My Take on the MJDF exams

With God’s grace, I was able to complete the MJDF examination last august. Before I forget the details of this whole roller coaster ride, I would like to share my experience and some thoughts about it.

So what is it all about?

MJDF is short for the Diploma of Membership of the Joint Dental Faculties (MJDF) by the Royal College of England (RCS Eng). It’s an exam that allows dental graduates to demonstrate their competencies in knowledge and skills they have learned. It is not an exam that enable you to earn the license to work in the UK (that would be ORE by GDC) but more to confer that the person is of a certain standard. This membership is often compared to MFDS offered by Royal College of Edinburgh but is slightly unique as it provides membership to both Faculty of Dental Surgery (RCS Eng) and the Faculty of General Dental Practice (UK) upon successful completion with the price of a single membership for the first six years. And so, this allow the members to benefit from both faculties before making the decision to join either faculty. After 6 years, you may continue to remain as a member of both faculties (paying separate membership fees for both) or choose which of the faculties to join that suits your career direction. In short, the FDS is dedicated more for specialist dentistry while the FGDP on the other hand support those that are in primary care. Both faculties do organize CPD and courses from time to time, some which are free but they are mostly held in the UK. You can also access to publications including standards in dentistry and journals like the Primary Dental Journal or Faculty Dental Journals for free.  

Received a copy of the PDJ and brochures from FGDP 

Do I really need it?

This is not really something that I was exposed to when I was at dental school and I believe many dental graduates do have the same confusion as me. Most dental graduates in Malaysia take this exam for career advancement to pursue specialization or simply to enhance their skills.  I noticed it has become a trend among young dental graduates to take the exam; many that were influenced by friends and colleagues without really know the purpose of it. Some then stop at part 1 of the examination and let it expire after 5 years. I think is important that one should first map out a 10 years career and personal plan, to see if the examination is worth investing their time and money. There is certainly lots to revise and the exams fees isn’t cheap. Furthermore, it is rather expensive to maintain the membership (about £136 per annum) while not reaping much of the benefit being an overseas member. In my opinion, the best to plan and start preparations for the exam when they are still in their final year of undergrad. I do find it beneficial because it makes you question again things you have studied in dental school and reinforce the knowledge. Moreover, some universities do prefer that applicants for their postgraduate program to have a primary fellowship and this certainly will come in handy. Locally, from the information I gathered so far, a successful completion of the Part 2 examination from either MJDF or MFDS is also a requirement to apply for the HLP government scholarship.  Ultimately it boils down to your career goals and priorities in life.

How does it go?

This examination is divided into two parts. Usually dental graduates opt to take MJDF Part 1 and then switch over to take the MFDS Part 2 as many seniors have claimed that this is the easier route to obtain a primary fellowship. However, I choose the road less taken and did MJDF Part 2 instead. Therefore, I will be just writing more in details of both the MJDF Part 1 and Part 2 process, styles of questions, some favorite topics and recommended reading materials. I will link another blogpost which describe the Part 2 MFDS in detail here so you can make the comparison for yourself: https://www.helpingdentists.com/2017/10/mfds-part-2-guide.html

I shall be sharing the following information from a past international candidate point of view and it may not be applicable to those who plan to sit for the examination in the UK. I did both my examinations in Kuala Lumpur which was held in University Malaya. Of course, you may also opt to do the exams in other overseas venue like in the UK or Cairo.

MJDF Part 1

This is a 3 hours paper consisting of 150 single best answer questions. I’m not sure about the passing criteria but all questions carry equal marks and there is no negative marking. Candidates will be tested a variety of topics related to basic dental knowledge one should know as a general dental practitioner. International candidates preparing for the exam tend to miss out their revision on law and ethics. Far too often they get shock when asked for example the CPD requirements of a Dental Hygienist or taking consent from a mentally unsound patient etc. I would recommend candidates to read from the following books:

-          Oxford Handbook of Clinical Dentistry by David A. Mitchell

-          Master Dentistry Vol 1 & 2

-          PasTest MCQs for Dentistry

I strongly advise candidates to go through the question banks from PasTest and Master Dentistry as some of the question that appear in the examination were quite similar. You can also use those questions to gauge your preparation and give you an idea the types of questions that may come from a particular topic or specialty. If you want more practice, you may obtain past year questions by joining some study groups on Facebook. I will just link the group that I have joined here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Mjdfpart1/

In Malaysia, the examination is held twice a year, first in April and then October. From my experience, one should eat well before they sit for the examination as you will have some kind of adrenaline rush as you scroll down the 150 questions in 180 minutes. It feels like running a marathon. I remember I was famished toward the end of the paper and slightly dizzy as I left the hall.

I used about 6 months of my “gap” year (while waiting to be absorb into the MOH) to prepare for the exam. Upon completion of the Part 1 examination, you are given a time limit of 5 years to pass the part 2 examination. You will not be awarded any certification of passing the Part 1 exam but just a written letter to prove of your success. Only after completion of the Part 2 then you will be presented with a prestigious certification from the Royal College of Surgeon England.

