Home Examinations MRCPI in General Medicine General Medicine Part II Clinical

General Medicine Part II Clinical

Doctor checking pulse.

About MRCPI General Medicine Part II Clinical

The MRCPI General Medicine Part II Clinical exam assesses your clinical skills, for example your ability to take a history, perform clinical examinations and formulate investigation and management plans. We currently conduct our clinical examinations in Ireland, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Oman.

You will be asked to examine two 25-minute long cases and five ten-minute short cases, one of which is a communication and ethics interaction with a role player.

Long case stations

At each long case station you will examine a patient for 25 minutes.

You have 20 minutes in which to take a history while observed by one examiner and to perform a focused and directed examination. A 10 minute notification will be given.

You will then have 5 minutes to discuss investigations and management.

Short case stations

There are five short case stations. Four of the stations will have a patient. The fifth station focuses on communication and will have a role-player instead of a patient.

In the first six minutes at each station you will be asked to examine the patient and elicit and interpret physical signs. During the next four minutes, the examiner will ask questions relevant to the clinical examination that you have just carried out.

For further details on the clinical examination format please read the document located at the end of this page.

Entry requirements

You must have passed MRCPI General Medicine Part II Written within the last three years.

If this three-year period has expired, you must re-sit the Part II Written exam.

From January 2019 the maximum number of times a candidate can sit any Part of an MRCPI examination will be limited to six attempts.

This will mean that you have six attempts at each component of the MRCPI exams (i.e. 18 attempts in total across the three Parts).

Places in this exam are limited

If the number of applications for this exam exceeds the number of places available, we will prioritise doctors on our training programmes. Priority access is also given to candidates with only one attempt left. All remaining applications will then be accepted on a first come, first served basis.

If we can't offer you a place in the clinical exam, you will be placed on a waiting list and you will be offered a place if one becomes available. If you are not allocated a place, you will receive a refund of your fee. This exam is open to all applicants, though RCPI trainees and candidates living and working in Ireland will continue to be prioritised for our Ireland clinical examinations.

Application fee

The fee for MRCPI examination has increased in line with the rising costs associated with delivering the exams, effective for all exams taken after 1 August 2022. Modest fee increases are spread across the three exam components.

The fee to sit Part II Clinical is €820 in Ireland, or €1,420 if you are taking the exam outside Ireland. The method of payment is credit or debit card, taken at the end of the online application process.

Don't forget, if you're in Ireland you can claim a refund under the HSE Clinical Course and Examination Refund Scheme. Click here for more information

If you require a visa

If you require a visa to sit an exam, it is your responsibility to ensure the visa application is made in sufficient time before the examination date. We have no role in granting or refusing visas.

A refund will not be given if you are unable to attend the examination as a result of a visa-related problem.

How to prepare

It's important to prepare for MRCPI exams and not to underestimate how long it takes to get ready. Having an understanding of how each exam is formatted will help you prepare and develop good answering strategies.

When you're preparing your study plan, make sure to refer to the documents made available below.

Read more about the MRCPI General Medicine Part II Clinical (Including COVID-19 Changes)

Download

Learn about the clinical examination structure, marking scheme and be better prepared. Including the changes made due to COVID-19

MRCPI GM Examinations Calendar 2022

Updated 13 July 2022

Download

This calendar includes opening/closing dates for all 2022 examinations. TBC dates will be updated over the course of 2022. The fee for MRCPI examination has increased in line with the rising costs associated with delivering the exams, effective for all exams taken after 1 August 2022. Modest fee increases are spread across the three exam components

Curriculum for Basic Specialist Training in General Internal Medicine

Download

MRCPI General Medicine examination regulations

Download

This document contains more detailed information about the exam and the questions to expect

Update regarding Covid vaccinations in our Clinical and OSCE exams from September 2021 until further notice:

  • Full COVID vaccination for candidates, examiners and others involved in the clinical examinations of the RCPI is strongly advised.
  • In the absence of that, the RCPI Examinations Team will require email confirmation of a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours prior to the examination or proof of a COVID positive test in the previous nine months

Examinations Calendar 2023

Please click the button below to visit the RCPI Examinations Calendar for 2023. This includes examination dates, application opening and closing dates and examination fees.

Ireland Clinical Examinations

Our next examinations in Ireland are currently planned to take place between 19 September - 21 October 2022, this is subject to change but we do plan to hold the examinations between these dates. Results for this clinical exam are expected to be released in early November.

Applications for the September/October examinations are now closed, ie. the closing date for applications was 5 August 2022, 5pm Irish time. As there are a large number of candidates waiting to take the MRCPI Part II GM Clinical Examination in 2022, the number of applications has exceeded the places we can offer at this time. As with previous diets, places will be prioritised.

Those who have been allocated a place for the exam will be contacted before the end of the following week to pay the outstanding fees to confirm their slot. Once places are allocated, we will then allocate candidates to their specific venues/dates. We aim to fill all available places and inform a majority of candidates of their exam date/venue by late August.

Applicants who cannot be offered a place for this exam, will remain on the waiting list.  If a place becomes available due to a candidate withdrawing from the exam, this place will be offered to the next eligible person. The next examination to take place in Ireland following this diet, will be in January/February 2023. 

International Clinical Examinations

Applications for expression of interest in the MRCPI GM Part II International Clinical examination in Dubai, UAE on 13th & 14th October 2022 are now closed. Please note that due to limited places we will be prioritising candidates based on the date they completed the MRCPI GM Part II Written exam.

Those who have been allocated a place for the exam will be contacted before the end of next week to pay the outstanding fees to confirm their slot. We aim to fill all available places by mid September.

Applications for expressions of interest in the next exam in Perlis, North Malaysia will open on the 9th of September at 11 am Irish time.

For details of the changes to the exam format, please see: https://rcpi-live-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/MRCPI-Part-II-GM-Clinical-Examination-Candidate-Information-COVID-Updated-June-2021.pdf

Cancellation policy

Before you apply, please read our Cancellation policy

Contact us

We have a dedicated examinations support team in our Dublin headquarters. They are there to guide you through your full exam journey, from application to MRCPI conferring. They are present at every exam and always happy to answer your questions.

RCPI Helpdesk

Tel: +353 1 8639721

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