{"title":"The Dermatology Specialty Certificate Examination.","authors":"M Giles S Dunnill","doi":"10.1093/ced/llaf244","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The Specialty Certificate Examination is part of the compulsory assessment for medical specialties stipulated by the General Medical Council to maintain high standards in doctors and ensure public confidence. This review aims to explain the process of producing the examination and setting reliable standards. It will inform candidates of the examination structure and help learning strategies. Questions are based on the curriculum blueprint, which is available online. Questions are produced following the work of the question writers, the Examination Board and Standard Setting Group, and are therefore subject to multiple rounds of peer review. The pass mark is set by a statistical test equating to ensure the same level of difficulty from year to year. Optimum preparation for the examination should include seeing a wide variety of patients in different clinical contexts and reading extensively. The pass rate for UK residents has decreased in the past 3 years and candidates not passing should consider feedback from the examination and discuss with their educational supervisors.</p>","PeriodicalId":10324,"journal":{"name":"Clinical and Experimental Dermatology","volume":" ","pages":"1963-1967"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8000,"publicationDate":"2025-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Clinical and Experimental Dermatology","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ced/llaf244","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"DERMATOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The Specialty Certificate Examination is part of the compulsory assessment for medical specialties stipulated by the General Medical Council to maintain high standards in doctors and ensure public confidence. This review aims to explain the process of producing the examination and setting reliable standards. It will inform candidates of the examination structure and help learning strategies. Questions are based on the curriculum blueprint, which is available online. Questions are produced following the work of the question writers, the Examination Board and Standard Setting Group, and are therefore subject to multiple rounds of peer review. The pass mark is set by a statistical test equating to ensure the same level of difficulty from year to year. Optimum preparation for the examination should include seeing a wide variety of patients in different clinical contexts and reading extensively. The pass rate for UK residents has decreased in the past 3 years and candidates not passing should consider feedback from the examination and discuss with their educational supervisors.
期刊介绍:
Clinical and Experimental Dermatology (CED) is a unique provider of relevant and educational material for practising clinicians and dermatological researchers. We support continuing professional development (CPD) of dermatology specialists to advance the understanding, management and treatment of skin disease in order to improve patient outcomes.