Iraqi Board Psychiatry exam-day guide

Re-read the official exam notice: date, venue, reporting time, ID requirements, permitted items, and dress code. Contact the provider or your program administrator about anything ambiguous (admission slip, white coat, stationery). Confirm your transport plan and, if travelling, your accommodation. Do not leave these to the last evening.

Spend the time on active recall of core scripts rather than new textbooks. Do timed mock stations with a colleague: interview a simulated patient, present the case, then answer examiner-style questions on differential, risk, and management. Record yourself if no partner is available and review for structure and clarity.

Run through a full mental-state examination in a fixed sequence (appearance and behaviour, speech, mood and affect, thought form and content, perception, cognition, insight, risk) until it is automatic. Practise asking sensitive questions about suicidal ideation, self-harm, and harm to others in a calm, direct, non-judgemental way.

Shift to a normal sleep schedule now. Avoid all-night study; a practical exam rewards a clear head and fluent communication more than one more chapter. Keep meals regular and continue any prescribed medication.

Skim your own summary notes: psychopathology definitions, psychotropic side effects, psychiatric emergencies, capacity and consent, and the structure of a case presentation. Pack your bag: ID, admission document, CV copies, pens, notebook, watch, water, snack, medication, and clothing laid out.

Confirm your alarm and transport, check the weather and traffic expectations, and set out everything you need by the door. Eat a normal dinner, avoid alcohol and heavy caffeine, and go to bed at your usual time. If you feel anxious, do a short breathing exercise rather than opening a textbook.

Eat a proper breakfast, take prescribed medication, and arrive at the venue with time to spare. Use the waiting period for slow, calm review of your case-presentation structure, not for last-minute cramming or comparing notes with anxious colleagues, which tends to raise anxiety.

Present your ID and documents at registration, follow the invigilator's instructions exactly, and store bags and phones where directed. If a phone or smart device is prohibited in the exam area, switch it off and hand it in as instructed rather than keeping it on your person.

In each station, introduce yourself, obtain consent where relevant, and proceed in a clear sequence. When presenting, lead with the headline (for example, 'This is a 34-year-old man with a first episode of psychosis and moderate suicide risk'), then support it. Examiners reward safe, organised reasoning over exhaustive detail.

Always state your risk assessment explicitly and your immediate management plan, including when you would escalate, admit, or involve senior colleagues. If you do not know an answer, say what you would do to find out and what you would do to keep the patient safe; never invent a fact or a policy.

Keep an eye on your watch and leave each station when instructed. If you freeze, take one slow breath and return to your structure: history, mental state, risk, formulation, plan. If a station goes badly, consciously let it go and start the next station fresh.

Do not attempt to reconstruct every station with colleagues immediately afterwards; it rarely helps and often distorts your memory of how you performed. Note any lessons for future exams, then rest. Results and feedback channels are set by the examining body, so check the official communication for timelines.