Applying for the SCA

We will now be providing nine sittings of the SCA, available throughout the year. You will have the ability to reserve your place up to 12 months in advance of your intended sitting, and will book and pay seven weeks ahead of your examination date.

Find out more information on exam diets and dates.

With our new reservation system, candidates can now reserve a spot on the SCA up to 12 months in advance of your planned examination date. You can also view the spaces available on a diet in real-time and look at the overview of examination diets in the year, enabling you to plan to sit the examination at a time which suits you. You can cancel and adjust your reservation date at any time up to seven weeks prior to your examination date.

Please note that a reservation does not constitute a booking. This process must be done separately and you must reserve to be eligible to book.

Reserve your place on the SCA examination diet on your trainee portfolio. Candidates in ST2 and ST3 will see the option to reserve an SCA examination from the trainee portfolio. Candidates are reminded to check your portfolio is correct and up-to-date, to ensure the reservation system is visible on your portfolio dashboard.

When you click on the link from the portfolio, you will be taken to the exam reservations page where you can reserve their place. An availability indicator will display whether availability for each diet is good, limited, last few or full. The examinations team will monitor bookings and candidate demand for each diet. Where possible, if diets get booked quickly, the exam teams will consider the option to extend the number of examination days and increase capacity.

Those who have reserved a place will be sent a unique booking link seven weeks in advance of the examination date. From here you will be required to complete your booking information and pay the examination fee. Once candidates have paid you will be notified that your booking has been confirmed and your place on the SCA will be secured.

For more information, read our RCGP Examination Reservations Guide (PDF file, 661 KB)

Please complete the Simulated Consultation Assessment (SCA) waiting list form if you wish to be placed on the waiting list for the upcoming 2025 SCA diets.

Your examination will be scheduled in either a morning or afternoon session during the examination diet.

You cannot select your examination day or time. However, if there are exceptional circumstances preventing you from attending the SCA examination on a particular day within the session, please review our criteria and get in touch at the point of booking at exams@rcgp.org.uk.

Some requests for changes may not be accommodated due to exam scheduling constraints, such as reasonable adjustments or session capacity limits. In this case, candidates may consider cancelling their exam and rebooking for a future diet.

Circumstances that will be considered if they arise before date allocations are finalised, five weeks before your examination, include:

• International travel plans booked and paid for before booking the examination:
  • Any travel plans made for work or leisure booked and paid for before booking the exam will be considered with supporting evidence of a booking confirmation.
• Surgery spaces available:
  • If no space is available at your practice on a specific day, contact us after consulting with your practice manager regarding availability during the exam week.
• Religious festivals or wedding plans:
  • All religious commitments will be accommodated where possible. Wedding commitments for non-immediate family members may not be accepted.
• Unavoidable work, health or family commitments:
  • Circumstances such as a child or family member illness, funeral of a close relative (parent/carer, sibling, spouse, child) and specialist medical appointments that cannot be rescheduled. Evidence may be required.

Requests to change examination sessions due to exceptional circumstances that are made after date allocations are confirmed are subject to availability and scheduling constraints. (Please note that from 10 days prior to the examination, changes cannot be accommodated, as the platform is locked to maintain examination security).

Situations that may be considered after date allocations include:

• Medical emergencies: Unavoidable urgent medical appointments or unforeseen illness or injury affecting the candidate or an immediate family member.
• Bereavement: The recent loss of an immediate family member, including rescheduling to attend the funeral.
• Other unavoidable extenuating circumstances: These will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of the Examinations team.

The Examinations team reserves the right to request evidence for any circumstance provided and failure to provide adequate documentation may result in the refusal of requests.

Reasonable adjustment process

Any neurodiversity, disability or chronic health condition that prevents a candidate from sitting at a specific examination time or date must be submitted as part of the reasonable adjustment process.

Requests related to neurodiversity, disability or chronic health conditions will not be considered after the closure of reasonable adjustment deadlines for each examination diet.

The examination fee for the SCA is £1,180. See the full exam fee breakdown and explanation.

Candidates will take the SCA in a local GP surgery via the Osler examination platform. In most cases, this will be your own surgery and so it would be expected that any reasonable adjustments required to enable your day-to-day work (such as special seating, aids, IT equipment and software etc.) would already be in place. Physical examination will not be assessed within the SCA, and instead will be covered within WPBA.

In addition to personal workplace-based adjustments, all candidates will benefit from the accessibility features of the Osler examination platform. These include:

• Keyboard-only navigation
• Enlargement/zooming of instructions

Examples of reasonable adjustments that will require approval for the SCA are:

• Additional reading time before each case
• Additional consultation time
• Additional rest breaks

Applications for reasonable adjustments will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. In addition to your disability assessors report, candidates may need to submit supporting evidence from your educational supervisor and/or a hospital specialist report.

Further information on reasonable adjustments will be shared via the reasonable adjustments page.

Candidates are not allowed to take any bags, containers or items out of the examination room during breaks. This policy helps us ensure the security and integrity of the exam. Please ensure that any personal items you need during these breaks are accessible but outside of the examination room.

The below items are comfort aids and do not require pre-approval. They will be allowed in the examination room upon visual inspection by online invigilators. 

Food and drink 

Small discreet snacks and drinks in addition to water are permitted in the examination room at the discretion of the Surgery/Practice you are sitting. Please check with your Surgery/Practice in advance of your examination.

Medicine & medical devices 

• Auto-Injector, such as EpiPen* 
• Bandages 
• Braces - Neck, Back, Wrist, Leg or Ankle Braces 
• Casts - including slings for broken/sprained arms and other injury-related items that cannot be removed 
• Coloured overlays (including highlighter rulers) – for those who use these items in their day-to-day working environment
• Cough Drops* 
• Eye Drops* 
• Eye Patches 
• Eyeglasses, without the case, including tinted lenses – must be removed for visual inspection 
• Glucose Tablets* 
• Hearing aids/Cochlear implant** 
• Inhaler* 
• Medical Alert Bracelet** 
• Medical device: 
• Continuous Glucose Monitor** 
• Insulin Pump** 
• Spinal Cord Stimulator** 
• TENS Unit**
• Nasal drops/spray* 
• Oxygen Tank – Must be self-contained and silent. If the oxygen makes noise, or if power is required, then an accommodation approval is needed 
• Pillow/Cushion 
• Pills - i.e., paracetamol or aspirin*

Additional information

*All medicine and medical devices must be unwrapped and without their packaging. Blister packs accepted. Can be brought in a clear container. 

**If the medical device includes an accompanying external remote-control device, the remote-control device may not be taken into the examination room. If there is a need to take the external remote-control device into the testing room, including a mobile phone, candidates must apply and be approved for accommodation to do so. 

Candidates are not permitted to plug any device into the computer workstation. 

Mobility devices 

• Canes 
• Crutches 
• Motorized Scooters/Chairs 
• Walkers 
• Wheelchairs

Other approved items 

• Face mask and/or gloves – face mask will need to be removed for ID checks
• Headphones - external wired headphones and microphone. Bluetooth headsets are not permitted  
• Tissues/Kleenex 
• Menstrual products 
• Incontinence products.