The Medical Board of Australia (MBA) determines whether IMGs who are applying for limited or provisional registration to work in general practice are required to have a PESCI.

For more information, please refer to MBA’s PESCI webpage.

All RACGP PESCIs are currently being conducted online using Zoom videoconferencing.

Your interview will be held online and you will be offered the next available date after the final review of your completed submitted application. An application is only deemed complete when there is no further feedback requesting information or documentation.

Unmet requests for further information may delay assessment time beyond this period.

You must be ready to sit a PESCI when you apply. 

It can take up to 10 business days to assess an application, provided you have submitted all the required information and documentary evidence.

After your application has been reviewed and considered complete, we'll send you an email with the next available interview date and time. Once you accept the interview date, we'll send you a confirmation email within two business days. Failure to accept an interview date will result in the full PESCI fee being forfeited.

Please be aware that there are limited dates available, your PESCI may be scheduled as early as four to twelve weeks from receiving your complete application.

If you require a date beyond 12 weeks, please only apply when you are ready to sit.   

You may request a different interview date only if there are extenuating circumstances that prevent you from attending on the date offered to you however, interview times are already pre-allocated.

Extenuating and unforeseen circumstances are considered outside the applicant’s control and can reasonably be considered to have been unforeseen and can be shown to have a direct and significant impact on the applicant. The RACGP considers extenuating and unforeseen circumstances on a case-by-case basis. 

In summary:

1. Completed and reviewed application received by RACGP
2. Next available PESCI date/time emailed for your acceptance
3. Confirmation letter once acceptance received from RACGP

There are three main time zones in Australia, with daylight saving time (DST) observed in Victoria.

Between 6 October 2024 to 6 April 2025, interviews are conducted on Australian Eastern Daylight Time (AEDT) UTC/GMT +11 hours.

Between 6 April 2025 to 5 October 2025, interviews will be conducted on Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) UTC/GMT +10 hours.

You may request your confirmed interview to be rescheduled to another date at least 20 business days before your confirmed date, except in the case of extenuating and unforeseen circumstances. We consider these requests on a case-by-case basis. A non-refundable administration fee of $450 may apply.

There will be five scenarios based on the types of patient presentations you can expect to encounter in general practice in Australia. You’ll have three minutes reading time for each scenario and then ten minutes to answer a series of questions based on the patient presentation. You may be given additional information during the questioning.

For more information on the interview, please refer to the RACGP PESCI Handbook - Interview

We’ll send PESCI outcome reports to you by email within 15 business days of the scheduled interview date.

PESCI outcome reports are valid for 12 calendar months from the date of the report.

To obtain a new outcome report, you will need to pay for and submit a new application to conduct the PESCI again.

A PESCI is position-specific and is not transferable from one position to another. However, where an applicant’s circumstances have changed after a successful PESCI result, an applicant may apply to the Medical Board of Australia for approval to use an existing PESCI for a new position / location.

A new PESCI may be required, even where the new position description is substantially similar to the previous position description, as the level of responsibility, nature of the health service and the broader health context may be different and have implications for an applicant’s suitability.

Please refer to the Pre-Employment Structured Clinical Interview Policy and Pre-Employment Structured Clinical Interview Handbook.

You can also email pesci@racgp.org.au or call the PESCI national number +61 3 8699 0554.