The MRCPsych written exams — Paper A and Paper B — test fundamentally different content. Paper A covers the sciences underpinning psychiatry: psychopharmacology, neuroscience, psychology, genetics, epidemiology, and statistics. Paper B covers clinical psychiatry: assessment, diagnosis, and management across all subspecialties including forensic, old age, child and adolescent, liaison, and perinatal psychiatry. Both papers include SBA and EMQ formats with 150 questions in three hours.
The question bank you choose needs to cover both papers adequately, and the MRCPsych market has historically been dominated by expensive course-based providers rather than modern qbank platforms.
The options
SPMM Course
The Superego, Psyche and Mind Media (SPMM) Course has been the dominant MRCPsych preparation provider for years. It offers comprehensive Paper A and Paper B content with detailed notes, question banks, and video lectures. The content quality is high and clinically authoritative.
The trade-off is price. SPMM packages typically cost several hundred pounds and are structured as courses rather than standalone question banks. The platform is functional but not modern — there is no adaptive learning, no spaced repetition, and the mobile experience is limited.
For trainees with budget constraints — which describes most CT1 to CT3 psychiatry trainees — the cost is a genuine barrier.
PassMRCPsych
PassMRCPsych offers question banks and audio revision resources at a more accessible price point. The Paper B audio lessons are well-regarded for auditory learners. Question counts are moderate. The platform is straightforward and represents decent value, though it lacks adaptive features and the question volume needed for comprehensive coverage.
MRCPsych Masterclass
MRCPsych Masterclass offers course-based preparation with question bank access. It sits between SPMM and PassMRCPsych in terms of price and comprehensiveness.
iatroX
iatroX offers dedicated question banks for MRCPsych Paper A and MRCPsych Paper B, each containing 1,500 or more questions. Both banks include SBA and EMQ formats, matching the real exam structure.
The Paper A bank is mapped to the sciences curriculum with heavy weighting toward psychopharmacology (approximately 25 per cent of questions), neuroscience, psychology (learning theory, cognitive, developmental, and social), genetics, and statistics. EMQ sets are grouped by theme — for example, neurotransmitter receptor pharmacology, defence mechanisms, or study design types — replicating the real exam's EMQ structure.
The Paper B bank covers clinical psychiatry across all subspecialties with particular depth in schizophrenia and psychosis management (including clozapine monitoring and long-acting injectable prescribing), mood disorders, Mental Health Act sections, substance misuse, and forensic psychiatry. Questions reference NICE mental health guidelines, the Maudsley Prescribing Guidelines, BAP guidelines, and current MHA/MCA legal frameworks.
The adaptive algorithm tracks performance separately across Paper A and Paper B content, so you can prepare for both papers in parallel without the system conflating your science knowledge with your clinical knowledge.
All MRCPsych content is included in a single subscription at £29 per month or £99 per year — the same subscription covers every other exam on the platform.
Price comparison
For MRCPsych Paper A and Paper B preparation with three to four months of access: SPMM Course several hundred pounds (varies by package), PassMRCPsych approximately £50 to £100, MRCPsych Masterclass approximately £100 to £200, and iatroX £87 to £116 for three to four months or £99 for a full year.
iatroX is the only option that includes access to every other exam bank on the platform — relevant for psychiatry trainees who may also need MRCP Part 1 content or who plan to sit other exams later in their career.
Which should you choose
If your budget is unconstrained and you want a structured course with video lectures alongside a question bank, SPMM remains the gold standard for content depth.
If you want the most efficient, technology-driven preparation at a price that does not strain a trainee salary, iatroX offers adaptive learning, comprehensive question coverage for both papers, real EMQ format practice, and a mobile app for revision between clinical commitments — all for less than the cost of a single SPMM module.
The MRCPsych pass rates have been declining in recent years, particularly for Paper A where the psychopharmacology and neuroscience content catches candidates who underestimate the science weighting. Whichever platform you choose, allocate dedicated revision time to pharmacology — it is the single highest-yield topic across both papers.