Best AMC MCQ Preparation Resources: Official, Guidelines and Q-Banks

Choosing AMC MCQ preparation resources is harder than it should be. Search results are full of question banks, recall PDFs, courses and textbook lists, and most international medical graduates end up paying for more than they can use while still missing the Australian guidelines that decide the right answer.

This guide sorts what is worth your time into three layers: the official AMC material that defines the exam, the Australian clinical references that define the “best” answer, and the question bank you use to practise under time pressure. It explains how to use each one, why recalls are a risk, which resources are free, and which stack to build for your budget.

The three layers of AMC MCQ preparation resources

Every useful resource fits into one of three jobs. Problems start when candidates use a resource for the wrong job, such as trying to learn Australian antibiotic choices from a question bank or practising timing with a textbook.

1. Official AMC resources tell you what is tested. The specifications define the blueprint, format and standard; the AMC app shows how AMC writers phrase questions.
2. Australian guidelines tell you what is correct. When two options both look reasonable, the one that matches current Australian practice wins. These are the references the answers are written from.
3. A question bank trains you to apply both under exam conditions. It is where you find gaps, build speed and learn to make decisions in 84 seconds without going back.

A balanced plan uses all three every week. Our AMC MCQ study plan shows how to split hours between reading and questions for 6-month, 3-month and 6-week timelines.

Official AMC MCQ preparation resources: start here

The AMC itself lists only a few preparation resources on its MCQ page. Each is worth using fully before you spend money elsewhere.

AMC CAT MCQ Examination Specifications (V8)

The specifications are a free PDF on the AMC website; the current version is V8, dated September 2025. They are the closest thing to a rulebook, and they answer questions candidates often pay others to answer:

• Blueprint: Adult health – Medicine 30%, Adult health – Surgery 20%, and Women’s health, Child health, Mental health, and Population health and ethics at 12.5% each.
• Standard: knowledge “at the level of a graduating final year medical student about to commence the (pre-registration) intern year”.
• Context: “The majority of the multiple-choice questions reflect common clinical conditions in the Australian community.”
• Sample questions: Appendix B has 22, described as a representative sample only.
• Graduate outcome statements: Appendix A lists what a graduate is expected to be able to do, which is a useful checklist for Population health and ethics.
• Rules: format, scoring, conduct and exam-day procedures.

Use it three ways. First, turn the blueprint into your time allocation. Second, sit the 22 sample questions untimed early on to learn the style. Third, reread the standard whenever you find yourself studying registrar-level detail: the exam rewards safe, common, first-line decisions.

AMC MCQ Preparation App (with eMedici)

The AMC produced the MCQ Preparation App in partnership with eMedici. When you buy an MCQ authorisation, the AMC emails you a unique link to set up access. What you get:

• 210 multiple-choice questions written by AMC contributors and aligned to the exam
• Immediate feedback on every answer
• 12 months of access from the date you activate your eMedici account, with no renewal needed
• Desktop, iOS and Android access; questions are refreshed annually

The AMC and eMedici are independent organisations. The AMC provides access only to its own MCQ questions; eMedici’s other products are separate and were not developed by the AMC. Because these 210 items are the most authentic practice available, do not burn them in week one. Use about a third as a baseline once you have revised the blueprint once, a third midway, and the last third in your final month as a confidence check alongside full mocks.

Annotated Multiple Choice Questions

The specifications refer to an AMC publication called Annotated Multiple Choice Questions. Before buying any copy, check what the AMC currently sells: its publications page at the time of writing describes Good Medical Practice and Australian Medicine in Context, not an MCQ book. Older printed AMC MCQ books circulate second-hand, but they predate the computer adaptive format and current Australian guidelines. Use them, if at all, to understand question style, and check every management point against a current guideline.

