The development of the examination for membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners.

When the College of General Practitioners was formed in 1952 criteria for Foundation Membership included length of service in general practice and a commitment to continuing education. Membership was somewhat later made available to those whose application was supported by sponsors testifying to the applicant's high standards of practice. Some candidates had to submit to an interview: all had to give an undertaking to uphold and promote the aims of the College. In 1954 an examination committee was established and eleven years later in 1965 a Court of Examiners was approved and the first examination was held. The aim of the examination was to test the competence of the ordinary general practitioner in his work by assessing his or her knowledge of the details of clinical medicine and the ancillary services. Five sat and four passed that first examination from the whole of the British Isles. From 1965-1967 few candidates sat the examination and the November 1967 examination was cancelled because of lack of support. At the annual general meeting of the College in 1967 it was decided that the normal route to membership would be by examination only. The first compulsory examination for entrance to the College was held in November 1968. There were 32 candidates. In 1969 71 candidates passed and in 1970 67 candidates were successful. In 1970 the MRCGP became a registrable qualification with the General Medical Council. The great development of the examination coincided with the introduction of vocational training. When vocational trainees became an increasing proportion of candidates the original aim of the examination "to test the competence of the ordinary general practitioner in his work" was revised in 1980 "to assess the knowledge and competence appropriate to the general practitioner on completion of vocational training". ASSESSMENT OF GENERAL PRACTITIONERS Assessment is defined as being "measurement by as objective a method as possible of the learning achieved by the learner". There are immense difficulties in devising methods of assessing a general practitioner on completion of vocational training. These difficulties include establishing what is already known by the learner before entering general practice, measuring any change during the training course and defining precisely what has to be learned.