About this sample

An AKT-style sample, not a credentialled assessment

The Example AKT in DCRM is published as a deliberately exemplary sample: it shows a clinician what a single Acumen Quiz item looks like at the level of question writing, evidence sourcing, distractor construction, metacognitive feedback, and source-citation that they would encounter throughout the Acumen Academy programme. The format mirrors the Royal College of General Practitioners' Applied Knowledge Test — a clinical stem followed by five answer options, with one best answer — but the subject matter is pitched specifically at extended-skills primary care depth in DCRM.

This quiz is not a credentialled examination, is not a clinical decision-support tool, and is not a substitute for the MRCGP AKT itself. It is an educational self-test: a structured opportunity for UK GPs, pharmacist independent prescribers, and nurse practitioners to benchmark their DCRM clinical reasoning against current evidence-based practice, and to experience the academic register of the Acumen Academy programme before considering enrolment.

Coverage

What the 10 items test

Ten single-best-answer items spanning five integrated clinical areas drawn from the DCRM 2.0 framework as it applies to UK primary care.

Type 2 diabetes & cardiometabolic risk

SGLT2-inhibitor and GLP-1 RA positioning in established ASCVD; weight-priority therapy selection; integration with cardiometabolic-renal protective combinations.

ASCVD prevention & lipid optimisation

QRISK3 thresholds, primary-prevention statin initiation, Lp(a) screening, and identification of familial hypercholesterolaemia using Simon Broome / DLCN criteria.

Heart failure & cardiorenal continuum

HFrEF foundational quadruple therapy ordering and the cardiorenal positioning of SGLT2-inhibitors and finerenone in CKD with proteinuria.

Hypertension phenotyping

Resistant hypertension step-4 decisions using the PATHWAY-2 framework; potassium-conditioned MRA selection in the primary care setting.

MASLD & metabolic-hepatic axis

Primary-care application of the FIB-4 score; risk stratification for advanced fibrosis; thresholds for transient elastography and onward referral.

Item construction & feedback

Each item carries a metacognitive feedback explanation, names the canonical source, identifies the common cognitive error pattern, and gives the date of last editorial review.

Begin

Take the Example AKT in DCRM

10 single-best-answer items · approximately 15 minutes · metacognitive feedback after each item · source-cited explanations.

The Example AKT in DCRM appears here — the Squarespace Form Block holding the 10 single-best-answer items is inserted as a separate Squarespace block immediately below this Code Block. See deployment notes in the HTML comments. The full source-cited Question Bank is the companion Word document.

Quality assurance

How each item is built

1

Clinical stem authored from a real primary care presentation

Each stem describes a presentation a UK extended-skills clinician would plausibly meet in routine practice — with parameters (HbA1c, eGFR, ACR, BP, lipid fractions) given in the units used by NHS pathology platforms.

2

Five options with one defensible best answer

Distractors are constructed to surface common cognitive errors — anchoring on a previous guideline, conflating two indications, or applying a contraindication that no longer applies under updated evidence.

3

Metacognitive feedback explanation

The feedback names the canonical source, explains why the best answer is best, and identifies the cognitive error a clinician choosing each distractor is most likely to have made.

4

Source-cited to current published guidance

NICE NG28, NICE NG106, NICE NG136, NICE NG181, NICE NG203, NICE NG49, NICE TA775, NICE TA836, NICE TA877, NICE CG71, ESC 2023 prevention, ADA-EASD 2022 consensus, KDIGO 2024 — with the date of last editorial review on every item.

5

Quarterly currency review

Every item is re-reviewed every 90 days against current published guidance. Where a guideline updates materially, the relevant items are revised within 14 days. Stale items display a visible "review pending" warning.

After the quiz

Going deeper

If the Example AKT in DCRM has surfaced areas you would like to develop in structured depth, the Acumen Academy programme is designed for exactly that.

PG Diploma in DCRM

Six-month hybrid postgraduate programme covering the full DCRM continuum. In development, Q1 2027 launch target. Sample syllabus and register-interest available.

→ See programme

Sample Module · Menopause Postgraduate

The companion live sample module on the Acumen Academy course platform. A different topic in the same Acumen academic register.

→ Take the module

Acumen Masterclasses

Paid in-person and hybrid postgraduate masterclasses covering DCRM, menopause/andropause and adjacent topics. RCGP-applicable for CPD.

→ See calendar

Educational scope. The Example AKT in DCRM is an educational self-test, not a credentialled examination and not a clinical decision tool. It does not take patient-specific information and does not produce patient-specific recommendations. Each item is sourced to current published guidance (NICE, ESC, ADA-EASD, KDIGO) at the date of the most recent editorial review. Stale items are flagged and re-reviewed every 90 days.

Clinical decisions about individual patients should always be made within the relevant clinical context and current Royal College and regulatory guidance. The Example AKT in DCRM supplements, rather than replaces, clinical judgement and the canonical guidelines it references.

Stay informed about new Acumen Quizzes

Register interest to be notified when new Acumen Quizzes publish — one email per published quiz, nothing in between.

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