This is a working plan for paediatric trainees using PassPaeds to prepare the MRCPCH Foundation of Practice (FOP) written paper. FOP is where PassPaeds is genuinely strong: it began as an FOP-focused product and its largest, most developed pool sits here. The principal limitation to hold onto is that a bank measures recognition of its own questions, not readiness for unseen ones — so this workflow uses PassPaeds for learning and a separate, protected pool for honest measurement.
What PassPaeds offers for FOP right now
| Item | Vendor-reported position, checked 20 July 2026 |
|---|---|
| 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) |
| Format | SBAs written to the current RCPCH syllabus, each with answer and revision notes |
| Analytics | Daily peer-comparison histogram; a spaced-repetition "knowledge tutor" for high-yield facts |
| Adaptive AI | None published; the "knowledge tutor" is spaced repetition, not an adaptive-difficulty engine |
These are vendor-reported figures, correct at the last check on 20 July 2026; confirm the live count and price on passpaeds.com before you buy, and note that the site itself quotes more than one FOP total. For FOP specifically, PassPaeds is a strong, low-cost option worth including in the revision stack — the caveats below are about how you use it, not whether it is fit for purpose.
The FOP exam: what you are actually preparing for
FOP is 100 single best answer questions in 2 hours, one paper, one mark per question, with no negative marking — so never leave a blank. Delivery is computer-based at an exam centre or online. FOP is also the theory requirement for the Diploma of Child Health, so the bank is shared by two candidate groups.
Content emphasis matters. FOP tests clinically applicable knowledge of the kind you build in UK paediatric practice: developmental milestones, common infections, asthma and diabetes management, safeguarding, growth, and the recognition of common syndromes. It is the most "clinical experience rewards you" of the three theory papers, in contrast to the science-heavy Theory and Science paper. RCPCH lets the three theory exams be taken in any order, and all three must be passed before the separate MRCPCH Clinical OSCE — which no written bank, including this one, prepares you for.
The official RCPCH FOP specimen paper is your calibration anchor, with one caveat to record: it sits on the previous system and includes extended matching questions, which are no longer used. Treat it as content calibration rather than a format rehearsal, and use the current-format AKP specimen if you want to see the live SBA look and feel.
Build a blueprint inventory and protect an unseen pool
List 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, dermatology, musculoskeletal, emergency medicine, adolescent health, safeguarding, ethics and law, pharmacology and the science of practice — and track coverage against it, not against a single percentage. Then reserve a protected pool you will not burn early: the RCPCH specimen plus one unseen bank for timed mixed assessment. iatroX is a sensible reserved layer because it is an independent UK-core bank you have not already read.
First pass: filtered only where foundations are weak
Run topic-filtered PassPaeds blocks only where you already know a foundation is weak — for instance, you cannot confidently read a growth chart or a development history. Everywhere else, start mixed. Filtered blocks cue the system before you read the stem, and the real paper never announces the topic. Mixed practice from the start trains the cold retrieval FOP actually tests.
Review each miss with an error code, not a transcription
Do not copy the whole explanation into your notes. Tag each miss with one code and take one corrective action: K knowledge gap (one short source read — NICE, CKS, SIGN, RCPCH, or the SmPC via the eMC for a drug); S stem misread (name the cue you skipped); P premature closure (write the discriminating feature); G guideline lag (record current source, date and jurisdiction); C calculation slip (redo it, note the safe method); T time pressure (a pacing signal, nothing to relearn). The pattern of codes tells you what to change: mostly T means pace up, not study more; mostly G means run a currency sweep.
Transfer practice before you repeat
Before re-sitting any missed question, answer a different item testing the same principle — ideally from your reserved unseen pool. Repeating the original stem trains recognition of that stem; a fresh item on the same principle trains transfer, which is what the exam rewards. This is precisely the job an independent bank such as iatroX does well: it supplies the new item so your PassPaeds review does not decay into memorising familiar questions.
Switch to mixed timed blocks when domain floors are met
Move to timed, random, mixed blocks once every domain has cleared a floor — for example, 30 attempted items at or above your target first-attempt accuracy — even if your first pass is unfinished. Then rehearse full conditions: 100 items in 2 hours, roughly 72 seconds each, so you learn to move on and flag rather than stall.
Exit criteria
Stop adding new questions when you can tick all of these, not when the bank hits 100%:
- Coverage: every domain past its floor, nothing unattempted.
