This is my experience of MRCP 1 held on 8th May 2019. Iam a 3rd year MD resident in Nephrology. I prepared for 2.5 months for mrcp 1 with average daily study of around 4 to 5 hours maximum because every 4th day i was on call for 30 hours shift. I started prep with Passmedicine latest 2019 edition in hard copy format. Initially it took more time but after 1 week and completing cardio section i was able to complete 1 block of 50 questions with explainations in almost 2 hours. I was completing 1 block in morning and 1 block in evening with daily study of 4 hours per day. U can do this with your calls. Just i had to wake up a bit early in morning like 5 a.m so that i can complete 1 block before going to ward and 2nd block in evening. In this way 1st read took almost 1 month. During later half of the month i went for online subscription of Onexamination for two months bcz my senior strictly suggested it and even i was not comfortable with just one basic source like passmedicine when i had to prepare for short duration. So along side passmed i started onexam online with almost 20 questions per day initially and then almost 30 to 40 questions per day. When i was on call, i was doing almost 80 questions per day bcz whenever i was free for even 5 mints i was doing onexam questions on my mobile even when i went to wait for lunch or cup of tea. Whoever accompanied me like my dear on call collegue Dr Umer Siddique or any houseofficer, i used to discusd onexam questions with them. So 1st read of passmed completed after 1 month and 1st read of onexam took almost 45 to 50 days almost. As i didnt know setting of onexam so questions didnt appear for 2nd read. I did onexam randomly. I was studying both sources simultanously in this way. After completing 1st read of passmedicine , started 2nd read and now it took almost 20 days bcz its easy to read 2nd time. So in this way...passmed 2 times in hard copy... Onexam...online..only 1 time. At the end i took 2 mock tests of onexam and my score was 156/200 so i was bit confident. So in this way u can do it easily in 2.5 to 3 months. I think onexam is must bcz its questions are exam level type questions or even more difficult. So whenever your paper is tough, u r on safe side if u have done onexam well. Passmed builds basic concepts while onexam enhances thought process. And when u r doing 2 sources u become more confident. U should integerate both. I didnt annotate any points on books. U should if u want. Special thanks to my most respectable and dear teacher and like elder brother Dr Ahsan Imtiaz who guided and helped me at every step when no one was there to help me and Dr Umer siddique, my dear friend, collegue and brother. He used to relieve me for 3 to 4 hours on call days so that i can complete my target. Without his help, i couldnt pass it!!! By Badaruddin Shah on Facebook
