This workflow is for paediatric trainees preparing the MRCPCH Applied Knowledge in Practice (AKP) written papers who already use PassPaeds for the earlier theory exams, or are weighing it up for AKP. The honest headline comes first: as of 20 July 2026, PassPaeds does not publish a dedicated AKP bank — its own site lists the AKP questions as "currently in progress." So this is a plan for using what PassPaeds does offer, the official RCPCH AKP specimen, and a separate unseen-measurement bank, rather than an AKP-branded product that is not yet there.
What PassPaeds offers for AKP right now
The coverage reality has to lead, because it changes the whole plan.
| Item | Vendor-reported position, checked 20 July 2026 |
|---|---|
| Dedicated AKP bank | Not live — described on passpaeds.com as "currently in progress" |
| FOP bank | "Over 1,200–1,500" SBAs (the site quotes both figures in different places; verify the live count) |
| Combined FOP & TAS | "Over 2,600" questions marketed for the first written stage |
| Price | 4 months £20; 6 months £30 (vendor-reported on the FOP page) |
| Analytics | Performance histogram versus peers, updated daily; a spaced-repetition "knowledge tutor" |
| Adaptive AI | None published; the "knowledge tutor" is described as spaced repetition, not an adaptive-difficulty engine |
Every figure above is vendor-reported and was correct at the last check on 20 July 2026. Confirm the current counts, the price and — most importantly — whether the AKP bank has gone live before you rely on it. If you want a paediatric SBA bank that reproduces the current AKP style at volume today, PassPaeds is not yet that product. What it does give you is a large FOP/TAS pool built on the same RCPCH syllabus, which remains useful for the foundational knowledge AKP assumes, provided you do not mistake FOP-level recall for AKP-level applied synthesis.
The AKP exam: what you are actually preparing for
AKP is 120 single best answer questions delivered as two separate exams of 60 questions, each lasting 2 hours 30 minutes, both sat on the same day. Every question is worth one mark and there is no negative marking, so a considered guess on a question you cannot answer is always correct strategy. Delivery is computer-based, at an exam centre or online, on the RCPCH platform (TestReach).
RCPCH allows the three theory exams — Foundation of Practice, Theory and Science, and AKP — to be sat in any order, and all three share one syllabus. What distinguishes AKP is emphasis: longer, data-rich clinical stems, age-specific management, and synthesis across systems rather than isolated recall. You must pass all three theory papers before you can book the separate MRCPCH Clinical (an OSCE). Neither PassPaeds, iatroX nor any written bank prepares you for that clinical station work; this plan stops at the written papers.
The single most valuable free resource is the RCPCH AKP specimen paper, which — unlike the older FOP and TAS specimens — is presented on the current TestReach system and reflects the live SBA format and stem length. Treat it as your format gold standard and protect it from early exposure.
Build a blueprint inventory and protect an unseen pool
Before your first block, write out the RCPCH syllabus domains as a checklist: neonatology, cardiology, respiratory, neurology and neurodisability, endocrinology and growth, gastroenterology, nephro-urology, infection and immunology, haematology and oncology, genetics and dysmorphology, metabolic medicine, dermatology, musculoskeletal, emergency medicine, adolescent health, safeguarding, ethics and law, pharmacology and therapeutics, and the science of practice. This is your coverage map; overall percentage is not.
Then reserve a protected pool of questions you will not touch until late: the RCPCH AKP specimen and one unseen bank kept for timed mixed assessment. If every item you own is burned in during the first pass, you lose the ability to measure whether anything has transferred. iatroX is a sensible choice for that reserved unseen layer, because it is an independent UK-core bank you have not already read.
First pass: filtered only where foundations are weak
Because PassPaeds has no AKP bank, your first pass runs on its FOP/TAS pool plus any AKP-specific resource you add. Use topic-filtered blocks only where you already know a foundation is weak — for example, you cannot reliably interpret a blood gas or a growth chart. Everywhere else, start mixed. Topic-filtered blocks quietly cue the answer: if you know the block is "endocrinology", you are half-way to the diagnosis before reading the stem, and AKP will not label the system for you. Mixed practice from the outset trains the retrieval you actually need on exam day.
