Core Revision
Core Revision · The IMG Hub
Your NHS career starts here.
If you trained as a doctor outside the UK and you’re building a life and a career in the NHS, this hub is yours. Everything here is free, written by practising UK GPs, and kept in one calm place — the system explained, the paperwork untangled, the people who’ll have your back.
More than 4 in 10 GPs working in the UK trained overseas. IMGs aren’t guests in the NHS — they’re colleagues at the heart of it.
Start here Browse the resource directoryStart here
Three guides, one calm path
You don’t need to read everything today. Start with whichever question is loudest right now.
Understanding the NHS
How the system actually works — in plain English, with the best free videos. No jargon without a translation.
Guide twoYour first 90 days
A step-by-step checklist from before you arrive to the end of your third month — admin, induction, and settling in.
Guide threeExams, through IMG eyes
MSRA, AKT and SCA — what each one quietly assumes if you trained abroad, and how to prepare calmly.
The map
Your journey, in five phases
Every IMG’s path has the same shape, even when the details differ. Find your phase — the hub meets you there.
- 1Wondering
“Could the UK be for me?” Routes in, honest costs and timelines. Guides coming soon.
- 2Preparing
Visa, GMC registration, documents, money, family. Start with phase one of the checklist — much of it can be done before you fly.
- 3Landing
The first 90 days: the admin fortnight, induction, finding your feet. The checklist lives here.
- 4Growing
The training years: the system, the consultation culture, and the exams — with Core Revision beside you.
- 5Thriving & giving back
Sharing your story on Core Wisdom, mentoring the next cohort. Tell us your story.
Watch
The NHS, Explained — our video series
Short, captioned episodes that explain one piece of the system at a time — made for doctors joining it, in the same calm voice as everything else here.
Playing now: Episode 1 of our own series — Why does everyone start at the GP? All twelve short, captioned episodes are on the series page, and our Understanding the NHS guide walks the same ground step by step.
Interactive tools
Tools that translate the NHS
Free, no sign-up, built to be used — not just read.
The NHS Jargon Decoder
Sixty-plus abbreviations and tribal phrases — ICE, QOF, 2WW, “the bleep” — searchable, with a test-yourself mode.
Core ToolThe UK Consultation Phrasebook
Real phrases for every moment of the UK consultation — with the culture decoded underneath each one.
Core ToolThe NHS Payslip Decoder
Tax codes, NI, pension tiers — and why your first payslip is nearly always wrong. Tap each line to decode it.
Core ToolMy Route to GP
Five questions, and your realistic route into GP training under the 2026 rules — mapped step by step, with the right guide at each stage.
Core ToolThe Drug Name Translator
Acetaminophen → paracetamol, albuterol → salbutamol, Augmentin → co-amoxiclav — search any name you trained with, get the one the BNF uses.
Core ToolThe NHS Grade Decoder
Attending, resident, SHO, registrar, trust grade — the whole title ladder decoded, with where IMGs usually step on.
The directory
Every good IMG resource, in one place
The GMC and NHS induction essentials, the BMA, the networks that feel like home, and the best deanery-built collections — kept on one calm, maintained page.
A word about exams
A gap in the system, not a gap in you
It’s well documented that IMGs, as a group, pass UK postgraduate exams at lower rates than UK graduates — researchers call it differential attainment. Here is what that evidence actually shows: the gap tracks familiarity with the UK’s consultation culture and exam formats, not clinical ability. Skills like exploring ideas, concerns and expectations, sharing decisions, and safety-netting are examined here in a way they may never have been named where you trained.
That is learnable. It’s a preparation problem, and preparation problems have answers. Core Revision was built by GPs to give every candidate — wherever they trained — the same calm structure: know the exam, know yourself, plan the weeks, practise actively.
A note from us
Hello — we’re Victoria and David
Core Revision is built by the two of us — both GPs, and both of us write the questions. Victoria designed and built the revision ecosystem itself — the tools, the Compass, the calendars — and David keeps the content anchored in day-to-day practice. We built this hub because colleagues who trained overseas kept telling us the same thing: the medicine travels fine — it’s the map that’s missing.
So this is our attempt at the map. If anything here is unclear, out of date or missing, write to us at admin@corerevision.com — it reaches us, not a ticket queue.
P.S. — we also wrote a page for your family: plain English, no jargon, made to be forwarded to the group chat that keeps asking how it’s really going.
Quick answers
Questions IMGs ask us most
Is the IMG Hub really free?
Yes — every guide, tool and video in this section is free, with no sign-up. Core Revision makes its living from exam revision memberships; the IMG Hub is our welcome, not our shop window.
I trained outside the UK — can I become a GP here?
Yes. Doctors who trained overseas apply to UK GP specialty training through the same national process as UK graduates (full GMC registration, then the MSRA-based application). More than 4 in 10 GPs working in the UK today trained abroad. From 2027, though, the law requires priority applicants to be considered first for training offers. Priority depends on where you qualified (the UK, Ireland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland), UK Foundation Programme training or immigration status (British or Irish citizenship, right of abode, indefinite leave to remain or EU Settlement Scheme status). Overseas-trained doctors outside the priority group may still be offered a place once everyone in it has been considered. The BMA’s international doctors hub covers eligibility and visas step by step.
What’s the best NHS induction for international doctors?
Start with two free official ones: the NHS e-learning induction programme for IMGs (do it from anywhere, even before you fly) and the GMC’s Welcome to UK Practice workshop. Then take any local induction your trust or deanery offers — the repetition helps.
Why do IMGs pass UK exams at lower rates — and should I worry?
The gap is real and well researched, and the evidence points to familiarity with UK consultation culture and exam formats — not ability. Those are learnable skills, which is exactly what this hub and our revision tools are for. Worry less; prepare differently.
Say hello
We’d like to hear from you
If a resource here is out of date, if something confused you in your first months that we haven’t covered, or if you’d like to share your own IMG story on Core Wisdom — write to us at admin@corerevision.com. This hub gets better every time an IMG tells us what was missing.
This page shares general information and links, not immigration, legal or financial advice — for visa and employment questions, use the BMA and GOV.UK links above or speak to your employer. Written by the Core Revision team · Reviewed by a practising GP · Last reviewed July 2026.