This workflow is for endocrinology and diabetes higher specialty trainees, usually ST4 and above, using BMJ OnExamination for the SCE. BMJ OnExamination does publish an Endocrinology and Diabetes SCE bank, and its personalised revision can be genuinely useful for a first pass. The principal limitation to plan around is that any weakness-weighted feed tends to over-serve the big domains and quietly starve the small ones, so the low-volume blueprint areas need a deliberate coverage floor. iatroX sits alongside as the unseen-measurement layer.
A note on the word "adaptive". BMJ OnExamination markets personalised revision plans, a difficulty filter and peer comparison, but it does not publish the internals of an adaptive-difficulty algorithm. This article therefore treats the feed as weakness-weighted personalisation, not a verified adaptive engine, and makes no proprietary-algorithm claims. That distinction is precisely why you must set your own domain floors rather than trust the feed to reach the whole blueprint.
What BMJ OnExamination offers for SCE Endocrinology and Diabetes right now
Vendor-reported, checked 20 July 2026; verify on the product page before purchase.
| Item | BMJ OnExamination SCE Endocrinology & Diabetes (vendor-reported, 20 July 2026) |
|---|---|
| Question count | 625 questions |
| Price and access | From £59.99 for one month up to £199.99 for twelve months |
| Personalisation | "Select Questions" difficulty filter, revision plans targeting weaker topics |
| Assessment | Mock tests curated by BMJ's editorial doctors, said to reflect recent exam themes |
| Social and feedback | Group learning with leaderboards, daily questions, peer comparison |
| Adaptive-difficulty algorithm | Not published; treat the feed as weakness-weighted, not a black box |
A 625-question bank is a reasonable first-pass volume for this SCE. The personalisation is helpful for revisiting weak topics, but it is not a substitute for a coverage plan, because a feed that keeps serving your weak areas can leave a small, already-adequate domain almost untouched, and small domains still carry marks.
The exam you are actually sitting
The SCE in Endocrinology and Diabetes is two papers of 100 best-of-five questions, 200 in total, three hours per paper, one day, computer-based on Surpass, one mark per correct answer, no negative marking. The pass mark is set per diet by criterion-referenced standard-setting; for illustration, the 2019 diet used a pass mark around 121 out of 200, about 60.5 per cent, but this is not a fixed target and will differ each sitting.
The blueprint, on published Federation figures, is led by thyroid at roughly 32 questions, complications of diabetes at about 29, diabetes diagnosis and general management at about 25, and a general or "other" category near 25. The endocrine glands follow: adrenal at about 22, hypothalamus and pituitary at about 22, gonadal and reproductive endocrinology at about 19, and parathyroid and calcium at about 16. Diabetic emergencies and management during acute illness or surgery sit near 10. Those last three, gonads, parathyroid and calcium, and diabetic emergencies, are the low-volume domains most at risk from a weakness-weighted feed, and they are the reason for the coverage discipline below.
Baseline week: measure before you personalise
Spend the first week establishing a baseline before the revision plan shapes your feed. Draw a small, blueprint-stratified sample of unseen questions, two or three per domain, timed and mixed, and record your first-attempt accuracy by domain. Run this in iatroX so it stays independent of the BMJ items you will later drill. This baseline is a diagnostic map, not a pass prediction; as the iatroX explainer on why your Q-bank percentage is not your exam score sets out, an early filtered average tells you where to look, not whether you will pass.
First pass: set domain floors so the feed cannot hide gaps
Set a minimum attempted proportion for every blueprint domain, and hold the feed to it. A weakness-weighted revision plan will happily keep serving thyroid and diabetes because that is where volume and your early errors cluster, while gonadal endocrinology or parathyroid and calcium receive a handful of items. A floor of roughly 60 to 70 per cent of available questions per domain forces the feed through the small areas. Track attempts in a domain matrix rather than watching the overall percentage climb; the method is the iatroX blueprint-coverage matrix.
Error taxonomy: separate the causes
Tag every miss by cause: knowledge gap, misread stem, premature closure, guideline or currency error, calculation error, or time-pressure error. Endocrinology leans on calculation and interpretation, insulin dosing, correction of sodium in hyperglycaemia, dynamic-test interpretation, so calculation and data-interpretation errors deserve their own tags and their own drills. Guideline and currency errors should be resolved against primary sources: NICE and SIGN for diabetes and thyroid pathways, and the SmPC or electronic medicines compendium for drug-specific facts on insulins, GLP-1 receptor agonists, SGLT2 inhibitors, thionamides and glucocorticoids, never a paraphrased summary.
Review interval: match the response to the fault
A knowledge gap earns a short source read and then an unseen transfer question a few days later, not an immediate repeat of the explained item. A calculation error earns a focused calculation drill. A misread or time-pressure error earns a pacing drill. Space the misses and re-test them on fresh items, so review builds retention rather than familiarity with particular BMJ questions.
