How the ACRRM exams are marked
Each ACRRM 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.
Multiple Choice Question assessment
How it is passed: Auto-marked with no negative marking; the cut score is set for each sitting (about 56–59% of scored items in 2026).
On the clock: 125 questions in 3 h: about 86 seconds each.
Case-Based Discussion
How it is passed: Each case is judged at or below the expected FACRRM standard across communication, history, examination, management and professionalism; you need at least 5 of 6 at standard.
On the clock: 6 stations and 30 min each.
Structured Assessment using Multiple Patient Scenarios (StAMPS)
How it is passed: Each scenario scores 5 items 0–7 (three management questions, problem definition, communication and professionalism), 280 in total; the cut was 161 in 2025B and 165 in 2026A.
On the clock: 8 stations, 5 min reading and 10 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.
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
- StAMPS answers that are disorganised: no consistent primary survey (ABCDE) in emergencies or HEADSSS in adolescents, and life-saving steps given late.
- Anchoring on the first diagnosis and missing medication-related causes, the serious-but-common differential and the psychosocial picture.
- Referring or calling retrieval before doing the initial management, and ignoring retrieval delays, the local resources in StAMPSville and what telehealth can add.
Pass marks and formats change. Always confirm the current rules on the ACRRM website before you sit.
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