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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 his or her name has been entered on the University Register of Clinical Students and he or she has satisfied one of the following conditions:

  • (a) he or she has 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) he or she has passed in all the subjects of the Preliminary Examination in Graduate-entry Medicine and the Year 2 Examination in Graduate-entry Medicine; or

  • (c) he or she has 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. The Board shall have power to require candidates for admission to any part of the Second Examination to produce certificates of attendance at courses of practical instruction, and such other certificates as the Board may from time to time determine, and to define the form of such certificates. It shall be the duty of the Registrar to see that these conditions are observed.

4. The subject of the Second Examination shall be clinical medicine in all its aspects.

  • (a)  The Second Examination shall cover three years, the subjects for each year being prescribed by regulation of the Medical Sciences Board.

  • (b)  Each of Years 4 and 5 shall involve a form of assessment prescribed by regulation of the Board which shall be notified to candidates. No candidate shall commence Year 5 or 6 until he or she has satisfactorily completed Year 4 or 5 respectively (except that a candidate shall be permitted to commence Year 5 if he or she has passed in all the assessment units in the Preliminary Examination in Graduate-entry Medicine and has passed all of the assessment units of the Year 2 Examination in Graduate-entry Medicine, unless the Director of Clinical Studies and the Associate Director of Clinical Studies, at their discretion and in exceptional circumstances, decide that the candidate may proceed to the next year of study on condition that he or she should undertake remedial work and if necessary be reassessed at a later date.

  • (c) Year 6 shall involve written and clinical examinations and may involve oral examinations. No candidate shall be examined on the Year 6 Vocational Skills Course until he or she has passed the assessments for Years 4 and 5 and the Year 6 General Clinical Studies Course.

5.  A candidate who has passed in all the assessment units of the Preliminary Examination in Graduate-entry Medicine and has passed all of the assessment units of the Year 2 Examination in Graduate-entry Medicine shall be permitted to proceed directly to commence Year 5.

6.  The examiners may award a Distinction for outstanding performance over the three years. Criteria for Distinctions will be determined by the Medical Sciences Board.

7.  The examiners may award merits in each of the examined subjects in Years 4, 5 and 6.

8.  Breach of the Code of Conduct for Medical Students, as approved and from time to time amended by Council's General Purposes Committee on the recommendation of 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.  The provisions of the appropriate regulations, concerning the times of holding examinations and the entry of names, and the special regulation concerning dress shall not, unless otherwise prescribed by regulation of the board, apply to Years 4 and 5, except in the case of a formal examination set by the examiners of these stages, as prescribed by regulation of the Board.

Regulations for Assessment in Years 4, 5, and 6

Proposals for the assessment of candidates in Years 4, 5, and 6 of the examination shall be drawn up by each specialty group, or in the case of Year 6 by the Board’s Clinical Education Committee and submitted for approval to the Medical Sciences Board, at such times as the Board shall determine. The form or forms of assessment are chosen from among the following:

  • (a) clinical examination including long and short cases;

  • (b) competency check sheets, logbooks, or portfolios;

  • (c) examination and comment (written or viva voce) on specimens;

  • (d) objective structured clinical examinations;

  • (e) poster presentations;

  • (f) case presentations;

  • (g) written tests, which may consist in whole or in part of, for example, multiple choice questions, short answer questions, extended matching questions or essays;

  • (h) case histories and commentaries;

  • (i) prepared essays;

  • (j) viva voce examinations; and

  • (k) other tests individually approved by the Board.

In clinical subjects, all assessments shall include a test of clinical competence. In addition, reports on candidates’ attendance and general aptitude shown during the course of instruction shall be made by those responsible for the course and taken into consideration in association with the performance of candidates in the assessment.

A candidate shall be warned (in writing with a copy to the Director of Clinical Studies) by those responsible for the course in question before the assessment takes place, if his or her attendance and general aptitude are such as seems likely to jeopardise his or her chances of passing the assessment.

The first assessment of candidates shall be carried out during or at the conclusion of each component of the course by the staff, as appointed by the head of the relevant department, or, in the case of Year 6, by the examiners and/or assessors. Candidates in Years 4 and 6 shall be permitted a maximum of three attempts to pass an assessment. In Year 5 the Examination Board may require candidates to be assessed in a specified module or modules on one further occasion. Candidates in Year 5 shall be permitted a maximum of two attempts in order to pass Year 5.

It shall be the responsibility of the staff concerned, under the supervision of the Medical Sciences Board, to give the candidates and the relevant examiners and/or assessors, reasonable notice of the dates on which the assessments will take place, to decide on the outcome of each assessment, and to keep departmental records of each assessment. A candidate should not normally be assessed exclusively by staff members who have been responsible for his or her instruction.