The budget question every GP trainee asks: can I get away with the free option?
i-Medics: 3,000+ free AKT MCQs created by UK GPs. No paywall for the core questions. Paid upgrades available for podcasts (Silver) and video courses (Gold). Good topic breadth. No spaced repetition, no peer benchmarking, no mock exam format in the free tier.
Passmedicine: 4,500+ curated AKT questions mapped to the 2025 RCGP curriculum. Knowledge Tutor spaced repetition. Performance benchmarking against candidates sitting the same diet. Full mock exams. Approximately £35 for 4 months.
The Quality Gap
Passmedicine explanations are more detailed and better maintained than i-Medics'. The curriculum mapping is more precise. The Knowledge Tutor adds a consolidation mechanism that i-Medics lacks. The peer benchmarking provides a readiness signal that subjective self-assessment cannot.
i-Medics provides volume and breadth at zero cost — which is genuinely valuable. But the absence of spaced repetition, peer benchmarking, and systematic curriculum mapping means you are practising without the feedback loops that make revision efficient.
The Budget Reality
£35 for Passmedicine is less than one SCA scenario credit, less than a single tutorial textbook, and claimable on the study budget. For the amount of value it provides relative to the AKT exam fee (£470) and resit cost, it is one of the most cost-effective investments in GP training.
Recommendation
If budget is genuinely constrained: combine i-Medics (free volume) with iatroX (free adaptive revision) — 3,000+ static questions plus adaptive drilling with guideline explanations at zero cost. If budget allows £35: add Passmedicine as your primary Q-bank. The combination of all three provides comprehensive AKT preparation at minimal cost.