Best books and study material for AMC Part 1 preparation

Best books and study material for AMC Part 1 preparation

TL;DR

• You need four things for AMC Part 1: the official MCQ examination specifications, one Australian management reference (eTG or Murtagh), AMC Academic as your question bank, and the AMC’s free preparation app.

• The best book for AMC preparation isn’t a book; it’s a blueprint-scoped question bank used consistently, with Australian guidelines for management.

• The AMC MCQ Handbook is useful for question style but too old to trust for management. “Free PDF” copies are pirated old editions.

• Skip recalls and second question banks. Finish one thing.

• AMC Academic is the question bank on this list and the most trusted AMC exam preparation platform for IMGs aspiring to work in Australia: 2,800+ questions, every option explained, flashcards, clinical case studies, month-specific mocks, IELTS included. 20 free to try.

You need four things to prepare for AMC Part 1: the official examination specifications, one Australian general practice reference, AMC Academic as your question bank, and the AMC’s own free practice app. Everything else is optional and most of it is a distraction. This is the list we’d hand a friend sitting the AMC CAT MCQ, ranked by how much it actually helps, with the honest note that “more books” is the most common preparation mistake we see, and one we made ourselves.

The principle: finish one thing, not three

The AMC MCQ is a 150-question intern-level exam weighted to a published blueprint. The doctors who fail it are rarely the ones who read too little. They’re the ones who half-finished two banks, three textbooks and a folder of recalls, and completed none. Depth in one aligned resource beats breadth across five. Decide your list in week zero and stop shopping.

Tier 1: non-negotiable

The AMC MCQ Examination Specifications

Free, short, on amc.org.au. It has the blueprint (30% adult medicine, 20% surgery, 12.5% each for women’s health, child health, mental health, and population health and ethics), the task weightings and the rules. Most candidates never open it. Open it first.

The AMC MCQ Preparation App

Built by the AMC itself and free to anyone who has scheduled an MCQ. It launched with 210 practice questions with feedback and a refresh was due in April 2026. It’s the only practice material that comes from the examiner, so use it to calibrate: if you’re scoring well here, you’re in the right territory.

One Australian management reference

The exam tests Australian management. You need a source for what’s prescribed first, who’s screened when, and where people are referred.

Therapeutic Guidelines (eTG complete). The single most exam-relevant reference in the country. Antibiotic choices, first-line therapy, dosing: the exam follows eTG. Many hospitals and universities provide access, so ask before you pay.

Murtagh’s General Practice. The standard Australian GP text, organised by presentation. The companion handbook is a cheaper summary.

One of the two. If you can only afford one, eTG.

One question bank with explanations on every option: AMC Academic

Single-best-answer exams are won on the four wrong options. A bank that only explains the right answer teaches half of what you need, and a bank that covers all of medicine makes you study things the AMC will never ask. That’s why the fourth non-negotiable is specific: AMC Academic.

We say that as the people who built it, so here’s what it is rather than what we think of it. 2,800+ AMC Part 1 questions, scoped to the six-group blueprint and to the ground the exam has covered through 2025 and 2026. A worked explanation on every one of the five options, checked against current Australian guidelines, and an AMC tip at the end of each question. Three high-yield mock exams, the first free, and seven month-specific mocks, all timed and forward-only like the real CAT, with results broken down by patient group and topic. Flashcards for the facts you need to drill: screening ages, immunisation schedules, first-line drugs. Clinical case studies for anyone who learns better from worked notes than from questions; six of them are free without an account. Astra, the AI study companion, explains anything that didn’t land and reads your record to tell you where you’re slipping. And the full IELTS Academic course in the same subscription. Twenty questions are free on the landing page, no sign-up. Then a five-day free trial, then USD 39 a month, 29 a month for three months or 19 a month for six, money back if it isn’t for you.

If you use a different bank, hold it to the same list: blueprint scope, every option explained, forward-only timed mocks, patient-group analytics, Australian references. Around 2,000 to 3,000 well-written questions is enough; banks that boast 10,000 are padded and take longer to finish than your authorisation lasts.

Tier 2: fills specific gaps

The RACGP Red Book. Free. This is where screening questions come from: cervical screening from 25 every five years, bowel screening with iFOBT every two years from 45, breast screening, cardiovascular risk, diabetes, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health checks. A big slice of the 19 population health questions.

The Australian Immunisation Handbook. Free. The NIP schedule, real and imagined contraindications, catch-up rules. Tested often, studied rarely.

Good Medical Practice: Professionalism, Ethics and Law (5th ed.). Published by the AMC. Consent, capacity, confidentiality, mandatory notifications, boundaries. If you’ve never worked in Australia, this is the fastest way to learn what the Australian answer is on ethics.

A short ECG and imaging primer. Image questions are a separate skill. Any concise ECG book plus a chest and abdominal radiology primer, read on a screen.

Tier 3: recommended everywhere, rarely necessary

The AMC Handbook of Multiple Choice Questions. The official AMC MCQ handbook, and what people mean by “amc mcq handbook”. A real book with several hundred questions and explanations. Good for learning the style of AMC questions. Old enough that a fair share of its management is out of date. Don’t build your preparation on it, and any “free PDF” of it is an unauthorised scan of an older edition.

The AMC Anthology of Medical Conditions. Same source, same caveat.

Overseas exam texts you already own. If you have USMLE or PLAB material from a previous life, the pathophysiology in it is still true. The management isn’t Australian, and management is most of the AMC paper. Keep them on the shelf for reference; don’t buy more, and don’t let them be where you learn what to prescribe first.

Coaching courses. Some people need structure and accountability and that’s a real thing to pay for. But a course replaces nothing in Tier 1, and the fees can exceed the AUD 2,920 cost of a resit. Our view on coaching, specifically for candidates in India and Pakistan, is in The AMC exam for Indian and Pakistani doctors.

Skip entirely

Recall documents and “past papers”. Reconstructed from memory, no reliable answer key, often wrong. The AMC has said the reconstructed papers it has reviewed contain incorrect stems and answers, and using them breaches the conditions you sit under. Skim for topics at most. The full argument is in AMC recalls and free past papers.

Pirated PDFs. Beyond the obvious, they’re old editions. You’ll learn management that has since changed and lose the marks.

A second question bank. Adds review time, not knowledge. The exception is the AMC’s own app, which is small and comes from the examiner.

A complete list you can finish in three months

Eight items, four of them free. Enough.

Frequently asked questions

Is the AMC MCQ Handbook enough to pass? No. Useful for style, too dated for management. A supplement, not a foundation.

Do I need Murtagh if I have eTG? Not strictly. eTG covers treatment, Murtagh covers the approach to presentations. eTG plus a good bank is a workable pair on a budget.

What’s the best book for AMC preparation? There isn’t one. The exam rewards a question bank finished properly plus Australian guidelines for management. If you insist on a printed book: Murtagh’s General Practice.

Is there free AMC study material? Yes: the AMC’s specifications and preparation app, the RACGP Red Book, the Immunisation Handbook, Good Medical Practice, and free questions from question banks including our 20 and our clinical cases.

Should I buy a recall bank? No.

What to do this week

1. Download the examination specifications and read them cover to cover.

2. Find out if your hospital or university gives you eTG.

3. Choose one question bank and commit to finishing it.

4. Delete the recalls folder. It’s costing you more than it gives.

Do you want to pass the AMC? AMC Academic makes it happen.

Schedule the study: How to Pass AMC Part 1 in 3 Months.