Review each miss with an error code, not a transcription
The commonest way to waste revision is to copy the whole explanation into notes and feel productive. Instead, tag every missed item with one error code and commit to one corrective action:
- K — knowledge gap: you did not know the fact. Action: one short source read (NICE, CKS, SIGN, RCPCH or the SmPC via the eMC for a drug), not a chapter.
- S — stem misread: you missed a detail. Action: re-read the stem aloud and name the cue you skipped.
- P — premature closure: you locked onto the first plausible answer. Action: write the discriminating feature that separated the right option.
- G — guideline lag: your answer was outdated. Action: record the current source, its date and jurisdiction.
- C — calculation error: a dose, fluid or correction slip. Action: redo the arithmetic and note the safe method.
- T — time pressure: right idea, too slow. Action: nothing to relearn; this is a pacing signal.
The tag matters more than the note. A block that is mostly T needs faster pacing, not more content; a block that is mostly G needs a currency sweep, not more questions.
Transfer practice before you repeat
Do not re-sit a question you got wrong until you have first answered a different item testing the same principle. If you missed neonatal jaundice thresholds, take a fresh jaundice item — ideally from your reserved unseen pool — before returning to the original. Repeating the same stem trains recognition of that stem; a new item on the same principle trains the transfer AKP actually rewards. This is where an independent bank such as iatroX earns its place: it supplies the fresh item so PassPaeds review does not collapse into memorising familiar questions.
Switch to mixed timed blocks when domain floors are met
Move to timed, random, mixed blocks as soon as every syllabus domain has cleared a floor — say, 30 attempted items with first-attempt accuracy at or above your target — even if your overall first pass is unfinished. Completion is not the goal; coverage plus stable unseen performance is. Sitting timed 60-item blocks under exam conditions (2 hours 30 minutes) is the only way to rehearse the two-paper, same-day stamina AKP demands.
Exit criteria
Stop adding new questions when you can tick all of the following, not when a bank hits 100%:
- Coverage: every domain has cleared its floor, with no unattempted areas.
- Unseen timed performance: a fresh, timed, mixed 60-item block sits at or above your target first-attempt accuracy.
- Pacing: you finish 60 items inside 2 hours 30 minutes with time to review flags.
- Retention: items reviewed two to three weeks ago are still correct on re-test.
- Official-material calibration: your performance on the RCPCH AKP specimen matches your bank performance, so your bank is not flattering you.
A seven-day plan for a busy trainee
This assumes on-call weeks and limited protected time. PassPaeds does one defined job — foundational first pass — and iatroX supplies unseen transfer measurement. No proprietary-algorithm claims are made for either.
- Day 1: 40-item mixed diagnostic on your reserved unseen pool. Record domain-level accuracy. This is your baseline, not your score.
- Day 2: Two PassPaeds topic blocks on your two weakest domains (30 items each). Error-code every miss.
- Day 3: Transfer practice — one fresh iatroX item for each principle you missed on Day 2, before any repeat.
- Day 4: One timed 60-item mixed block. Review flags only; do not re-read correct items.
- Day 5: Currency sweep on guidance-sensitive topics (asthma, diabetic ketoacidosis, sepsis, jaundice); record source dates.
- Day 6: RCPCH AKP specimen under timed conditions. Compare with your bank accuracy.
- Day 7: Rest or light spaced review of two-week-old misses. Protect one full day off.
Decision checklist: continue, supplement, switch or stop
- Continue PassPaeds if your gaps are foundational recall and its FOP/TAS pool is still surfacing genuinely new material for you.
- Supplement with a dedicated AKP resource and an unseen bank the moment your misses are applied-synthesis or data-interpretation errors, because PassPaeds cannot yet serve AKP-level items.
