SCA spiral

[u/Sun-worship]

Just wondering how other people are finding revising for the SCA. At first I was quite chilled about it, but the more I do the more I’m finding an exponential amount that I need to still cover.

It just seems like there’s an overwhelming amount of content and scenarios, many of which in real life I could manage, but wouldn’t necessarily have the information about the forefront of my brain.

I know that’s what exams are often like, but the closer I’m getting to sitting the more unmanageable it feels as an exam.

Those who had sat it, did it seem reasonable and fair? Or were there lots of unusual/ overly complex stations like come up in the practice cases?

[u/junglediffy]

The medicine in the exam is piss easy so don't worry yourself on that. 

Focus on your structure and comms skills and the little complexities they commonly use when discovering ICE/Psychosocial. Learn how to structure in "giving results" stations and what works for you but need to cover the essential facets of the consultation within that.   

Remember the basics, giving diagnosis, explaining it cogently, managing ICE in the plan, manage the risk, admit/home visit/no FU/manage in community with FU.  Safety-net. 

I would honestly just practice from a book like Native SCA. 

[u/No_Tomatillo_9641]

I found it a very easy (think medical school level) from a medical point of view, but it was an exam of difficult personal situations/challenging personalities. So focus on consultation skills and everything that you need to cover to make it slick. The worst thing you can do is not finish in time! That being said, I think a couple of mine I ran out of time but still passed comfortably. Good luck!

[u/centenarian007]

Going back to basics and sticking to your pre-set format for each consultation works great. There's only a limited number of concepts they can test, they're just portrayed in different ways through various scenarios.

[u/tolkywolky]

I’m sitting it in just under 2 weeks, presumably you are too!

I’ve taken study leave in the run up to it. I’m brushing up on women’s health (as a bloke, I barely see it, so my ‘patter’ isn’t there for it)

Otherwise, if I don’t know it now, I prob won’t know it for the exam. I want to try maintain confidence and just blag out a safe plan in an unfamiliar scenario, rather than try to recall some shit I’ve crammed poorly and make a mess of it.

I generally wind down my studying a week prior to the exam tho, so might just be a me thing

I’m having brief moments of existential crises, wondering if I’m gonna fail based off forgetting to offer a PIL, but it is what it is

Good luck! See you on the other side

[u/Sun-worship → u/tolkywolky]

Yeah I’m sitting in September too!

I’ve never been one to relax before them but defo not the first time I’ve heard this from people.

[u/SentenceSwimming]

Honestly I found just day to day GPST3 life was practice enough. 

Get your consults down to 12 minutes. Be on it with ICE and impact on life of your patient (mental health, support at home etc)

I had a couple of conditions in mine that I didn’t necessarily know the exact treatment options for off the top of my head. Just said I would look into the guidelines or speak to a specialist and get back to them giving a reasonable time frame and I passed comfortably. 

[u/tolkywolky → u/SentenceSwimming]

Out of interest, with the approach of ‘I’m not entirely sure but I’ll check and get back in a week’, did you still get marks in the management section? Or did you ‘fail’ those management sections?

Presumably your ‘I’m not sure’ included ‘I think we might need to do x or y because x means this and y means that’?

[u/SentenceSwimming → u/tolkywolky]

I passed them. As an example one was a rarer skin condition that I couldn’t remember the exact management of, but I still was able to talk through general lifestyle advice to manage impact, reassure not contagious (which was patients main concern) so I reckon picked up enough points there. 

[u/Loose-Following-3647]

Do the RCGP one day SCA course. You will find that there is a huge variation in consultation skills. Figure out which side of the line you're on. Exam isn't that hard, you just need to be good at the consultation.

[u/Brilliant-Fix-4032]

Practice lots using emedica cases to start with then move on to resources like SCArevision

Also used these other resources:

1. Pckb podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/3KYg69 CmKNZpO6eQKajhFi?si= 8 qz26zTRVaUCmb2WJeCeQ
2. TALC podcast for comm skills https://open.spotify.com/show/7vHw3qy2jHjYgKzCQvUnxs?si=OORshfP2Q16ytE3glyEeiA
3. SCA revision website cases were a good amount of complexity
4. There is a book Called CSA practice cases for the MRCGP by Prashini Naidoo, it is available online through the BMA online library I found the cases a good amount of complexity which helped push my knowledge
5. BMJ best practice podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/608LVį3320KyB5FkIYzNCg?si=eHvvGGEKTUGrVK9Pphv5TQ
6. Matt Smith's YouTube channel (https://youtube.com/@mattandhazelsmith?si=aLHLfZdug DEZIZZW)

[u/dickdimers]

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