Pass your CICM fellowship with conviction.

First Part Examination: FP SAQ

2 papers × 10 short-answer questions (20 in all) · about 10 min each.

Early in training (basic sciences)

First Part Examination: FP vivas

8 cross-table vivas · 2 min reading · 10 min with the examiners.

Early in training (basic sciences)

Second Part Examination (General): SP SAQ

2 papers × 15 SAQs (30 in all, 10 marks each) · 150 min + 10 min reading per paper.

After at least 12 months of core ICU training

Second Part Examination (General): Hot cases and vivas

2 hot cases (20 min: 2 reading, 10 examining, 10 discussing) + 8 cross-table vivas (2 min reading + 10 min).

After at least 12 months of core ICU training

Read a full marked case →Or start the free trial →

Fellowship Ready is independent and is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, the CICM or any examining body.

How written marking works

You write the answer. Here it comes back marked.

The commonest way to lose marks is a generic answer: good medicine, for a different patient or a different question. The marking rewards only what the rubric rewards.

Your answer, typed under timingSP SAQ

A 66-year-old man is on day 2 after an emergency Hartmann procedure for faecal peritonitis. He has received 4 litres of crystalloid; noradrenaline is 0.35 micrograms per kilogram per minute, mean arterial pressure 62 mmHg and lactate has risen from 3.1 to 4.8 mmol/L. Outline your next steps in managing his shock. (5 marks)

I would assess his airway, breathing and circulation, insert an arterial line and a central line, send blood cultures, give more fluid and broad-spectrum antibiotics, and consider source control. I would titrate noradrenaline to a mean arterial pressure of 65 mmHg and monitor his lactate…

Examiner-style marking, seconds later1 / 5

✓States a mean arterial pressure target of 65 mmHg1/1
✗Assesses fluid responsiveness before more fluid after 4 L (passive leg raise or echocardiography), rather than giving it reflexively0/1
✗Adds vasopressin (about 0.03 units per minute) as noradrenaline exceeds 0.25 micrograms per kilogram per minute0/1
✗Starts hydrocortisone 200 mg per day for escalating vasopressor need (ADRENAL)0/1
✗Hunts for a surgical cause on day 2: stump leak, ischaemic stoma or collection; CT and early surgical review0/1

Marking note: This is a sepsis proforma: the lines, cultures and antibiotics were done two days ago. Marks go to the next step for this patient, with a dose or target and a reason. CICM examiners report generic answers like this at every sitting.

Why Fellowship Ready

Knowing the medicine isn't the same as passing the exam.

Candidates who fail are rarely told which sentence lost the mark. The commonest causes are not gaps in knowledge: a generic answer, a different question answered, an examination done out of order, the clock run out. Each is fixed by practice that is timed and marked.

Answer the patient, not the topic

Every rubric point is tied to the scenario in the stem, so a sepsis checklist on day 2 after surgery scores as it would on the day: very little.

Vivas and hot cases on the clock

Two minutes of reading, ten with the examiner, then the next station. Viva plans probe the "why", as CICM examiners do, and hot cases score your synthesis and commitment to management.

Basic sciences that link mechanism to effect

First Part questions on oxygen delivery, venous return, acid-base and measurement are marked for the chain from principle to bedside, where the examiner reports say marks are lost.

The exam, on the clock.

Most candidates who fail know the medicine. They run out of time, answer a different question, or are not specific enough. Practice under the clock, marked the way examiners mark, is the fix.

01 · FP vivas

8 stations, on the real clock.

2:00 reading, then 20:00 in the station, as on the day. Patients, relatives and examiners are played by an AI so you can practise alone, or a colleague runs the station with the script, the findings and the marking sheet.

Open the stations →First Part Examination

Second Part · Live · short-caseReading · 2:00

Hot case: ventilated patient with severe ARDS and an air leak

Mr Hamid Karimi is a 58-year-old man on day 5 of his ICU admission with community-acquired pneumonia. He is intubated and ventilated. He has just been returned to the supine position after a prone session. Please examine Mr Karimi with particular reference to his respiratory system and his ventilation. You have 10 minutes to examine him, during which you may ask the bedside nurse for information you would normally obtain at the bedside. You will then present your findings and discuss his management with the examiners. Hand hygiene and personal protective equipment are required.

