High-Yield AMC MCQ Topics Every IMG Should Master, Domain by Domain

With 150 questions spread across six patient groups, you cannot study every condition in equal depth. The AMC MCQ high yield topics are the ones that are common in the Australian community, carry a clear “next best step”, and have an Australian-specific answer that differs from what many IMGs learned at home. This guide works through each domain of the blueprint, lists the conditions and decisions most worth mastering with the key numbers, and finishes each domain with an original worked question.

How to decide which AMC MCQ high yield topics matter most

The AMC’s examination specifications give you three clues about what is high yield:

• The blueprint. Adult Medicine 30%, Adult Surgery 20%, and Women’s health, Child health, Mental health, and Population health and ethics at 12.5% each.
• The standard. Questions are pitched at a new Australian graduate starting internship: common presentations and safe first steps, not rare syndromes.
• The setting. Most questions reflect common conditions in the Australian community, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health.

Every question also tests one of three clinician tasks: data gathering, data interpretation and management. For each topic below, ask yourself all three.

If you have not yet mapped these domains onto a timetable, use our AMC MCQ study plan, which splits your hours by the same weights.

Adult Medicine: high yield topics (about 45 questions)

Absolute cardiovascular risk (Aus CVD Risk)

Australia uses absolute risk, not single risk factors, to decide on blood pressure and lipid treatment. The 2023 Australian guideline and its calculator (Aus CVD Risk) recommend assessment for:

• all people aged 45–79 without known CVD
• people with diabetes aged 35–79
• First Nations people aged 30–79 (with individual risk factors checked from age 18)

Risk is reported as 5-year risk: high ≥10%, intermediate 5% to under 10%, low under 5%. If a stem gives you a 50-year-old with a single raised reading and asks what to do next, the answer is often “calculate absolute risk”, not “start a drug”.

Atrial fibrillation and stroke prevention

The Australian AF guideline (National Heart Foundation and CSANZ) uses the sex-neutral CHA2DS2-VA score: heart failure 1, hypertension 1, age ≥75 2, diabetes 1, prior stroke/TIA/thromboembolism 2, vascular disease 1, age 65–74 1.

• Score 0: anticoagulation not recommended.
• Score 1: consider anticoagulation.
• Score 2 or more: anticoagulation recommended unless contraindicated.
• A NOAC (apixaban, dabigatran, rivaroxaban) is preferred over warfarin. Warfarin remains the option for patients on dialysis.
• Aspirin is not recommended for stroke prevention in AF.
• Opportunistic AF screening is recommended from age 65.

Type 2 diabetes

From the RACGP and Diabetes Australia handbook:

• Diagnosis: HbA1c ≥6.5% (48 mmol/mol), fasting glucose ≥7.0 mmol/L, or 2-hour OGTT glucose ≥11.1 mmol/L. In an asymptomatic person, confirm with a repeat test.
• HbA1c 6.0–6.4% (42–46 mmol/mol) means high risk. HbA1c cannot diagnose impaired fasting glucose or impaired glucose tolerance.
• Screen asymptomatic people with AUSDRISK; test if the score is 12 or more.
• General HbA1c target ≤7% (53 mmol/mol), individualised. Metformin is the usual first-line drug.

Other medicine topics worth mastering

• Transient visual loss in an older adult. Think of amaurosis fugax (treat as a TIA, with urgent stroke work-up and carotid imaging) and giant cell arteritis (headache, jaw claudication, raised ESR/CRP: start high-dose corticosteroids straight away, do not wait for biopsy).
• Statin myopathy. Muscle pain with a statin: check CK, look for interacting drugs and hypothyroidism, and know when to stop the statin.
• Malabsorption. Coeliac disease is common. Serology (tTG-IgA with total IgA) must be done while the patient is still eating gluten.
• Toxicology. Intentional overdose appears in the AMC sample items. Know the paracetamol nomogram approach and when to start acetylcysteine.

Adult Surgery: high yield topics (about 30 questions)

Bowel cancer screening and a positive iFOBT

• The National Bowel Cancer Screening Program covers people aged 45–74, with an immunochemical faecal occult blood test (iFOBT) every 2 years. People aged 50–74 are mailed kits automatically; those aged 45–49 can request their first kit.
• A positive result means the person needs to see their GP, and colonoscopy is the usual next step. Do not repeat the iFOBT to “check”.
• The program is for people without symptoms. Rectal bleeding, change in bowel habit, iron deficiency anaemia or a strong family history need diagnostic investigation, not screening.