Mixed-block switch: reduce topic cueing
Topic-filtered blocks help while a domain's foundations are weak, but they cue you. Once a domain clears its floor and your first-attempt accuracy is stable, move it into timed, mixed blocks. Aim to be doing majority-mixed practice once about two-thirds of domains have cleared their floors, even if some small domains are still filling. The real paper interleaves everything, so your late practice should too, and BMJ's curated mocks are useful here for rehearsing that interleaving under time.
Exit criteria: readiness, not completion
Exit when every blueprint domain has cleared its coverage floor, first-attempt accuracy on unseen, mixed, timed blocks is stable across at least two sittings, your pace fits 100 questions into three hours with review time, retention on previously missed items holds after a week, and you have calibrated on fresh material rather than recycled BMJ items. Finishing all 625 questions is not on that list.
A seven-day plan around clinical work
A realistic week using BMJ OnExamination for the personalised content job and iatroX for unseen transfer practice. No proprietary-algorithm claims are made.
- Monday: 30 BMJ questions on thyroid and diabetes complications, the largest domains; tag misses.
- Tuesday: a short source read on the worst misses, then 15 unseen iatroX items on the same principles.
- Wednesday: 30 BMJ questions targeting the low-volume domains, gonads, parathyroid and calcium, and diabetic emergencies, to protect their floors.
- Thursday: a 40-question timed mixed block, or a BMJ curated mock section; review by error type.
- Friday: adrenal and pituitary dynamic-testing questions, with a calculation-and-interpretation focus.
- Saturday: an unseen, timed iatroX block as your weekly readiness check; log first-attempt accuracy and pace.
- Sunday: rest or a light spaced review of the week's misses.
Decision checklist: continue, supplement, switch or stop
| Situation | Action |
|---|---|
| Low-volume domains under floor | Continue, and force those domains rather than following the feed |
| Floors met but unseen accuracy weak | Supplement with iatroX transfer practice; diagnose error types |
| Calculation and interpretation errors recurring | Supplement with targeted calculation drills; do not just repeat items |
| Coverage, accuracy, pace and retention stable on fresh material | Stop adding material; rehearse full mocks and rest |
Frequently asked questions
Is BMJ OnExamination enough for SCE Endocrinology and Diabetes on its own? For many candidates its 625-question, vendor-reported bank with curated mocks is a workable single-bank foundation, and the personalised revision helps you revisit weak topics. Whether it is enough alone depends on your coverage discipline and your measurement: without imposed domain floors, the weakness-weighted feed can under-serve the small blueprint areas, and without a reserved unseen pool your late percentages measure recognition, so pairing it with an unseen layer such as iatroX is sensible.
Which SCE Endocrinology and Diabetes component does BMJ OnExamination not reproduce well? No single bank reliably reproduces the exam's spread across the low-volume glands and its calculation and dynamic-test interpretation at exam density, so gonadal, parathyroid-calcium and diabetic-emergency material, and structured calculation practice, may need deliberate supplementation. It also does not reproduce the exact Surpass interface and two-paper stamina, which you should rehearse in full-length mocks.
How many BMJ OnExamination questions should I complete per day for SCE Endocrinology and Diabetes? Around clinical work, roughly 30 to 50 questions per day with full review is a sustainable rate, and the quality of review matters more than the count. Prioritise the low-volume domains on some days so the feed's tendency to over-serve thyroid and diabetes does not leave gaps in the smaller areas.
When should I stop using BMJ OnExamination and move to mixed mocks? Move to mixed, timed blocks once every blueprint domain has cleared its coverage floor and your filtered-block accuracy is stable, then use the final one to two weeks for full-length, timed mocks, including BMJ's curated mock sections. Do not wait for 100 per cent completion; interleaved, timed practice predicts exam performance better than a full progress bar.
How should I combine BMJ OnExamination with iatroX without duplicating practice? Give each a single role: BMJ OnExamination is your personalised content and mock engine, and iatroX is your unseen, timed transfer-practice and spaced-retrieval layer. Do not re-test seen BMJ items and call it measurement; use fresh iatroX items to confirm transfer. The two-Q-bank rule explains how to keep the measurement bank uncontaminated.
Editorial notes and references
Written by Dr Kolawole Tytler, NHS GP and founder of iatroX. Last checked 20 July 2026; BMJ OnExamination's question count, prices and feature descriptions are vendor-reported and were correct at the time of checking, so verify current details on onexamination.com before purchase. No adaptive-difficulty algorithm is claimed on iatroX's behalf or the vendor's; the platform's feed is described as weakness-weighted personalisation. Disclosure: iatroX operates a UK question bank and competes with the products discussed; iatroX is not an endocrinology-specific SCE bank, and its role here is confined to cross-specialty knowledge, unseen measurement and spaced retrieval. Corrections are welcome via the feedback route on iatrox.com. References: the Federation SCE Endocrinology and Diabetes page and blueprint (thefederation.uk); BMJ OnExamination SCE Endocrinology and Diabetes product page (onexamination.com); the iatroX comparison hub; and the note on why your Q-bank percentage is not your exam score.
Run a fresh, timed SCE Endocrinology and Diabetes block in iatroX →