New eligibility requirements 2009
The new regulations for sitting the MRCPsych Paper 1, 2 and 3 examinations, effective January 2009, include:
- You must be registered with the General Medical Council or an equivalent body
- Mandatory 12 months post foundation training and post internship. The training programme must be approved by the PMETB or recognised by the hospital/Trust
- Individual posts can be 4 or 6 month duration but must total to 12 months. For example:
- 12 months in psychiatry OR
- 6 months in old age psychiatry and 6 months in adult psychiatry
- Combination of 4 months in adult or age psychiatry or old age psychiatry but within a min 6 months in adult psychiatry
- All applicants require sponsorship to sit the examination
- Papers can be taken in any order, but candidates are recommended to follow the Royal College of Psychiatrist guidelines of the suitable timeframes for taking each exam. The recommended timeframes are:
- Paper 1: 12-18 months
- Paper 2: 18-24 months
- Paper 3: 18-30 months
- A pass in MRCPsych Paper 1 and MRCPsych Paper 2 is permanent, however a pass in MRCPsych Paper 3 can only be banked for 635 days
- There is no limit for the amount of time you may re-sit papers, however you must hold valid sponsorship