Prohibited materials and cheating

The following items are not permitted to be taken into any examination room, including any pre-exam or post-exam waiting areas (for clinical/viva exams):

• mobile phones
• all watches (both digital and analogue)
• calculators
• pencil cases and glasses cases
• portable computers
• tablets
• or other electronic audio-recording devices (e.g. audio-recording wrist bands, pens, spectacles, mp3 players, iPods, iPads etc )
• any notes, books, textbooks or other materials

A candidate who takes prohibited equipment or materials into an examination room will be informed that he or she must leave the examination room immediately and will not be permitted to take further part in the examination.

The candidate's result for the examination will not be approved and any examination fees paid will be forfeited. The matter will also be reported to the relevant Specialty Training Board or the Clinical Director IMG Assessments for consideration as to whether a misconduct investigation should be conducted.

Cheating is defined as, but is not limited to:

• gaining or attempting to gain access to any materials such as specimens or images, or patients involved in the examination, prior to an examination;
• copying, or allowing another candidate to copy, answers during the course of an examination;
• disseminating or making available questions or answers to another candidate or prospective candidate relating to the current examination;
• procuring knowledge of the questions, and their answers, from anyone before the examination.

If a candidate is suspected of cheating, they will not be given extra time at the end of the examination for any reason, including time taken for discussions with the person who has identified the incident.