TL;DR
AMC MCQ passing score: 250 on a 0–500 scaled score. It’s an ability estimate from the adaptive test, not a percentage of correct answers, and the AMC raised the underlying standard slightly from 2026.
AMC MCQ results are released at 4:00 pm Canberra time on the Friday three weeks after your exam week, in your AMC account, with feedback by content area.
Attempts: no published cap. Each attempt is a new AUD 2,920 authorisation. Results and the AMC certificate don’t expire, but the Medical Board applies recency-of-practice rules at registration.
IELTS or OET: not needed to sit AMC Part 1 or the Clinical. Needed for Medical Board of Australia registration, to IELTS 7 (6.5 writing) or equivalent. Sit it in the results window.
AMC Academic is the trusted AMC exam preparation platform for IMGs aspiring to work as doctors in Australia. Its month-specific mocks show you where you’d land on the scale before the real result does. 20 free, no account.
The AMC MCQ pass mark is 250 on a 0–500 scale, results come out at 4:00 pm on the Friday three weeks after your exam week, there’s no published limit on attempts, and you don’t need IELTS or OET to sit the exam, only to register afterwards. Those five facts get asked as five separate questions, usually in the fortnight after someone sits AMC Part 1. Here they are together, with the detail that matters behind each.
Key facts
| Passing score | 250 on a 0–500 scaled score |
| Is it a percentage? | No. Adaptive ability estimate, weighted by item difficulty |
| 2026 change | Underlying cut score raised slightly; the “250” label is unchanged |
| Results release | 4:00 pm Canberra time, Friday three weeks after exam week |
| Where | Your AMC account: AMC assessments → MCQ Results |
| Attempts | No published cap; AUD 2,920 per authorisation |
| Expiry | Results and AMC certificate don’t expire; Medical Board recency rules apply |
| Re-marking | Discontinued; scoring is electronic and statistically reviewed |
| IELTS/OET for the exam | Not required |
| IELTS/OET for registration | Required: IELTS 7 overall, 7/7/7 and 6.5 writing, or OET, PTE, TOEFL, Cambridge equivalents |
Is 250 a pass? What the AMC MCQ passing score actually means
Yes: 250 or above on the reported scale is a pass. What trips people up is trying to convert it into a number of correct answers. You can’t, because the exam is adaptive. Every candidate sees a different 150 questions, each chosen from the last answer, and each item is weighted by its calibrated difficulty. A hard item right moves you further than an easy item right; an easy item wrong hurts more than a hard item wrong. Your responses become an ability estimate, that estimate is placed on the 0–500 scale, and 250 is where the AMC has set the standard: the level expected of a graduating Australian medical student, benchmarked periodically with the medical schools.
In December 2025 the AMC announced a slight increase to the underlying cut score from 2026, while keeping the reported scale and the “250” label the same. In practice that means the bar for reaching 250 moved marginally up. The full mechanics are in What is the AMC CAT MCQ exam?.
What a mock score means against it. A question bank can’t put you on the AMC scale, but a well-pitched one gives a proxy: candidates who pass are usually at 65% or better on a full timed mock at the final rehearsal, with no patient group under 55%. How to read that is in AMC mock exams.
When are AMC MCQ results released?
At 4:00 pm Canberra time on the Friday three weeks after your examination week, which usually lands around the second week of the following month. The AMC, not Pearson VUE, issues them. Sign into your AMC account, choose “AMC assessments”, then “MCQ Results”, then your exam under the Details column. You get the scaled score plus feedback by content area. No percentage, no rank.
The exact release Friday for each 2026–27 event is in AMC exam dates, booking and results.
One thing that changed: the AMC no longer offers verification, meaning re-marking, of MCQ results. Answers are captured electronically and go through statistical and psychometric review before sign-off, so there’s nothing left to re-mark. Concerns about how the exam ran go through the Pearson VUE centre and the AMC MCQ team.
