How to prepare for LMCHK？

I am Dr. Kenneth, and Chinese nickname Long,having 4 years of teaching experience for LMCHK. I would like to share my experience with students and tell you how to be successful in passing the exams and what the right habits and mindset you need to keep to succeed in this examination. From my experience, I found a great difference between students who passed the exam and students who do not. So I will share the habits of the student who passed the exam. In simple term student who passes this exam have two things in common a positive mindset and disciplined behavior or consistency in the study. For those who have this two qualities lack guidance on the direction as to which way is quicker or better to achieve the target, we know the target is right up there in the mountain, but there is no map available so the teacher's job is to give you the right guidance on the path which students have not walked yet so that navigation becomes much easier. For example, if I tell you 3 logical keys for the patient selection you will find part3 easier, question to you. What are the standard criteria for using patient during the examinations, remember they always meet 3 criteria- 1. Patient has to be stable (so you can skip studying acute pancreatitis or chest pain during preparing for the exam for the reason obvious ) and 2. They need to have much clinical sign -Why- because most short cases are just physical exam-oriented so it tests your ability to diagnose patient based on you sign interpretation ability and 3. They must be willing to participate (eg OBGYN are not willing to take part due to obvious reasons so 70 percent of OBGYN is just written. In simple the same thing you prepare for part1 can be reused- these 3 are key points which one needs to master with this technically your burden for preparation will be lower and your weird imagination about the exam will also disappear.

Before we go into much detail - there is good news for LMCHK aspirants - did you know that now there are no deductions in the score for the wrong answers. So it is a good time to try and attempt the exam. The chances of passing are higher if there is no negative marking. We that in mind let's explore what effort it takes to pass this examination.

First- The starting point- Whatever is your starting point you need to make sure that you are good at the 4 basic subjects. Eg- 1.Medicine which has 60 MCQs for the exam from major bulk, 2. Surgery along with orthopedics is 60 too( major bulk are from these two), Next is 3.Pediatrics and 4.OBGYN which has 35 each for paper one and paper two. So you might have to put a back gear to get a grasp of all 4 subjects, sometimes jokingly I said, you are not one doctor rather you 4 in 1, so the balance of knowledge is required, you cannot just be good at one and pass the exam, you need to know pediatrics just like you know OBGYN and vice versa, so for a specialist, he might have clinical experience which is good for part3 but he may not have enough part1 knowledge so they need more guidance for part1. Interns may have fresh knowledge but may not have the necessary skills so they need to practice more clinical skills. The best thing about this exam is there are many good things one of them is if you are preparing to become a doctor in HK you will have to develop a standard way to approach a patient. So during your study, you will find that your physical examination skill and the way you perform physical exams and form a differential diagnosis will be far better than your counterparts.

Second is you will become a good doctor and thirdly it forms a good foundation for passing the membership exams in the UK. The good news is the passing score is not high, it's just 60 percent now in the past it used to be 50 percent but with a negative score, for the exam in the past total questions was 240 so you need to scored 120 to pass, let's say you 80 in paper 1 and 40 in paper 2 can you pass, the answer is not but if you got 72 in paper one and 48 in paper 2 you can pass the exam so you need to have the balance, with recent amendment you need to score 50 percent on each paper, so you can put a lots of effort in paper one but you still need to make sure that you grabbed the concepts of surgery and OBGYN as well.

What are you looking for？

This exam is for students who want to upgrade themselves to maximum knowledge a doctor can have.

If knowledge and experience with the patient are what you seeking for this is the best choice because it will give you maximum exposure and knowledge about a physical sign like no other, to an extent that some of my students tell me, sir, I saw Parkinson disease on the street, with a typical sign, thats how good you can be so its makes you superfast in diagnosing someone disease and your ability to form differential diagnosis will be super fast, eg- You found a Parkinson like features in young guy you suspected something(Wilsons) and checked his eyes and liver and then you did copper test and confirm it and treated with chelating agents, that how quick you become even if a rare case like wilson's present to you. This is a dream of every doctor, that they get the ability be make diagonois based on their own skill not just rely on an investigation and treat the underlying cause efficiently. So this exam will definately give you this challange and oppurtiny to become a better you. And not surprisingly the demand of this exam is that you know well on how to interpret clinical sign - many part 1 questions are based on this analoly because they are looking for a doctor who can diagnose a patient from their clinical knowledge. So you will often find sign interpretation in part1 questions.

If you are the one who wants to upgrade yourself this exam is a good choice as you will have chance to learn much more then average doctors.

Let's look deeper, This exam divides 4 major subjects into several systems- so first thing you must know is how are the questions framed and how are they presented during the exam and you need to learn in a systemic manner. For example- If you divide Medicine -You must ask your self where is this 60 questions coming from- It has several major system- Two huge subjects are neurology and Cardiology and respiratory, then we divided abdomen(for part 3 orientation) into Hematology, Nephrology and Gastrology and General station consist of Rhematology and Endocrinology, these are a must, then some ophthalmology, some dermatology some emergency, and some old age this is how the marks are distributed now you already got the point right. So if you practice the clinical sign of this and how questions can be framed from this and study all other subject in similar manner, so you need to practice many thing and learn every thing in minute detail.

So what does it take- It just a takes some time management and consistency and you need love towards this subject. So I tell you if love it then pass is too easy, because once you are in love you will explore more and learn more, so your target should not only to pass this exam, but you should target to become Davidson yourself, and that should be the mindset that I will not keep any stone unturned and break the limits and be the best in my profession and that's it. After all serving patient and easing their pain is definitely one of the most noble job on can do on this planted.

Thanks to all the Doctors and Nurses for working so hard. Wish you all good luck for the exam.

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