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The Simulated Consultation Assessment is the clinical component of MRCGP — the live virtual exam every UK GP specialty trainee must pass to qualify. Twelve 12-minute simulated consultations with trained role-players, sat from your own GP training practice and scored across three domains. iatroX provides preparation content for the AKT (knowledge) component, with SCA-specific resources in development.
12 live virtual consultations with trained role-players. Each lasts 12 minutes with 3 minutes reading time before each case. Roughly two-thirds are video consultations; the remainder are audio-only (telephone).
Candidates sit the SCA virtually from their own GP training practice via an approved IT platform. The RCGP accredits practices that meet IT requirements. The entire examination is recorded for later marking.
Each consultation is independently marked by a different RCGP examiner across three domains: data gathering and clinical management, communication and interpersonal skills, and professional behaviours.
Cases reflect contemporary UK general practice — adult chronic disease review, paediatric, mental health, women's health, multi-morbidity, complex psychosocial, ethical scenarios. Cases reviewed by linguists and EDI experts to remove bias.
During ST3 only — the final year of GP specialty training. Training records must show ST3 status at the time of booking.
Four sittings per year via MyRCGP. From December 2025 candidates no longer need to make a reservation — bookings made directly through MyRCGP. From 1 April 2026 the RCGP introduces compulsory staged payments. Confirm 2026 dates on the RCGP MRCGP applications page.
The SCA does not have a fixed clinical blueprint in the same way as a written exam. Cases are selected to demonstrate breadth across the RCGP curriculum, contemporary primary care presentations and the three marking domains.
Source: official Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) blueprint
Drawn from the RCGP SCA marking framework and recent candidate reports of what differentiates pass from fail performance.
Data gathering — focused, time-efficient history with psychosocial context drawn out within 12 minutes. ICE (Ideas, Concerns, Expectations) elicited explicitly, not assumed.
Clinical management — evidence-based plans with safety-netting and explicit follow-up arrangements. Following current NICE pathways for common conditions.
Patient-centred communication — shared decision-making, recognising patient preferences, agenda-setting at the start. The RCGP weighs this domain heavily.
Time management — finishing consultations within 12 minutes without rushing the patient or skipping safety-netting. Pacing is examined directly.
Complexity demonstration — engaging with genuine clinical or psychosocial complexity rather than glossing over difficult moments.
Mental health consultations — common in the SCA and demand excellent data gathering, safety assessment and empathic communication. PHQ-9 and GAD-7 use, suicide risk frameworks.
Safeguarding — recognising patterns of abuse or neglect, knowing when to break confidentiality, escalation to social care.
Telephone and video parity — performing equally well in audio-only and video cases. Verbal cues (tone, pace, pauses) matter more in audio.
Observations from UK GP trainees and recent SCA candidates. Verify against the RCGP SCA marking framework.
Candidate-reported observations — not official guidance.
A pragmatic phased approach used by recent ST3 passers, weighted toward deliberate practice rather than knowledge revision.
A live item from the iatroX bank. Try it before launching a full session.
A sample MRCGP SCA question will appear here shortly. In the meantime, launch a free practice session.
try a free question →Why iatroX is built differently for MRCGP SCA.
Every iatroX item is tagged to a blueprint topic, so your performance dashboard mirrors the structure of the exam itself.
The engine surfaces your weakest topics first, in real time, instead of marching you through a static syllabus.
Incorrect items return at increasing intervals to interrupt the forgetting curve and lock knowledge into long-term memory.
Timed full-length simulations that mirror the official exam structure under realistic conditions.
We're still building question content for this exam. Sign up to be notified the moment it ships — and meanwhile explore the iatroX question bank for related exams.
All UK GP specialty trainees must pass the SCA to be awarded MRCGP and gain entry to the GP Register. Candidates must hold ST3 status at booking. International GPs entering UK general practice via the Portfolio Pathway or CEGPR-equivalent routes follow alternative assessment pathways — check the RCGP and GMC criteria for your specific entry route.
The Simulated Consultation Assessment is a live virtual OSCE-style examination consisting of 12 simulated consultations with trained role-players, each lasting 12 minutes. Candidates sit the exam from their own GP training practice via an approved online platform. Each consultation is independently marked by a different RCGP examiner.
The CSA was held in person at the RCGP examination centre in London. The SCA is delivered virtually from your own GP training practice. Both use simulated patients (role-players), but the SCA case mix has been reviewed to reflect modern primary care: more telephone consultations, complex multi-morbidity, and explicit assessment of equality, diversity and inclusion considerations.
During ST3 only — the final year of GP specialty training. Training records must show ST3 status at the time of booking. The SCA is typically sat in the second half of ST3 to allow time for any resits before CCT.
Approximately 66% based on early diet data (the SCA only launched in November 2023, so pass rate data continues to mature). RCGP publishes diet-level performance reports — confirm the latest figures on the RCGP SCA page.
iatroX currently focuses on the AKT (knowledge) component of MRCGP with its 1,500+ free question bank. SCA-specific resources — case banks, role-player frameworks, marking-domain practice — are in development. For now, iatroX is a strong AKT preparation tool and recommends supplementing SCA preparation with dedicated case-banks (SimsBuddy, Bradford VTS) and study-group practice.
iatroX subscription is not required for the AKT bank or any of the free UK exam content. SCA-specific case banks, when launched, will be evaluated for their best deployment model — likely free for trainees consistent with iatroX's positioning as the UK's default clinical knowledge platform for GP trainees.
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Reviewed by Dr Kola Tytler MBBS CertHE MBA MRCGP · Last reviewed 12 May 2026
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