Fellowship Support Program Registrar handbook

Fellowship exams

Exam support

      1. Exam support

Exam support

Exam preparation in the work setting

Training for general practice largely takes place in the practice setting, which is where you should also prepare for exams. Fellowship exams don’t just assess knowledge from books; they aim to assess how knowledge is applied to everyday situations in Australian general practice. The actual processes of patient care and a doctor’s attitudes are also important.

You might find it helpful to invite a trusted colleague to observe you consulting, either in the training site or by video (both require informed patient consent), and then give you constructive feedback. This will help you to review and analyse your clinical performance and make changes where appropriate. Performing well in actual practice will help you demonstrate these behaviours in the exam environment.

Exam preparation activities

Your RACGP program team has dedicated exam preparation activities that you can access. Exam preparation is included as part of your FSP education activities and will be embedded across the program.

Exam support

A range of support is available for exam candidates, including Exam Support Online (via gplearning), reports from past exams (pass marks, performance, psychometrics), preparation courses through the RACGP state faculties, clinical guidelines and more. To access the resources, visit Exam Support Program resources.

Exam support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander registrars

Yagila Wadamba Program

RACGP Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health has developed the Yagila Wadamba Program (meaning ‘learn to heal’), an annual support program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander registrars.

The program concentrates on exam preparation and other key areas of general practice training. Participants can network with peers and hear and learn from MEs and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander GP Fellows. For more information, visit the Yagila Wadamba Program website, email aboriginalhealth@racgp.org.au or phone (03) 8699 0528.

Support from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Censor

The RACGP Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Censor is available to support you when enrolling in and during the Fellowship exams, if you consider it appropriate and safe. If a conflict of interest arises or you feel uncomfortable working with the censor, then the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health faculty will find an alternative support person for you.

How the censor can support you

The censor will offer holistic support tailored to your needs. You may communicate and meet with the censor face-to-face or by phone, email, videoconference or a combination of these depending on your preferences and where you're both located.

All support provided by the censor is confidential; they won’t keep records for any reason. You may take notes for your own use.

The censor may offer support such as case-based discussions, helping you prepare for an exam or helping you in the case of an unsuccessful exam attempt.

Checking your exam results

Each exam cycle, the censor checks the enrolments and results of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander registrars. They will reach out to you and support you to check your results if you haven’t already (they won’t disclose your results if you haven’t checked them).

After an unsuccessful exam attempt

If you sat an exam but didn’t pass, the censor can give you general and targeted advice to increase your chances of success in future exam attempts. They’re not able to give feedback on the questions, cases or the answers you gave in your specific exam.

If you were unsuccessful in your AKT and are waiting for your KFP results, the censor will provide support after the KFP results are released, so that you can discuss both exams.

The censor will reach out to you to offer support within four weeks of your exam results being released. However, you can also contact your program team, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health faculty, or the censor themselves if you wish to access this support at any time from when you enrol in Fellowship exams and throughout your candidacy.

We advise you to accept support within five weeks of exam results being released to allow enough time for the censor to review your circumstances and support you before the next exam cycle.

If you don’t accept the support offered by the censor, we’ll close offers of support eight weeks after results are released.

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