What Paper B tests in Research Methods, Statistics & EBM
Paper B is a written paper of about 150 questions (single-best-answer MCQs and extended matching items) sat over three hours, blueprinted against the RCPsych syllabus. Questions from this domain typically cover:
- Measures of Association
- Screening & Diagnostic Tests
- Statistical Tests, Correlation
- Study Designs
- Bias
- Confounding
- Randomisation & Blinding
- Measures of Disease Frequency
- Statistical Tests
- Type I & II Errors, Power
- Normal Distribution & Confidence Intervals
- Regression Analysis
Worked example
This is a real question from the Research Methods section, the kind you will see in Paper B:
Cohen’s kappa is a measure of:
- Sampling error
- Effect size
- Test sensitivity
- Inter-rater agreement corrected for chance
- Internal consistency
How to revise this section for Paper B
Work in short, active blocks: attempt questions first, read the explanation whether right or wrong, and log the subtopics you miss. Our weakness tracker flags any subtopic where you score below 60% so you can target revision rather than re-reading everything. Anchor your reading to the recommended text (New Oxford Textbook of Psychiatry) so your facts match the exam blueprint.
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See the full MRCPsych Paper A guide or browse all 14 revision sections.