Read this first: if you are searching for the "SCE Infectious Diseases", you are looking for an examination that no longer runs. Its final sitting was in 2017. UK infection certification now runs through Combined Infection Training and the Combined Infection Certificate Examination (CICE), also known as FRCPath Part 1 in Infection. The good news for calibration is that the British Infection Association (BIA) question bank was built for the live exam, so it is the right place to send that search intent.
What the British Infection Association Question Bank offers right now
The BIA runs "Learn Infection", whose question bank the association describes as covering all areas of infection medicine with explanations and links to key references, aimed squarely at preparation for the CICE and FRCPath Part 2. It sits alongside curated links to authoritative sources: UK Health Security Agency guidance, the Green Book on immunisation, EUCAST breakpoints, Standards for Microbiology Investigations and specialty-society guidelines from BASHH, BHIVA and HIS.
| Feature | Status (last checked 20 July 2026) |
|---|---|
| Live question count | Bank covers "all areas of infection medicine"; a specific published item count is not stated. Verify on learn.britishinfection.org. |
| Access period | Free to BIA members; BIA membership itself can be joined free, so access is effectively open to trainees. Society-reported; verify. |
| AI/adaptive features | None advertised; a curated question bank with explanations and reference links, not an adaptive engine. |
| Price | No separate charge described beyond BIA membership. Society-reported; verify current terms. |
| Supported exam | Built for the live CICE / FRCPath Part 1 in Infection, not the withdrawn SCE Infectious Diseases. |
Treat the above as society-reported and confirm on the BIA pages, because society resources are updated regularly.
The exam you can actually sit: Combined Infection Training and the CICE
Combined Infection Training (CIT) is the modern UK pathway. All infection trainees complete two years of combined training and then enter higher infection training in infectious diseases, medical microbiology, medical virology, tropical medicine or a combination. Infectious diseases trainees sit the CICE and, unlike microbiology and virology trainees, do not proceed to a further written part. The exam is delivered by the Royal College of Pathologists.
Structurally, the CICE will feel familiar to anyone who researched the old SCE: two papers, 100 single-best-answer questions each, 200 in total, three hours per paper, computer-marked, with a modified Angoff pass mark, run twice yearly in spring and autumn. What changed is scope. Where the old SCE was infectious-diseases-facing, the CICE assesses the combined scientific and clinical basis of medical microbiology, virology and infectious diseases together. RCPath-reported approximate weightings are: clinical syndromes 32.5%, antimicrobials 15%, laboratory practice 15%, basic science 10%, and then HIV, vaccination, travel medicine, public health and infection prevention and control at around 5% each, with health and safety near 2.5% (verify the current blueprint on rcpath.org).
What counts as genuinely official material
Separate the tiers so your calibration means something. Truly official material comes from RCPath: the CICE regulations and curriculum, the published sample questions and the blueprint weightings above. Society-endorsed material is the BIA's Learn Infection bank and its curated guideline links, plus BIA's own guidelines — authoritative and closely aligned to the exam, but produced by the specialty society rather than the examining college. Commercial preparation is everything else, to be judged on fidelity rather than reputation. For anyone arriving from an "SCE Infectious Diseases" search, the practical hierarchy is simple: anchor on the RCPath CICE sample and blueprint, revise with the BIA bank, and treat commercial products as optional volume.
The signals to extract from the official sample
Sit the RCPath CICE sample once and read it as an examiner. Stem length: full clinical or laboratory vignettes — presentation, examination, microbiology results, sometimes imaging — ending in one focused lead-in. Option construction: five homogeneous options, commonly five organisms, five antimicrobials or five management steps, with distractors correct for a neighbouring scenario. Cognitive level: application and management dominate, from empirical therapy choices to stewardship and infection-control decisions, not definition recall. Image and data use: Gram films, culture and sensitivity panels, serology and molecular results must be interpreted. Timing: 100 items in 180 minutes is just under two minutes each. Negative marking: none, so answer everything. Domain emphasis: clinical syndromes and antimicrobials carry the most weight, but laboratory practice and public health are substantial and are exactly where infectious-diseases-only revision tends to be thin.
