AMC recalls and recall questions

What recalls are

"Recalls" are questions that candidates have tried to reconstruct from memory after sitting the AMC CAT MCQ. They circulate online, often gathered into compilations of varying age, and they promise a view of the real exam. This page does not host, quote or link to any of them.

What the AMC says

The AMC addresses reconstructed papers directly in its examination specifications. It says it has been given copies of papers circulated online as reproductions of its exam and has found many of the question stems and responses to be incorrect. It warns that candidates who base their preparation on them may form a distorted impression of the format and content of the real questions.

The same document sets out two rules that make recalls a risk as well as a poor resource.

• Disclosure of exam content. Recording any part of the exam, disclosing or attempting to disclose its content, and supplying, offering or selling material said to be AMC exam content are treated as irregular behaviour. The possible consequences include a withheld or withdrawn result, refusal of future exams or of the AMC certificate, and a report to the Medical Board of Australia, Ahpra or law enforcement. Copyright in all examination material rests with the AMC.
• Results that reflect pre-knowledge. Because the exam allows statistical analysis of each candidate's performance, the AMC can conclude that a result does not fairly reflect ability. Its examples include results materially affected by pre-knowledge of questions, rote learning or regurgitation of pre-learned answers. The AMC's CEO may then withhold the result, and the candidate is invited to sit again.

Why recalls mislead even when they are accurate

• Each exam is different. The CAT MCQ is adaptive, and each candidate sits a customised exam. At least half of each exam comes from a pool of previously calibrated questions and the rest are new, and the route through the pool depends on the candidate's own answers.
• Five options depend on exact wording. A single value or a word about the setting decides between two reasonable answers, and memory keeps the topic while losing that detail.
• Guidance moves. An answer that was right when a question was remembered can be wrong now. ADIPS published new gestational diabetes criteria in June 2025, a new Australian acute coronary syndrome guideline replaced the old one in 2025 and a national lung cancer screening program began in July 2025.
• They train recognition. Learning the answer to a remembered question rehearses that question. The exam rewards reasoning through one you have not seen.

What is examinable

The AMC's MCQ Examination Specifications set the scope. The exam covers six patient groups: adult medicine, adult surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology, child health, mental health, and population health and ethics. Most questions reflect common clinical conditions in the Australian community, and they test pathogenesis, clinical features, investigation, differential diagnosis and management.

The specifications also set the priority. Questions are critical to the safety or clinical outcome of the patient, or concern important common conditions that relate to life-threatening illness, safe practice including professionalism, a successful clinical outcome or an important aspect of public health. The AMC's free book Australian Medicine in Context sets out the Australian approach to 105 common conditions and 56 professional practice topics. Where a remembered answer and the current Australian guideline disagree, learn the guideline.

What to practise instead

The AMC's own material is the safest source: the example questions in the specifications, the preparation app with 210 questions and Australian Medicine in Context. Original questions written to the priority criteria, each with a rationale for every option and the Australian guideline behind the answer, train the same reasoning without the risks that recalls carry. For practice across every patient group, use the AMC MCQ practice questions, and the free mock test for the exam's pace of 84 seconds a question.

The final fortnight

The last two weeks are when recall compilations are most tempting, and when they cost the most time. Spend the fortnight on three things.

1. Timed mixed sets across all six patient groups, answering each question before moving on, as the exam requires. Review every wrong answer against the guideline that decides it.
2. The conditions that meet the priority criteria in your weakest groups, and any guidance that has changed recently, such as the three examples above.
3. The practical steps in the AMC CAT MCQ exam day guide: your placement letter, your identification and the arrival time at the test centre.

Stop adding new sources in the final days, and revise from the ones you have already used.