12 sample questions from the 131 Behavioural Sciences questions in FCPS-1 Prep. Choose an answer to see why it is right and why each other option is wrong.
A man with pancreatic cancer is admitted. His brother asks you not to tell the patient the diagnosis. The patient has full capacity and asks you what is wrong. What should you do?
Answer: Tell him honestly and sensitively
A competent adult has the right to information about his own health (autonomy). Families cannot overrule this. Explore the brother's concerns and break the news sensitively, at the patient's pace, using a structured approach such as SPIKES. Information is withheld only if the patient himself does not want to know.
Breaking bad news: SPIKES
Capacity → patient decides who knows
Remember The patient's truth belongs to the patient.
Why the other options are wrong
Follow the brother's wishes Breaches the patient's autonomy and trust.
Tell the brother and let him decide Breaches confidentiality; the patient decides who is told.
Wait until the consultant returns Delaying an honest answer to a direct question is not acceptable.
Give him a leaflet to read first A leaflet does not replace a direct, sensitive conversation when he asks.
Question 2Medium
What does DOTS stand for in tuberculosis control?
Answer: Directly Observed Treatment, Short-course
DOTS is the WHO strategy: political commitment, sputum-based diagnosis, standardised short-course treatment with directly observed doses, regular drug supply, and recording and reporting. Watching patients take their drugs improves adherence and reduces drug resistance.
DOTS
Directly Observed Treatment, Short-course
Aim: adherence → prevent MDR-TB
Standard: 2 months HRZE + 4 months HR
Remember Watch them swallow it.
Why the other options are wrong
Directly Observed Therapy, Standard regimen The 'S' stands for short-course chemotherapy.
Daily Observed Treatment Scheme Not the WHO name of the strategy.
Drug Observation and Treatment Strategy Not the WHO name of the strategy.
Directly Observed Testing of Sputum Sputum testing is one component, not the meaning of DOTS.
Question 3Medium
A woman is firmly convinced that a well-known neighbour is secretly in love with her, though he has never spoken to her. What is this delusion called?
Answer: Erotomania (de Clérambault syndrome)
Erotomania is a fixed false belief that another person, usually of higher status, is in love with the patient. Othello syndrome is a delusion that one's partner is unfaithful. Capgras delusion is the belief that a familiar person has been replaced by an impostor.
Named delusions
Erotomania: someone loves me (de Clérambault)
Othello: partner is unfaithful
Capgras: impostor; Cotard: I am dead
Remember Clérambault = 'He loves me'.
Why the other options are wrong
Delusion of jealousy (Othello syndrome) Belief that the partner is unfaithful.
Capgras delusion Belief that someone is an impostor.
Delusion of persecution Belief of being harmed or followed.
Delusion of grandeur Belief of special powers or importance.
Question 4Medium
Which personality pattern is most associated with a higher risk of coronary heart disease?
Answer: Type A
Type A behaviour (time urgency, competitiveness and especially hostility) has been linked to higher risk of coronary heart disease; hostility is the strongest component. Type B people are relaxed and patient. Type C has been suggested (with weak evidence) for cancer.
Personality and heart disease
Type A: hurry, compete, hostility → ↑ CHD
Type B: relaxed
Hostility is the key toxic trait
Remember Type A = Angry Arteries.
Exam trap Some question books key 'Type B'; Type A is the high-risk pattern.
A doctor is about to tell a patient that biopsy shows cancer. Which is the best first step?
Answer: Private setting; ask what they know
The SPIKES framework: Setting (private, seated, time), Perception (what the patient knows), Invitation (how much they want to know), Knowledge (warning shot, plain language, small chunks), Emotions (acknowledge them) and Strategy and Summary (plan, follow-up).
Breaking bad news: SPIKES
Give a warning shot, then plain words
Remember SPIKES: set the room before you set the news.
Why the other options are wrong
Give all results at once in jargon Jargon and overload are unhelpful.
Tell the family first without consent Breaches confidentiality.
Wait for the patient to ask The doctor should start the conversation, after checking what the patient knows and wants.
Start with the treatment options Comes after giving the news and responding to emotion.
Question 6Medium
Which model of the doctor–patient relationship involves the doctor and patient sharing information and deciding together?
