This workflow is for paediatric trainees using PassPaeds as their main bank for MRCPCH Theory and Science (TAS), the science-and-mechanisms written paper sat alongside Foundation of Practice. It gives you a defined sequence — blueprint inventory, a protected pool of unseen questions, a targeted first pass, coded error review and timed mixed blocks — with exit criteria you can measure. The principal limitation to plan around from day one: PassPaeds is built to be worked and re-worked, so its spaced-repetition tutor and evidence notes reward familiarity, and once you have seen its items your score on them measures recognition, not transfer.
What PassPaeds offers for MRCPCH Theory and Science right now
Treat the box below as a snapshot to confirm, not a settled specification. The figures are vendor-reported and were checked on 20 July 2026; PassPaeds even states its TAS count differently on different pages, which is itself a reason to verify the current number on passpaeds.com before you plan around it.
| Attribute | What PassPaeds states (vendor-reported, checked 20 July 2026) | Check before relying |
|---|---|---|
| Exams covered | Foundation of Practice and Theory and Science; Applied Knowledge in Practice described as "currently in development" | Whether AKP has launched |
| TAS question count | The TAS page headlines "over 2,900 questions"; the homepage summary cites "over 2,600" for TAS and "over 3,900" MRCPCH questions in total | The current live count |
| Question format | Single best answer, matching the exam | — |
| Price | 4 months £20; 6 months £30 | Current pricing and any bundle |
| Access period | 4- or 6-month subscription | Renewal terms |
| Retention feature | A "knowledge tutor" applying spaced repetition, described as based on memory-science trials | How it selects items |
| Performance feature | Cohort-comparison histograms updated daily; extensive performance analysis | What the comparison is against |
| Timed mode | Unlimited timed tests at no extra charge, customisable to target areas | — |
| Explanations | Evidence-based revision notes with each question; flagging and personal notes | Currency of the notes |
The honest reading: PassPaeds is a specialist paediatric bank with a sensible feature set — a large SBA pool, spaced repetition and unlimited timed tests, at a low price point. Two caveats. First, the "knowledge tutor" is spaced repetition and cohort comparison; it is not advertised as a difficulty-adaptive algorithm, so do not treat it as one. Second, the same spaced repetition that aids retention recycles items you have already seen — excellent for consolidation, useless as a measure of transfer — which is why this workflow reserves an unseen pool from the start.
The exam you are actually preparing for
TAS is 100 single best answer questions in two hours, one mark each, no negative marking, computer-based at an exam centre or online — roughly seventy seconds per item, and it can be sat on the same day as FOP. It shares the RCPCH content map with the other theory papers but leans toward the scientific basis of practice: mechanisms of drug action, genetics and dysmorphology, metabolic medicine, physiology, immunology and the science of practice, including evidence and statistics. RCPCH publishes the syllabus and an official specimen paper but not a fixed numerical weighting per domain, so treat any "full blueprint coverage" claim as a third-party statement and use the specimen as your calibration gold standard.
Build a blueprint inventory and protect an unseen pool
Before you grind, map. List the RCPCH TAS content areas down a page and, as you work, record for each the questions attempted, your first-attempt accuracy, the date last reviewed and your confidence. This inventory — not the completion bar — tells you where you stand. At the same time, ring-fence a protected pool of questions you will not touch during revision: reserve a slice of PassPaeds' timed-test capacity for the end, and keep a separate unseen bank entirely, so that when you want a true reading you have items you have never met.
First pass: mixed by default, topic-filtered only where foundations are weak
Start mixed. Topic-filtered blocks tell you the domain before you read the stem, which is exactly the cue TAS withholds, so default to mixed timed blocks that force you to identify the subject yourself. Reserve topic-filtered blocks for domains where your foundations are genuinely weak — say metabolic medicine or the statistics within the science of practice — and return to mixed as soon as the floor lifts. The aim of the first pass is not to see every item; it is to find your weak domains and raise them to a floor.
Review each miss with an error code, not a transcript
The slowest, least useful habit is copying the whole explanation into your notes. Instead, code each miss and attach one corrective action. A compact scheme works: K for a knowledge gap, R for a reasoning error, I for a misread image or dataset, P for a pace-driven mistake, and C for a careless slip. A knowledge gap earns one line to a primary source; a reasoning error earns a re-worked line of logic; a misread earns another item of the same data type. The evidence note in PassPaeds is a starting point to verify against NICE, CKS, RCPCH guidance and the SmPC/eMC — not something to transcribe.
Use transfer practice before you repeat an item
Do not immediately re-answer the item you missed; you will only confirm you can recognise it. Instead, find a fresh item that tests the same principle and answer that first. If you get the new one right, the principle has transferred; if you get it wrong, you have found a genuine gap rather than a memory of the original. Only after transfer practice should the original come back, spaced, through the knowledge tutor.
Switch to mixed timed blocks when domain floors are met
Move to predominantly mixed, timed blocks once your domain floors are met, even if your first pass is incomplete. Completing every item is not the goal; performing on unseen items under time is. In the final two to three weeks, weight your work toward timed mixed blocks and the RCPCH specimen, and let the protected unseen pool give you clean readings.
