AMC paediatrics MCQ questions
Child health is 12.5% of the AMC CAT MCQ, about 19 of 150 questions. Marks turn on Australian age thresholds and on knowing when a well child needs no test.
Updated 28 September 2026 · Checked against the sources listed below
AMC CAT MCQ at a glance
- patient groups in the blueprint
- 6
- questions in one sitting
- 150
- per question on average
- 84 s
- on the 0 to 500 scale to pass
- 250
Paediatrics · 8 questions
1 of 8
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Question 1 · The acutely unwell child
A 4-year-old boy falls approximately 1 metre from a play structure and hits the back of his head on a soft play mat. He cried immediately and has been consolable and behaving normally since, with one episode of vomiting 20 minutes after the fall and none since. He has had no loss of consciousness and there are no signs of a skull fracture. His Glasgow Coma Scale score is 15 and examination is normal.
Which one of the following is the most appropriate next step in management?
Question 2 · The acutely unwell child
A 14-month-old girl who is not yet toilet-trained is brought to the general practice with a fever of 39.1°C for 3 days. She has been unsettled but is drinking and alert, with no cough, coryza, rash or diarrhoea. Examination of her ears, throat, chest and abdomen is normal, and there is no other obvious source for the fever.
Which one of the following is the most appropriate next step in management?
Question 1 · The acutely unwell child
A 3-year-old boy is brought to the emergency department with 6 days of fever. He has red eyes without discharge, red cracked lips, a red tongue, a blotchy rash on his trunk, and swollen red hands and feet. A tender 2 cm lymph node is palpable in the left neck. Three days of oral amoxicillin have not helped. He has no cough or coryza, and his immunisations are up to date. His blood pressure and capillary refill are normal.
Which one of the following is the most likely diagnosis?
Question 4 · Growth, development and behaviour
A 6-year-old girl is brought to her general practitioner with 4 months of breast development, now Tanner stage 3. She has no pubic or axillary hair or body odour. In the past year her height has risen from the 50th to the 90th centile; her parents are of average height.
Which one of the following is the most appropriate initial investigation?
Question 5 · Chronic conditions and childhood infections
A 5-week-old boy is brought to the emergency department with a 1-day history of poor feeding and irritability. He was born at term and was well until yesterday. He is alert and pink, with a capillary refill time of less than 2 seconds and no hepatomegaly. His heart rate is 280/min and regular and his respiratory rate is 40/min. A 12-lead ECG shows a regular narrow-complex tachycardia without visible P waves.
Which one of the following is the most appropriate immediate management?
Question 6 · The acutely unwell child
A 4-month-old boy, born at term with no other medical problems, is brought to the emergency department with 2 days of coryza followed by cough and noisy breathing. He has mild subcostal recession with bilateral crackles and wheeze on auscultation. He is feeding about three-quarters of his usual volumes. His temperature is 37.4°C, pulse 148/min, respiratory rate 52/min and oxygen saturation 93% breathing room air.
Which one of the following is the most appropriate management?
Question 7 · The acutely unwell child
A 20-month-old boy is brought to the emergency department with a barking cough and stridor that have worsened over the past hour. He is pale and increasingly agitated. He has stridor audible at rest, marked subcostal and intercostal recession, and abdominal breathing. His oxygen saturation is 94% breathing room air.
Which one of the following is the most appropriate immediate management?
Question 8 · Chronic conditions and childhood infections
A 4-year-old boy, who is not fully vaccinated because his family recently arrived from overseas, is brought to his general practitioner with a 3-day history of fever, cough, runny nose and sore red eyes. On the day of review a blotchy red rash has appeared on his face and is beginning to spread down to his trunk. He is alert, hydrated and otherwise well.
Which one of the following is the most appropriate next step in management?
AMC CAT MCQ at a glance
- patient groups in the blueprint
- 6
- questions in one sitting
- 150
- per question on average
- 84 s
- on the 0 to 500 scale to pass
- 250
What the AMC tests in child health
The AMC's examination specifications describe child health as the developmental dimensions of children's health, from fetal development and the transition to extra-uterine life to the end of adolescence. That includes growth, physical development, puberty and intellectual development in normal and abnormal situations, the natural history of important medical and surgical conditions, and the recognition and management of developmental disability, across emergency, ambulatory, inpatient and convalescent settings.
The questions on this page cover the acutely unwell child, neonatal care, growth, development and behaviour, chronic conditions and infections, paediatric surgery and fractures, and adolescent health and child protection.
Where it sits in the exam
Child health is 12.5% of the blueprint, about 19 of the 150 questions. Paediatric content also appears elsewhere: newborn care overlaps with obstetrics, and the childhood immunisation schedule and screening sit within population health. Because questions are randomised, a paediatric dose or threshold has to be recalled cold, between two adult questions.
Where candidates go wrong
These traps recur in our question bank. Most are thresholds, and they cut both ways: missing the child who needs everything, and over-investigating the child who needs nothing.
