to train in the UK when they wanted to train in medicine or surgery as 1st choice (subjects that are perceived to have "value"/ make one a "proper doctor" in their home countries). This perception unfortunately is still prevalent in the Indian sub-continent and is reflected in undergraduate training curriculum and perhaps makes graduate doctors less "psychologically minded" (we all know that psychiatry is a combination of science and art). Visa restrictions also force doctors to take the exams as quickly as possible when many of them are neither theoretically or practically competent. Unfortunately, many unsuccessful candidates fail to understand the reasons for failing the exam and feel victimised as overseas doctors. The feedback system to unsuccessful candidates has improved over the years but perhaps could be more elaborate to help these doctors.
Passing examinations is an art. 16 February 2007
Sunanda Ghosh, SHO, Newham Centre for Mental Health Send letter to journal: Re: Passing examinations is an art. sunanda.ghosh{at}newhampct.nhs.uk Sunanda Ghosh	The paper on MRCPsych examinations by Oyebode and Furlong interested me as a foreign graduate who cleared both examinations on the first attempt. The author's statement that 'the type and quality of undergraduate medical education can have an effect on postgraduate education and performance' made me try and imagine the pass rates for candidates graduating from UK, were they to appear for a similar examination in the Indian subcontinent. Passing exams in any country needs an understanding of the system, utilizing available resources, hard work, and practise. Improving competence means continuing professional and personal development. I am yet to meet a candidate who failed the membership exams and blamed it on his or her background. Candidates, irrespective of their origin and background should pool their resources. With the widespread use of the internet, working in small groups should not be allowed to be a hinderance. Some of my peers would state that passing examinations is an art. While candidates may not hope to pass without adequate knowlege, they often need a different set of skills to perform well in the exams. These would not necessarily be the same as clinical skills. I suggest local tutors and candidates should allow for development of such skills.
Low pass rate for asian doctors 26 February 2007
Ruchi Thakur, Staff Grade ,MRCPsych nil, VIjay Natarajan Send letter to journal: Re: Low pass rate for asian doctors ruchithakur{at}yahoo.com Ruchi Thakur, et al.	It is a very bold step by the Royal College to publish the data of the examinations and I would like to thank them for making this data available to all of us. There are various reasons specified by the authors namely Poor communication, Poor language comprehension, Less clinical experience, Smaller training programmes, Less knowledge of Behavioural Science It’s very sad to see that doctors of Asian origin have such a small pass rate while they constitute the maximum strength of doctors in the NHS. I feel instead of blaming the doctors of Asian origin for being unaware of British culture it’s also very important that the examiners are made culturally aware of the doctors who are working in the NHS. It’s not necessary that the adjustment has to come from the asian doctors because they are are new to this country. The adjustment has to come from both sides. Both parties have to learn to understand each others culture. It’s important that the patients in NHS are aware that they are unlikely to get a doctor of British origin every time they visit a clinic.Hence they should learn to communicate their problems effectively and make the doctor understand what they are trying to say.I am sure most of the patients are aware of this and have adjusted to the asian doctors. Similarly I feel the examiners cannot expect the doctors of Asian origin to suddenly learn a new style of communicating and be penalised for same. Learning about a new culture is a lifelong process and cannot be picked up in a year or two. Poor language comprehension should not be a reason to fail a candidate because we are not aiming to differentiate someone with good English or poor English. Our aim is to differentiate a knowledgeable person from a person with substandard knowledge. We all have already passed our IELTS so testing English comprehension again is not advisable. Hence the Royal College if feels that candidates are finding the comprehension of written paper a bit difficult they could reframe the same question in simple language. Behavioural Science may be a factor for poor performance in Part I but in Part II the candidates have enough experience in psychiatry to learn this subject. I personally do not feel this is a major factor for candidates to fail the examination. It’s interesting to note that the authors have not considered bias of the examiners towards foreign graduates as a factor for failing them. This is important as most foreign graduates feel this is the main reason for them failing.To make the examination a fair process its important Royal College makes efforts to reduce this bias if present.
College to provide proper feedback 26 February 2007
Dr Ashish Rana, SHO CAMHS, Horsham, West Sussex Sussex Partnership NHS Trust Send letter to journal: Re: College to provide proper feedback dr_ashish77{at}yahoo.co.in Dr Ashish Rana	The article on MRCPsych examinations:cumulative results by Femi Oyebode & Elizabeth Furlong interested me as I will be writing my first MRCPych exam in two weeks time as a foreign medical graduate. The study has taken into consideration the exam pattern which is not prevailing since 2003 so drawing conclusions out of it will not be presenting up to date picture. It discusses mostly on the different passing rates of UK & Irish graduates compared to foreign medical graduates but has overlooked many other issues projected by the results and is unable to give any recommendation to the college about the outcome. One of the major issue overlooked is the reason behind the difference between the passing rates of females and males which is 51.9% and 39.8% respectively.They must have compared results with evidences showing better passing rates of females.They were unable to give reason for significant difference between the passing rates of graduates of Indian subcontinent compared with graduates from Indian borders. I do agree with there conclusions that College examinations are fair to all candidates and that the outcome for candidates is a true reflection of knowledge and skills & it is equally important that foreign medical graduates have similar opportunities to UK graduates in order to gain adequate knowledge and clinical experience so as to be able to adequately prepare for the College examinations but keeping in view the fact that majority of examinees presently are foreign medical graduates, college has to improve the standard of their feedback to help the failed candidate to better understand the skills needed to improve before taking the next attempt. I would like someone to assess the passing rates in the present pattern as my belief is that there might not be a significant difference in passing the theory exams of both Part 1 & 2 between UK and Indian subcontinent graduates.
Interesting paper 16 March 2007
AK Al-Sheikhli, Consultant Psychiatrist Sussex Partnership NHS Trust Send letter to journal: Re: Interesting paper aalsheikhli{at}aol.com AK Al-Sheikhli	Dear Editor-I read Oyebode and Furlong's article with interest,It will be interesting to compare his results with previous results,like for e.g with the results of early eighties. Regards A.K.Al-Sheikhli