Exit criteria: performance, not completion
Leave the bank behind on evidence, not on a percentage. You are ready to stop adding new questions when: your unseen, timed, mixed-block accuracy is stable at or above your floor in every domain; your pace is safe at around seventy seconds per item; your high-confidence error rate is low; your retention holds at a spaced interval rather than only on the day; and your performance calibrates against the RCPCH specimen. One hundred per cent completion of PassPaeds is not on that list.
A seven-day PassPaeds plus iatroX week
Give each tool one job. PassPaeds carries the paediatric-specific learning and spaced retention; iatroX supplies unseen, timed transfer practice so you can see whether the learning holds on items you have never met. This is the two-Q-bank rule in practice, and it makes no claim about anyone's proprietary algorithm — it simply keeps a pool of unseen items.
| Day | PassPaeds job | iatroX job |
|---|---|---|
| Mon | Mixed timed block; code every miss | — |
| Tue | Topic block on the week's weakest domain; one corrective line per miss | — |
| Wed | Transfer practice on Tuesday's principles | Short unseen block on last week's domain to check retention |
| Thu | Mixed timed block; review high-confidence errors | — |
| Fri | Spaced review of the week's coded misses | Unseen, timed mixed block; send each miss to the Socratic Tutor |
| Sat | Longer mixed timed block under exam conditions | — |
| Sun | Light review of flagged items only | Fresh unseen block; compare the score with Saturday's PassPaeds block |
The signal to watch is the gap between your PassPaeds mixed-block score and your iatroX unseen score. If they track closely, your learning is transferring; if PassPaeds is high but the unseen score lags, you have been rehearsing familiar items.
Decision checklist: continue, supplement, switch or stop
Continue with PassPaeds if your unseen score is rising and your weak domains are lifting toward their floors. Supplement with a second, unseen bank if your PassPaeds score is high but your unseen transfer score lags — that gap is a measurement problem, not a knowledge one. Switch primary bank only if a measured domain stays below floor despite focused work and you can see the coverage is genuinely thin there, not merely uncomfortable. Stop adding new questions when the exit criteria above are met. Base each move on a measured gap, never on novelty or the sunk cost of a subscription.
FAQ
Is PassPaeds enough for MRCPCH Theory and Science on its own? It can be your primary bank — it is paediatric-specific, sizeable and inexpensive, with spaced repetition and unlimited timed tests — but "enough" is decided by transfer, not by coverage. Because its spaced-repetition tutor recycles items you have seen, you should pair it with an unseen measurement layer so your readiness reading is not inflated by familiarity, and you should verify the current question count and price on passpaeds.com, since its own pages quote the TAS total differently.
Which MRCPCH Theory and Science component does PassPaeds not reproduce well? No bank reproduces the unseen, integrated, time-pressured feel of the real paper once you have drilled it, and PassPaeds is no exception: after you have worked its items, its own score measures recognition rather than transfer. It also cannot be the source of truth for TAS's science depth — its evidence notes are a starting point that you should verify against RCPCH guidance, NICE, CKS and the SmPC/eMC for mechanisms and dosing, rather than memorising the note.
How many PassPaeds questions should I complete per day for MRCPCH Theory and Science? There is no magic number, and volume is the wrong target; the quality of your coded review matters more than the count. A sustainable figure for a trainee working clinically is roughly twenty to forty questions a day with full review, scaling up nearer the exam, but let your domain floors and your unseen timed performance set the pace rather than a daily quota. Doing three hundred questions you do not review teaches less than forty that you do.
When should I stop using PassPaeds and move to mixed mocks? Move to predominantly mixed, timed blocks once your domain floors are met, even if your first pass is incomplete — completing the bank is not the goal. In the final two to three weeks, weight your work toward timed mixed mocks and the RCPCH specimen, keep your protected unseen pool for clean readings, and use PassPaeds mainly for spaced review of coded misses rather than new volume.
How should I combine PassPaeds with iatroX without duplicating practice? Give each a distinct job so you never work the same item twice. PassPaeds is your primary learning and spaced-retention bank for paediatric-specific content; iatroX is the unseen measurement layer — timed mixed blocks that estimate transfer — plus a Socratic Tutor for working a miss back to its principle. Running the same questions through both wastes the measurement; keeping iatroX's items unseen is what makes the two-Q-bank rule work.
Editorial notes and references
Written by Dr Kolawole Tytler, NHS GP and founder of iatroX. Last checked 20 July 2026. PassPaeds figures — question counts, price, access period and features — are vendor-reported and were taken from passpaeds.com on the date shown; the vendor states its TAS count differently across its pages, so verify the current number before relying on it. Disclosure: iatroX operates a UK question bank and competes with PassPaeds; its role here is confined to the unseen-measurement and transfer-practice job PassPaeds does not claim to perform, and iatroX does not publish a dedicated MRCPCH bank. Corrections are welcome via the feedback route on iatrox.com.
References: RCPCH — Theory exams, structure and syllabi (rcpch.ac.uk/education-careers/examinations/theory/structure-syllabi); RCPCH — Theory exam sample papers (rcpch.ac.uk/resources/theory-exam-sample-papers); PassPaeds — MRCPCH Theory and Science product page (passpaeds.com). Internal: the two-Q-bank rule; the MRCPCH Theory and Science content-gap checklist; and "Your Q-Bank Percentage Is Not Your Exam Score"; comparison hub at iatrox.com/compare.