Good Medical Practice: Professionalism, Ethics and Law (5th edition)

This AMC book covers the professional, ethical and legal requirements of practising in Australia: consent, confidentiality, end-of-life care, documentation, complaints, and new chapters on telehealth regulation, data privacy and cross-jurisdictional practice. It is available in print and as an EPUB through major retailers at A$109.99 RRP. It is the most useful single purchase for the Population health and ethics domain, which makes up 12.5% of the exam.

Australian Medicine in Context

The AMC is preparing Australian Medicine in Context – key presentations and topics for entry to practice to replace the AMC Anthology. It focuses on patient presentations and professional practice, and adds content on Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health and cultural safety. Check the AMC publications page for whether it is available when you start.

Australian guidelines: the references that decide the best answer

Many AMC MCQ options would be acceptable in India, Pakistan, the UK or the US. The exam asks for the best answer in Australia, so you need the references Australian clinicians use. The specifications also caution that care should be taken with major reference textbooks, because they go well beyond the standard tested. Use the references below to check decisions, not to read cover to cover. Our guide to Australian guidelines for the AMC MCQ sets out the differences that most often catch IMGs.

Therapeutic Guidelines (eTG)

Therapeutic Guidelines is the independent, non-profit Australian reference for prescribing: 22 guidelines covering about 2,500 conditions with treatment advice. It is the reference behind most “first-line drug” and “empirical antibiotic” questions. It is a paid subscription for individuals and institutions, but two things help:

• Therapeutic Guidelines publishes a free antibiotic prescribing summary table, which covers many of the antibiotic decisions examined.
• Its Partnership Program offers free subscriptions to individuals and institutions in resource-limited settings; check whether you qualify.

If you already work in an Australian health service, ask whether you have institutional access before you buy.

Murtagh’s General Practice

Murtagh’s General Practice (now in its 9th edition, McGraw Hill) is a long-standing Australian general practice text organised around presentations, with red flags and a “diagnostic strategy” approach that suits AMC stems well. The companion handbook is a shorter version. Use it to understand how an Australian GP approaches a presentation, and check drug choices against Therapeutic Guidelines.

RACGP Red Book

The RACGP’s Guidelines for preventive activities in general practice, known as the Red Book, is in its 10th edition and maintained as a web-based document with a PDF download. It is the reference for who to screen, how often and for what, which drives a large share of Population health questions.

Australian Immunisation Handbook

Recommendations in the Handbook are developed by the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) and approved by the NHMRC. It is publicly available online and as an app, and it covers vaccine scheduling, catch-up, special groups and contraindications. Pair it with the National Immunisation Program schedule.

National screening programs

Screening ages and intervals are among the easiest marks to lose, because they differ from other countries. Learn these three cold:

Medical Board of Australia code of conduct

Good medical practice: a code of conduct for doctors in Australia is free on the Medical Board’s website. Ethics questions about consent, confidentiality, boundaries, conflicts of interest and your own health are answered from it. Our AMC ethics and population health guide turns its principles into worked questions.

Journals and national guidelines

• Australian Prescriber: a free, independent, peer-reviewed journal and podcast now published by Therapeutic Guidelines, with short reviews on common prescribing problems and new drugs. The specifications list it as suggested reading.
• Australian Journal of General Practice: the RACGP journal, called Australian Family Physician until 2018. The specifications still list it under its former name.
• NHMRC alcohol guidelines: healthy adults should drink no more than 10 standard drinks a week and no more than 4 on any one day; children and young people under 18, and people who are pregnant or planning a pregnancy, should not drink.

How to use an AMC MCQ question bank properly

A question bank is the most effective preparation resource you can buy, and also the easiest to waste. Doing 3,000 questions quickly and checking only the score teaches little. Doing fewer questions slowly and well teaches more, and the method matters more than the brand.

Match the mode to your stage

• Tutor mode, early: answer, then read the explanation immediately. Use it while you are still learning a domain.
• Timed blocks, middle: 20–40 questions at 84 seconds each, mixed across domains, with explanations only at the end. This is the real exam’s pace (3.5 hours ÷ 150 questions).
• Full mocks, late: 150 questions in 3.5 hours with forward-only navigation, at the time of day you will sit the real exam.

