Books for PACES: A review

Right. Now there isn’t much to differentiate between all the books when it comes to the issue of passing PACES.

Personally I prefer Balligas’ “250 Cases in clinical medicine”, because it contains a lot of information that is useful for clinical practice beyond PACES (perhaps thats why he hasn’t labeled it: 250 cases for MRCP!!) as well as little tid bits of historical information, and other clinical gems. His Q & A format is novel, and he is able to back up a lot of his answers with reference to medical literature.

Within the confines of PACES and strict time limits, examiners don’t have the time to ask all the questions that Balliga poses, but he acknowledges that by labeling these questions “Advanced Questions”. I also like the way he links the findings with possible aetiology and functional status (this is often overlooked by examinees.)

If time is short, and you want a book specifically to pass PACES then Ryder and Mir “An Aid to MRCP PACES”
is particularly useful. They list cases in order of frequency in exams recently sat , as well as giving good advice about exam techniques and salient features in disease. Volume 2 is useful if you practice history and ethics scenarios with a friend.

PACES for the MRCP by Tim Hall is good if you want something cheaper but glossy and attractive with diagrams and colour! It is also a very good book, written in a fairly straight forward and simple style.

I did buy “Neurology for PACES” by Pastest. This is a sheer waste of money. The above books are good enough. The book is bland and boring, and not particularly a good read.

You can check these books out in the link below:

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