The AMC exam explained: a complete guide for international medical graduates
TL;DR
The AMC exam is the two-part Australian Medical Council assessment most international medical graduates must pass to register in Australia: AMC Part 1 (the CAT MCQ) and AMC Part 2 (the Clinical exam).
AMC exam fees: AUD 642 to open a portfolio, AUD 2,920 for the Part 1 MCQ, AUD 3,000 for the in-person Clinical. Part 1 is 150 questions in 3.5 hours, computer adaptive, at Pearson VUE centres worldwide; around 47% pass each sitting. AMC exam dates run monthly from February to November; results come three weeks later.
Doctors from the UK, Ireland, USA, Canada and NZ usually skip it via the Competent Authority pathway.
AMC Academic is the trusted AMC exam preparation platform for IMGs aspiring to work asdoctors in Australia, built by IMGs who passed: 2,800+ AMC Part 1 questions, month-specific mock exams, flashcards, clinical case studies and IELTS in one subscription. Try 20questions free, no sign-up.
The AMC exam is the two-part assessment that most overseas-trained doctors have to pass before the Medical Board of Australia will register them. Part 1 is a 150-question computer adaptive multiple-choice test you can sit at Pearson VUE centres almost anywhere in the world. Part 2 is a 16-station clinical exam, held mostly in Melbourne. Pass both and the Australian Medical Council issues the AMC Certificate that gets you through Ahpra’s door.
We’re a team of IMGs who sat this exam ourselves, without a resource like the one we ended up building. So this guide is the one we wish we’d had: what the exam is, who actually has to sit it, what each part involves, what the AMC exam fees add up to, how the dates work, and where people go wrong.
Key facts at a glance
Run by | Australian Medical Council (AMC), Canberra |
Who needs it | IMGs on the Standard pathway (most doctors trained outside the UK, Ireland, USA, Canada and NZ) |
AMC Part 1 | CAT MCQ: 150 questions, 3.5 hours, one correct answer from five |
AMC Part 2 | Clinical: 16 assessed stations plus four rest stations, 10 minutes each |
AMC exam fees | Portfolio AUD 642; Part 1 AUD 2,920; Clinical AUD 3,000 in person, 3,400 online |
AMC exam dates | Monthly MCQ events February to November; Clinical places released in batches |
Results | 4:00 pm on the Friday three weeks after your exam week, both parts |
Pass rates | Roughly 47% for the MCQ, about 21% for the Clinical (last published annual figures) |
What you get | The AMC Certificate, which supports your Ahpra registration application |
What the AMC is, and what it isn’t
The Australian Medical Council accredits medical schools and specialist colleges and, for our purposes, assesses international medical graduates on behalf of the Medical Board of Australia. It runs the exams. It verifies your degree. It issues the certificate.
What it does not do is register doctors. That’s Ahpra, working for the Medical Board. The AMC’s own contact page says in as many words that it’s not the registration authority. Candidates lose weeks emailing the wrong organisation about the wrong thing, so if you take one line from this section: the AMC examines you, Ahpra registers you. We’ve written the whole thing up in AHPRA vs AMC.
Who has to sit the AMC exam?
Depends on where you trained and what you’ve already passed.
You almost certainly need it if your MBBS or MD is from outside the UK, Ireland, the USA, Canada or New Zealand, and you haven’t passed PLAB, USMLE, LMCC or NZREX. That’s the Standard pathway, and the AMC exam sits at the centre of it. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, the Philippines, Egypt, Nigeria, Iran, most of Europe and Latin America: this is you.
You probably don’t if you qualify for the Competent Authority pathway. The Board recognises six authorities: the GMC (UK), the Medical Council of Ireland, the Medical Council of Canada, ECFMG (USA), the Medical Council of New Zealand and the US osteopathic board. Accredited course or licensing exam in one of those countries plus the supervised experience, and you go straight to provisional registration.
Specialists can bypass it through the Specialist pathway or the Expedited Specialist pathway.
