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FCPS Part 1 exam 2027: dates, format, subjects and study plan

Everything you need to plan your FCPS Part 1 preparation: the 2027 sitting dates, how the two papers work, what each subject tests and a 12-week plan that gets you exam-ready.

On this page
  1. FCPS Part 1 dates 2027
  2. Exam format
  3. Subjects and high-yield topics
  4. 12-week study plan
  5. How to practise MCQs that stick
  6. Frequently asked questions

FCPS Part 1 dates 2027

The CPSP Schedule of Theory Examinations 2027 lists these FCPS Part 1 sittings:

January 2027Tuesday 5 January 2027
April 2027Tuesday 6 April 2027
July 2027Tuesday 6 July 2027
October 2027Tuesday 5 October 2027

Application deadlines, fees, eligibility and centres are set by CPSP and can change. Always confirm on the official CPSP examination schedule before you apply.

Exam format

PapersPaper 1 and Paper 2
Questions100 single-best-answer MCQs per paper, 200 in total
Time2 hours per paper
Negative markingNone: answer every question
ContentBasic sciences common to every specialty

Two hours for 100 questions gives you 72 seconds per question. That is enough to read a stem carefully once, but not enough to reason a topic out from first principles. The candidates who finish comfortably are the ones who recognise the concept behind the stem straight away, which is why repeated, spaced practice beats one long read of a textbook.

Single best answer means more than one option can look reasonable. The skill being tested is picking the best one, so learn why each wrong option is wrong, not just which one is right.

Subjects and high-yield topics

FCPS Part 1 tests the basic sciences behind clinical practice. Whatever your specialty, the core is the same. These are the areas that come up again and again:

Anatomy, embryology and histology

Nerve injuries and the muscles they paralyse, the brachial and lumbosacral plexuses, blood supply of the heart, gut and brain, relations of the major vessels, cranial nerves and their foramina, development of the heart, pharyngeal arches and the genitourinary tract, and characteristic epithelia.

Physiology

Cardiac cycle and pressure–volume relationships, control of blood pressure, ventilation–perfusion and oxygen carriage, renal handling of sodium, water and acid–base, endocrine feedback loops, and nerve and muscle physiology.

Pharmacology

Pharmacokinetics (half-life, clearance, first-order kinetics), autonomic drugs, local and general anaesthetics, antimicrobials and their mechanisms, anticoagulants, drug interactions through enzyme induction and inhibition, and characteristic adverse effects.

Pathology and haematology

Inflammation and repair, cell injury, neoplasia and tumour markers, haemodynamic disorders, the anaemias, bleeding and clotting disorders, and the classic systemic pathology of the heart, lung, liver and kidney.

Biochemistry, genetics, microbiology and immunology

Metabolic pathways and their enzyme defects, inheritance patterns and chromosomal disorders, bacterial and viral identification, hypersensitivity reactions, and immunodeficiencies.

Biostatistics, ethics and physics

Sensitivity, specificity and predictive values, study designs and bias, consent and confidentiality, and the physics behind monitoring and equipment.

Anaesgen's question bank covers all of these across 20 subjects and more than 2,700 concepts, weighted towards the concepts examined most often.

Free MCQs by subject

Try free questions with answers and explanations in each subject:

12-week study plan

A realistic plan for a working doctor, about two hours on weekdays and longer at weekends. Count back 12 weeks from your sitting: for 5 January 2027 that means starting in mid-October 2026.

Weeks 1–4Work through the most frequently examined concepts first: physiology and pharmacology, then anatomy. Aim for 40–60 new MCQs a day and read the explanation for every option, including the ones you got right. Weeks 5–8Move on to pathology, biochemistry, microbiology and the smaller subjects. Keep clearing your review queue every day before you start new questions: this is where most of the marks are won. Weeks 9–10Finish the remaining concepts, then sit your first full mock exam (200 questions, 2 hours per paper) under exam conditions. Spend the next two days on the subjects where you lost the most marks. Week 11Second full mock. Focus on lookalike pairs, the concepts you keep confusing with each other, and on any question you have missed more than once. Week 12No new material. Reviews only, a light keyword drill each day and plenty of sleep before the exam.

If you have less time, keep the same order and cut the number of new questions, not the reviews. Reviewing what you have already seen raises your score faster than seeing more questions once.

How to practise MCQs that stick

Space your reviews. A concept you answer correctly today will be forgotten within weeks unless you see it again. Reviewing just before you would forget it, at growing intervals, is the most efficient way to keep thousands of facts available on exam day.

Change the question, not just the answer. If you see the same stem twice you start remembering the stem. Seeing the same concept from a different angle tests whether you actually know it.

Treat guesses as misses. A lucky guess on exam day is fine; during preparation it hides a gap. Mark guesses and review them like wrong answers.

Learn the lookalikes. Many FCPS Part 1 questions are built on two concepts that are easy to confuse. Learning the one feature that tells them apart is worth more than rereading either one.

Measure readiness, not hours. Track how much of the syllabus you would recall today. When that figure is above about 80% and you have sat two full mocks, you are ready.

Do all of this automatically

Anaesgen is an FCPS Part 1 question bank with 10,200+ single-best-answer MCQs, a rationale for every option, full mock papers, lookalike pairs and spaced repetition timed to your exam date.

Try 5 free questions See plans

Frequently asked questions

When is the FCPS Part 1 exam in 2027?

The CPSP Schedule of Theory Examinations 2027 lists FCPS Part 1 on 5 January, 6 April, 6 July and 5 October 2027. Check cpsp.edu.pk for form deadlines and any changes.

How many questions are in FCPS Part 1?

Two papers of 100 single-best-answer MCQs each, 200 questions in total, with 2 hours per paper.

Is there negative marking in FCPS Part 1?

No. A wrong answer scores the same as a blank, so answer every question.

Is FCPS Part 1 different for each specialty?

Paper 1 and Paper 2 test basic sciences that are common to every specialty, so candidates for Anaesthesia, Medicine, Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Radiology and other specialties prepare from the same core.

How long does it take to prepare for FCPS Part 1?

Many candidates plan for about three months of steady daily work alongside their job. Twelve weeks is enough to see every high-yield concept, review what you miss and sit two full mock exams.

Which subjects are tested in FCPS Part 1?

The basic sciences: anatomy (with embryology and histology), physiology, pharmacology, pathology, biochemistry and genetics, microbiology, immunology, haematology, biostatistics and medical ethics, plus the physics behind equipment and monitoring.