CLEARING YOUR FCPS PART 1 ON

FIRST ATTEMPT
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Hello friends,
Recently I passed my FCPS 1 exam in Surgery and Allied and I thought of sharing the
experience, study techniques and a few guide lines related to it. Preparing for FCPS part 1 can
be pretty daunting especially for the first time. Since I know the pressure one is under and lack
of proper guidance (which I went through), I want to help the upcoming batches appearing for
FCPS 1 in every way possible.
All right, so to begin with, first and for most the TIME required preparing for FCPS 1. This is
something highly variable, and depends on your own unique studying techniques. But generally
speaking 2-3 months of studying is considered adequate for good preparation. You need to
study basic sciences, so the subjects are Anatomy, Embryology, Neuroanatomy, Histology,
Physiology, Pharmacology, Pathology, and Biochemistry. The books I recommend to everyone
irrespective of their sub specialty are
Snells REVIEW ANATOMY
Kaplan Anatomy (Histology and Neuroanatomy from this book)
High Yield Embryology
Kaplans or BRS Physiology (According to your taste)
BRS Pathology
Practice MCQs from Asim and Shoaib (Medicine and Surgery), Murad, Chandkas and any
other you can find.
Before you start studying, take a break. If you have just completed your house job, 2 weeks off
is a must. Make a schedule and set realistic goals, Take Sunday or any one day off in one week
to avoid getting bored and over worked. Study hard and with concentration. Do not attempt to
give the exam with incomplete preparation because failure will only demoralize you. So study
hard and give your best shot. I do not know how people study but I will definitely share my
routine with you all.
I had a total of around 2 and a half month to prepare. I started with anatomy. Somehow I have
always studied on page wise basis. For example I see the number of pages in a book and divide
by the days I need to study. Snell Review anatomy has around 200 pages. 40 pages/day would
mean completing the book in 5 days. So I did 20 pages in morning. (My method of studying is I
read the page thoroughly at least 2 times, maybe 3 if it has a lot of text. Please note that

everyone have their own way of studying. Do whatever suits you. Do not try to copy someone
else as it would only lead to anxiety and poor outcome). Then 20 pages in evening. Eventually I
was done with Gross anatomy in 5 days. After the first read, you may not remember many
things. This is completely NORMAL. Do not be upset as with successive reads, your retaining
power would only get better. After Anatomy, next was Neuroanatomy. Many people say that
neuroanatomy in Kaplan is a lot more detailed, but I have yet to find any book which is so
accurate and conceptual in this regard. I highly recommend this book to everyone. Since this
section is around 120 pages. I completed it in 3 days doing 20 pages in morning and evening.
Next was histology. Many people will tell you to completely skip this section as it is extremely
detailed. But 1 thorough read is not going to hurt you. Read it thoroughly, specially the chapter
of GIT, LIVER and LUNGS. Finally we move on to Embryology. High Yield embryology is
extremely concise. 3 days is all you need to read this book. Now that we are done with
Anatomy. Lets move to other subjects.
Physiology. Many recommend BRS, but this book is too concise for me. I had a difficult time
understanding it and it seemed like mugging up rather than understanding something. So I
read Kaplan physiology which was twice as big, but much more effective in basic
understanding. 1 week is adequate for you to revise this book. Finally move on to Pathology.
BRS pathology is a good book. You need to do General pathology ONLY. Special pathology can
be read once if you feel like (I read it once) but considering USMLE First AID has a lot of
pathology in it. Reading BRS Special pathology seemed like a bit of time waste later. Finally we
move on to USMLE FIRST AID. This is by far the most important book. You cannot pass your
exam without this book unless you are extremely lucky. Read this book thoroughly word by
word. (WORD BY WORD) in about 2 weeks. Every chapter is important except Psychiatry. Other
subjects like Biochemistry, Pharmacology, Ethics, Statistics are just enough in it for you to pass
FCPS in both medicine and Surgery.
Now if you finally add up the days, you will realize that my first read have been completed in
about a little more than a month. Now you need to buckle up. It is time for a second read and
you need to start doing MCQs too. Repeat the above process, but this time there is a very high
probability you might complete you second read much earlier. (Note that I read Physiology,
Special pathology and histology only once and did not read them again). While reading, you
need to simultaneously start doing Mcqs.Try solving at least 200 mcqs in afternoon and around
200 in night. Once I completed my second read in about two and a half weeks, I did MCqs for 5
days straight. (Around 1000 a day.)
Eventually I was done with my second read and MCQ books. I still had a few weeks left so I read
anatomy, neuroanatomy, embryology, and general pathology again for the third time and re
did all MCqs. It must come to your surprise that despite doing Mcqs for the second time. You
will still get a lot of wrong answers. So I highly recommend that you do Mcqs at least twice.
Now that we are done with the basic subjects, books and time management. I will now give you
guys certain tips which I think might come in handy

