MRCPsychiatrist is an independent psychiatry revision platform with separate Paper A and Paper B purchases and a sizeable free resource offer. The useful buying questions are which paper you need, how its review system works and whether the package remains available through your sitting.
This guide is published by iatroX and includes our competing banks first. Public product pages were checked on 1 November 2026. We distinguish the provider's advertised features and internal learning targets from independently validated examination outcomes.
1. iatroX: select Paper A or Paper B before practising
iatroX has dedicated Paper A and Paper B banks. Use Paper A for the relevant scientific application and Paper B for its clinical and critical-review work. A generic “psychiatry” label is less useful than selecting the paper you are preparing to sit.
The learning workflow connects an attempted question with explanation review, guided Tutor discussion and later practice. Full-bank access is paid. Up to 10 new sample questions per day, shared across exams and subject to availability, with explanations and no account required. One complete guided Tutor session is included with a verified free account; continued Tutor use is included in all-access. All-access is £29/month or £99/year in the UK; US$29/month or US$99/year elsewhere. Compare that bundle with the cost and functions of the single paper you actually need.
2. MRCPsychiatrist: separate the free and paid entitlements
The MRCPsychiatrist home page advertises 500 free questions, split as 250 per written paper, alongside free textbooks, CASC stations and other learning resources. It advertises 5,000 questions per paid paper and a system that revisits mistakes and tracks syllabus coverage. Those are provider-reported figures and functions.
The Paper B purchase page lists £99 for six months as one payment without automatic renewal. Paper A and Paper B are sold separately. Buying one paper should not be described as a £99 bundle unlocking both. Check the selected purchase and its expiry before paying.
| Requirement | What to verify |
|---|---|
| Trying the written workflow | Whether the free questions let you inspect the explanation and review process you need |
| Buying a single paper | The selected Paper A or B package, six-month term and stated inclusions |
| Planning both papers | The separate cost and timing of each purchase |
| Practising CASC | The station task, feedback arrangement and appropriate observed practice |
| Revising for a 2027 theory sitting | Alignment with the official syllabus applying to that sitting |
A learning target is not an official pass prediction
MRCPsychiatrist publishes a completion-and-average target in its learning workflow. Treat that as the provider's internal study milestone. A private bank is not equated to the live College paper, and repeated exposure can affect the meaning of an average.
Use such a target to organise work, then inspect what you can explain on unfamiliar tasks. It cannot settle eligibility, replace the official syllabus or guarantee a pass. The same standard applies to iatroX: an attractive dashboard is useful only when it leads to productive review and better independent application.
Match the syllabus to the actual sitting
The Royal College of Psychiatrists' revised theory syllabus applies from January 2027. Candidates sitting in November 2026 should use the syllabus for that sitting. A provider's “2027 ready” heading does not make every remaining 2026 candidate part of the new syllabus cohort.
Our syllabus checklist shows how to audit existing learning before starting another set of notes. Record a topic as needing application when you recognise its name but cannot explain a case or distinguish the competing answers.
Worked Paper B exercise: explain the effect before judging it
This fictional teaching dataset has 10 events among 100 people in one group and 20 among 100 in the comparison group, over the same follow-up period. The absolute difference is 10 percentage points, the risk ratio is 0.5 and the relative reduction is 50%. If the question asks for number needed to treat, the arithmetic is 1/0.10 = 10 for the stated period and assumptions.
Now change the risks to 1% and 2%. The relative reduction remains 50%, while the absolute difference becomes one percentage point and NNT becomes 100. If you carried the first NNT into the second example, you used the relative effect as though it fixed the absolute effect.
When testing a bank or discussion tool, check whether you leave able to explain that distinction without seeing the answer. For a fuller dataset and confidence-interval exercise, use our Paper B critical-review worked example.
Evaluate Paper A with the same discipline
Choose a difficult mechanism from a traceable teaching source. Explain its causal chain, identify the clinical or experimental finding it predicts and state what would favour the nearest alternative. A receptor name or a recognisable diagram is a starting point; the application is the test.
For both papers, inspect the source, explanation and review interaction in a sample. Question volume, an algorithm's name and a provider's stated syllabus coverage are useful product facts, but do not establish comparative accuracy or learning outcomes.
Choose a main routine before adding subscriptions
MRCPsychiatrist may suit a learner who wants its structured question order, written resources and separate paper package. iatroX may suit someone seeking question-linked guided reasoning and a wider learning plan. Pastest, BMJ OnExamination and other specialist providers remain relevant options; use our wider MRCPsych comparison to inspect alternatives.
Retain one main routine if it is working. Add another product only when its sample demonstrates something your present setup leaves unresolved. Plan CASC and other observed skills as their own learning tasks rather than assuming success in written questions covers them.