Get this right first. A UK graduate who pays AUD 2,920 for an MCQ authorisation has bought an exam they didn’t need. The full decision tree is in The IMG pathways to practising medicine in Australia.
AMC Part 1 vs Part 2: the naming problem
The AMC doesn’t use “Part 1” and “Part 2”, but everyone else does.
What people say | What the AMC calls it | What it is |
|---|---|---|
AMC Part 1, AMC 1, AMC MCQ, AMC CAT | AMC CAT MCQ Examination | Computer adaptive multiple-choice test |
AMC Part 2, AMC 2, AMC Clinical, AMC OSCE | AMC Clinical Examination | Multi-station clinical exam |
You must pass Part 1 before you can sit Part 2. No exceptions, no doing them together.
AMC Part 1: the CAT MCQ
One 3.5-hour session at a Pearson VUE test centre. 150 questions, five options each, one correct. The AMC expects you to answer all 150; leave questions blank and you may get no result at all rather than a fail.
“CAT” means computer adaptive. Get a question right and the next one is harder; get it wrong and the next one is easier. You can’t go back. There’s no negative marking. Scores are reported on a 0 to 500 scale with 250 as the pass mark, and in December 2025 the AMC nudged the underlying cut score up slightly for 2026 onward.
The blueprint is public and it decides how you should spend your study time:
Patient group | Share of the AMC MCQ |
|---|---|
Adult health: medicine | 30% |
Adult health: surgery | 20% |
Women’s health | 12.5% |
Child health | 12.5% |
Mental health | 12.5% |
Population health and ethics | 12.5% |
The whole format, and what “adaptive” means for how you answer, is in What is the AMC CAT MCQ exam?. Ten worked AMC MCQ sample questions across all six groups are here.
AMC Part 2: the Clinical examination
Sixteen assessed stations and four rest stations, ten minutes each: two to read, eight to perform. Simulated patients, videos, charts, images. Each station targets history, examination, diagnosis or management and counselling, across medicine, surgery, women’s health, paediatrics and mental health.
Two of the sixteen are pilots. You’re scored on fourteen and you pass by passing nine. Most sittings are in person at the AMC’s National Test Centre in Melbourne; a small online version exists for candidates already working in rural Australia. There’s also a Workplace Based Assessment route that replaces the Clinical exam for doctors employed in accredited Australian hospitals.
Everything about stations, scheduling releases and the AMC clinical handbook is in the AMC Clinical exam guide.
What the AMC exam costs
People underestimate this by a few thousand dollars, every time.
Item | AUD |
|---|---|
AMC portfolio (once) | 642 |
ECFMG / MyIntealth degree verification | Roughly USD 100–200 plus per-document fees |
AMC Part 1 (CAT MCQ) authorisation | 2,920 |
AMC Clinical exam, in person | 3,000 |
English test (IELTS Academic, OET, PTE) | Roughly AUD 400–600 |
Flights and a fortnight in Melbourne | Depends on where you’re coming from |
A first-time pass on both parts is a bit over AUD 7,000 in AMC and verification fees before you’ve bought a plane ticket. Every MCQ resit adds AUD 2,920. That arithmetic is why we keep saying prepare properly once. Refund rules and the hidden costs are in AMC exam fees in 2026.
AMC exam dates and how long it all takes
MCQ events run monthly from February to November, each with a scheduling close date about three weeks before the sitting and results on the Friday three weeks after exam week. The remaining 2026 and all published 2027 dates are in AMC exam dates, booking and results.
A realistic timeline from a standing start:
Eligibility check and ECFMG verification: two weeks to several months, depending entirely on how fast your medical school replies.
AMC registration and portfolio: five business days once your MyIntealth account is live. Steps in How to register for the AMC exam.
AMC Part 1 preparation: three to six months at 20–25 hours a week for a doctor in practice.
MCQ sitting and results: three weeks.
English test: sit it in the results window. IELTS Academic 7 with 6.5 in writing is the Ahpra standard.