MJDF Part 2

The MJDF Part 2 exam is only held once a year in the month of August.  Again, it’s a 3 hours practical exam which comprises of 14 stations in a single circuit. Of that 14 stations, there will be 11 examined stations and 3 preparatory stations. You get 9 mins to answer in each station with 1.5 mins of reading time. A case scenario will be presented in front of the stations for you to digest during the reading time and after which you shall begin. As compared to MFDS, there is a mixture of stations where you may have to actively perform the clinical skills tested or demonstrate good communication skills with a stimulated patient or directly be asked a series of structured questions by the examiners in the station. Usually each station will have 2 examiners, one from the UK and another a local. The questions are formulated to either test your clinical skills or clinical knowledge. You will be given a long time (9 mins) before facing the preparatory station and usually you will have to jot down notes of the case given. There may be rest station in between, depending how many candidates are participating in that session and how the examination board design the circuit.

 

The Registration counter for Part 2

It took me about 1 year to prepare for this examination. Thanks to the heads up from my friend Komi, I got to join the preparatory course organized by RCS Eng at FOD UM in early April. I’m not sure if RCS Eng will make this will be an annual event, but it was definitely helpful. We were given examples on how questions will be framed and were involved in a short mock exam.

As it’s an ‘unconventional’ paper and the RCS Eng have recently changed the exam structure, there really isn’t many past year question banks available. However, I highly recommend to read the following books to get a glimpse of the types of case scenario and questions that can be asked:

-          Clinical Problems in Dentistry by John Laszlo

-          Clinical Problem Solving in Dentistry by Odell

-          PasTest OSCEs for Dentistry

The books I used 

I would also suggest that candidates who took a long break after completing Part 1 to refer to the books used back then. The knowledge from Part 1 is still necessary. You can also join some Whatsapp group to get feedbacks, tips and some past year questions from previous candidates. Some of them are generous to gather and compile a list of questions that were asked. That is certainly useful and would shed some light on how much you need to prepare. You may also find the follow document shared by Dr Reena Wadia from the UK useful: http://reenawadia.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/fgdp-mjdf-part-2-2015-handout1.pdf Also, it is IMPORTANT for candidates to keep abreast with the latest standards of care and guideline from the RCS Eng and FGDP which you can assess through their websites. You may use materials for MFDS Part 2 in your preparation as the various case scenarios there can be quite similar to those asked in MJDF Part 2.  

I would agree that candidates should have some clinical experience as it would help greatly while preparing for stations which primary focus to assess candidate communication skills.  It will be good if you have a study partner with whom you can do some sparring and practice answering questions verbally. I find it was a struggle for me to communicate my answer effective and fluently as these days I hardly use English when I converse with my patients. Regrettably, I took it for granted and should have practice speaking out more. In terms of communication skills, candidates have to distinguish whether they are speaking with a patient (avoid jargons) or they are speaking to another colleague where proper scientific terminologies must be used. Common scenarios will be like to handle an angry patient, explaining a suspicious lesion, obtaining an inform consent for a dental procedure (applying Glick’s competency), obtaining full patient history, explaining conditions like aphthous ulcers, lichen planus, Sjogren syndrome, apologizing for procedural mishaps, convincing patient the safety of dental amalgam or dental radiograph radiation exposure.

Another important part of the exam is managing medical emergency in the dental practice. One of station will definitely be there to assess how candidate handle a stimulated emergency. Honestly, this is one of the most stressful station for me. It was my first time to see a complete set of emergency drugs and I become overwhelmed when I have to search for GTN from the bunch of drugs laid out before me. I was also worried that I would need to handle the oxygen tank. From my experience, you need act a little for this station. You need to pretend as if you are single handedly handling the case even though there will be an examiner observing you in that station. It will be a little confusing whether to involve the examiner as in a real scenario he/she would be helping you. I highly recommend reading Laszlo’s book and guidelines from Resuscitation Council (UK) when revising the medical emergencies.

As I mention earlier, there will be some active station that will test your practical skills. A few examples of the possible questions are: like fabricating a temporary acrylic crown, isolating a tooth with a rubber dam, suturing, writing a referral letter, labelling structures in radiographs, designing for a partial COCR denture, finding the working length, extraoral examination, taking a biopsy sample, mounting a full mouth PA films. Remember, they just testing your clinical competence and reasoning expected of a general dental practitioner and so you need not worry that you will be questions on things that are beyond that level.

Personally, I felt I did not do well for my part 2 exam as I was inarticulate in my answers. I wasn’t the most confident that day and after finishing the exam, I walked out of the venue in a dejected spirit. I did not dare to check my results when it was release. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the word ‘passed’ and was literally jumping for joy.

How do I sign up for it?

You will need to create an account in the RCS Eng website and then sign up for the exams there. You will need to fill in some details and pay the fees for the exam once you submitted your application. For the local administration fees, you can either send in a cheque or pay with your credit card or cash in UM. Usually they allow you to do it on the exam day but make sure you call them first to confirm. Applicants for Part 1 then need to mail a certified copy of their primary dental degree certification and their registration documents to the MJDF examination department of RCS Eng. They will not send you a confirmation email that they have received the documents and so it is better you write to them if you are worried. 

As for MJDF Part 2, all you need to do is just log into RCS Eng and sign up for the examination. You don’t need to mail any documents as they already have a record of it. Comparatively, MJDF Part 2 is cheaper than MFDS Part 2 and so if you are really tight on budget, you may consider taking this paper instead.  

I hope my insight will be beneficial to those who are thinking of taking the exam especially on MJDF Part 2 as so far very few have shared their experience on the net. Please feel free to share this post to your friend who are contemplating between MFDS and MJDF. Don’t be shy to drop me a comment below if you have any doubts. I will be glad to help out.

Have a nice day and thanks for reading. Stay tuned