MRCP PACES

PACES Exam

The MRCP Part 2 Clinical Examination, also known as Practical Assessment of Clinical Examination Skills (PACES), is a test designed to evaluate the clinical knowledge and skills of trainee doctors who wish to enter higher specialist training, i.e. ST3. To be eligible to take PACES, you must have passed the MRCP Part 1 written exam within the last 7 years. The exam is designed to set rigorous standards to ensure that you are competent in a range of skills and capable of providing patients with a high standard of care.

During the exam, you will be assessed on your ability to carry out essential clinical skills. There are five clinical stations where you will encounter either actual patients with a given condition or trained stand-ins (surrogates). At each station, two independent examiners will observe and evaluate your performance.

PACES Exam Application date

Refer below table for Application date for diets of 2024

MRCP PACES Exam Cost

Application Fee for PACES Exam Ranging from £1,202 to £1,278

PACES exam centre in India

There are 9 Centres in India for PACE Exam, highest among all the countries except UK

PACES Exam Format

The new format of the PACES exam has introduced from the third Diet of 2023.

• Half-day examination
• Takes place in a hospital or clinical skills centre
• You have been Assessed for seven core skills
• There will be Eight patient interaction
• Assessed by two independent examiners
• You will be evaluated at all five clinical stations
• You can begin with any of the stations and move to the next station every 20 minutes till you have complete all 5 Stations. You can take 5 min break after completing every station. Totaltime is 125 minutes (including 5 minutes between each station)

Carousel of PACES stations

Skills Assessed in PACES Exam

Below are 7 Core skills during the PACES Clinical interaction

Different numbers and combinations of skills are assessed at each encounter, as per the table below:

Patient encounters

An encounter is an interaction with a patient or dummy. Stations 2 and 5 involve one encounter, whereas stations 1, 3 and 4 have two encounters. There are therefore a total of eight encounters throughout the exam organised into stations:

Marking Scheme

You will be assessed by ten examiners, two at each of the stations. For each of the eight encounters they will complete a mark sheet assessing a combination of skills.

Examiners will review the patients at all 5 stations to establish the criteria for a satisfactory grade. This is known as calibration. You need to pass each clinical station separately.

PACE Results

Candidate can check their detailed results under ' My MRCPUK accounts – usual time for result declaration takes 3 weeks for UK centres whereas for International centres it is between 4 to 6 weeks after the last exam in the respective centre.