MRCGP pass rate by medical school and region of postgraduate training. Royal College of General Practitioners.

An evaluation of demographic factors affecting performance in a paediatric membership multiple-choice examination

“…Candidates who had qualified at the four highest performing medical schools had a 65.1% pass rate (138/212 candidates passing), a 2.7-fold higher pass rate than the graduates of the four medical schools with the lowest pass rates (61/257 candidates passing, 23.7%). Similar findings are reported for other specialties 8 12 14 15. Some medical schools perform well across several specialties26; it may be that these medical schools select for the brightest candidates.…”

“…Demographic data predicting outcome in membership examinations have been previously analysed for obstetrics and gynaecology,8 21 general medicine,10 11 12 22 23 general practice,15 16 psychiatry13 and anaesthetics,14 but not previously for paediatrics. UK graduates have been shown to perform consistently better than international medical graduates (IMGs) in general practice (MRCGP), general medical (MRCP) and psychiatry (MRCPsych) postgraduate examinations.…”

“…UK graduates have been shown to perform consistently better than international medical graduates (IMGs) in general practice (MRCGP), general medical (MRCP) and psychiatry (MRCPsych) postgraduate examinations. The medical school attended by UK graduates has also been found to be strongly associated with performance differences for MRCP12 15 and in obstetrics and gynaecology (MRCOG)8 and anaesthetics (FRCA) 14. The effect of gender is less consistent: for the MRCOG examination, there is some evidence to support higher pass rates for women than men,8 and in the MRCP examination, women performed better than men in the clinical face-to-face part of the examination (PACES) but not in the written examinations 11…”

An analysis of the performance of UK medical graduates in the MRCOG Part 1 and Part 2 written examinations

“…There are a few studies comparing the outcomes of different medical curricula beyond the first year after graduation. A study in 1993 showed the pass rate for different medical schools across all UK for the Membership examination of the Royal College of General Practitioners 5. Recently, two more studies have evaluated and shown differences between the pass rates of graduates from UK medical schools, one for the Member of the Royal College of Physicians (MRCP (UK))4 and the other for the Fellowship of the Royal College of Anaesthetists (FRCA) 6…”

Ensuring medical students are “fit for purpose”

“…Comparison of performance by medical school in the examination for membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners (MRCGP) shows a marked difference in candidates' achievements when analysed by medical school of qualification 6. Evidence also suggests that student training requirements are not uniformly addressed: in a recent survey only a third of preregistration house officers agreed that they had been well prepared for their work.…”