12 Weeks to the January CASC: Revision Plan From the Examiner's Side

The January 2027 CASC starts on 19 January, 12 weeks from now. That is enough time to prepare well, but not enough to spend the first month reading.

Twelve weeks rewards a plan that puts practice first and reading second, because the CASC tests what you do in 7 minutes, not what you know at a desk. This guide divides the time into 3 phases, sets out what changes in each, and names the mistakes that cost candidates weeks they cannot get back.

If you are new to the exam, The MRCPsych CASC Explained covers the format and rules first.

Before you start: the target

The CASC has 16 stations: 5 history-taking, 5 examination (mental state, physical and capacity) and 6 management. The College sets the standard at the level needed to enter higher training in psychiatry. Your plan has to cover all 3 types, at that standard, out loud and against a clock.

That last point shapes everything that follows. Candidates prepare for the station types they enjoy and avoid the ones they fear, and the exam samples all of them.

Weeks 12 to 9: find out where you actually are

Now to late November. The aim of the first phase is a true picture of your weaknesses, not a pile of notes.

Find your practice partners this week. Two or three colleagues sitting in January, with a fixed weekly time. This is the step candidates delay most, and the one that decides the rest of the plan.

Do a baseline round. Run a few stations of each type, timed and observed, before you revise anything. Write down where you ran out of time, lost the thread or froze.

Read to fill the gaps the stations exposed, not to cover the syllabus again. You passed the written papers; the knowledge is mostly there.

Start physical examination early. It cannot be learnt from a book, and it is the easiest type to leave until the last fortnight.

Weeks 8 to 3: practise out loud, with feedback

Late November to early January. This is the phase that changes scores, and it is where most of your time should go.

Practise several times a week, out loud and timed. Each session should include at least one station type you would rather avoid.

Always have someone watching, and ask them to record what they saw rather than give a general impression. "You never asked about the children" is useful; "that was good" is not.

Keep a log of your errors across sessions. The same error appearing three times is your real revision topic.

Plan around the holidays. Christmas and New Year fall in weeks 4 and 3, with rotas, travel and family. Book your practice sessions for that fortnight now, or you will lose it.

The last 2 weeks: sharpen, do not cram

From early January to the exam. New material at this stage adds anxiety faster than it adds marks.

Sit at least one full mock under exam conditions, with the correct reading time: 4 minutes before each station in one circuit and 90 seconds in the other.

Rehearse your reading-time routine until it is automatic: identify the task, then plan the opening.

Go back to your error log, not to textbooks. Fix the 2 or 3 errors that keep appearing.

Sort the practical details early. The UK sitting runs from 19 to 27 January at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield, and each candidate is allocated one day. Arrange travel and leave as soon as you know yours.

Three mistakes that waste weeks

In my experience as a former examiner, these are the patterns that cost prepared candidates the most time:

Reading for the first month. It feels productive and changes nothing you will do in the room. Practice should start in week 12, not week 8.

Practising only the comfortable stations. History-taking is the easiest to rehearse and the most popular. Management makes up 6 of the 16 stations, and physical examination is examined too, yet these are the types practised least.

Practising without a clock or an observer. Running a station alone, untimed, rehearses a script. The exam rewards what you do when someone is watching and the time is running out.

If you are resitting after September, read what to do after a fail before you start week 12: changing the method matters more than adding hours.

Free from MedLex: The Examiner's Briefing and The Examiner's Error Log

The Briefing sets out how the CASC is actually marked and the errors examiners see most often. The Error Log is a one-page self-audit to fill in after every practice station, so the person watching you can tick what they actually saw. It is the tool for weeks 8 to 3.

Download the full guide free

About the author

Dr Ahmed Abouelghit is a UK-trained Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist, Forensic Psychiatry Training Programme Director and former CASC examiner. He founded MedLex and built The CASC Academy to teach the CASC from the examiner's side of the table.