highly significantp < 0.001
Correlations between examination parts There were highly significant correlations at the candidate level for performance on first attempts at different parts of the examination (Part 1 with Part 2, r = 0.600, n = 2492, p < 0.001; Part 1 with PACES, r = 0.247, n = 1250, p < 0.001; Part 2 with PACES, r = 0.260, n = 2074, p < 0.001; see Figures S4–6 in Additional file 1 ) indicating a reasonably high degree of stability in performance within individuals.