MENTORING FOR EXAM SUCCESS

Supporting a doctor through postgraduate exams is one of the most important things a supervisor can do, and one of the least supported. You want to help. But good intentions are not a method. Without a structured approach, supervision around exam preparation often defaults to encouragement, signposting, and hoping the trainee figures it out. That is not enough, and most supervisors know it.

This workshop, designed for doctors by doctors, gives supervisors the practical tools to have genuinely useful coaching conversations with trainees who are preparing for postgraduate exams. Drawing on the science of learning, performance psychology, and brain health, participants explore what actually gets in the way of exam success for busy clinicians, and how to address it. Through facilitated reflection, small group discussion, and applied skills practice, you will leave with a concrete coaching framework you can use in your next supervision meeting.

The workshop is built around three foundations that sit at the heart of effective exam support: Build the Brain, Build the Method, Build the Meaning. Each one directly addresses why capable, committed doctors underperform in exams, and what a skilled supervisor can do to change that.

To equip supervisors with the coaching skills, learning science knowledge, and practical frameworks needed to support trainees in building sustainable, effective exam preparation, enabling them to guide with confidence rather than good intentions alone.

• Understand why capable, hardworking doctors underperform in exams, and recognise the specific barriers your trainees are most likely facing.
• Explore the three foundations of effective exam preparation and how to use them as a coaching framework in supervision conversations.
• Develop the skills to ask the right questions rather than give the right answers, moving from advice-giver to performance coach.
• Apply evidence-based learning strategies including retrieval practice, spaced repetition, and interleaving in your guidance, so your trainees are studying smarter, not just harder.
• Support trainees in building realistic preparation plans that account for rota demands, energy patterns, and the inevitable disruption of clinical life.
• Help trainees understand what postgraduate exams are actually assessing, so their effort is directed where it genuinely counts.
• Recognise when a trainee needs a different kind of conversation, whether that is about confidence, anxiety, meaning, or the decision to continue at all.
• Leave with a practical supervision framework and a set of clear commitments for how you will approach exam support going forward.