MRCGP SCA practice

How to prepare for the MRCGP SCA

The SCA is twelve recorded 12-minute video or telephone consultations with trained role-players, each marked later by a different examiner on data gathering and diagnosis, clinical management and medical complexity, and relating to others. Prepare by consulting under exam conditions, reviewing recordings with your trainer against the RCGP's descriptors and feedback statements, and practising across every group in the RCGP's case blueprint rather than a few favourite topics.

What happens in the MRCGP SCA exam: parts, timings and marking A complete MRCGP SCA practice station, with its scorecard MRCGP SCA dates and countdown

Step by step

  1. 1

    Agree your timing with your trainer

    You can sit from ST3, but the RCGP stresses taking the exam only when you are ready and discussing the timing with your GP trainer or educational supervisor before you book. You can book up to 12 months ahead and change or cancel free of charge until the final booking deadline.

  2. 2

    Learn the standard you are marked against

    Each domain is graded against a newly qualified, independent GP, and clinical management and medical complexity is the weighted domain. Read the standard descriptors examiners use and the feedback statements they can attach to each case. The RCGP stresses that the descriptors are not a tick box, and that there is no preferred consultation model or script to follow.

  3. 3

    Cover the whole case blueprint

    The twelve cases come from a bank of hundreds mapped to the GP curriculum and cannot be predicted. The RCGP's blueprint spreads them across groups from patients under 19, older adults and people at the end of life to urgent care, prescribing, results and professional dilemmas, and says to prepare equally for all of them. Some briefs will not reveal the purpose of the consultation, so practise finding it from the patient.

  4. 4

    Practise telephone and video consultations

    Most cases are on video, but in telephone cases you hear the role-player without seeing them. Physical examination is not assessed, so practise gathering what you need by questioning and deciding when someone needs to be seen in person. You may consult a patient, a parent or carer, or another health or social care worker; if a role-player does not match the case notes, work from the notes.

  5. 5

    Record consultations and rate them with the toolkit

    The RCGP hosts an SCA consultation toolkit written by two RCGP examiners. Rate your recorded consultations red, amber or green with its self-assessment tool, ask your trainer to rate the same ones, and work on the red areas first. The toolkit warns that if you find several weak areas you must allow enough time to improve before you sit.

  6. 6

    Plan management without the BNF

    Since September 2024 you cannot open the BNF during the SCA. The descriptors expect you to apply local or national guidelines, prescribe safely, refer when required and arrange safe follow-up, so practise explaining and agreeing plans for common conditions without looking anything up.

  7. 7

    Set up your surgery early

    You sit in a GP surgery, usually your own, and never from outside the UK. Do the device check on the same computer and in the same room you will use, and cover or remove clinical guidance and posters. Notes go on the platform or a blank whiteboard: paper is not allowed.

Official resources

Common mistakes examiners report

  • Leaving management thin. The RCGP's 2024-25 annual report notes that candidates tend to score fewer marks in clinical management and medical complexity, the weighted domain, than in the other two. source
  • Over-correcting after feedback. The RCGP warns that over-emphasising one area, such as safety-netting, can look formulaic or take up too much time in consultations that do not need it. source
  • Skipping the device check. If you have not completed it and then have technical problems caused by your IT set-up, the RCGP will not treat that as grounds for mitigation. source

Practise with MedMock

MedMock runs all twelve SCA consultations with 3 minutes' reading and 12 minutes with an AI role-player you speak or type to, and a full mock deals them in a fresh order, six themed and six unthemed. There is no video and MedMock never voices a child, so keep consulting with real patients and reviewing recordings with your trainer. You can have each consultation you finish marked, as in the worked example.

Practise MRCGP SCA consultations Free trial, no card needed.

Questions candidates ask

How many attempts do I get at the SCA?

If you entered GP specialty training for the first time on or after 2 August 2023, you have a maximum of six attempts. Different rules apply if you were already in training on 1 August 2023, including an exceptional fifth attempt in some circumstances, so check the MRCGP regulations.

Can I use the BNF during the SCA?

No. Candidates have not been allowed to access the BNF during the SCA since September 2024, so practise making and explaining prescribing decisions without it.

Do I have to pass a set number of cases?

No. Your result comes from your aggregated mark across all twelve cases, and each case's pass mark is set by borderline regression rather than fixed in advance. The format page explains the marking.

What feedback will I get?

Case-specific feedback statements linked to the marking domains, released with your result; any domain an examiner fails receives feedback. The RCGP encourages you to share it with your supervisor and to take most notice of statements that appear more than once.

How long should I prepare for the SCA?

The RCGP does not set one. It asks you to sit only when ready, agreed with your trainer, and suggests attending its webinars at least three months before you plan to sit. It helps to book once your recorded consultations rate well across the toolkit's areas.

Sources

Checked on 27 September 2026.

Exams and their regulations change. MedMock is not affiliated with any examining body; always check the current guidance on the official site before you book.