A calibration matrix: official CICE sample versus your main bank
Build this from the RCPath sample and a matched block of the BIA bank (or any bank you use). Record patterns only, never item text.
| Signal | Official CICE sample | Your main bank | Action if they diverge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stem length | Long clinical/lab vignette | Sometimes shorter, more factual | Add long-vignette, results-interpretation items |
| Lead-in type | Next step/best management | Some single-fact recall | Reweight towards management and stewardship |
| Cognitive level | Application and judgement | Variable | Prioritise reasoning over memorisation |
| Image/data | Gram films, sensitivities, serology | Sometimes text-only | Drill laboratory data interpretation |
| Pace | ~1 min 48 s per item | Untimed by default | Practise timed to exam pace |
| Domain spread | Microbiology + virology + ID | May skew to ID clinical topics | Fill microbiology, virology and public-health gaps |
The matrix exists to make the gap between your revision and the actual exam measurable, especially the broadened microbiology and virology scope that catches out candidates who prepared as if for the old ID-only SCE.
Reading the discrepancies diagnostically
If your bank feels harder than the CICE sample, you may be over-drilling rarities while the exam wants sound everyday reasoning. If it feels easier or more factual, you are training recognition while the exam tests judgement and stewardship. If it is narrower — heavy on classic ID syndromes but light on laboratory practice, diagnostic virology or public health — you are rehearsing a subset of the CICE blueprint, which is the single most common trap for anyone repurposing "SCE Infectious Diseases" study materials. The BIA bank, because it was designed for CICE and FRCPath, is well placed to expose those gaps; a bank still marketed for the withdrawn SCE may not.
Protecting the calibration value of official material
Sit the RCPath CICE sample once, unseen, timed and in one block, then analyse it thoroughly. Do not grind it until you recognise the answers, because recognition is not reasoning and the sample only measures you while it is fresh. Volume belongs to the BIA bank and to a broad, spaced knowledge layer; the scarce official sample is your calibration instrument, not a rehearsal loop.
Translating the findings into quotas and conditions
Convert the matrix into a fortnightly plan weighted to the CICE blueprint. If laboratory practice and public health are your weak domains — as they often are for ID-focused candidates — load the next two weeks there rather than returning to comfortable syndromic material. Practise timed, mixed and note-free at least twice a week. Use the BIA bank's explanations and reference links to repair the specific errors your analysis exposes, reading the linked guideline the day you miss a related item and re-testing on unseen questions a few days later. Where antimicrobial choices arise, work from current UK guidance and the summaries of product characteristics on the electronic medicines compendium rather than memorised dose lists.
A seven-day plan for a busy trainee
This loop assumes clinical work and short evenings. It uses the BIA bank for one defined job and iatroX for unseen transfer practice, with no claim to any proprietary algorithm.
| Day | BIA bank job | iatroX job (unseen measurement) |
|---|---|---|
| Mon | 30 BIA items on the weak CICE domain; read explanations | 20 timed mixed infection items; log errors |
| Tue | Read a linked guideline on a missed topic | 20 unseen items on that topic; note transfer |
| Wed | 30 BIA items on laboratory practice | 30 timed mixed items |
| Thu | 30 BIA items on virology/public health | 20 data-interpretation items |
| Fri | Consolidate notes; no new input | 40-item timed half-paper simulation |
| Sat | Review the week's weakest explanations | 20 unseen items on the two weakest domains |
| Sun | Rest or light guideline reading | Short retrieval check; set next week's quotas |
The BIA bank builds infection knowledge aligned to CICE; the unseen block measures whether it transfers to a novel stem under time pressure. Only the second half tells you whether you are ready.
Decision checklist: continue, supplement, switch or stop
Continue with the BIA bank if your errors are conceptual and it is closing them, and because it targets the live exam. Supplement if you need more unseen volume or an independent measurement layer to confirm transfer. Switch away from any product still branded for the withdrawn SCE Infectious Diseases if it is steering your revision away from the CICE blueprint. Stop revisiting familiar material for comfort; measurable gaps against the CICE blueprint, not sunk cost or nostalgia for the old exam name, should drive every decision.
