The Membership examination of the Royal College of General Practitioners has evolved and matured as a seal and a test on completion of vocational training. More than 1000 candidates are taking the examination each year and an increasing majority are trainees who have completed their three- year training period. The whole concept and philosophy of the MRCGP has been questioned by critical cynics who refuse to accept general practice as a field of medical practice worthy of recognition as a specialty with its own core of know- ledge, skills and expertise and with its own special epidemiology,...