Applied knowledge test (AKT)
- Applied knowledge test (AKT)
- Clinical and professional skills assessment (CPSA)
- Supporting medical schools
The applied knowledge test (AKT) is a written assessment of applied clinical knowledge. It's one of the two components of the MLA, alongside the clinical and professional skills assessment (CPSA).
UK medical schools are working together, through the Medical Schools Council (MSC), to set and administer a GMC-regulated national AKT. The medical school (MS) AKT will be delivered for all students graduating from UK medical schools in their penultimate, or final, year of study.
The MS AKT will be constructed centrally by medical schools collaborating together, and delivered locally. It will be regulated and quality assured by us, and have a common format, test standard, delivery process and policy framework.
We'll oversee the MS AKT’s central design and development for quality, consistency, and fairness; and quality assure the exam against a set of published AKT requirements.
Further detail can be found in your proposal document, which was coordinated and submitted by MSC in May 2021 - and approved by our Council - in June 2021.
AKT requirements
The AKT requirements, available under AKT downloads below, were published as an annex to the MLA framework and circulated to you in March 2021. They specify the requirements that an AKT must meet for it to count towards a student's MLA.
The requirements were developed in collaboration with stakeholders and with the advice of independent assessment experts.
Quality assuring your AKT: next steps
You can now start to upload your AKT narrative and evidence to GMC Connect, our secure online portal.
You can work on your submission; make and save changes, and revisit it at any time until the deadline of 31 January 2023.
Guidance is available to help support you in the preparation of your submission. It can be viewed under AKT downloads below; alongside a template to help in the drafting and information gathering process.
Once submissions have been received, we'll work with schools to help ensure they are as comprehensive as possible for the review team, ahead of sign-off in November 2023.
If medical schools have any questions, or would like further support, our MLA team is happy to help. Please email: mla@gmc-uk.org.
