Incidents during exams
While the RACGP makes every effort to ensure exams run smoothly and without incident, occasionally the delivery might not go to plan.
If an incident occurs during your exam that you believe has a significant effect on your performance in the exam, advise the exam staff at the venue immediately after the incident, and notify the RACGP by emailing examinations@racgp.org.au within two business days of the exam. For CCE, the incident must be reported via the online incident report form within two business days.
Any incident reported later than two business days won’t be investigated.
Issues that are not considered incidents
If something happens during an exam that isn’t considered an incident, you won’t be compensated. Issues that aren’t considered incidents include, but aren’t limited to:
- someone sneezed or coughed during the exam
- a staff member, examiner or standardised patient had an accent that you had difficulty understanding
- a disturbance caused staff to pause the exam
- you misread the exam instructions or case details and missed important information
- technical issues (eg computer glitches) occurred before the exam began
- environmental noise (eg dog barking, car alarm, etc)
- brief connection or technical issue that was compensated for at the time of the incident
- minor technical issues related to internet connectivity, including lag or slow scrolling during reading and case time and brief periods of unstable connection where audio or video lagged or became slightly distorted
- a staff member knocked at the door or entered the exam room
- you recognised one of the examiners - sometimes an examiner may be known to a candidate. Examiners declare if they have a conflict of interest with any candidate, however, not all levels of conflict warrant the replacement of an examiner. If you know an examiner, you should proceed with the case, focusing on the specifics of that case and the simulated patient in front of you.
- name of the simulated patient on the case instructions isn’t gender-specific - where a case isn’t gender-specific, you should apply the case instructions to the gender the simulated patient identifies as.
Compensation
The Council of Censors (or delegate) investigates all incidents, including the impact of the incident on a candidate’s performance, before results are released. If a candidate fails the exam and an incident is determined to have impacted their performance, compensation may be provided. Compensation is available in the form of a reduced enrolment fee for a future sitting exam of the same exam. There are no other forms of compensation available. Your exam won’t be re-marked and results won’t be adjusted.