Any revision and preparation for a multiple choice question (MCQ) based paper needs to include practice answering the types of questions that will appear in the examination. Well written MCQs contain not just the correct answer but also plausible alternatives designed to test how certain the candidate is of the facts. It is the selection of these incorrect distractors that can make MCQs a powerful way of differentiating well prepared candidates from those whose knowledge is only superficial. Anyone who has tried to write MCQs will have found what a challenge it can be to set a question that tests a specific piece of knowledge by offering a single correct and four tempting but wrong answers. With so many practice MCQs available online, what place does a published book like this offer candidates who are preparing for the written part of the MRCS exam?
The book has 7 chapters with 50 MCQs covering the basic sciences and principles of surgery in general. There are answers at the end consisting of a short paragraph or two aimed at covering the topic being tested together with some further facts germane to the question. No references are given for the answers and the preface only mentions ‘time-honoured surgical textbooks and complementary resources’ as their sources. A good range of topics is covered in each section and, like any practice paper, it will allow candidates to discover areas of uncertainty in their knowledge.
Where answers are clear cut, best exemplified in the anatomy questions, the in-depth answers are on safe ground. However, some of the answers, such as those to the clinical scenario questions, may not meet with approval from all clinicians. Furthermore, the book does not match the format of MRCS exam questions in its general use of eponyms and a number of questions need an answer that is the incorrect response among four correct ones.
The advantage of using a book like this rather than online self-testing is that it would allow of group of surgical trainees to test each other, discuss the answers suggested but then refer to a suitable textbook to revise the topic in detail.