How the RACP exams are marked
Each RACP 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.
Divisional Written Examination (Paediatrics & Child Health)
How it is passed: The real exam combines both papers into one 170-item score against a criterion-referenced cut score (historically about 55–65%); the papers are not passed separately.
On the clock: Paper 1 · Clinical Applications: 100 questions in 3 h (+ 10 min reading), about 108 seconds each. Paper 2 · Medical Sciences: 70 questions in 2 h (+ 10 min reading), about 103 seconds each.
Divisional Clinical Examination (Paediatrics & Child Health)
How it is passed: The real exam scores each case 1–6 (4 = expected standard) by domain and combines them on a banded grid with compensation, but a candidate below standard on both long cases cannot pass.
On the clock: 2 × long cases: 10 min reading, then 25 min. 4 × short cases: 2 min reading, then 15 min.
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.
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
- Long case: an incomplete or inaccurate history from the child and parent that the examiners have to clarify, and signs missed or misreported.
- Long case: problems poorly prioritised, and the impact on the child, siblings, family, schooling and social supports under-recognised.
- Management plans with errors, scattergun investigations and a poor grasp of treatment complications.
Pass marks and formats change. Always confirm the current rules on the RACP website before you sit.
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