How the CICM exams are marked
Each CICM exam turns your answers into a pass in its own way. Knowing how it is marked, and how much time each question gets, changes how you should answer.
First Part Examination
How it is passed: The real exam needs the Angoff standard in the MCQ and the SAQ sections to be invited to the vivas.
On the clock: Paper 1 MCQ section: 50 questions in 50 min, about 60 seconds each. Paper 2 MCQ section: 50 questions in 50 min, about 60 seconds each.
How it is passed: Angoff cut score; a written pass can be carried forward to later viva sittings.
On the clock: 10 questions in 1 h 40 min: about 10 minutes each.
How it is passed: Reach the oral standard set by borderline regression (56.96% in 2026.1). Five attempts in all.
On the clock: 8 stations, 2 min reading and 10 min each.
Second Part Examination (General)
How it is passed: Each SAQ double-marked; reach the Angoff cut (52.01% in 2026.1) to be invited to the orals.
On the clock: 30 questions in 5 h: about 10 minutes each.
How it is passed: Oral pass needs more than 50% overall with no severe fail: failing both hot cases with under 40% in the clinical section fails the whole exam.
On the clock: 2 × hot cases: 2 min reading, then 20 min. 8 × cross-table vivas: 2 min reading, then 10 min.
What that means for how you answer
Single-best-answer papers reward the best option for this patient, not a true statement. Read the last line of the stem first, and do not let one hard question eat the time of three easy ones.
Written answers are marked against a fixed list of points. A point you do not write earns nothing, however obvious it seemed; a long answer that misses the points earns nothing more.
Clinical stations are marked against a station guide. Do what the task asks, in the time given, and say your reasoning out loud so the examiner can credit it.
Where marks are most often lost
- Generic "proforma" SAQ answers (ABC, lines, cultures, antibiotics) that are not tailored to the patient in front of you, and missed parts of multi-part questions.
- Not allocating time by the marks: pages on a 2-mark section, a line on a 6-mark one.
- Management choices listed without a justification, a dose, a target or the evidence behind them.
Pass marks and formats change. Always confirm the current rules on the CICM website before you sit.
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