1. Delirium and dementia (20 questions)
Cognitive issues carry more questions than any single specialty. Know how to screen for delirium (for example the 4AT), find and treat the cause, and manage distress without reaching for sedation first. For dementia, know the subtypes, the evidence for cholinesterase inhibitors and memantine, and why antipsychotics are dangerous in dementia with Lewy bodies.
A further 7 questions cover old age psychiatry beyond cognition: depression, anxiety, late-onset psychosis and the drugs used for them in frail patients.
2. Falls and poor mobility (16 questions)
Expect multifactorial falls assessment, orthostatic hypotension, syncope, gait disorders and medication review. Questions often hinge on the single change that most reduces risk, such as stopping a culprit drug.
3. Stroke care (15 questions)
Cover the hyperacute pathway (thrombolysis and thrombectomy eligibility), secondary prevention, anticoagulation timing in atrial fibrillation, carotid intervention and post-stroke complications. Follow the National Clinical Guideline for Stroke for the UK and Ireland, which the exam board lists as a core resource.
4. Rehabilitation and teamworking (14 questions)
These questions test how you run a multidisciplinary team, set goals and decide where a patient goes next. Pair this with the 9 questions on discharge, intermediate care and long-term care.
5. Neurology within general medicine (10 questions)
Parkinson's disease dominates. Know time-critical medication, which antiemetics to avoid, and how to manage hallucinations and falls in Parkinson's.
The area most people fail: geriatric assessment
In 2025, geriatric assessment and management had the lowest scores of any topic: 47.6% for UK resident doctors and 43.4% for other candidates. It has only 6 questions, but a weak area costs marks you can easily recover.
Revise comprehensive geriatric assessment, frailty scales, mental capacity, and deprescribing. These questions reward practical judgement, so practise explaining why one option beats the others.
Do not skip the smaller topics
Orthogeriatrics and continence carry 10 questions each, and palliative care 9. Basic science carries 8: the physiology of ageing and pharmacokinetics in older people. These are compact topics where focused revision pays off quickly.
Put it into practice
Work through questions topic by topic, then switch to mixed timed papers in the final month. The License Medical Geriatric Medicine question bank is organised by blueprint area, so you can track your scores against the topics that matter most.
Sources: SCE in Geriatric Medicine blueprint and 2025 results report, the Federation of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the UK (thefederation.uk).