How many attempts do you get at the AMC MCQ?
The AMC doesn’t publish an attempt cap, and candidates do pass on second and third attempts. Two cautions, though. Each attempt is a fresh AUD 2,920 authorisation, so the fee table is the real limit for most people. And the AMC’s own country-of-training statistics show pass rates falling with each subsequent attempt; a resit with no change in preparation tends to produce the same result. Read the content-area feedback in your result before you open a textbook, then rebuild around it. Pass-rate detail is in AMC exam pass rates.
Do AMC MCQ results or the AMC certificate expire?
No. A pass in the MCQ, a pass in the Clinical and the AMC certificate they produce don’t carry an expiry date. What does apply is the Medical Board of Australia’s recency-of-practice standard at the point you apply for registration: a long gap since you last practised will raise questions, and may require supervised practice or further assessment. So the practical advice is not to leave years between passing Part 1 and moving on to the Clinical, English test and registration. The pathway from a Part 1 pass to a job is in After AMC Part 1: IELTS, Registration and Your Job Search.
Do you need IELTS or OET for the AMC exam?
Not for the exam. You can register with the AMC, sit AMC Part 1 and sit the Clinical without any English test. English proficiency is a Medical Board of Australia registration standard, administered through Ahpra, and it becomes a requirement when you apply for provisional or limited registration.
The standard, for tests taken from 23 April 2026: IELTS Academic 7 overall with 7 in listening, reading and speaking and 6.5 in writing; OET 350 listening, 360 reading, 350 writing, 360 speaking; PTE Academic 63 overall; TOEFL iBT 91; Cambridge C1 Advanced 178 or C2 Proficiency 185. Results from one sitting or two within 12 months, valid two years, test-centre sittings only. Scores and the two-sitting rules are in IELTS for AHPRA registration.
The best time to sit it is the three-week results window after AMC Part 1: your study habit is intact and nothing clinical is competing. Book it before you sit the MCQ so the date is fixed.
Know where you’d land before the Friday
The three weeks between the exam and the Friday release are the most anxious stretch in the pathway, and the only cure for it is having known your standing before you walked in. AMC Academic’s seven month-specific mock exams and three high-yield mocks (the first free) put you through 150 forward-only, timed questions scored by patient group and topic, so the result on the Friday is a confirmation rather than a surprise. The 2,800+ question bank behind them explains all five options on every question with an AMC tip. Astra reads your reports and tells you which group to fix. And because the results window is when you should be sitting your English test, the full IELTS Academic course, with writing marked and speaking assessed, is in the same subscription. Built by IMGs who passed. Hundreds of IMGs have passed AMC Part 1 and their English exam with it. USD 39 a month, 29 a month for three months, 19 a month for six; five-day free trial; money-back guarantee. Twenty questions free, no account.
Frequently asked questions
What score do you need to pass the AMC MCQ?
250 on the 0–500 scale. It’s an adaptive ability estimate, not a percentage.
What time are AMC results released?
4:00 pm Canberra time on the Friday three weeks after your exam week.
How many times can you sit the AMC MCQ?
No published cap. Each attempt costs AUD 2,920.
Does the AMC certificate expire?
No, but Medical Board recency-of-practice rules apply when you apply for registration.
Do I need IELTS to sit the AMC exam?
No. You need it, or OET, PTE, TOEFL or Cambridge, for Medical Board registration afterwards.
Can I get my AMC MCQ result re-marked?
No. The AMC discontinued verification; scoring is electronic and reviewed before release.
What to do this week
If you’ve just sat: book your English test inside the results window, today.
If you’re preparing: sit a full timed mock and see where you’d land against 250.
If you didn’t pass: read the content-area feedback before anything else, then rebuild around it.
Put your event’s results Friday in your calendar so you’re not refreshing your inbox on the Thursday.
Do you want to pass the AMC? AMC Academic makes it happen.