- The well-looking febrile neonate. An infant under 28 days with a temperature of 38 degrees or more needs a full septic workup, including lumbar puncture, and intravenous antibiotics, however well the baby looks.
- Treating bronchiolitis as asthma. Salbutamol, adrenaline, corticosteroids and antibiotics are not routine in bronchiolitis, however prominent the wheeze.
- Under-treating croup. Stridor at rest or marked recession means severe croup, which needs nebulised adrenaline as well as a corticosteroid.
- Waiting to treat meningococcal disease. Fever with a non-blanching rash in an unwell child is treated with parenteral antibiotics at once, before any investigation.
- The DKA bolus. In paediatric diabetic ketoacidosis, insulin starts as a fixed-rate infusion without a bolus, after an hour of intravenous fluids.
- Over-investigation. A first seizure that meets the criteria for a simple febrile seizure, a limping but playful child after a viral illness and a buckle fracture of the wrist each need far less than candidates order.
- Development. Loss of a skill the child already had is a red flag at any age, without waiting for a milestone to be missed.
How to revise child health
Learn paediatrics as a set of age bands and thresholds: the febrile infant under 28 days and from 1 to 3 months, the age range for simple febrile seizures, the windows for motor milestones and the growth charts used in Australia. Then practise applying them to the child in the question, because most distractors are the right action for a child of a different age.
| Age or finding | What it decides | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Fever in an infant 28 days old or younger (corrected age) | Full blood examination, CRP, blood, urine and CSF cultures, and empiric intravenous antibiotics | RCH, Febrile child |
| Fever from over 28 days to under 3 months | A low threshold for investigation and treatment, guided by how the infant looks and whether there is a focus | RCH, Febrile child |
| Febrile seizure | Usually between 6 months and 6 years. A simple seizure is generalised, lasts under 15 minutes, with full recovery within 1 hour and no recurrence in the same illness, and needs no tests beyond those for the fever | RCH, Febrile seizure |
| Bronchiolitis | Generally under 12 months of age; a clinical diagnosis, managed with supportive care | RCH, Bronchiolitis |
| Croup | Generally between 6 months and 6 years; a corticosteroid alone unless severe or life-threatening, when nebulised adrenaline is added | RCH, Croup |
| Neonatal jaundice | Onset in the first 24 hours of life suggests pathological jaundice; pale stools at any age need urgent assessment | RCH, Jaundice in early infancy |
| Hepatitis B birth dose | Within 7 days of birth, ideally within 24 hours | NIP schedule, Victorian Department of Health |
| Rotavirus vaccine | Oral doses at 2 and 4 months; the first dose by 14 weeks of age and the second by 24 weeks | NIP schedule, Victorian Department of Health |
The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne Clinical Practice Guidelines are free and cover most acute presentations. The Australian Immunisation Handbook sets out the childhood schedule, including extra doses for some groups of children. The AMC's free book Australian Medicine in Context covers common childhood conditions in their Australian setting. Child health links with obstetrics and gynaecology for the newborn and with population health for immunisation and screening.
Questions candidates ask
The AMC blueprint gives Child health 12.5% of the 150 questions, which is about 19. They are randomised with the other patient groups rather than set in a block.
The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne Clinical Practice Guidelines are free online and cover most acute paediatric presentations with Australian thresholds and doses. Use the Australian Immunisation Handbook for the childhood schedule and catch-up.
Yes. The AMC describes child health as running from fetal development and the transition to life outside the uterus to the end of adolescence, including growth, puberty, development and developmental disability, in emergency, ambulatory, inpatient and convalescent settings.
The AMC's description of child health includes psychosocial interventions, and our child health questions include recognising possible abuse. A delayed presentation, a history that changes or an injury that does not fit the child's developmental stage should prompt a child protection assessment.
Sources
- AMC: Multiple Choice Question Examination Specifications, V8 (September 2025)Checked 28 September 2026
- The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne: Clinical Practice GuidelinesChecked 28 September 2026
- Australian Government: The Australian Immunisation HandbookChecked 28 September 2026
- AMC: Australian Medicine in ContextChecked 28 September 2026
- The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne: Clinical Practice Guideline, Febrile childChecked 28 September 2026
- The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne: Clinical Practice Guideline, Febrile seizureChecked 28 September 2026
- The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne: Clinical Practice Guideline, BronchiolitisChecked 28 September 2026
- The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne: Clinical Practice Guideline, Croup (laryngotracheobronchitis)Checked 28 September 2026
- The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne: Clinical Practice Guideline, Jaundice in early infancyChecked 28 September 2026
- Victorian Department of Health: Immunisation schedule Victoria, National Immunisation Program (July 2026)Checked 28 September 2026
AMC Preparation is independent of the Australian Medical Council. Rules, dates and fees can change: the AMC is the authority, and this page is checked against it.
Check child health against the rest of the blueprint
The free diagnostic asks 12 questions across all six patient groups in about 14 minutes and gives a first read on every subject, including child health.
12 questions · about 14 minutes · free, no card details