Membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners (MRCGP UK)

The UK Membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners (MRCGP) is an integrated assessment system for doctors undertaking UK GP specialty training. It has three components: the Applied Knowledge Test (AKT), Simulated Consultation Assessment (SCA), and Workplace-based Assessment (WPBA).

These are components of one assessment system, not three separate family-medicine qualifications. Together they assess the knowledge, consultation skills, professional capabilities, and workplace performance required for progression through GP specialty training. Satisfactory completion is a prerequisite for a Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) and eligibility for RCGP membership, subject to the applicable registration and training requirements.

The assessment is deliberately broader than a written examination:

• AKT: applied knowledge for independent general practice in the UK, including clinical knowledge, evidence-based practice, and organisational or administrative issues.
• SCA: integrated consultation performance, including data gathering, diagnosis, clinical management, medical complexity, communication, risk, and uncertainty.
• WPBA: longitudinal evidence from real clinical work, supervision, feedback, reflection, and professional capability development.

The SCA is marked in three domains: Data gathering and diagnosis, Clinical management and medical complexity, and Relating to others. The clinical management and medical complexity domain is weighted relative to the other domains, but the result is based on aggregated performance across the assessment rather than a requirement to pass a fixed number of individual cases.

WPBA is not a single examination sitting. Its evidence may include learning logs, CATs or CbDs, MiniCEX, COT or Audio-COT, CEPS, MSF, PSQ, leadership activity, quality-improvement work, prescribing assessment, reports, and other naturally occurring evidence. Mandatory evidence includes areas such as safeguarding and CPR/AED.

The RCGP blueprint is capability-based. It identifies whether an assessment can provide strong evidence, supporting evidence requiring triangulation, or no evidence for a particular capability. It should guide balanced preparation rather than be converted into invented percentage weights.

For AKT preparation, retain breadth across the three official knowledge areas: clinical knowledge, critical appraisal and evidence-based practice, and organisation, management, and administrative issues. For SCA preparation, combine consultation technique with clinical reasoning, safe management, medical complexity, safeguarding, and follow-up. For WPBA, build evidence continuously across the capability framework rather than treating portfolio work as an end-of-training task.

Eligibility depends on UK GP specialty-training status, RCGP membership records, training records, and the applicable regulations for the candidate’s training cohort.

• Training pathway: Doctors undertaking the UK GP specialty-training programme and registered with the RCGP are eligible to take the MRCGP. Certain doctors who remain in training with a National Training Number while out of programme may also be eligible.
• Active membership and records: Current booking guidance states that MRCGP membership must be active and that training posts and training years must be recorded accurately.
• Training stage: The AKT is available to candidates recorded as being in ST2 or ST3. The SCA is available to candidates recorded as being in ST3. Candidates whose records are incomplete may be unable to book.
• Attempt limits: Candidates entering GP specialty training for the first time on or after August 2, 2023 are permitted a maximum of six attempts at both the AKT and SCA. Earlier cohorts may have different provisions, so the applicable regulations must be checked.
• After leaving training: Subject to the attempt rules, a candidate may have one AKT or SCA attempt in the twelve-month period immediately after leaving training. Passing after leaving training does not make the candidate eligible for a CCT; the regulations direct candidates toward the Portfolio Pathway for GP registration.
• SCA location: The SCA is delivered remotely, but candidates must sit it in the UK and secure a suitable GP practice or GP training-surgery setting.
• WPBA: WPBA is completed through the Trainee Portfolio, supervisor reviews, deanery progression processes, and ARCP rather than through a conventional examination booking.
• Booking process: For 2026 examinations, the current application guidance states that candidates no longer need to make a reservation and should book through the MyRCGP portal. Check the live RCGP application page for the applicable booking window, adjustment deadline, and administrative requirements.

Build one capability-led plan

Create a matrix with the five RCGP capability areas as rows and three evidence columns: AKT knowledge, SCA consultation performance, and WPBA development. Use it to identify gaps that are clinical, communicative, organisational, or portfolio-related.

Prepare specifically for the AKT

• Practise to the current 160-item, 160-minute format once core revision is established.
• Organise revision around clinical knowledge, critical appraisal and evidence-based practice, and organisation or management issues.
• Use mixed timed practice so that you must select an appropriate primary-care action rather than recognise a topic in isolation.
• Review errors by separating the knowledge gap, the reasoning error, and the UK primary-care decision that should follow.
• Keep revision anchored to UK general practice and the NHS context, including prevention, prescribing safety, referral decisions, evidence interpretation, and organisation of care.

Train for the SCA as an interactive consultation

• Use the 3-minute reading period to identify the consultation task, immediate safety concerns, likely complexity, and information that must be obtained.
• Rehearse complete 12-minute consultations, not isolated communication phrases.
• Obtain structured feedback on data gathering and diagnosis, clinical management and medical complexity, and relating to others.
• Practise red-flag assessment, uncertainty, shared decisions, safeguarding, safe prescribing, referral, follow-up, continuity, and safety-netting.
• Use live role-play or recorded consultation review. Written question practice can support clinical reasoning, but it does not reproduce the SCA’s role-player interaction, timing, or adaptive communication.

Develop WPBA evidence longitudinally

• Agree a capability and evidence plan with your Educational Supervisor at the start of each post.
• Use real cases, learning logs, feedback, assessments, and naturally occurring evidence to demonstrate progression.
• Track mandatory evidence, reports, quality-improvement activity, safeguarding, CPR/AED, and CEPS requirements throughout training.
• Review the current Trainee Portfolio requirements because the WPBA page identifies updates introduced from August 2026.

Use an integrated weekly cycle

A practical cycle is one mixed AKT block, one timed consultation rehearsal, one review of a real clinical case or learning-log entry, and one update to your capability-gap list. As an assessment approaches, increase timed work without stopping the steady collection and review of authentic WPBA evidence.

• Use the UK context: The AKT is explicitly focused on knowledge for independent general practice in the UK within the NHS context. Non-UK resources may not reflect UK guidance, organisation, referral pathways, or professional responsibilities.
• Follow the current booking workflow: The 2026 application page states that bookings are made through MyRCGP without a reservation. Use that page for current operational instructions rather than relying on older booking descriptions.
• Check dates and deadlines directly: RCGP booking windows, examination dates, results dates, and reasonable-adjustment deadlines can change. Review the live application page before each application and do not rely on a static calendar.
• Request adjustments early: RCGP regulations allow candidates to request reasonable adjustments for the AKT or SCA, with supporting evidence and deadlines governed by the current policy. Workplace adjustments may require coordination with the training practice or employer.
• Keep portfolio requirements current: The WPBA page flags updates introduced from August 2026. Use the current Trainee Portfolio forms, assessment guidance, and supervisor instructions for your training year.
• Check the current regulations: The RCGP states that MRCGP regulations change over time. Confirm the version and policies applicable to your sitting, particularly for attempts, out-of-training attempts, cancellations, reasonable adjustments, and examination conduct.
• Protect examination confidentiality: MRCGP examination material is confidential, copyrighted, and subject to non-disclosure requirements. Preparation should use legitimate educational material rather than recalled or leaked content.