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Second BM

Second Examination for the Degree of Bachelor of Medicine

1. A candidate may be admitted to the Second Examination if their name has been entered on the University Register of Clinical Students and they have satisfied one of the following conditions:

  • (a) they have passed in all the subjects of the First Examination and the Qualifying Examination in the Principles of Clinical Anatomy and has either been admitted to the Degree of Bachelor of Arts with Honours or obtained a bachelor's degree at another university; or
  • (b) they have passed the Preliminary Examination in Graduate-entry Medicine and the Year 2 Examination in Graduate-entry Medicine; or
  • (c) they have both
    • (i)  successfully completed at a university in the United Kingdom a GMC-approved course of study in medical sciences that has included the subjects of the First Examination and the Principles of Clinical Anatomy, and is deemed by the Medical Sciences Board to qualify the candidate for admission; and
    • (ii) obtained a bachelor's degree in science or arts at a university, such degree having been approved by the Board.

2. Candidates for the Second Examination for the Degree of Bachelor of Medicine are required to pursue their studies during a period of: normally 38 weeks in Year 4; normally 45 weeks in Year 5; normally 46 weeks in Year 6; provided that the Medical Sciences Board shall have power to permit candidates to vary the dates of their studies so long as the overall programme requirement is met.

3. The Second Examination for the Degree of Bachelor of Medicine shall be under the supervision of the Medical Sciences Board. 

4. Parts of the assessment in Year 5/Graduate-entry Year 3 and Year 6/Graduate-entry Year 4 will comprise the Medical Licensing Assessment (MLA) which is required by the General Medical Council to test the core knowledge, skills and behaviours of doctors new to medical practice in the UK. The two parts of the MLA are:

(a) Clinical and Professional Skills Assessment (CPSA): the clinical examination in Year 5/Graduate-entry Year 3 and the clinical examination in Year 6/Graduate-entry Year 4 together make up the CPSA.

(b) Applied Knowledge Test (AKT): this is the Applied Knowledge Test in Year 6/Graduate-entry Year 4, which is a nationally-constructed, university-delivered examination, which has a common format, test standard, delivery process and policy framework. The MLA Board acts as the main oversight and governance group responsible for all elements of the UK MLA AKT.

5. The subject of the Second Examination shall be clinical medicine in all its aspects. The Second Examination shall cover three years, the subjects for each year being prescribed by regulation of the Medical Sciences Board.

6. The examiners may award a Distinction for outstanding performance over the three years. Criteria for Distinctions will be set out in the Examination Conventions.

7. The examiners may award merits in each of the examined subjects in Year 4 and Year 6 / Graduate-entry Year 4. The examiners may award a merit for overall performance in the Integrated Summative Assessment in Year 5 / Graduate-entry Year 3.

8. Breach of the Code of Conduct for Medical Students, as approved and from time to time amended by the Medical Sciences Board, may be deemed to be a ground for removal of a student's name from the University Register of Clinical Students according to procedures which shall always be subject to approval by Council's General Purposes Committee on the recommendation of the Medical Sciences Board.

9. No candidate may offer any assessment unit on more than two occasions, except in exceptional circumstances.  A further exceptional opportunity to offer any assessment unit in Year 4, Year 5/Graduate-entry Year 3 or Year 6/Graduate-entry Year 4 shall require application to and approval on behalf of the Educational Policy and Standards Committee of the Medical Sciences Board, according to the published ‘Procedure for Exceptional Attempts at the Second BM Examination’.  If granted, this exceptional resit attempt shall normally be taken at the next opportunity, but may be deferred once, i.e. it must be taken at one of the next two opportunities. In the event that a candidate’s performance is judged to be unsatisfactory at the second attempt, and any application that may have been made for an exceptional further attempt is unsuccessful, then their name shall be removed from the Register of Clinical Students.

Year 4

In Year 4, students are required to satisfy the examiners in the:

  • (a) Laboratory Medicine course (concerning the application to human disease of the principles of Laboratory Medicine, including Histopathology, Microbiology and Infection, Clinical Biochemistry, Immunology, and Haematology);
  • (b) Integrated Clinical Course: Medicine and Surgery.

There will be three examinations:

  • (a) Paper A (Laboratory Medicine). This will be an Applied Knowledge Test (AKT) consisting of multiple choice questions.
  • (b) Paper B (Integrated paper in Medicine, Surgery and Applied Pathology). This will be an Applied Knowledge Test (AKT) consisting of multiple choice questions.
  • (c) An Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE).

Candidates must satisfy the relevant head of department or their deputy, or the Director of Clinical Studies and the Associate Director of Clinical Studies, that they have attended a course of instruction, and attained the necessary skills, knowledge and understanding in:

  • (a) Patient Doctor Course II: introduction to clinical practice (being an introduction to clinical methods, history taking and physical examination);
  • (b) Clinical Communication Skills;
  • (c) Medical Ethics and Law;
  • (d) Primary Health Care;
  • (e) Population Health;
  • (f) Special Study.

A candidate in Year 4 who has been deemed to have failed in any unit of assessment at the first attempt will be permitted one further attempt and will only be required to be reassessed in the assessment unit they have failed.

Progression from Year 4 to Year 5 

If a candidate has passed all of the Year 4 examinations but has failed to meet the requirements in one or more of the other course components due to circumstances beyond their control, they will normally be allowed, at the discretion of the Director of Clinical Studies and the relevant Associate Director of Clinical Studies, to continue as a student enrolled on Year 5 of the Clinical Medicine course, subject to the condition that they complete the outstanding course components by a specified date. 