Examine the patient, his monitoring, the ventilator and the infusions, commenting on findings as appropriate.
Present a concise summary and a prioritised problem list.
Discuss your assessment and management with the examiners.

Marking guide

100%

02 · FP SAQ

Write the answer. Get it marked.

2 papers × 10 short-answer questions (20 in all) · about 10 min each. Every answer is marked point by point against a rubric that rewards what CICM examiners reward: specific points, the exact question answered, safe advice.

Try a case →First Part Examination

SP SAQ · marked against the rubric

“I would assess his airway, breathing and circulation, insert an arterial line and a central line, send blood cultures, give more fluid and broad-spectrum antibiotics, and consider source control. I would titrate noradrenaline to a mean arterial pressure of 65 mmHg and monitor his lactate…”

✓States a mean arterial pressure target of 65 mmHg1/1
✗Assesses fluid responsiveness before more fluid after 4 L (passive leg raise or echocardiography), rather than giving it reflexively0/1
✗Adds vasopressin (about 0.03 units per minute) as noradrenaline exceeds 0.25 micrograms per kilogram per minute0/1
✗Starts hydrocortisone 200 mg per day for escalating vasopressor need (ADRENAL)0/1
✗Hunts for a surgical cause on day 2: stump leak, ischaemic stoma or collection; CT and early surgical review0/1

Examiner note: This is a sepsis proforma: the lines, cultures and antibiotics were done two days ago. Marks go to the next step for this patient, with a dose or target and a reason. CICM examiners report generic answers like this at every sitting.

03 · FP MCQ

Mocks weighted to the blueprint.

2 papers × 50 single-best-answer MCQs (100 in all) · about 50 min per 50. Every option explained, including why the wrong ones are wrong, and your weakest areas come back first.

Practise by area →First Part Examination

FP MCQ mock · 100 questions · 1 h 4072%

Respiratory70%

Cardiovascular74%

Renal & fluids83%

Neuro66%

GI & liver78%

Endocrine53%

Pharmacology83%

Weighted to the blueprint. Your weakest areas go to the top of next week’s drills.

04 · Scores and calculators

Is that acidosis compensated?

SOFA, KDIGO staging, the Berlin and global ARDS definitions, King's College criteria, CAM-ICU and the acid-base compensation rules, each with the trap examiners set.

Open the scales →Included with every plan

Reference library

Sequential Organ Failure Assessment

Quick SOFA

Glasgow Coma Scale

Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale

Confusion Assessment Method for the ICU

Acute respiratory distress syndrome: Berlin and global definitions

KDIGO acute kidney injury staging

Acid-base compensation rules and gaps

05 · First Part physiology

Oxygen delivery is not cardiac output.

Oxygen delivery and venous return, pharmacokinetics in the critically ill, transducers and oximetry, brain death testing, septic shock trials and line positions on the chest X-ray.

Open the reference →Included with every plan

Reference library

Sequential Organ Failure Assessment

Quick SOFA

Glasgow Coma Scale

Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale

Confusion Assessment Method for the ICU

Acute respiratory distress syndrome: Berlin and global definitions

KDIGO acute kidney injury staging

Acid-base compensation rules and gaps

06 · Study plan

Your exam date, turned into weeks.

Tell it when you sit and how many hours you have. It spreads the curriculum by blueprint weight, slots in mocks, written papers and station circuits, and moves your weakest areas forward as your results come in.

Build your plan →Free with an account

First Part Examination in 14 weeks10 h / week

Week 9 · this week

RespiratoryCardiovascularRenal & fluidsMock

Week 10

NeuroRespiratoryGI & liverStations ×3

Week 11

EndocrinePharmacologyCardiovascularWritten ×2

The biggest blueprint areas come round most often; your weakest move to the front.

Second Part · Live · short-caseReading · 2:00

Hot case: ventilated patient with severe ARDS and an air leak

Examine the patient, his monitoring, the ventilator and the infusions, commenting on findings as appropriate.
Present a concise summary and a prioritised problem list.
Discuss your assessment and management with the examiners.

