FCPS Preparation Guide 2022

The following guide is from Dr. Anoosha Waseem and Dr. Verdah Hussain, both of whom are PGRs in Prosthodontics at de'Montmorency College of Dentistry. They gave Fcps part 1 in November 2020 and cleared it in the first attempt following the time table they've shared below. Here's what they have to share:

Preparing for fcps part 1 is a little tough if you do it alone, its better to find a study partner. You can keep check on each other and its easier to discuss the mcqs which are not mentioned in the course books. My friend and I gave 4 months to the whole preparation. In the first two months we revised what we studied in the undergrad life.

In the last two months, we solely focused on mcqs as most of the questions in part 1 are repeated.

Here is the time table that we followed along with all the books.

FCPS Part 1 Books

Anatomy

- Head and Neck : Snell Review, NBDE

- Thorax: Snell Review

- Brachial plexus( upper limb)-Snell Review

- Neuro: Kaplan

- Embryo: High yield

Physiology

- BRS Physio 

- Blood, CVS arrhythmias, murmurs : USMLE 

Biochemistry

- USMLE

Pathology

- General Path: BRS Patho

- Immunology: USMLE

- Micro: USMLE

- Special Path: USMLE

Pharmacology

- Kaplan

Dentistry

- OB/Oral Histo etc :NBDE

- DM- Vijay Pratab MCQs

MCQ Books

-Rabia Ali

-Coffeedent/ JK 

-Asim and Shoaib Dentistry 

-Vijay Pratab DM

We started with physiology and gave 15 days to it. BRS is a concise book and covers most of the content. In these days we completed our theory along with chapter wise mcqs from rabia ali and coffedent.

Afterwards we did pharmacology in 15 days, theory first and then mcqs. Kaplan is an excellent book. Its easier to understand and retain.

We also gave pathology 15 days. General patho is covered in brs, special patho and Microbiology from usmle.

In microbiology just give a reading to usmle and learn all the flowcharts and tables in the end. It is sufficient.

We completed anatomy in 15 days as well, focusing mostly on head and neck region from snell and nbde. 

During these 2 months, we covered theory and did mcqs of the corresponding chapters from rabia ali and coffedent. 

I personally did not like rabia ali, its very lengthy, the mcqs are mostly out of course and they key is not always right. So its gets a little frustrating when you don’t understand these mcqs. I tried to complete most of the mcqs with theory books and marked all the difficult ones. In the end, during revision, I focused mainly on these mcqs.

Coffedent is a great app. It has all the fcps past papers arranged in a chapterwise pattern

You can also time your tests and most of the mcqs have explanations written down in the answer section. You can also find short points of each subject that are important and most repeated questions in fcps.

Theory is just to revise your previous knowledge and concepts, In the end it feels as if you have forgotten everything. Instead of revising theory books again, its better to go through the important mcqs.

That is why in the last two months we focused only on mcqs and completed our dental subjects with it.

For mcqs revise coffedent and solve jahangir khan (it is coffedent but arranged in a yearly pattern)

Asim and shoaib is a great book. Mcqs in this book actually make sense and you gain a lot of confidence while attempting it.

We did this book and dental materials from vijay pratap in the end so that it stayed fresh.

After going through theory books, when you attempt mcqs, it feels like you know nothing as  most of the mcq topics are out of books.

Don’t worry about that, just try to understand the mcqs, consult net or another book 

Attempt and re attempt mcqs as it helps you to retain them better. 

This is what worked for us, best wishes for everyone appearing in the future.