How to prepare for the MRCOG part 2 examination. Neha Gami
How to pass the MRCOG 1st. time |
Neha passed the MRCOG at the first attempt in May 2015 and won the Vijaya Patil Medal.
This is awarded to the person who tops the list of Indian candidates.
She has been kind enough to provide the following advice.
At the very
beginning I must thank Dr. Tom Mcfarlane. He probably does not know it but his
blog, podcasts and website really helped me in getting the right perspective and
helped me clear the exam in one go!
It is not easy
for foreign Graduates to sit the MRCOG part 2 because we are not practicing
Obstetrics and Gynecology the UK way! We may be up to date with the guidelines
and even try to follow them in our own way but it is not deeply ingrained in our
practice and minds because of various reasons. And that may not change!
But it is not
impossible of course!
For the part 2 theory it is most certainly a good knowledge
base that is absolutely essential. After those six hours you realize that they
have tested you on possibly each and every aspect of the subject and not
superficially! My suggestion would be to first and foremost make a list of all
the possible topics to be read spanning both obs and gyne. Then get all the
material (GTG, NICE , TOG, SIP, Consent ) in one place ( soft or hard copy ) and
separate them topic wise and put them in separate folders. Now any new TOG that
comes along goes straight in that folder. E.g I had folders like Urogyne,
pediatric and adolescent, AUB, Endo, Oncology, Infertility, Vulval disorders,
Prolapse etc.
Now read topic wise.
And make NOTES!! Like so many people have said
earlier it is not possible to read everything again. Make notes so that you can
revise everything once in the last few days.
Reading the topic from all sources together helps in the
EMQs as you get a perspective on how to manage the patient. And then apply
whatever you are reading in your practice! Or imagine you have a patient with
some complaints and try and write a management plan based on the guidelines.
Again, big
help in EMQ s.
Finally
practice whatever SBA s and EMQ s you can lay your hands on. And wherever you
get stuck go back and read the topic ( and make a note ) there and then.
For the OSCE it really helped me to follow Dr. Tom’s
podcasts. Learned a lot from them and I like his perspective on the exam and
what you’re expected to know and do. You do not need to show a lot of knowledge
to the patient in the role plays but you need to come across as a confident
doctor who the patient can feel safe with. So memorize and PRACTICE those
statements and by repetition you will have your own way to address whatever
questions or concerns the patient throws at you.
The structured vivas are also based on cases so if
you go systematically you can score a lot of points even if you don’t remember
the topic very well. I had made templates of what all is to be covered based on
the situation eg a template
for pre pregnancy counseling, for breaking bad news,
for consent, for pre op round , post op round etc. So even if the question is
asking you to do pre-pregnancy counseling for a rare condition you can still get
50 % marks because you will cover the routine care and mention things like
multidisciplinary care, review meds, delay pregnancy till disease quiescent,
contraception till then, effect of disease on pregnancy, of pregnancy on
disease, folic acid, rubella, smoking alcohol and exercise and consultant led
obs care!
Strat OG has good videos
on some patient interactions and procedures so that
also helps. And certainly a couple of courses (where you should get to practice
circuits and not attend lectures) certainly helps. But again like Dr. Tom said
not too many cos then you’re not spending enough time on yourself to smoothen
out your own rough edges.
So good luck
and please feel free to get in touch with me for any queries.
Neha Gami
go to "MRCOG: how to pass first time" page