the complete roadmap
FCPS Part 1 — a working guide for house officers
Written for the doctor planning their first serious attempt. Exam rules belong to CPSP and can change — treat cpsp.edu.pk and the current prospectus as the final word on dates, fees and eligibility.
Eligibility — you can sit it earlier than you think
An MBBS or BDS degree recognised by PMDC is what admits you to the exam hall. A completed house job is required at induction, not for Part 1 itself — which is why the smartest candidates sit Part 1 during house job and walk into induction interviews with the hardest step already done.
How to apply
- Create an account on the CPSP online portal (cpsp.edu.pk).
- Choose your specialty — this decides your Paper II, so decide it before you plan Paper II preparation.
- Upload documents (degree, PMDC registration, photographs) and pay the exam fee through the listed channels.
- Download your admit card when issued and confirm your exam centre city.
The format, in one look
| Paper | Content | MCQs | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paper I | Basic sciences — same for all specialties. Anatomy ≈ 40–50%. | 100 | 3h |
| Paper II | Your specialty's clinical paper. | 100 | 3h |
one-best-of-five · pass line 70% · no negative marking
The standard book list
Anatomy
Snell's Clinical Anatomy by Regions · Langman's Medical Embryology · a histology atlas (diFiore's)
Physiology
Guyton & Hall Textbook of Medical Physiology
Biochemistry
Harper's Illustrated Biochemistry (metabolism chapters first)
Pharmacology
Katzung Basic & Clinical Pharmacology — mechanisms over doses
Pathology
Robbins Basic Pathology — general pathology carries the weight
Microbiology
Levinson Review of Medical Microbiology & Immunology
These are the same texts every PrepFCPS explanation cites — book, edition and page — so app practice and book study reinforce each other instead of competing.
A strategy that survives house-job hours
Months 1–2 · Build
Anatomy first — it is 40–50% of Paper I. Pair every reading session with topic-wise MCQs the same day; reading without questions is how candidates feel prepared and score 55%. Cover physiology and biochemistry in parallel blocks.
Months 3–4 · Consolidate
Pharmacology and pathology/micro now, while daily spaced-repetition reviews keep anatomy alive. Start weekly 50-question timed blocks. Your accuracy by subject tells you where the next week goes — follow the data, not the syllabus order.
Final month · Simulate
Full 100-question, 3-hour mocks at real pace (1.8 min/question), twice a week. Between mocks, drill only your weakest topics. Stop learning new material in the last week; convert marginal topics into safe marks instead.
Exam day
No negative marking — answer everything. First pass: bank every question you know cold. Second pass: the flagged ones. Never spend three minutes on one stem while ten easy marks wait downstream. Sleep the night before; a rested guess beats an exhausted deduction.
The plan above is free. The engine that runs it is PrepFCPS.
Verified questions, mocks at real pace, spaced repetition and a readiness score against the 70% line.
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