Differential attainment in the MRCGP exam – the impact of language of study and what this means for the future of RCGP exams

Today, we’re speaking to Dr Victoria Tzortziou Brown, a GP and Reader in Primary Healthcare and Health Policy at Queen Mary University of London, and Vice Chair for External Affairs at the Royal College of General Practitioners.

Title of paper: Language of primary medical qualification and differential MRCGP exam attainment: an observational study

Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2024.0296

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study on the association between the language of the primary medical qualification and attainment in the Membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners (MRCGP) examination. It shows that undertaking undergraduate clinical training in a country where the native language is not English can statistically significantly and negatively affect examination performance in MRCGP exams. The study also shows statistically significant positive correlations between Multi- Specialty Recruitment Assessment, International English Language Testing System, and Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board scores and the MRCGP exam scores; this suggests that past performance in these assessments can help with the identification of those international medical graduate registrars who may find tailored support beneficial.