SMLE ENT & Family Medicine MCQs: Practice Questions With Explanations

Sample SMLE MCQs from ENT and Family Medicine — together 109 questions in HighYield's SMLE bank without a dedicated practice post yet — covering core otolaryngology signs and primary-care fundamentals, each with the correct answer explained.

ENT and Family Medicine are 55 and 54-question subjects respectively in HighYield's SMLE bank — smaller subjects that are easy to under-revise, but still tested on every sitting. Below is a sample set of ENT and Family Medicine MCQs in the same one-line clinical-vignette format as the real exam.

ENT

1. On tuning fork testing, a patient has a Rinne test negative on the left (bone conduction > air conduction) and Weber lateralising to the left ear. This pattern indicates:

A) Left sensorineural hearing loss
B) Left conductive hearing loss ✅
C) Right sensorineural hearing loss
D) Bilateral conductive hearing loss

2. The most common source of anterior epistaxis, a vascular watershed area on the anterior nasal septum, is known as:

A) Woodruff's plexus
B) Kiesselbach's plexus (Little's area) ✅
C) The sphenopalatine artery
D) The anterior ethmoidal artery alone

3. A muffled ("hot potato") voice, trismus and uvular deviation away from the affected side in a patient with a sore throat suggests:

A) Acute tonsillitis
B) Peritonsillar abscess (quinsy) ✅
C) Epiglottitis
D) Retropharyngeal abscess

4. Episodic vertigo lasting minutes to hours, accompanied by fluctuating sensorineural hearing loss and tinnitus, is the classic triad of:

A) Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo
B) Ménière's disease ✅
C) Vestibular neuritis
D) Acoustic neuroma

5. Ecchymosis over the mastoid process following head trauma, known as Battle's sign, is a clinical indicator of a:

A) Nasal bone fracture
B) Basilar (middle/posterior fossa) skull fracture ✅
C) Zygomatic arch fracture
D) Mandibular fracture

Family Medicine

6. Which principle is considered a defining feature of family medicine as a specialty, distinguishing it from single-organ specialties?

A) Episodic, problem-focused care only
B) First-contact, continuous and comprehensive care ✅
C) Care restricted to a single body system
D) Care provided only in a hospital setting

7. According to the WHO classification, a body mass index (BMI) of 30 kg/m² or above is classified as:

A) Overweight
B) Obese ✅
C) Normal weight
D) Class III obesity only

8. In the "5 A's" framework used for brief smoking-cessation counselling in primary care, the first step is to:

A) Advise
B) Ask ✅
C) Assist
D) Arrange

9. A screening test with high sensitivity but low specificity for a disease will most typically produce:

A) Many false negatives, few false positives
B) Few false negatives, many false positives ✅
C) Few false negatives and few false positives
D) Many false negatives and many false positives

10. Which of the following is a live attenuated vaccine, requiring caution in immunocompromised patients?

A) Inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV)
B) Measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine ✅
C) Hepatitis B vaccine
D) Tetanus toxoid

Why These Deserve Dedicated Revision

ENT and Family Medicine carry less weight than Medicine or Pediatrics on the SMLE blueprint, but the pass mark is set on the whole paper, not per subject — a weak spot here costs exactly as much as one in a bigger section, and both subjects reward the same pattern-recognition style of revision as the rest of the exam.

HighYield's SMLE question bank covers ENT and Family Medicine alongside Medicine, Surgery, Pediatrics, Dermatology and every other SCFHS domain, with every question explained. For the full exam picture, see our SMLE Exam Guide. Start with your first questions free, no sign-in required.