SAQ

The SAQ has recently changed and now consists of 60, 3 mark questions. So now you’ve got a broader range of topics but hopefully in slightly less detail.

There are lots of “fell off the back of a lorry” example SAQs floating around. But there’s not a great deal of free open access FRCEM specific resources for the SAQs.

There are plenty of paid for resources that you can find with a google search and I won’t be linking to those here.

My approach was to use the Oxford Handbook of EM as a rough curriculum guide as it covers pretty much everything that happens to present to a UK ED.

Rosen’s and Tintinalli’s are great references but both are far too big to even consider reading in a 2 or 3 month prep for an exam. They’re the type of thing you should be reading the whole way through your training.

If you can get access to practice SAQs then i think this is ideal. It’ll get you used to the exam style and the type of topics that might come up. It’s always a good idea to try and do these under exam conditions as much as possible. Do them at a desk with a timer and a pencil and no distractions. Try and do the whole paper in one go rather than do half – it’ll give you a better idea for the cognitive fatigue that sets in a 3 hr paper…

I’ve been writing little notes on the areas I find myself weak in, these form the basis of the current FRCEM tasty morsels that are being published. I find them a useful place to highlight to myself key, difficult to remember information with reference to the most recent UK specific guidelines.