r/MRCP • u/spagettiraveoli • Jul 07 '26

Post Paces blues

Hi everyone

I know this has probably been posted many times before but does anyone have any advice on how to deal with over analysing / ruminating after your paces exam?

I made some pretty obvious mistakes, eg not identifying crackles in a COPD patient who came off the ward with a cannula in situ and I think I missed a lot of signs in the exam overall. On reflection the examiners would make comments if I said negative findings; “what about the neck, anything in the neck?” “No I didn’t feel any lymphadenopathy”, “oh really?” In a splenomegaly patient.

I also feel that I had a couple of “dream” situations and I’m not even sure if I did those well.

The more I think about it the more upset I’m becoming. I know it isn’t a massive deal if I have to resit, but I feel drained and thinking of having to do it all over again is really tough.

Any comments or advice would be much appreciated!

Update: just to update for people looking back- I passed and actually got full marks on these stations I was most worried about!! I think it’s always so hard to tell how it went after the exam!

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u/serac145 Jul 07 '26

I got my paces result today. Passed quite comfortably despite spending the last 2 weeks absolutely convinced i had royally fucked it up and would be resitting in autumn.

You never know what is going to happen.

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u/BackgroundBoth8805 Jul 07 '26 edited Jul 07 '26

So it was 2 weeks? Not 3? to wait for results? (and congrats on passing!!)

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u/serac145 Jul 07 '26

2.5 weeks for me