If you have been considering the move from Malaysia to Australia, you may already know that you will have to pass the Australian Medical Council’s Computer Adaptive Test MCQ examinations (also known as AMC Part 1) before you are eligible for a Limited Registration for Postgraduate Training or Supervised Practice with AHPRA. The only exception is if you graduated from Monash Malaysia.
Having recently passed the AMC MCQ exam on first attempt with a preparation time of 1+ month (on top of a full-time job), here are some suggestions on how to effectively study for it.
1. Use the correct resources
There are a lot of resources out there to help candidates prepare for the AMC MCQ examination, though AMC’s only official resource is their Handbook of Multiple Choice Questions. There are other suggested reading materials listed on their website.
Question banks, such as Amedex and MplusX, can be useful in testing the width of your knowledge and identifying areas of weakness for further reading. That said, it is not advisable (in my opinion) to rely solely on these question banks for preparation, because the way they phrase their questions is different from the structure of AMC MCQ prompts. I believe there is still some element of interpretation techniques required to answer the exam questions properly.
I personally started off flicking through Amedex questions for a week or two before deciding to switch over to the AMC Handbook. I managed to read the Handbook cover to cover once, and thankfully that was sufficient to get me over the line. I found the question banks useful in gaining insights into updated clinical practices in Australia, while the Handbook was helpful in honing my interpretation of questions.
2. Understand the grading system
The AMC MCQ is scored out of 500, with 250 as the passing mark. The score is however not a straightforward calculation of the percentage of questions you get correct. Ensure that you read the AMC Handbook Section 1 regarding the Examination Process to understand how you will be graded.
For the chess players out there, you could think about this grading system as something similar to the ELO rating system. My hypothesis is that all candidates start with an initial score of 250 at the beginning of the exam, with their scores adjusted up/down based on the performance throughout the exam. Correct answers on questions rated higher than the candidate’s current score results in an increase in scores, while wrong answers may not necessarily lead to penalisation. On the converse, correct answers on questions rated lower than the candidate’s current score may not necessarily raise the score, though wrong answers would most probably bring the score lower.
The exam system is supposed to narrow in with increasing accuracy on the candidate’s final score, as the exam progresses. In other words, towards the end of the exam, it should be pitching the candidate questions rated at his/her level such that he/she is able to provide correct answers consistently.
Extrapolating from the above analysis, this means that careless mistakes early on in the exam would hurt your score much more than if it occurred nearing the end. It could pay to spend slightly more time on each question at the beginning to minimise avoidable errors.
3. Understand how questions are phrased
The AMC MCQ Handbook provides commentaries to each of the questions. I found these commentaries to be very useful in understanding the thought processes behind how questions were crafted, and how to deduce the correct answer. It is important to read all of the commentaries, even if you may already have gotten the right answer. Section 4 of the Handbook also has some information regarding Question Interpretation.
4. Stick to a study method that is effective for you
This probably goes without saying, but still worth mentioning. I noticed quite a few people on Facebook looking for study partners, spending a lot of time trying to organise the “best” materials, hunting for the “best” Telegram discussion groups to join, etc. Be cautious that this time spent on “preparing to study” should not exceed the time you actually spend studying. Also, some of the discussion groups can feel like the blind leading the blind to me; just be sure to do your own reading to make sure what others are saying is factually accurate.
5. Post-exam analysis
AMC takes 4 weeks to release the results. Pass or fail, I feel it is important to review the feedback and understand how you performed in the examination.
Assuming a linear scale, the centiles seem to be as follows:
- 0th centile – 37
- 25th centile – 235
- 50th centile – not specified; 250?
- 75th centile – 280
- 100th centile – 448
Referring to your own results in relation to your exam cohort’s performance would give an indication of how much more studying is required prior to another attempt (for those who failed). For those who have passed, it’s now time to look for a job!
One Response
Thank you for taking the time to share your history with us. I casually searched for the exam on Twitter and found your article, and your article helped me a lot! It would be easier if you’d move on to the next step without giving other students your feedback, but you chose to do so and I’m grateful for that. You took the time to write and help, and I’m taking my time to congratulate you and thank you. Cheers from Brazil, and from a future co-worker! hahaha