Breast lumps and nipple discharge

The triple test is the Australian standard for any breast change: clinical assessment, imaging (mammogram and/or ultrasound) and non-excision biopsy (fine-needle aspiration or core biopsy). A bloody or spontaneous single-duct nipple discharge needs the same work-up. BreastScreen Australia invites women aged 50–74 every 2 years, but screening is not for women with symptoms.

Skin cancer

Australia has one of the highest melanoma rates in the world. Know the features of melanoma (asymmetry, irregular border, colour variation, change), and that a suspicious pigmented lesion is managed by excision biopsy with a narrow margin, not a shave or partial punch. Recognise basal cell and squamous cell carcinoma.

Emergencies you must recognise

Also revise post-operative complications by day, trauma priorities and the Ottawa ankle and knee rules.

Women’s health: high yield topics (about 19 questions)

Cervical screening

The National Cervical Screening Program uses an HPV-based Cervical Screening Test:

• Asymptomatic women and people with a cervix aged 25–74, every 5 years. Exit testing at 70–74.
• Self-collection (a vaginal swab, no speculum) is an informed choice for everyone eligible, is as accurate as clinician collection for HPV, and is considered safe in pregnancy.
• HPV 16/18 detected: refer for colposcopy.
• HPV (not 16/18) detected: liquid-based cytology is needed. If the sample was self-collected, the person must return for a clinician-collected sample.
• HPV not detected: routine screening in 5 years.
• Symptomatic patients (for example, post-coital bleeding) need a diagnostic co-test and examination, not a screening test.

Antenatal vaccines and gestational diabetes

• Pertussis (dTpa): one dose each pregnancy, ideally at 20–32 weeks.
• Influenza: recommended at any stage of pregnancy.
• RSV (Abrysvo): one dose at 28–36 weeks.
• Live vaccines (MMR, varicella, BCG and others) are contraindicated in pregnancy.
• GDM: a 75 g OGTT at 24–28 weeks for all women without diabetes already found in the pregnancy, and earlier testing for women at high risk. The Australasian Diabetes in Pregnancy Society (ADIPS) updated its diagnostic thresholds in 2025 (fasting 5.3, 1-hour 10.6 and 2-hour 9.0 mmol/L), so check which criteria a question or your local service uses. Expect the stem to give you the result and ask what it means.

Other women’s health topics

• Bleeding in early pregnancy: haemodynamic status first, then quantitative beta-hCG, transvaginal ultrasound and blood group with antibody screen. Always consider ectopic pregnancy.
• Reduced fetal movements: same-day assessment with CTG. Do not tell the woman to wait and count.
• Pre-eclampsia: new hypertension (≥140/90 mmHg) after 20 weeks with proteinuria or other organ involvement. Know the warning signs: headache, visual change, epigastric pain, falling platelets.
• Urinary tract infection in pregnancy: asymptomatic bacteriuria is treated in pregnancy. Choose an antibiotic safe in pregnancy according to Therapeutic Guidelines.

Child health: high yield topics (about 19 questions)

The National Immunisation Program schedule

Annual influenza vaccine is funded for all children aged 6 months to under 5 years. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children receive extra funded vaccines: meningococcal B at 2, 4 and 12 months, an extra pneumococcal dose at 6 months, annual influenza at every age from 6 months, and in WA, NT, SA and Qld hepatitis A doses. Pregnant women are offered the RSV vaccine at 28–36 weeks, and states also run infant RSV immunisation programs. Check the current schedule on health.gov.au before you sit, because programs change.

Croup

Australian guidance from the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne grades croup by work of breathing and behaviour, not by how loud the stridor is:

• Mild (stridor only when upset): consider oral dexamethasone 0.15 mg/kg or prednisolone 1 mg/kg if stridor is present or there are risk factors.
• Moderate (stridor at rest, recession): oral dexamethasone 0.15 mg/kg or prednisolone 1 mg/kg; consider nebulised adrenaline if worsening.
• Severe (agitation or drowsiness, persistent stridor): nebulised adrenaline plus dexamethasone 0.6 mg/kg (maximum 12 mg).
• No routine X-ray, antibiotics or oxygen; observe for at least 3 hours after adrenaline; never discharge with stridor at rest.

