Important
The RACGP Board and Executive are deeply sorry for the significant distress and disruption the cancellation of both the Key Feature Problem exam and Applied Knowledge Test on Friday and Saturday, 9 and 10 October has caused our members.
The KFP and AKT are the culmination of months of hard work, determination and sacrifice and we know what unfolded was devastating for you, your loved ones and colleagues who supported you during your exam preparations.
The RACGP Board has agreed a number of initial actions.
Full refunds to be processed from this week
All candidates will receive a full refund for the KFP and AKT we did not deliver.
We will begin processing refunds this week.
Resitting your KFP and AKT
If you have been affected by the cancellations, you will be able to sit one KFP and one AKT at no cost within the next 18 months.
We are working to quickly reschedule and will deliver a re-run of the KFP and AKT this year.
We appreciate it’s of utmost importance to you to know exactly how and when you can expect to resit these exams. While we would love to be able to give you these dates and information now, it is crucial that we have every confidence they can go ahead reliably and safely. The last thing we want is for candidates to be put through a repeat of Friday.
We will finalise the specific dates and exam format within two weeks, but can now confirm it will not use the remote proctored service that failed on Friday.
Given some people had started the KFP when the failure occurred, the exam used has been compromised. A new exam, with new questions, is ready to go and will be used in the re-run.
If you resit the re-run KFP or AKT and fail, this will not count towards your exam cap.
All affected candidates will have an additional exam cycle within which to complete the exam. This is in addition to the extra allowance already made for the transitional Remote Clinical Exam (RCE) and 2021.2 Clinical Competency Exam.
Commitment to an external review
We are committed to an external, independent investigation of the incident. Input from the RACGP National Faculty of GPs in Training will be sought to inform the terms of reference for this investigation.
We’re here to support you to achieve Fellowship
You are the future of general practice in Australia and we are absolutely committed to helping you complete your training and move forward in your career. We are determined to do better in supporting you in this.
With that in mind, I want to assure you that the forthcoming RCE is hosted on a completely different platform. We are also carefully reviewing our overall risk-mitigation strategies for the RCE and will write to all enrolled candidates with in the coming days.
We will soon provide details of a Q&A and feedback forum for GPs in training to meet with the exam team and the RACGP Executive.
If you’d like to speak to someone about how the cancellation has affected you, the RACGP offers and endorses a range of services for doctors’ mental health, including:
- the GP Support Program – it offers free, confidential, 24/7 access to crisis counselling, and scheduled access to face-to-face or telephone counselling
- Drs4Drs – a mental health service especially for doctors, including a 24/7 helpline staffed by senior GPs and experienced counsellors trained in doctors’ health
- The Black Dog Institute’s The Essential Network for Health Professionals.
Should you have any questions about the rescheduled exams and your refund, please don't hesitate to contact us via examinations@racgp.org.au.
Updated 14 October 2020