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Succeeding in the nMRCGP AKT

A useful guide to the Applied Knowledge Test, and a handy alternative to web-based resources.

Succeeding in the nMRCGP AKT - Chirag Mehta, Mark Williams & Milan Mehta

There are so many websites, free and otherwise, that I wonder why there is a gap for printed books about the Applied Knowledge Test.

This book is written by a GP and two GP trainees who were recently successful in passing the AKT. There is a very brief section on how to prepare for the AKT; it seems a shame that they were not able to use their recent experiences to expand this section.

At the time of writing there had been 6 sittings of the AKT (now 8) and there is a very short discussion of the division of marks and candidate weaknesses noted in the most recent sitting. It would probably have been more helpful to have a summary of weaknesses over the sittings as a whole.

There are 300 practice questions, divided into sections according to type, ie single best answer, extended matching etc. Detailed answers with references to appropriate information sources follow each section. I think this makes the book very useful early on in the revision process. Dr Mohanna, who is a faculty chair and director of medical education, refers to the book as a ‘signpost' and 'jump off' and I think that using this book as a way of identifying gaps and easily moving on to fill them would be the best use of the resource.

Each question is labelled with the appropriate curriculum heading and indexed in the matching groups at the back of the book. This is a useful way of checking curriculum coverage and again would be helpful early on in revision.

Finally there is a 200 question mock paper, the same length as the real AKT, albeit paper not computer-based. This section is also followed by detailed answers and reference links.

If you want a paper-based AKT book, I think this is a useful one to buy. This is a newly published book; as time goes on it will be important to make sure you are buying the most up-to-date edition.

Rating 3/5

Dr Clare Etherington is a GP in Harrow in northwest London

Succeeding in the nMRCGP AKT