- Switch your primary bank if PassPaeds' AKP bank is still not live when you are within weeks of the exam and you have exhausted its foundational value.
- Stop adding new questions when the exit criteria are met; more questions past that point buys recognition, not readiness.
Three mistakes this plan is designed to stop
First, buying PassPaeds expecting an AKP bank and only discovering after purchase that it is "in progress" — check the live status first. Second, treating FOP-level recall as AKP preparation; the syllabus overlaps but the cognitive demand does not. Third, burning your official specimen early, so you have nothing clean left to calibrate against in the final fortnight.
Bottom line
PassPaeds is a credible paediatric revision platform for the first written stage, and its FOP/TAS pool has real value for the foundations AKP assumes. But it does not currently offer an AKP bank, so for AKP it is a supporting resource, not a complete solution. Anchor your preparation on the RCPCH syllabus and specimen, use PassPaeds for foundational first-pass coverage, and reserve an independent unseen bank such as iatroX to measure transfer — then let the exit criteria, not a completion percentage, tell you when to stop.
FAQ
Is PassPaeds enough for MRCPCH Applied Knowledge in Practice on its own? No — and at the moment it cannot be, because PassPaeds does not yet publish an AKP bank (its site describes the AKP questions as in progress as of 20 July 2026). Even once the AKP bank is live, no single bank is enough for AKP: you should still calibrate against the official RCPCH specimen and measure transfer on unseen, timed mixed blocks rather than relying on one product's completion percentage.
Which MRCPCH Applied Knowledge in Practice component does PassPaeds not reproduce well? The applied, data-rich synthesis that defines AKP — long stems, age-specific management sequencing and multi-system reasoning — is exactly what a live AKP bank would need to reproduce, and PassPaeds has none yet; its FOP/TAS items sit at a more foundational recall level. It also does not touch the separate MRCPCH Clinical OSCE, which no written bank prepares you for.
How many PassPaeds questions should I complete per day for MRCPCH Applied Knowledge in Practice? There is no magic number; your ceiling is how many misses you can properly error-code and correct, which for most working trainees is roughly 40–60 items a day. Doing 150 questions you never review is worse than doing 40 you fully process, so let review capacity, not the bank size, set the pace.
When should I stop using PassPaeds and move to mixed mocks? Move to timed mixed blocks once every syllabus domain has cleared its floor and your foundational recall is stable, even if the first pass is unfinished. If PassPaeds' AKP bank is still not live and you are within a few weeks of the exam, switch your primary volume to a resource that reproduces AKP-level items and use mocks under full two-paper, same-day timing.
How should I combine PassPaeds with iatroX without duplicating practice? Follow the two-Q-bank rule: give each bank one job. Use PassPaeds for learning and foundational first-pass coverage, and reserve iatroX as the unseen-measurement layer — fresh, timed, mixed items you have not read, used to test whether learning has transferred. Never run the same item in both; the point of the second bank is that it is unseen.
Editorial notes and references
Written by Dr Kolawole Tytler, NHS GP and founder of iatroX. Last checked 20 July 2026. All PassPaeds figures — question counts, price, the "in progress" AKP status and the spaced-repetition knowledge tutor — are vendor-reported from passpaeds.com and may change; verify the live position before purchase. Disclosure: iatroX operates a competing UK question bank; in this article its role is confined to the unseen-measurement and transfer-practice jobs PassPaeds does not currently claim for AKP, not to replacing a dedicated AKP resource or the MRCPCH Clinical OSCE. Corrections are welcome via the feedback route on iatrox.com.
References: RCPCH, Theory exams — structure and syllabi and theory exam sample papers; PassPaeds; iatroX, Your Q-Bank Percentage Is Not Your Exam Score; iatroX, the two-Q-bank rule; iatroX, the MRCPCH AKP content-gap checklist; iatroX comparison hub.
Run a fresh, timed MRCPCH Applied Knowledge in Practice block in iatroX →