Dear all, first of all I have to thank MRCPian 03/09 for inviting me to contribute to this blog. I passed PACES on diet 1/10 in UK (2nd attempt). Therefore, I would first like to share my experience of sitting for exam in UK.
My exam date was middle of February in Sheffield. I went with 2 other friends 2 weeks before the exam. We attended the Ealing Paces course in London before we left for Sheffield. I would recommend you to attend a course if you don’t intend or you are unable to get yourself attachment in local hospital. It was my last chance of practicing before my exam and I learnt a few exam tips which were quite useful as well.
We arranged our transport to Sheffield quite early – 5 days before exam and stayed somewhere near the exam centre. It was still winter in UK during February, expected the suffering during travel but yet unexpected things do occur. It was snowing heavily in UK and the transportation system was interrupted now and then, so my advice is plan everything early, arrive at your centre few days before exam and do find out a few ways to go to your centre from the place you stay. What happen during my exam day was the taxi that I booked was not able to come to pick me up due to the heavy snow and I had to walk in the snow……luckily I managed to get into a bus after walking in snow for 5 minutes. ( the exam centre was 20 minutes walk from the place I stayed, I walked to the centre 2 days before the exam to get familiarized).
When I reached the centre, I learnt that I am not the only person facing problem to come for the exam. I was told that some patients could not make it as well! The chief examiner even warned us that he might need to defer the exam if the centre could not find enough patients for the exam. My exam was delayed for 2 hours. Later of the day, I found out that my friend, who was in the 2nd cycle did her exam much later together with the 3rd cycle (the centre combined 2nd and 3rd cycle as there were candidates who were unable to come due to the bad weather).
My only advice to overseas candidate who is going to UK is plan everything early, go early and stay at a place near to the centre. I don't think it's a good idea to travel on the day or a day before exam as interruption of the transport system is not uncommon especially during winter. Train tickets will be much cheaper also if you buy early online.
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