How to Study Green-Top Guidelines?

This blog post is very basic advice regarding your preparation for the MRCOG exam. I am going to share a few tips to cover the GTGs which might be helpful in retaining the enormous information. I have added ALL GTGs Algorithms at the end of the post.

As we all know that green top guidelines are one of the backbones of the MRCOG exam. They are regarded as the ‘Bible’ for any topic. You have to know these words by word and by heart. If one goes and sits for the exam without GTGs, it's like he/she is on a suicide mission. I think I can not emphasise more on its importance.

The most important tip to understand and memorise GTGs is “to revise it as many times as you can or at least 3 times”

Steps to cover GTGs

• First of all, visit the RCOG website and search for all the guidelines. I have compiled all the green top guidelines in one of the blog posts. You will get one-click downloadable links to all GTGs. 
• To access the post: Click Here
• Make sure to have the latest version of the guideline
• Decide whether you want to use soft copy or a printed form
• Once all the GTGs are collected, now make a timetable to study. It is advised to plan module-wise. Divide your time and aim to cover relevant guidelines in that time.
• It is a must to have one thorough reading of the guideline noting essential points and making your own notes. This will ensure that you have gone through the guideline and will give you confidence in your preparation. Try to figure out how can a certain  point be tested in the exam (SBA/EMQ)
• Later on, you can rely on summaries / your own notes
• The summaries you follow should be of good quality covering exam-related points

What to focus on

• If you have noted, new guidelines provide an executive summary at the start. You can not skip any of those. They are an excellent resource for revision saving your time.
• In the expanded portion of the guideline, you may highlight important points or you can write the notable points on the sides of the page
• Keep in mind the level of evidence, because sometimes in an exam the difference in right or wrong answers is very narrow, which depends on which evidence carries more authenticity & weightage
• Focus on the Introduction/ Background/ Aetiology. This part is loved by the exam committee and tested in SBAs. Usually, they are simple straightforward facts. 
• Tables given in the guidelines should be at your fingertips as they summarise crucial information in a simple way. They save a lot of time to recall information
• Some guidelines provide ‘Clinical Governance/ Incident Reporting’ usually present at the end of the guidelines. Focus on those as some exam scenarios are directly based on that part
• Once you have read the guideline, practice a few relevant SBAs/EMQs. Notice the points you could not remember. In your next reading, focus on the points which you missed

Algorithms/ Appendix

• Some of the guidelines have flow charts in the form of algorithms. They are an excellent resource for EMQs. One tip worth remembering is that, in the EMQs the right answer is usually the next step where a flow chart /algorithm stopped at the end of a question
• To save you time, I have extracted all the algorithms /appendices from ALL GTGs and compiled them in one file. These are MUST to do a couple of days before the exam.

I hope these tips and the following compilation are helpful. Feel free to leave your queries in the comments or contact me directly. Your suggestions to improve future posts are welcome.

Thanks

Some useful links

Starting Point for MRCOG Part 2

3Ws & General Advice MRCOG Part 2

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