The bottom line
The "SCE Infectious Diseases" is history; the live UK route is Combined Infection Training and the CICE. The British Infection Association question bank is one of the few resources purpose-built for that exam, and it is effectively free to trainees, which makes it a strong core. Anchor your calibration on the RCPath CICE sample and blueprint, revise with the BIA bank, and use a separate timed, unseen layer to prove that your infection knowledge transfers under pressure.
Frequently asked questions
Is British Infection Association Question Bank enough for SCE Infectious Diseases on its own? The honest starting point is that the SCE Infectious Diseases no longer exists — its final sitting was in 2017 — so the real question is whether the BIA bank is enough for the CICE that replaced it. As a core it is strong and well aligned, but on its own it is rarely enough: pair it with the official RCPath sample for calibration and a separate timed, unseen block to confirm transfer, and you have a robust stack.
Which SCE Infectious Diseases component does British Infection Association Question Bank not reproduce well? No question bank reproduces the timed two-paper examination experience itself — 200 single-best-answer items at roughly one minute and 48 seconds each — and a bank alone cannot rehearse the whole breadth of the CICE laboratory-practice and diagnostic-virology domains that the older ID-facing revision culture under-weighted. Use the RCPath sample for format calibration and deliberately load microbiology, virology and public-health practice to cover the parts a bank tends to under-drill.
How many British Infection Association Question Bank questions should I complete per day for SCE Infectious Diseases? A realistic sustainable target while working clinically is 30 to 40 items a day, always with the explanations read, not merely the answers checked. Volume matters far less than error analysis: 30 well-reviewed items that change your reasoning beat 100 skimmed items, and you should weight the daily set towards the CICE domains your calibration flagged as weak rather than towards comfortable syndromic questions.
When should I stop using British Infection Association Question Bank and move to mixed mocks? Shift towards timed, mixed mocks in the final four to six weeks, once your domain-specific errors have narrowed and your remaining mistakes are about pace, misreading stems or failing to transfer knowledge to a new case. You can keep using the BIA bank for targeted repair throughout, but the run-in should be dominated by mixed, timed practice that mirrors the CICE paper.
How should I combine British Infection Association Question Bank with iatroX without duplicating practice? Give them separate jobs. Use the BIA bank as your infection-specific learning and error-repair tool, and use iatroX purely as the unseen-measurement and spaced-retrieval layer: after revising a topic on the BIA bank, test it on fresh iatroX items you have not seen and let the score tell you whether the knowledge transferred. Because iatroX is an infection-knowledge and MRCP-level bank used here for measurement rather than a dedicated CICE bank, the two do not overlap in role, which is precisely how you avoid duplicating practice.
Editorial notes and references
Written by Dr Kolawole Tytler, NHS GP and founder of iatroX. Last checked 20 July 2026. Access, pricing and question-count details for the British Infection Association bank are society-reported as at that date and should be confirmed on learn.britishinfection.org; CICE structure and weightings are RCPath-reported and should be confirmed on rcpath.org. Antimicrobial facts should be taken from current UK guidance and the summaries of product characteristics on the electronic medicines compendium. Disclosure: iatroX operates an infection-knowledge and MRCP-level question bank that competes for revision time with the resources discussed here; its role in this article is confined to unseen measurement and spaced retrieval, and it is not a dedicated CICE question bank. Corrections are welcome via the feedback route on iatrox.com.
References: the Federation of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the UK page confirming the SCE Infectious Diseases final sitting in 2017 (thefederation.uk); the Royal College of Pathologists Infection examinations page and CICE regulations, curriculum and sample questions (rcpath.org); the British Infection Association "Learn Infection" study corner and question bank (britishinfection.org, learn.britishinfection.org); and, for interpreting scores, the iatroX articles "Your Q-Bank Percentage Is Not Your Exam Score" and "Question-bank completion is not coverage".
Run a fresh, timed SCE Infectious Diseases block in iatroX →