Read all five explanations

For each question, read why the right answer is right and why each of the other four is wrong. The distractors are usually correct answers to slightly different stems. Learning when option B would have been right is how one question teaches you four.

Keep an error log

Record every wrong answer, and every right answer you guessed, in a simple table: topic, what you chose, the correct answer, and the reason you missed it. Classify the reason, because each needs a different fix:

• Knowledge gap: you did not know the fact. Fix: revise the topic from a reference.
• Australian-guideline gap: you knew another country’s answer. Fix: note the Australian rule and its source.
• Misread stem: you missed an age, a time course or the word “initial”. Fix: slow your first read.
• Reasoning error: you knew the facts but chose a less safe or less likely option. Fix: practise “next best step” questions.
• Time pressure: you rushed or overthought. Fix: more timed blocks.

Redo, drill and review analytics

Redo incorrect questions after about a week, without looking at your previous answer. Use domain and subtopic analytics to find weak areas, then run short drills on them. Compare your domain performance against the blueprint weights: a weak score in Medicine (30%) costs far more than a weak score in a 12.5% domain.

Two worked examples of the review method

Try each question, then read the explanation as you would in tutor mode. Both test Australian rules that differ from many IMGs’ home practice.

For which topics to prioritise in your bank, see our list of AMC MCQ high-yield topics by domain.

AMC recalls: why they are a risk, not a shortcut

“Recall” collections claim to reproduce questions from past sittings. They are tempting when the fee is A$2,920, but the AMC’s own specifications give four reasons to avoid relying on them:

• Accuracy. The AMC states that it has found many circulated stems and responses in reconstructed papers to be incorrect. Learning a wrong “answer key” is worse than learning nothing.
• Results can be withheld. The AMC may withhold results that are materially affected by pre-knowledge of questions or rote learning, and invite the candidate to sit again.
• Misconduct. Candidates found giving, receiving or recording exam information can be stopped, refused future exams, have results withdrawn and be referred to the Medical Board of Australia or Ahpra.
• Copyright. Copyright in all examination material rests with the AMC.

There is also a practical problem. The exam is adaptive and draws from a large pool of calibrated questions, with new items being trialled, so the chance of meeting a remembered stem in your sitting is small. Understanding a topic well enough to answer any version of a question is the only preparation that transfers. Every question in our bank is original and written to the blueprint, not reconstructed from past exams.

Free vs paid AMC MCQ preparation resources

A lot of excellent material costs nothing. Paid resources earn their place only when they give you something the free ones cannot, usually volume of good questions with explanations, timed mocks and analytics.

Recommended AMC MCQ preparation resource stacks by budget

These stacks assume you have paid for the authorisation and therefore have the AMC app. Every stack includes the free references; the difference is how much timed practice you can do. Budget for the exam itself using our guide to AMC MCQ exam fees, booking and dates.

Our packs are one-time payments with no subscription or monthly fee, and they are nested: the 1,000-question pack includes the 500, and the 3,000 includes both. Compare them on the pricing page, or try the free questions in the question bank first.

Common resource mistakes IMGs make

1. Buying three question banks and finishing none. One bank, fully reviewed with an error log, beats several skimmed.
2. Studying from home-country guidelines. Screening, immunisation and antibiotic answers differ; check them against Australian sources.
3. Reading reference textbooks cover to cover. The AMC cautions against relying on major reference texts; the standard is a new intern, not a registrar.
4. Using the AMC app too early. Its 210 questions are your most authentic benchmark; spread them out.
5. Never practising under time. Untimed accuracy rarely holds at 84 seconds per question with no going back. Our tactics for how to pass the AMC MCQ on your first attempt cover pacing.
6. Neglecting the 12.5% domains. Together, Women’s health, Child health, Mental health, and Population health and ethics are half the exam.
7. Trusting recalls. The AMC says many are wrong, and pre-knowledge can put your result at risk.