1 Do not be overwhelmed by the amount of study material. Keep yourself calm and take a day
off if you feel like it.
2 Everyone studies the same books. They have the same amount of time. The deciding factor
for clearing FCPS is the TIME you give to studies. So set your priorities right and study
adequately.
3 When doing Mcq books. There will be certain question which will be particularly difficult.
Like the time required for blood to flow through hepatic lobule. The answer is 8 seconds. Mark
the mcq with a star so that when you are re doing these books, you pay special attention to
these tough questions.
4 Do not try to copy someone in terms of studying. If you study a particular way and have
been successful so far, then there is no need to change now.
5 Do not believe what people say. You probably must have heard about 100 myths related to
CPSP marking scheme and what not. You dont have to worry about that. All you need to do is
give your best shot and Pray for the best.
6 Remember. A lot of Mcqs in books are wrong. You need to double check those. What I used
to do was immediately Google the question on my cell phone. This saved a lot of my time.
7 Arrive at least an hour before scheduled time at the venue.
8 Do not be depressed by the people you meet at the venue. You are likely to meet people
attempting exam for the 4th or 7th time. Do hear what they have to say but do not act on it. There
is probably a reason they havent passed this exam in so many attempts and are the least likely
person to be seeking advice from.
9 If you think you have successfully answered at least 75 Mcqs in both Paper 1 and Paper 2
(individually) then there is a really high chance you will pass this exam. This is just a rough
estimate so I might be wrong.
10 When attempting Mcqs, read the question very thoroughly. At times multiple options
might seem right but read the question again to see if you have missed anything. Most people
tend to ignore the EXCEPT which is written at the end of question. Please dont do this
11- There is absolutely no need to hurry. 3 hours is more than enough for 100 questions. You
should not miss out in any of them.
12 Do not cheat. Trust me. There is a high chance your neighbor might be a repeater. You
definitely do not want to copy his answer. Trust your own instincts rather than that of a
stranger.

13 Finally, Pray a lot after paper. This is the second most important thing to do after your
months of hard work.
14 STUDY STUDY and STUDY. I am re-writing this point because of a
specific reason.On average CPSP passes around 15-20% of students. However recently due to
very large number of residents pouring in and very limited residency seats available there has
been a dramatic reduction in the passing rate. Just 2 weeks ago I came across a letter written to
CPSP from Health Secretary to reduce the number of FCPS graduates due to unavailability of
seats. There was an emergency meeting conducted to address this issue and I can only sense
that they have actually reduced the number of passing graduates because this time
in february, only 7% of students were passed. This is indeed a dramatic decline. You need to
keep this figure in mind because scoring in the top 7% can be pretty difficult but definitely NOT
impossible.
Refareance
http://tribune.com.pk/story/669304/health-reform-cpsp-health-department-at-loggerheads/
http://tribune.com.pk/story/671015/post-grad-education-cpsp-to-convene-meeting-on-healthdept-letters/
15 Do not consider yourself inferior to anyone when starting your preparation. FCPS is not a
paper of intelligence, but rather of endurance and hard work. It is highly unlikely anyone is able
to remember the subjects of basic sciences by the end of final year so every one of your batch
mate is likely to start from the very beginning giving you the same advantage.
I went through difficult time when preparing for FCPS. I only wish to help you guys so that your
preparation is eased and you are not confused in any regard. This is the first professional exam
to of your life do it is normal to be slightly anxious. But do not be over whelmed. You are
equally qualified and intelligent as anyone else and have equal chance of clearing the paper.
Best of luck and remember me in your prayer
Special thanks to
Dr Gulrez Karim (Anatomy department) for inspiration and support
Dr Nida Yaqoob , Dr Nazia Lodhi and Dr Sarah Arif (General Surgery) for extensive support.
Dr Shahzeb Habib (My study partner and best buddy) Love ya bro!!!!
My parents and my wife for their patience and countless prayers
Dr Yousuf Shaikh (Author)