Sodium bicarbonate makes infrequent appearances in the SAQs. Most of them are limited to older-style "critically evaluate" questions, or invitations to compare bicarbonate to other exogenous buffer systems (such as THAM). The more recent trend towards easily graded data interpretation SAQs has seen little bicarbonate action. For instance, at one stage (2011) the candidates were asked to calculate the dose of bicarbonate replacement.
Bicarbonate-themed SAQs in the ABG interpretation section consist of only Question 6.2 from the first paper of 2011. Question 27 from the first paper of 2009 asked the candidates to compare and contrast the pharmacology of carbicarb, sodium bicarbonate and THAM; somehow the discussion of THAM has (totally arbitrarly) ended up in the fluids and electrolytes section.
Schwartz, William B., and Arnold S. Relman. "A Critique of the Parameters Used in the Evaluation of Acid-Base Disorders: Whole-Blood Buffer Base and Standard Bicarbonate Compared with Blood pH and Plasma Bicarbonate Concentration." New England Journal of Medicine 268.25 (1963): 1382-1388.
Sabatini, Sandra, and Neil A. Kurtzman. "Bicarbonate therapy in severe metabolic acidosis." Journal of the American Society of Nephrology 20.4 (2009): 692-695.
Garella, Serafino, Clare L. Dana, and Joseph A. Chazan. "Severity of metabolic acidosis as a determinant of bicarbonate requirements." New England Journal of Medicine 289.3 (1973): 121-126.
Fernandez, Pedro C., Raphael M. Cohen, and George M. Feldman. "The concept of bicarbonate distribution space: the crucial role of body buffers."Kidney international 36.5 (1989): 747.