Someone has read this

I was surprised to learn that someone has read this page.

For that reason I feel that I should do a bit of disclosure. I passed the PACES exam about two years ago on my first attempt. I worked very hard to pass it. I used to come into work an hour early to do the ward round before clinic to free up time for consultant teaching in the afternoon. I was very lucky and I got lots of good consultant teaching. At that time I was an SHO on a good rotation at a small teaching hospital in Scotland.

I am a UK national and I went to medical school in England. That puts anyone at an advantage for the PACES exam as several of the stations involving history taking and ethics are easier if you have attended medical school in Britain.

I attended two PACES courses - a PASTEST course in Manchester which was OK and the Neuropaces course at the Walton Centre in Liverpool which was very good. I would advise candidates to attend a couple of courses.

I saw as many patients with other people watching me as possible. Practice with your colleagues and criticise each other harshly. If you are used to doing a clinical examination under pressure you will be more comfortable in the exam. Some examiners can be pretty nasty.

As a first year SHO I helped out with the PACES exam in my hospital. Some of the examiners from other hospitals were rather harsh. 'I see you have completely failed to examine for a collapsing pulse. Why should you have done that?' was the best line that I overheard.
The best book I found was the blue covered book by Hall. I advise that you read it from cover to cover. There is a smaller pocket book called cases for paces which is good. The old version of Ryder is good for examination routine and pictures. The new, golden covered edition has lots of history taking and ethics cases that are worth reading.

Make sure you practice history taking and ethics before the exam!

I am now a neurology trainee. I'm pretty lucky. I do a fair bit of PACES and medical student teaching when I can. It's all good fun.

Good luck if you are sitting the exam.