Marking guide

100%

SP SAQ · marked against the rubric

✓States a mean arterial pressure target of 65 mmHg1/1
✗Assesses fluid responsiveness before more fluid after 4 L (passive leg raise or echocardiography), rather than giving it reflexively0/1
✗Adds vasopressin (about 0.03 units per minute) as noradrenaline exceeds 0.25 micrograms per kilogram per minute0/1
✗Starts hydrocortisone 200 mg per day for escalating vasopressor need (ADRENAL)0/1
✗Hunts for a surgical cause on day 2: stump leak, ischaemic stoma or collection; CT and early surgical review0/1

FP MCQ mock · 100 questions · 1 h 4072%

Respiratory70%

Cardiovascular74%

Renal & fluids83%

Neuro66%

GI & liver78%

Endocrine53%

Pharmacology83%

Weighted to the blueprint. Your weakest areas go to the top of next week’s drills.

Reference library

Sequential Organ Failure Assessment

Quick SOFA

Glasgow Coma Scale

Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale

Confusion Assessment Method for the ICU

Acute respiratory distress syndrome: Berlin and global definitions

KDIGO acute kidney injury staging

Acid-base compensation rules and gaps

Reference library

Sequential Organ Failure Assessment

Quick SOFA

Glasgow Coma Scale

Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale

Confusion Assessment Method for the ICU

Acute respiratory distress syndrome: Berlin and global definitions

KDIGO acute kidney injury staging

Acid-base compensation rules and gaps

First Part Examination in 14 weeks10 h / week

Week 9 · this week

RespiratoryCardiovascularRenal & fluidsMock

Week 10

NeuroRespiratoryGI & liverStations ×3

Week 11

EndocrinePharmacologyCardiovascularWritten ×2

The biggest blueprint areas come round most often; your weakest move to the front.

Pricing

Pay monthly, or once until your exam.

An exam pass lasts until the day after your exam, up to six months, and never renews.

Written papers

A$39/mo

or A$249 once, until your exam

First Part MCQs and SAQs and Second Part SAQs, marked point by point against examiner-style rubrics, with timed papers.

Choose Written papers

Vivas and hot cases

A$39/mo

or A$249 once, until your exam

First Part vivas, Second Part cross-table vivas and hot cases on the real clock, with spoken-answer feedback.

Choose Vivas and hot cases

Everything

A$59/mo

or A$399 once, until your exam

Written papers, vivas and hot cases, plus the reference tools and study plan.

Choose Everything

Prices include GST. Every plan starts free, no card required.

Try it before you decide.

Start free: 2 written cases, 20 MCQs and 3 stations, no card required.

Start free →Read a sample

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Preparing for12 specialties

● Intensive care medicine · CICM

Pass your CICM fellowship
with conviction.

First Part · FP MCQ First Part · FP SAQ First Part · FP vivas Second Part · SP SAQ Second Part · Hot cases and vivas

Start free: 2 written cases, 20 MCQs and 3 stations, no card required.

Start free →or read a full marked case first

1510+

MCQs

Written cases

Stations

Curriculum areas

Reference topics

What we do

Every CICM exam, done thoroughly.

Each part of each exam, on its real format and clock, on the same engine trainees already use for the psychiatry fellowship.

First Part Examination: FP MCQ

MCQ

2 papers × 50 single-best-answer MCQs (100 in all) · about 50 min per 50.

Early in training (basic sciences)

First Part Examination: FP SAQ

2 papers × 10 short-answer questions (20 in all) · about 10 min each.

Early in training (basic sciences)

First Part Examination: FP vivas

8 cross-table vivas · 2 min reading · 10 min with the examiners.

Early in training (basic sciences)

Second Part Examination (General): SP SAQ

2 papers × 15 SAQs (30 in all, 10 marks each) · 150 min + 10 min reading per paper.

After at least 12 months of core ICU training

Second Part Examination (General): Hot cases and vivas

2 hot cases (20 min: 2 reading, 10 examining, 10 discussing) + 8 cross-table vivas (2 min reading + 10 min).

After at least 12 months of core ICU training