How do you prepare for FCPS Part 1?
The short answer
FCPS Part 1 is the entry examination to CPSP postgraduate training, taken after house job, in the specialty group you intend to train in (medicine and allied, surgery and allied, obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics, anaesthesia, radiology, psychiatry and others). It is a basic-sciences paper: anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, pathology, pharmacology and microbiology, examined at a depth well beyond the MBBS professional papers and weighted to the specialty group (anatomy heavy for surgery, pharmacology and physiology heavy for medicine). The format is one-best-answer multiple choice in two papers on one day, with a fixed pass standard and no negative marking under the current rules. It is passed by candidates who solve questions daily for four to six months and rebuild the basic sciences at the level the questions demand, and failed by candidates who reread undergraduate textbooks.
Who can sit, and when?
- MBBS or BDS from a PMDC-recognised institution, with house job completed (or in its final months, as the CPSP rules for a given sitting allow) and PMDC registration.
- Sittings are held several times a year at CPSP centres in the major cities; the calendar and application window are on the CPSP site.
- Specialty group chosen at application. A pass in one group does not transfer to another, so decide the group before preparing; the weightage differs.
- Attempt limits apply; check the current CPSP regulations.
What is the format, and how are subjects weighted?
| Detail | |
|---|---|
| Papers | Two, on the same day, one-best-answer MCQs with five options. |
| Questions | Around 100 per paper; the exact count is stated on the CPSP admission slip. |
| Level | Basic sciences as applied to the specialty group, deeper than MBBS. |
| Marking | No negative marking under current rules; a fixed pass standard. |
| Result | Pass or fail; results published on the CPSP site within weeks. |
| Group | Heaviest | Substantial | Lighter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Surgery and allied (including orthopaedics, ENT, ophthalmology, urology) | Anatomy including embryology and histology | Physiology, pathology | Pharmacology, biochemistry, microbiology |
| Medicine and allied (including cardiology, neurology, dermatology, family medicine) | Physiology, pharmacology | Pathology, biochemistry | Anatomy, microbiology |
| Obstetrics and gynaecology | Anatomy of pelvis and perineum, reproductive physiology and endocrinology | Pathology, pharmacology | Biochemistry, microbiology |
| Paediatrics | Physiology, biochemistry and genetics, embryology | Pathology, pharmacology, microbiology | Gross anatomy |
| Anaesthesia | Physiology (respiratory, cardiovascular), pharmacology | Anatomy (airway, neuraxial), biochemistry | Pathology, microbiology |
| Radiology | Anatomy including cross-sectional, physics of imaging | Physiology, pathology | Pharmacology, biochemistry |
Depth, not breadth, is what changed
The subjects are the ones you passed at MBBS. What the paper demands is the applied detail: the nerve and the level of the lesion, the receptor and the second messenger, the enzyme and the cofactor, the histological hallmark and the gene. Candidates who prepare from undergraduate textbooks alone find the questions unfamiliar; the paper is written from postgraduate reference texts and from clinical application.
What happens after Part 1?
Training induction
A pass makes you eligible to apply for an FCPS training slot in an accredited unit through the institution's own induction, which ranks candidates on Part 1 result, house job record and interview. Popular specialties in teaching hospitals are competitive.
Registration with CPSP and e-logbook
Training is four to five years depending on specialty, with rotations, a research component and an e-logbook of cases signed by the supervisor.
Intermediate Module (IMM)
Taken after the first two years of training in most specialties: a written and clinical assessment that must be passed to continue.
FCPS Part 2
At the end of training: written papers, a clinical examination and TOACS (structured oral and clinical stations), plus the dissertation or synopsis requirement. Success confers the Fellowship.
How FCPS compares with the foreign routes, and how it combines with them later, is in medical licensing exams compared.
How do you prepare in four to six months?
Start from questions, not from reading
Take a bank of Part 1-style questions in your group and solve a timed block on day one. The score is the diagnosis; the explanations are the syllabus. Reading a textbook cover to cover before touching questions is the commonest reason candidates run out of time.
Read to answer the questions you got wrong
After each block, go to the reference text for the specific point, not the chapter. Build a single notebook of the facts you did not know, by subject.
Weight the hours to your group's heaviest subjects
A surgery candidate spends half the time on anatomy; a medicine candidate on physiology and pharmacology. The weightage table above is the timetable.
Rebuild each subject at recall level in parallel
Ten minutes a day of rapid-recall MCQs per subject keeps the base solid while the deep work proceeds. The subject banks are free and explained.
Sit full timed mocks in the final month
Two papers on one day is a stamina test as well as a knowledge test. Two full mocks under conditions, marked, before the real sitting.
Do not sit to see
An attempt used on an unprepared sitting is an attempt lost. Book when mock scores are consistently above the pass line.
- Study groups of two or three, solving questions aloud, are the method most successful candidates describe. Explaining an answer is the test of knowing it.
- Past questions recur in pattern, not verbatim. A bank of recalled questions shows the examiner's favourite topics; it does not replace understanding them.
- House job hours are the constraint. Four to six months assumes two to three focused hours daily; a post-house-job candidate with full days can compress it.