Bronchiolitis

• Mainly in infants under 12 months. It is a clinical diagnosis: no routine chest X-ray.
• Do not give salbutamol, corticosteroids, antibiotics, nebulised adrenaline or hypertonic saline.
• Start oxygen only if saturations are persistently below 90%. Brief dips are not a reason to start.
• Nasogastric fluids are the preferred route when feeding is inadequate.
• Risk factors for severe disease include prematurity, age under 10 weeks, chronic heart or lung disease and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander background.

Other child health topics

• Fever under 3 months: low threshold for sepsis work-up and admission.
• Urine collection in an infant: clean-catch, catheter or suprapubic aspirate for culture; bag specimens are not reliable for culture.
• Neonatal resuscitation: warm, dry and stimulate; give inflation breaths if apnoeic or heart rate below 100; chest compressions at 3:1 if heart rate stays below 60 despite effective ventilation.
• Breath-holding spells: benign, triggered by upset or minor injury; check for iron deficiency.

Mental health: high yield topics (about 19 questions)

Compulsory treatment under Australian mental health law

Each state and territory has its own Act, with shared principles. Under Victoria’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Act 2022 (in force from 1 September 2023), all four criteria must be met for a compulsory treatment order:

1. The person has a mental illness.
2. They need immediate treatment to prevent serious deterioration in their mental or physical health, or serious harm to themselves or another person.
3. The treatment will be provided if they are placed on an order.
4. There is no less restrictive way for them to receive the treatment.

Family consent, a history of violence, or lack of insight alone do not make treatment involuntary.

Toxidromes and drug reactions

Other mental health topics

• Suicide risk: assess plan, intent, means and protective factors; safety-plan and restrict access to means.
• Adolescent depression: psychological therapy is first-line for mild to moderate depression; if medication is needed, fluoxetine is the usual first choice, with monitoring for suicidal thinking.
• Alcohol withdrawal: give thiamine before glucose and use benzodiazepines; watch for Wernicke encephalopathy (confusion, ataxia, ophthalmoplegia).
• Schizophrenia: poorer prognosis with insidious onset, early onset and prominent negative symptoms.

Population health and ethics: high yield topics (about 19 questions)

This domain is often under-studied by IMGs, yet its rules are concrete and learnable. For a deeper treatment, read our guide to AMC ethics and population health questions.

Mandatory notifications to Ahpra

There are four types of notifiable conduct: impairment, intoxication while practising, significant departure from accepted professional standards and sexual misconduct. For a treating practitioner, the threshold for impairment, intoxication and departure from standards is a substantial risk of harm to the public, a very high bar. Sexual misconduct has a lower threshold. In Western Australia, treating practitioners are exempt from mandatory notification, but may notify voluntarily.

Confidentiality and consent

• A parent asking about an adult child’s health (an AMC sample topic) has no right to information without the patient’s consent.
• Exceptions include serious threats to safety, notifiable diseases, child abuse reporting and court orders.
• Valid consent needs capacity, adequate information and voluntariness.

Screening statistics you must be able to calculate

Example: a test with 90% sensitivity and 95% specificity in 10,000 people, prevalence 2%.

• PPV = 180 / 670 = 26.9%. Most positives are false at low prevalence.
• NPV = 9,310 / 9,330 = 99.8%.
• If a drug cuts an event rate from 10% to 6%, the absolute risk reduction is 4%, so NNT = 1 / 0.04 = 25.

Other population health topics

• Alcohol (NHMRC): healthy adults should drink no more than 10 standard drinks a week and no more than 4 on any one day; under-18s should not drink; not drinking is safest in pregnancy and breastfeeding.
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health: earlier risk assessment (CVD from 30), regular Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health assessments (Medicare item 715), and culturally safe care.
• Notifiable diseases: notify the state or territory public health unit.

Cross-domain numbers to know before exam day

These numbers recur across several domains. Learn them as one set.

Common traps when studying AMC MCQ high yield topics

• Answering with your home country’s guideline. UK, US, Indian or Pakistani first-line choices often differ from Therapeutic Guidelines. Read our list of Australian guidelines for the AMC MCQ.
• Skipping the next step. If the patient is unstable, the answer is resuscitation, not the operation.
• Using screening for symptomatic patients. Symptoms always mean a diagnostic pathway.
• Over-investigating. Croup and bronchiolitis guidance advises against routine tests.

For format and scoring, read the AMC MCQ exam guide, then drill each domain from the AMC MCQ topics hub.