GPAtlasMRCGP · Simulated Consultation Assessment
SCA preparation that practises the exam you will actually sit
The SCA is twelve simulated consultations, twelve minutes each, marked across three domains. Preparing for it means practising consultations and understanding the marking, not reading more. The SCA Learning Hub holds the cases, the dilemmas, the walkthroughs and the AI simulator to do exactly that.
Sample cases are in the Free Sample Bundle, no card needed.
What the SCA is
The Simulated Consultation Assessment is the consulting-skills half of MRCGP, sat remotely from your own consulting room. You hold twelve consultations of twelve minutes with trained role players, and each case is marked against the same three domains:
- Data gathering and diagnosis: how you take a focused history, use the records, and reach a safe working diagnosis.
- Clinical management and medical complexity: how you build a safe, personalised plan, handle risk and comorbidity, and safety-net.
- Relating to others: rapport, listening, cues, the patient's agenda, clear explanations and shared decisions.
Every criterion under those domains is laid out on our free SCA marking sheet, which you can also use to mark your own practice consultations.
Upcoming SCA exam dates
Diets currently listed by the RCGP. Always confirm dates and application windows on rcgp.org.uk before booking.
| Diet | Exam window |
|---|---|
| SCA October 2026 | 6 to 8 October 2026 |
| SCA November 2026 | 3 to 6 November 2026 |
| SCA January 2027 | 12 to 15 January 2027 |
| SCA February 2027 | 9 to 12 February 2027 |
| SCA March 2027 | 9 to 12 March 2027 |
| SCA April 2027 | 13 to 16 April 2027 |
| SCA May 2027 | 11 to 14 May 2027 |
| SCA June 2027 | 8 to 11 June 2027 |
The free mock exam: twelve stations
Twelve stations, twelve minutes each, by telephone and video, as on the day. Three are open to everyone. A free account opens the rest, with their audio walkthroughs.
| Station | Case | Exam area | Consultation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Remote assessment of a feverish child | Children and young people | Telephone |
| 2 | Polycystic ovary syndrome | Gender, reproductive and sexual health | Video |
| 3 | Type 1 diabetes, fasting in Ramadan | Long-term conditions | Video · free account |
| 4 | A request not to be resuscitated | Older adults and end of life | Video · free account |
| 5 | Post-traumatic stress disorder | Mental health | Telephone · free account |
| 6 | Thunderclap headache | Urgent and unscheduled care | Telephone · free account |
| 7 | Domestic abuse | Health disadvantage and vulnerability | Video · free account |
| 8 | Cough and night sweats in a refugee | Ethnicity and diversity | Telephone · free account |
| 9 | Suspected ovarian cancer | New, undifferentiated presentation | Video · free account |
| 10 | Carbimazole safety in hyperthyroidism | Prescribing | Telephone · free account |
| 11 | Atrial fibrillation | Investigations and results | Video |
| 12 | A request for a sick note | Professional dilemma | Video · free account |
What is inside the SCA Learning Hub
200+ cases with audio walkthroughs
GP-reviewed cases across the RCGP clinical experience groups, each with a walkthrough of how a strong consultation runs, so you hear the approach rather than guess it.
300+ exam dilemmas
The judgement calls the exam loves: ethical corners, angry relatives, unrealistic requests, safeguarding edges. Short, repeatable, and discussed properly.
Consultation guides
Structured frameworks for the station types that trip people up, from telephone triage to breaking bad news.
The AI SCA Simulator
Spoken twelve-minute consultations with an AI patient from a bank of over 200 cases, marked against the three RCGP domains with your own words quoted back. How it works
Mock circuits
Six or more stations back to back when you are closer to the day, drawn across the blueprint, avoiding cases you have already practised. From six pounds, no subscription needed.
Resit support
A clear-eyed route back after an unsuccessful attempt, including 30% off any plan with proof of two or more attempts. Resitting? Start here
A sensible way to use it
- Learn the marking first. Read the three domains criterion by criterion so you know what twelve minutes is being judged on.
- Work through cases with the walkthroughs. Hear how experienced GPs structure the same twelve minutes.
- Speak, early and often. Consulting out loud is the exam. Use the simulator to practise full consultations and read the marking against your own transcript.
- Add dilemmas between patients. Five minutes at a time keeps judgement sharp.
- Finish with mock circuits. Pacing across stations is its own skill; practise it before the day.
GPAtlas is not affiliated with or endorsed by the RCGP, and our marking is a careful approximation of the three RCGP domains. It does not predict your result, and nobody can promise you a pass.
Twelve minutes tells you more than another chapter
Hold two consultations free and see the marking for yourself.