The relationship between medical school of training, age, gender and success in the MRCPsych examinations

Abstract

Aims and MethodFactors leading to success in the MRCPsych Part I and Part II examinations, including age, gender and original medical school of training, were examined in the 1999 MRCPsych examination entrants to determine how far they are associated with the results. The ethnic breakdown of examiners of the MRCPsych examinations was also determined and compared with the origin of all consultant psychiatrists.ResultsYounger age at taking the examination and training at a British or Irish medical school were found to be highly significant predictors of success in the MRCPsych examinations. When allowance was made for confounding variables, the gender of candidates did not contribute to success. There was no difference in ethnic background of examiners compared with consultant psychiatrists overall.Clinical ImplicationsFactors affecting trainees wishing to undertake a psychiatric career need to be more closely examined. To ensure fairness and transparency in future examinations the ethnicity of candidates taking the examination needs to be addressed.

A career in child and adolescent psychiatry? Survey of trainees' views

“…It is surprising that more than half recalled having no such teaching within their undergraduate years given that we would expect this to be covered by most UK medical school curricula. One possible explanation for this finding is that overseas graduates may be well represented among senior house officers in psychiatry (Tyrer et al, 2002) and that such trainees may have had less exposure to child psychiatry teaching at an undergraduate level. However, our data do not enable us to examine this further.…”

MRCPsych examinations: cumulative results 1997–2002

“…This difference was evident in the written as well as in the clinical examinations. This pattern of results in which home graduates perform better at medical examinations compared with foreign graduates has been reported in the UK (Wakeford et al, 1992), USA (Meskauskas et al, 1977;Benson et al, 1981;Quick & Robinowitz, 1981;Mick & Mou, 1991) and Canada (Lowy & Dongier, 1979). Indeed, there is evidence that US citizens who are foreign medical graduates do comparably worse than US medical graduates on standardised medical examinations (Weinberg & Bell, 1978;Norcini et al, 2006).…”

“…For both parts of the MRCPsych examination those who passed were significantly younger and had qualified for a significantly shorter period of time than those who failed. Furthermore, the pass rates were higher for women than men; this was accounted for by the relatively higher failure rate of male candidates who qualified from medical schools outside the UK and Ireland (Tyrer et al, 2002).…”

“…There is evidence that success in these examinations, as with other postgraduate medical examinations, is associated with age, gender, original medical school of training and ethnicity (Ayres et al, 1996;Krueger, 1998;Tyrer et al, 2002). For both parts of the MRCPsych examination those who passed were significantly younger and had qualified for a significantly shorter period of time than those who failed.…”

“…The previous published study of the factors associated with success (Tyrer et al, 2002) investigated only one cohort each of both parts of the examinations. Also, the study used overall success as the outcome measure.…”