Specialty Certificate Examinations Pass Mark

From September 2020, pass standards for the Specialty Certificate Examinations are
equated using the 2019 UK trainees’ performance. Equating links all examinations from that
specialty through a significant number of well performing questions called anchors, ensuring
that the difficulty is consistent across diets. As a result, the percentage of correct answers
required for a pass could be different from diet to diet. For example, the equivalent of an
equated score of 450 could be 61% correct answers in one exam and 62% in the next exam
if the exam was easier or 59% if the exam was harder.

Examination performance is monitored annually, and the standards are reviewed by the
SCE Examination Board every three years or sooner if needed. The equated score is
different for each specialty. The pass rate can vary between specialties and across different
diets of the examination.