Answer: Mutual participation
Szasz and Hollender described three models: activity–passivity (doctor acts on a passive patient, e.g. unconscious), guidance–cooperation (doctor directs, patient cooperates, e.g. acute illness) and mutual participation (shared decisions, e.g. chronic illness). Shared decision-making is now preferred for most care.
A smoker says, 'I know I should stop, and I'm thinking about it, but not yet.' Which stage of change is he in?
Answer: Contemplation
Prochaska and DiClemente's stages: precontemplation (not considering change), contemplation (thinking about it, ambivalent), preparation (planning soon, small steps), action (changing), maintenance (sustaining), with possible relapse. Motivational interviewing helps move people through contemplation.
A pharmaceutical company offers a doctor an expensive foreign trip if he prescribes more of their drug. What should he do?
Answer: Decline: conflict of interest
Doctors must not accept gifts or hospitality that could affect, or be seen to affect, their prescribing. Patient interests must come first, and prescribing should be evidence-based. Professional codes (including PMDC's) prohibit such inducements.
Conflicts of interest
Decline inducements linked to prescribing
Prescribe on evidence
Declare any interests
Remember If it could sway your pen, say no.
Why the other options are wrong
Accept, since everyone does it Common practice does not make it ethical.
Accept but prescribe as usual The conflict of interest remains.
Accept if the drug is effective Still an inducement.
Accept if it includes a lecture An educational label does not remove the inducement linked to prescribing.
Question 10Medium
In Piaget's theory, a child who understands that water poured into a taller glass is the same amount has reached which stage?
Answer: Concrete operational
Piaget: sensorimotor (object permanence), preoperational (egocentric, symbolic play, no conservation), concrete operational (conservation, logical thinking about concrete objects), formal operational (abstract and hypothetical reasoning). The oral stage is Freud's.
Remember Conservation arrives with concrete thinking.
Why the other options are wrong
Sensorimotor Object permanence.
Preoperational Lacks conservation.
Formal operational Abstract thought.
Oral stage Freud's psychosexual stage.
Question 11Medium
A junior doctor gave the wrong dose of a drug, but the patient was not harmed. What should she do?
Answer: Tell the patient and report it
Doctors should be open and honest when things go wrong (duty of candour), apologise, and report incidents and near misses so the system can learn. A blame-free reporting culture improves safety; altering records is dishonest misconduct.
Medication errors
Be open and honest, apologise
Report incidents and near misses
Never alter records
Remember Tell, report, learn.
Why the other options are wrong
Say nothing since no harm Near misses must still be reported.
Correct the drug chart quietly Falsifying records.
Blame the nurse Unprofessional.
Wait to see if harm develops Delays honesty.
Question 12Medium
Which document sets out the international ethical principles for medical research on human participants?
Answer: Declaration of Helsinki
The Declaration of Helsinki (World Medical Association) requires informed consent, ethics committee review, favourable risk–benefit balance, protection of vulnerable groups and use of placebo only when justified. The Nuremberg Code followed Nazi experiments. Geneva is a physician's pledge; Alma-Ata concerns primary health care.
Ethics documents
Research: Helsinki, Nuremberg Code
Primary health care: Alma-Ata 1978
Health promotion: Ottawa 1986
Remember Helsinki for human research.
Why the other options are wrong
Hippocratic Oath Ancient professional oath.
Declaration of Geneva Modern physician's pledge.
Alma-Ata Declaration Primary health care (1978).
Ottawa Charter Health promotion (1986).
Topics covered
Psychology, Psychiatry, Ethics, Communication, Epidemiology, Psychosocial health, Public health, Psychosocial, Community medicine, Professionalism, Research ethics, Preventive medicine, Addiction, Medical ethics, Doctor–patient relationship, Health behaviour, Development, Patient safety, Behavioural sciences, Habituation
Frequently asked questions
How many FCPS Part 1 Behavioural Sciences questions are in the bank?
There are 131 Behavioural Sciences questions in FCPS-1 Prep, each with an explanation for every option.
Are these past paper questions?
No. Every question is original, written by us and mapped to the published CPSP FCPS Part 1 syllabus.
