MMDC Medical Licensing Exam study guide
MMDC Medical Licensing Exam · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The MMDC Medical Licensing Exam is a multiple-choice licensing assessment intended for physicians who are preparing to practise under the MMDC credential and for candidates whose training or registration pathway requires it. It tests broad, integrated medical knowledge rather than a single specialty, drawing on internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics, psychiatry, pharmacology, pathology, ethics, public health and clinical skills. The MMDC Medical Licensing Exam study guide has 10 sections and about 3,070 words.
01Internal Medicine
Internal medicine questions reward a disciplined approach: identify the syndrome, generate a short differential, and let the most specific finding discriminate. Master the classic patterns - heart failure (orthopnea, elevated JVP, S3, BNP), acute coronary syndrome (risk factors, ECG territory, troponin kinetics), COPD versus asthma (reversibility, smoking history, eosinophils), diabetes (diagnostic thresholds, complications), thyroid disease, and acid-base disorders.
307 words, about 2 min02Surgery
Surgical questions test triage and sequence more than operative detail. Know the acute abdomen differential by quadrant and by onset: appendicitis (migratory pain, McBurney point, Rovsing), cholecystitis (right upper quadrant, Murphy sign, ultrasound), pancreatitis (epigastric radiation to back, lipase 3× normal), bowel obstruction (crampy pain, vomiting, distension, air-fluid levels), perforation (rigid abdomen, free air), and mesenteric ischemia (pain out of proportion to exam).
296 words, about 1 min03Obstetrics and Gynecology
Obstetrics rewards a timeline mindset: know what is normal at each gestational age and what deviates. Master dating (last menstrual period, ultrasound crown-rump length in the first trimester), prenatal screening windows, and the major emergencies by trimester: ectopic pregnancy (first trimester, unilateral pain, adnexal mass), miscarriage subtypes, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (preeclampsia after 20 weeks, severe features, eclampsia), placenta previa (painless bleeding), abruption (painful bleeding, uterine tenderness), and postpartum hemorrhage (uterine atony most common).
330 words, about 2 min04Pediatrics
Pediatric questions hinge on developmental stage and age-specific norms. Know newborn transition (APGAR, jaundice timing - physiologic after 24 hours, pathologic within 24 hours), feeding and growth expectations, and immunization schedules.
301 words, about 2 min05Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Psychiatry questions test pattern recognition across time course and function. Know the diagnostic anchors: major depressive disorder (2 weeks, five or more symptoms, functional impairment), bipolar disorder (mania: elevated mood or irritability plus increased energy, decreased need for sleep, grandiosity, risky behavior), schizophrenia (6 months, positive and negative symptoms, functional decline), and anxiety disorders by trigger and duration.
333 words, about 2 min06Pharmacology and Therapeutics
Pharmacology questions reward knowing mechanism, key adverse effect, and monitoring for high-yield drug classes. Master anticoagulants (heparin - aPTT, protamine reversal; warfarin - INR, vitamin K; direct oral anticoagulants), antihypertensives (ACE inhibitors causing cough and hyperkalemia; thiazides causing hypokalemia and hyperuricemia), antibiotics by mechanism (beta-lactams cell wall, macrolides 50S, fluoroquinolones DNA gyrase), and diabetes agents (metformin and lactic acidosis risk in renal failure; insulin hypoglycemia).
300 words, about 2 min07Pathology and Pathophysiology
Pathology questions connect mechanism to morphology. Know the core processes: inflammation (acute versus chronic, granulomas), cell injury and death (necrosis types - coagulative, caseating, fat, liquefactive - versus apoptosis), neoplasia (benign versus malignant, carcinoma versus sarcoma, tumor markers, staging versus grading), hemodynamics (thrombosis, embolism, infarction, edema), and the major organ system pathologies (atherosclerosis, cirrhosis, nephrotic and nephritic glomerular disease, emphysema versus chronic bronchitis).
275 words, about 1 min08Medical Ethics and Professionalism
Ethics questions test the four principles - autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice - applied to concrete situations. Know informed consent (capacity, disclosure, voluntariness, understanding), decision-making capacity (understanding, appreciation, reasoning, expressing a choice), and surrogate decision-making (substituted judgment, then best interests).
313 words, about 2 min09Public Health and Preventive Medicine
Public health questions test epidemiology, screening, and prevention. Know measures of disease frequency (incidence - new cases; prevalence - all cases), measures of association (relative risk for cohort studies, odds ratio for case-control), and the interpretation of sensitivity, specificity, and predictive value.
310 words, about 2 min10Clinical Skills and Patient Safety
Clinical skills questions test communication, physical examination reasoning, and systems safety. Know the structure of the medical interview (open-ended to focused), the elements of a complete history, and how to deliver bad news (prepare, assess understanding, share information, respond to emotion, plan).
305 words, about 2 min