The Most Trusted SCA Prep Resources for Doctors

Top Resources Every Candidate Uses to Pass the MRCGP SCA

The Realisation Every Candidate Faces
Preparing for the MRCGP Simulated Consultation Assessment (SCA) isn’t just about brushing up guidelines or memorising lists of red flags. Every doctor who has gone through it knows the exam is as much about performance, communication, and consultation structure as it is about knowledge. That’s why candidates everywhere rely on a shared arsenal of resources—books, courses, online platforms, peer groups, and reflective practice tools—to get themselves ready.

The resources below aren’t luxuries—they are the staples of preparation. They form the backbone of nearly every successful candidate’s revision plan.

Core Clinical Guidelines and Summaries
NICE Guidelines
For UK general practice, NICE remains the gold standard. Almost every candidate preparing for the SCA uses them to ensure their management plans are evidence-based and aligned with examiner expectations. You don’t need to quote NICE word for word, but you do need to know:

• When to prescribe antibiotics (and when not to).
  
  
• Referral criteria for suspected cancer (two-week-wait rules).
  
  
• First-line treatments for chronic diseases like hypertension, diabetes, and asthma.
  

Website: www.nice.org.uk

Clinical Knowledge Summaries (CKS)
The NICE CKS pages are the condensed, GP-focused versions of guidelines. They’re perfect for quick referencing and aligning your consults with primary care expectations. Many candidates review the CKS daily in the run-up to the exam.

Website: cks.nice.org.uk

SIGN Guidelines
While Scotland-based, the SIGN guidelines are another trusted evidence source, and some candidates cross-check them against NICE to ensure consistency.

Website: www.sign.ac.uk

Communication and Consultation Frameworks
The Calgary-Cambridge Model
Every candidate knows some version of this model. It structures the consultation into stages—initiating, gathering, explanation, planning, and closing. Candidates don’t parrot it, but they use its flow to avoid getting lost.

ICE Framework (Ideas, Concerns, Expectations)
Ask any doctor who passed the SCA, and they’ll tell you ICE is non-negotiable. Missing ICE cues leads to lower marks. Practising how to ask ICE naturally—without sounding like a checklist robot—is a universal preparation step.

Neighbour’s Five Checkpoints
Another framework many candidates keep in mind:

1. Connecting
   
   
2. Summarising
   
   
3. Handing over
   
   
4. Safety-netting
   
   
5. Housekeeping
   

It reminds you of the exam’s hidden curriculum: empathy, clarity, and closure.

Practice Resources: Courses and Mock Exams
RCGP Official Resources
The RCGP provides sample cases and videos that illustrate exam standards. Candidates universally refer to them as a benchmark for the “RCGP way” of consulting.

Website: www.rcgp.org.uk

Emedica
One of the most popular SCA prep providers. Offers online and face-to-face courses, mock exams, and feedback. Many IMGs and UK graduates alike swear by Emedica’s realism in simulating exam stress.

Website: www.emedica.co.uk

Arora Medical Education
Another widely used platform, particularly known for its podcasts, bite-sized learning, and structured approach to common presentations. Dr Aman Arora’s resources are heavily used by IMGs.

Website: www.amanarora.com

Pastest
Though traditionally stronger in AKT revision, Pastest has built a presence in CSA/SCA-style consult prep. Candidates often use their clinical scenarios for timed practice.

Website: www.pastest.co.uk

Study Groups and Peer Mock Sessions
Not a branded course, but arguably the most universal resource. Candidates form WhatsApp or Telegram groups, practise cases over Zoom, and exchange feedback. These peer groups often make or break a candidate’s preparation.

Books That Shape Preparation
Consultation Skills for the MRCGP (CSA Book)
Despite being originally written for the CSA, this book remains highly relevant for the SCA. It focuses on communication strategies, structuring consultations, and examiner expectations. Almost every candidate has read it or borrowed it from a colleague.

The Inner Consultation (Roger Neighbour)
A classic. While not an exam manual, its insights into the art of general practice—connecting with patients, handing over responsibility, maintaining safety—are foundational. Candidates often quote it as a “mindset book” that shaped their approach.

Medical Interviews and Communication Guides
Many candidates borrow frameworks from interview-prep books, since they share the same emphasis on reflection, structuring responses, and managing time under pressure.

Online Communities and Forums
FacMedicine Forum
One of the largest online communities where doctors share preparation strategies, discuss difficult cases, and support each other. The peer-to-peer advice on how to tackle SCA-style consultations is invaluable.

Website: forum.FacMedicine.com

Reddit and Facebook Groups
There are multiple IMG-focused groups on Facebook and Reddit threads where candidates swap resources, share experiences of the exam day, and offer practice partners. While not official, they serve as both emotional support and practical revision hubs.

Reflection and Self-Feedback Tools
Video Recording Practice
Nearly every successful candidate records themselves doing consultations. Watching playback reveals habits you don’t notice in real time—interruptions, jargon, or pacing problems. It’s one of the most brutally honest but effective resources.

Feedback Circles
Small groups of peers meeting weekly to practise and critique are a universal strategy. Honest, constructive feedback is a resource in itself.

Examiner Mindset Training
Some candidates simulate the role of the examiner when practising. By scoring others against domains, they internalise what examiners are actually looking for.

Time Management Tools
The 12-Minute Timer
It sounds trivial, but every candidate swears by a countdown timer. Practising with strict 12-minute slots from day one conditions you for the real pressure. Many use online timers or simple phone apps.

Case Banks for Short, Sharp Practice
Candidates often print out case banks and drill through them rapidly. The point is not to perfect the consult, but to simulate the rhythm of multiple back-to-back 12-minute cases.

Cultural Adaptation Resources for IMGs
Observing British Colleagues
IMGs in training often shadow or practise with UK-trained peers to pick up subtleties in tone, humour, and phrasing. This is as much a “resource” as any book.

Phrasing Lists
Some candidates create their own “go-to phrases” for empathy, negotiation, and safety-netting, then practise them until natural. For example:

• “What were you hoping I could do today?”
  
  
• “If things don’t improve, when would you feel comfortable coming back?”
  
  
• “It’s important we make this decision together.”
  

IMG-Focused Prep Courses
Providers like Arora and Emedica tailor parts of their courses to common IMG struggles—accents, idioms, cultural expectations—making them highly valued resources.

Simulation Resources
Role-Play With Non-Medics
Many candidates practise with partners, friends, or family. Non-medics often give the best feedback about clarity and empathy—things examiners also prize.

Professional Actors in Courses
Paid courses sometimes hire professional role-players. Candidates universally agree this is the best simulation of the real exam.

Mock Exams
The single best resource to reveal readiness. Sitting through multiple back-to-back cases under exam conditions exposes weaknesses you didn’t notice in casual practice.

What Every Candidate Eventually Realises
By the end of preparation, nearly every doctor agrees: no single resource guarantees success. The winning formula is a blend of guidelines, communication frameworks, peer practice, cultural adaptation, and timed mock consults.

The most successful candidates aren’t the ones who hoarded the most books or paid for every course—they are the ones who used these resources strategically, reflected on feedback, and adapted their style to the hidden curriculum of the SCA.