How the RACGP exams are marked
Each RACGP exam turns your answers into a pass in its own way. Knowing how it is marked, and how much time each question gets, changes how you should answer.
Applied Knowledge Test
How it is passed: The real paper is passed on a modified Angoff cut set by practising Fellows each sitting (about 66–67% in 2026); no quotas and no negative marking.
On the clock: 150 questions in 4 h: about 96 seconds each.
Key Feature Problem
How it is passed: The real paper is passed on a modified Angoff cut (about 62–63% in 2026). Each answer picked beyond the number asked for costs 0.35% of the whole-paper mark, so choose only what the stem supports.
On the clock: 70 questions in 4 h: about 3 minutes each.
Clinical Competency Exam
How it is passed: One aggregate pass mark across all nine cases (mean of the per-case borderline-regression cuts); no single-case hurdle.
On the clock: 9 stations, 5 min reading and 15 min each.
What that means for how you answer
Single-best-answer papers reward the best option for this patient, not a true statement. Read the last line of the stem first, and do not let one hard question eat the time of three easy ones.
Written answers are marked against a fixed list of points. A point you do not write earns nothing, however obvious it seemed; a long answer that misses the points earns nothing more.
Clinical stations are marked against a station guide. Do what the task asks, in the time given, and say your reasoning out loud so the examiner can credit it.
Where marks are most often lost
- Ignoring stem details (age, comorbidities, current medicines, e.g. glyceryl trinitrate despite a PDE5 inhibitor) and over-selecting in the KFP.
- The wrong test or premature treatment: allopurinol before gout is confirmed, a coronary artery calcium score for symptomatic angina, self-collection instead of a co-test for post-coital bleeding.
- Outdated Australian specifics: old asthma, diabetes and screening rules, PBS criteria and off-label use.
Pass marks and formats change. Always confirm the current rules on the RACGP website before you sit.
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