- Unseen timed performance: a fresh, timed, mixed block at or above target first-attempt accuracy.
- Pacing: 100 items comfortably inside 2 hours with review time.
- Retention: items reviewed two to three weeks ago still correct on re-test.
- Official-material calibration: your RCPCH specimen performance matches your bank performance.
A seven-day plan for a busy trainee
PassPaeds does one 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 accuracy as a baseline.
- Day 2: Two PassPaeds topic blocks on your weakest domains (30 items each); error-code every miss.
- Day 3: Transfer practice — one fresh iatroX item per missed principle, before any repeat.
- Day 4: One timed 100-item mixed block, or two 50-item halves; review flags only.
- Day 5: Currency sweep on guidance-sensitive topics (asthma, bronchiolitis, sepsis, jaundice, DKA); record source dates.
- Day 6: RCPCH FOP specimen for content, timed; compare with bank accuracy and note the older EMQ format.
- Day 7: Rest or light spaced review of two-week-old misses.
Decision checklist: continue, supplement, switch or stop
- Continue PassPaeds while its FOP pool is still surfacing genuinely new material and your misses are foundational.
- Supplement with an unseen bank once you need honest measurement, or a second bank for breadth on a weak domain — without duplicating items.
- Switch primary banks only for a measured reason: repeated near-duplicate stems, or a coverage gap you can name, not novelty.
- Stop new questions when the exit criteria are met; beyond that you are buying recognition, not readiness.
Three mistakes this plan is designed to stop
First, chasing the completion percentage as if it were a pass probability — it is not, and the score interpretation article explains why. Second, letting familiar PassPaeds stems inflate your accuracy in the final fortnight; measure on unseen items instead. Third, spending the official FOP specimen too early, when its main value is late calibration.
Bottom line
For Foundation of Practice, PassPaeds is a strong, inexpensive first-pass bank aligned to the RCPCH syllabus, and it is a reasonable core resource for most candidates. Its limitation is structural, not editorial: any single bank measures its own questions. Anchor on the RCPCH syllabus and specimen, use PassPaeds to learn and cover, reserve an independent unseen bank such as iatroX to measure transfer, and let the exit criteria — not 100% completion — decide when you are ready.
FAQ
Is PassPaeds enough for MRCPCH Foundation of Practice on its own? For many candidates PassPaeds can carry the bulk of FOP learning, because FOP is its strongest, most developed bank — but "enough on its own" is the wrong test. A single bank cannot tell you whether your knowledge transfers to unseen questions, so you should still calibrate against the RCPCH specimen and measure on fresh timed blocks before deciding you are ready.
Which MRCPCH Foundation of Practice component does PassPaeds not reproduce well? The gap is not a content domain but a format one: a bank you have worked through measures recognition of its own stems, not cold performance on unseen items, and it does not reproduce the separate MRCPCH Clinical OSCE at all. Use an unseen pool for the first and accept that clinical-station skills need different preparation.
How many PassPaeds questions should I complete per day for MRCPCH Foundation of Practice? Set the pace by how many misses you can properly review, which for most working trainees is around 40–60 items daily. Forty questions fully error-coded and corrected beat 150 skimmed, so review capacity — not the size of the bank — should govern your daily target.
When should I stop using PassPaeds and move to mixed mocks? Switch to timed mixed blocks once every domain has cleared its floor and your foundational recall is stable, even with the first pass unfinished. If familiar stems are inflating your accuracy, that is itself the signal to move to unseen mixed mocks and measure yourself on material you have not seen.
How should I combine PassPaeds with iatroX without duplicating practice? Give each bank one job under the two-Q-bank rule: PassPaeds for learning and first-pass coverage, iatroX as the reserved unseen-measurement layer for fresh timed transfer questions. Never run the same item through both — the value of the second bank is precisely that it is unseen, so duplication destroys the measurement.
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 and the spaced-repetition knowledge tutor — are vendor-reported from passpaeds.com and may change; the site quotes more than one FOP total, so verify the live figure before purchase. Disclosure: iatroX operates a competing UK question bank; here its role is confined to the unseen-measurement and transfer-practice jobs a single first-pass bank does not claim, not to replacing PassPaeds for FOP learning 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 FOP content-gap checklist; iatroX comparison hub.
Run a fresh, timed MRCPCH Foundation of Practice block in iatroX →