BCBR exam syllabus — the 23 assessed lectures
The course has 25 lectures, and the first 23 each end with an assignment, from what health research is to publication ethics. BCBR Buddy has 30 practice questions for each of these 23 lectures, 690 in total. The first 5 lectures are free.
Each lecture ends with an online assignment, and as per the ICMR–NIE course page you need 50% in all 23 before you can register for the final proctored exam. The course is self-paced, and there is no deadline for the assignments. The last date that matters is exam registration, which closes about 2-4 weeks before each exam. The exam dates page has them.
The order below is the same as the course, and it is better to follow it, because the later lectures use terms from the earlier ones. If you are short on time, lectures 6, 8, 11 and 12 have a lot of what the exam asks. That is where I would spend the last week.
| # | Lecture | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction to health researchFree What counts as health research, and the three reviews every study faces: scientific, ethics, regulatory. | 30 |
| 2 | Formulating research questionFree The life cycle of research, and the verbs used for descriptive vs analytical objectives. | 30 |
| 3 | Literature reviewFree Information seeking, retrieval, critical appraisal and systematic review. These four terms come again and again. | 30 |
| 4 | Measures of disease frequencyFree Incidence versus prevalence, rates versus ratios versus proportions. | 30 |
| 5 | Descriptive study designsFree Case reports, case series, cross-sectional and ecological studies, and what each can and cannot show. | 30 |
| 6 | Analytical study designs Cohort and case-control: direction of enquiry, odds ratio versus relative risk. | 30 |
| 7 | Experimental study designs: Clinical trials Randomisation, blinding, allocation concealment, and trial phases. | 30 |
| 8 | Validity of epidemiological studies Selection bias, information bias and confounding, and why confounding can be fixed but bias can't. | 30 |
| 9 | Qualitative research methods: An overview In-depth interviews, focus groups, saturation, and when numbers are not the right tool. | 30 |
| 10 | Measurement of study variables Scales of measurement, validity versus reliability, sensitivity versus specificity. | 30 |
| 11 | Sampling methods Probability vs non-probability sampling, and why convenience sampling is bad for generalisability. | 30 |
| 12 | Calculating sample size and power Alpha, beta, power, effect size, and what makes the sample size go up or down. | 30 |
| 13 | Selection of study population Target, accessible and study populations; inclusion and exclusion criteria. | 30 |
| 14 | Study plan and project management Time, cost and quality, the three things that decide whether a project fails. | 30 |
| 15 | Designing data collection tools Questionnaire construction, question order, pre-testing and pilot studies. | 30 |
| 16 | Principles of data collection Training data collectors, supervision, and the errors that happen during fieldwork. | 30 |
| 17 | Data management Entry, cleaning, validation, double entry, and the audit trail. | 30 |
| 18 | Overview of data analysis Descriptive and inferential statistics, choosing a test, p-values and confidence intervals. | 30 |
| 19 | Ethical framework for health research Autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, justice; informed consent and vulnerable groups. | 30 |
| 20 | Conducting clinical trials GCP, regulatory approvals, adverse event reporting, and trial registration. | 30 |
| 21 | Preparing a concept paper for research projects How to turn a research question into a one-page concept paper for funding. | 30 |
| 22 | Elements of a protocol for research studies Every section a protocol must contain, and what belongs in each. | 30 |
| 23 | Publication ethics Authorship criteria, plagiarism, redundant publication, conflict of interest. | 30 |
Lectures 24 (Manuscript writing) and 25 (Grant proposal writing) are part of the course but have no assignment, so they are not in the table.
How to work through it
Each lecture also has a one-page revision note, with what its questions test and the differences you need to know. The notes for the first 5 lectures are free.
Go lecture by lecture, in order, and solve instead of reading. Do a lecture’s 30 questions till nothing in them surprises you, then move on. Then come back to your mistakes. The app keeps every question you got wrong in one place for this. This is how I did it myself, and I had only 4 days.
If your exam is close, enter your exam date in the app and it will tell you how many questions to do each day.
Common questions
How many lectures are in the BCBR course?
25. The first 23 each end with an assignment, and you need 50% in each to give the exam. They go from what health research is, through study design, sampling, sample size, data collection and analysis, to research ethics and publication ethics. Lectures 24 and 25, on manuscript writing and grant proposal writing, have no assignment.
Is there a deadline to finish the BCBR course?
No. The course has been self-paced since April 2022. The official SWAYAM-NPTEL course page says enrolment is open all year, and there is no deadline for enrolment or for submitting assignments. The last date that matters is exam registration, which closes about 2-4 weeks before each exam.
Do I need a statistics background for BCBR?
No, and this is the most common worry I hear. BCBR covers research methods, biostatistics and a lot of ethics, but it tests understanding, not calculations. You need to know what a p-value means and when a test is the wrong one, not how to calculate anything.
Which BCBR lectures are the hardest?
In my experience, sampling, sample size and the analysis lectures. Not because the ideas are hard, but because there are many terms and the differences between them are small. Study design and ethics are mostly common sense. That is why the explanations in BCBR Buddy focus on the difference between confusing terms, not just the right answer.
How many practice questions are there for each BCBR lecture?
30 for each of the 23 lectures, 690 in total, each with the answer and an explanation. 20 of them have a note where the official answer is different from the standard books. I still mark the official answer, because that is what gets you the mark in the exam.
Can I try the BCBR question bank before paying?
Yes. The first 5 lectures are free: 150 questions with full explanations, and a 10-question mock test preview. No card needed.