If a candidate has passed all of the Year 4 examinations but has failed to meet the requirements in one or more of the other course components, they may be allowed, at the discretion of the Director of Clinical Studies and the relevant Associate Director of Clinical Studies, to continue as a student enrolled on Year 5 of the Clinical Medicine course, subject to the condition that they complete the outstanding course components by a specified date. 

If a candidate has failed one or more of the Year 4 examinations after one attempt but has not had the opportunity to make a second attempt at that examination / those examinations by the normal time of the second sitting of the examinations, they shall not be allowed to continue as a student enrolled on Year 5 of the Clinical Medicine course until they have passed the outstanding examinations. 

If a candidate has failed one or more of the Year 4 examinations after two attempts, they shall not be allowed to continue as a student enrolled on Year 5 of the Clinical Medicine course, even if they are awaiting the outcome of an academic appeal or an application for an exceptional third attempt.

Year 5 / Graduate-entry Year 3

In order to pass Year 5 / Graduate-entry Year 3, candidates are required to have satisfactorily attended all courses and fulfilled individual course requirements, including completing all relevant formative assessments, for all the subjects specified in (a) to (f) below; and to have satisfied the examiners in the Year 5 / Graduate-entry Year 3 Integrated Summative Assessment, both written and clinical examinations. 

  • 1.  (a) Clinical Neurosciences;
  • (b) Community-based Medicine;
  • (c) Orthopaedic Surgery, Rheumatology, Trauma and Emergency Medicine;
  • (d) Paediatrics;
  • (e) Psychiatry;
  • (f) Women’s and Reproductive Health.
  •  
  • 2. The Integrated Summative Assessment consists of:
    • (a) An Applied Knowledge Test (AKT) consisting of multiple choice questions.
    • (b) An Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE)

The Integrated Summative Assessment will assess the subjects specified in (a) to (f) above.

A candidate in Year 5 / Graduate-entry Year 3 who has been deemed to have failed in any part of the Integrated Summative Assessment at the first attempt will be permitted one further attempt and will only be required to be reassessed in the part or parts of the assessment they have failed.

Progression from Year 5 / Graduate-entry Year 3 to Year 6 / Graduate-entry Year 4 

If a candidate has passed all of the Year 5 / Graduate-entry Year 3 examinations but has failed to meet the requirements in one or more of the other course components due to circumstances beyond their control, they will normally be allowed, at the discretion of the Director of Clinical Studies and the relevant Associate Director of Clinical Studies, to continue as a student enrolled on Year 6 of the Clinical Medicine course / Year 4 of the Graduate-entry Medicine course, subject to the condition that they complete the outstanding course components by a specified date. 

If a candidate has passed all of the Year 5 / Graduate-entry Year 3 examinations but has failed to meet the requirements in one or more of the other course components, they may be allowed, at the discretion of the Director of Clinical Studies and the relevant Associate Director of Clinical Studies, to continue as a student enrolled on Year 6 of the Clinical Medicine course / Year 4 of the Graduate-entry Medicine course, subject to the condition that they complete the outstanding course components by a specified date. 

If a candidate has failed one or more of the Year 5 / Graduate-entry Year 3 examinations after one attempt but has not had the opportunity to make a second attempt at that examination / those examinations by the normal time of the second sitting of the examinations, they shall not be allowed to continue as a student enrolled on Year 6 of the Clinical Medicine course / Year 4 of the Graduate-entry Medicine course until they have passed the outstanding examinations. 

If a candidate has failed one or more of the Year 5 / Graduate-entry Year 3 examinations after two attempts, they shall not be allowed to continue as a student enrolled on Year 6 of the Clinical Medicine course / Year 4 of the Graduate-entry Medicine course, even if they are awaiting the outcome of an academic appeal or an application for an exceptional third attempt. 

Year 6 / Graduate Entry Year 4

Students who fail an assessment may have to forfeit part or all of the elective for a period of intensive clinical training.

  • 1. General Clinical Studies

There will be two examinations:

  • (a) Applied Knowledge Test (AKT) consisting of multiple choice questions. 
  • (b) An Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE). 

Candidates must satisfy the Director of Clinical Studies and the relevant Associate Director of Clinical Studies that they have attended a course of instruction in Clinical Options.

  • 2. Vocational Skills

No candidate shall be deemed to have completed the Year 6 / Graduate-entry Year 4 Vocational Skills Course until they have passed the assessments for Year 4 / Graduate-entry Year 2 and Year 5 / Graduate-entry Year 3 and the Year 6 / Graduate-entry Year 4 General Clinical Studies Course.

Students are required to satisfy the Director of Clinical Studies and the relevant Associate Director of Clinical Studies that they have provided work to a satisfactory standard in: 

  • (a)  Special Study approved on behalf of the Medical Sciences Board; 
  • (b) An Elective (students who fail an assessment may be required to complete remedial clinical work. These students will forfeit part, or all, of the elective and instead will be required to produce a satisfactory report at the end of an additional clinical attachment); 
  • (c) A student assistantship with a clinical team; 
  • (d) A Course to prepare students for work as a Foundation 1 doctor; 
  • (e) Practical Skills.

A candidate in Year 6 / Graduate-entry Year 4 who has been deemed to have failed in any assessment unit at the first attempt will be permitted one further attempt and will only be required to be reassessed in the assessment unit they have failed. The examiners shall require the candidate to be reassessed after completing the necessary coursework; this assessment shall be carried out and adjudged by the examiners.