The Bottom Line
- Anchor your plan to the *current* AKT format (it changed from Oct 2025).
- Win by speed + accuracy: a two-pass question strategy + ruthless error review.
- Treat EBM + admin/management as a predictable marks bank, not a mystery.
Official format update (read this once, then plan around it)
From October 2025 the AKT moved to 160 SBA questions in 2 hours 40 minutes, and remains sectioned into clinical knowledge (majority) plus evidence-based practice and organisational/management content. Your revision should reflect the weighting and pacing of that reality.
Most AKT failures are not a ‘knowledge deficit’ problem; they’re a pacing + selection problem. You need a repeatable engine: (1) daily timed blocks, (2) a debrief loop that turns wrong answers into future points, and (3) a deliberate approach to the two smaller sections so you don’t bleed easy marks.
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Step 1 — Build a pacing rule you can execute under stress (today)
Your default should be ~1 minute per question, with strict escalation: if you’re not confident by the 45–60 second mark, flag it and move. AKT is a volume exam. Your score rises when you stop donating time to low-probability wins.
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Step 2 — Use a two-pass strategy (every timed block)
Pass 1 = secure points: answer what you know fast; do not ‘wrestle’. Pass 2 = work flagged items: choose the *highest expected value* questions first (those where you can eliminate options). Pass 3 (last 5–8 mins) = educated guesses on the remainder; never leave blanks.
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Step 3 — Treat EBM as a drillable skill-set, not ‘reading’
EBM marks come from pattern recognition: ARR/NNT, interpreting CI/p-values, bias types, and applying evidence to a GP context. Build a micro-syllabus and drill 10–15 targeted questions per week under time pressure.
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Step 4 — Treat admin/management as a memory game
Make a ‘GP operations’ deck: referral pathways, safeguarding logistics, fit notes, prescribing governance, QOF-style thinking, and common policy-style scenarios. It’s predictable content; it should become cheap marks.
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Step 5 — Run a weekly scoreboard (so your plan adapts)
Once weekly, do one longer timed block (or a mock segment) and capture: score, time left, top 10 weak topics, and 3 recurring error types (e.g., misread stem, guideline confusion, drug contraindication). Next week’s plan is built from that scoreboard.
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Practice
Test your knowledge
Apply this concept immediately with a high-yield question block from the iatroX Q-Bank.
SourceRCGP — AKT introduction and format change details
Open Link SourceRCGP — AKT General FAQs (background blueprinting logic)
Open Link