Intended for healthcare professionals

Student Careers

How to choose finals revision courses

BMJ 2008; 336 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/sbmj.0803115 (Published 01 March 2008) Cite this as: BMJ 2008;336:0803115
  1. Carol Kan, F21,
  2. Suresh Krishnan, F12
  1. 1North West Foundation Programme
  2. 2South East Foundation Programme

Carol Kan and Suresh Krishnan speak from experience

It's that time of year again when all the final years start what seems like their never ending revision for the dreaded MB BS (bachelor of medicine and surgery) finals. The good thing is that most people pass and become doctors. But how do you survive the period ahead?

One puzzle is how to choose a revision course. You are swamped by letters and emails from all sorts of organisations promoting their courses, which all sound similar on paper but are often quite different.

National or local

The Medical Defence Union, the Medical Protection Society, and Pastest run national courses from London to Glasgow in medicine, surgery, and other specialties, including paediatrics. They provide a comprehensive grounding in the basics, with handouts containing useful mnemonics and revision guides. The teachers are consummate professionals and, as most of them are examiners, they can highlight the common pitfalls encountered in the exams and provide tips on how to avoid them. These courses can, however, be expensive, ranging from £50 to £250 (€70 to €340; $100 to $500).

Local courses provided by the hospitals in your university are tailored more towards your needs because they tend to be based on …

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