Clinical placement: releases are competitive. Months, not weeks.
Registration and job search: several months.
Eighteen months from first login to first day of work is common. Twelve happens with luck on Clinical scheduling. Two years isn’t unusual.
Is the AMC exam hard?
The MCQ is an intern-level knowledge exam and about half of candidates pass each sitting, so it’s fair to call it a coin flip for the unprepared and a very passable exam for the prepared. The Clinical is harder; it tests consultation skills in real time and the pass rate has sat around one in five.
Three groups struggle with the MCQ, and we’ve been in at least one of them ourselves: doctors who study all of medicine instead of the blueprint; doctors who use resources from home and lose marks on Australian screening, prescribing and management; and doctors who never practise the adaptive, forward-only, timed format before the real day. All three are fixable, which is more or less why AMC Academic exists.
We built AMC Academic after passing AMC Part 1 the hard way, on recalls of doubtful accuracy and question banks that covered all of medicine. It’s an AMC Part 1 preparation platform, not a general medical bank: 2,800+ questions scoped to the AMC blueprint and the topics the exam has been drawing on through 2025 and 2026, with a worked explanation on every option, not just the right one. There are three high-yield mock exams (the first is free) and seven month-specific mocks, so you can sit, say, “the June sitting” and get a full topic-by-topic feedback report on how you would have gone. Astra, the AI study companion, reads your record and tells you where you’re slipping. The full IELTS Academic course, with marking and feedback, is in the same subscription, because Ahpra wants both. Plans are USD 39 for a month, 29 a month for three months, or 19 a month for six, with a 5-day free trial on sign-up and a money-back guarantee. Hundreds of IMGs have passed Part 1 and their English exam with it; the testimonials are on the site. And you can try 20 questions right now without an account.
Frequently asked questions
Is the AMC exam the same as the AHPRA exam? There’s no such thing as an AHPRA exam. Ahpra registers you; the AMC examines you. Same journey, different organisations.
Can I sit the AMC exam before finishing my internship? Yes. AMC eligibility is based on your primary medical degree, not your internship. Plenty of people sit Part 1 during their intern year.
How much is the AMC exam in total? Around AUD 6,500 in AMC fees for a first-time pass on both parts, plus ECFMG, an English test, and travel to Melbourne. Budget AUD 10,000 to 15,000 all-in.
Does the AMC Certificate expire? Not as such, but the Medical Board applies recency-of- practice rules at registration, so don’t leave years between passing and applying.
Can I do the Clinical exam in my own country? No. In-person sittings are in Melbourne only.
What’s the best way to prepare for AMC Part 1? Study to the published blueprint, use Australian guidelines for management, finish one question bank with explanations on every option, and sit two or three timed forward-only mocks. The month-by-month version is in How to Pass AMC Part 1 in 3 Months.
What to do this week
Confirm your pathway. If you trained in the UK, Ireland, USA, Canada or NZ, read the Competent Authority criteria before you spend anything.
Check your medical school and degree title on the AMC’s eligible list.
Read the official MCQ Examination Specifications on amc.org.au. Short, free, and it contains the blueprint.
Sit 20 AMC-style questions cold to find your baseline.
Do you want to pass the AMC? AMC Academic makes it happen.
Try 20 AMC Part 1 questions free at amcacademic.com/study. No account, no card, full explanations on every option.
Sources checked September 2026
AMC, “AMC Computer Adaptive Test (CAT) MCQ Examination”; “Clinical examination”; “Fees and charges”;
“Contacts”; “Update to the AMC MCQ Examination Pass Standard” (17 Dec 2025) — amc.org.au
Medical Board of Australia, “Competent Authority pathway” —medicalboard.gov.au
Ahpra, “Accepted English language tests” — ahpra.gov.au
AMC Annual Report 2022–23 pass rates (47% MCQ, 21% Clinical), as reported by secondary sources; confirm against annual-report.amc.org.au before publishing