Ok, let’s talk about the MCQ.
MCQ takes 3.5 hours.
It costs AUD 2720
You will sit in front a computer and click on the answers.
There is no basic science component (i.e. none of that Kreb Cycle, mitochondria stuff)
The questions are clinical. There might be a few applied basic science question. E.g. if the patient has numbness at in between the 1st and 2nd toe, what nerve root is that. That sort of thing.
It consists of
- 150 single best answer (out of five) questions
Now not all of the 150 questions are scored.
120 would be scored
30 would not be scored (pilot questions)
The tricky part is that you would not know which are scored and which are not. You need to finish all the questions especially the 120 scored items.
The exam would have questions that are distributed among different patient groups:
Adult Health Medicine 35 questions
Adult Health Surgery 25 questions
O&G, Paeds, Psych and Population Health – 15 questions each
That would give you a total of 120 scored questions.
Each question is scored depending on how difficult it is. (Hard question, more marks)
There is no fixed pass mark.
Your performance will be scaled with the other candidates and from there, AMC will determine what is the passing score for your cohort. (means cannot just cukup makan).
The passing rate for MCQ exams is posted on the AMC website. (Don’t worry they will not put your name there. Only your candidate number that is known only to you).
November AMC MCQ exams
Number of candidates: 569
Candidates who passed: 323
Passing rate: 56.76%
The passing rate has been around this figure.
Tough exam right? But do not worry too much. It can be done. Have a positive mindset.
To fail to prepare is to prepare to fail – Benjamin Franklin
The next entry I will advise you on how to prepare and hopefully pass the AMC MCQ.
Malaysian Doctor Down Under 
hi there, may i know where you sat the amc exams?
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Hi. I sat for amc part 1 in singapore. Part 2 there is only one place – Melbourne.
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hello, can I ask does your MRCS helps in your AMC exam preparation and CV? thank you in advance.
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Different exams. I cannot compare my preparations. Each of us are different.
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Hi Dr, may i know what study materials/resources i need to prepare for mcq part 1? apart from John Murtagh book.
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Hi Lina, I’ve already listed what I used in the MCQ post. I use Murtagh and the AMC MCQ book. I also used question banks. Please have a look at the MCQ post for more details. Thank you
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Hi Dr, may i know what study materials / books i need to prepare for my part 1 mcq exam? apart from John Murtagh’s book.
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