The Australian Medical Council (AMC) Clinical examination tests whether you can complete a requested task safely, not just whether you recognise a diagnosis. Practise common and important presentations across adult medicine, surgery, women's health, child health and mental health. Rehearse each one as a history, examination, diagnostic or management task, within the official station timing.
Key takeaways
- Topics, tasks and assessed domains are three different layers. Know which presentations to practise, which task each station asks for, and which domains the examiner rates.
- The AMC's current format has 16 assessed stations and four rest stations. Each station has two minutes of reading time and eight minutes for the task. Fourteen stations count towards your result, and you need to pass at least nine of them.
- Do only what the task asks. The AMC's examiner tips say unrequested tasks earn no marks.
- The examiner's global rating decides each station. Domain ratings are feedback and have no separate pass or fail cut-off.
- No official list says which cases will appear. Treat any "high-yield" list, including the examples here, as a practice guide, never a prediction.
- Build your plan from your own gaps, timed practice with a partner and specific feedback, not from the volume of notes you collect.
Source check: format and assessment details below were checked against the AMC's Clinical examination page, assessment domains page, April 2026 specifications and examiner tips on 7 October 2026. Check the AMC Clinical examination page for current dates, fees, delivery and results before you book.
Which AMC Clinical topics should I practise?
Clinical versus MCQ intent
If you search for "AMC topics", many results are about the multiple choice question (MCQ) examination, which tests knowledge across a broad syllabus. The Clinical examination is different. It asks you to perform: talk to a patient, examine, explain, reason and plan within eight minutes. So for Clinical, put most of your preparation time into practising tasks rather than rereading a long topic list.
The AMC's Clinical Examination Specifications (version 8.3, dated 8 April 2026) describe content that spans prevention, normal development, and common and important illness across age groups and settings. The specifications are the authority. This guide helps you turn them into practice. If you are still unsure whether the Clinical examination is the right step on your pathway, first check where AMC Clinical fits in your pathway.
Presentations, requested tasks and assessed domains
Keep these three layers separate in your head:
- Presentation: what the patient brings, for example chest pain, a febrile child or low mood.
- Requested task: what the station instructions ask you to do. Stations predominantly assess one of four task areas: history taking; examination; diagnostic formulation (investigations and diagnosis); or management, counselling and education.
- Assessed domains: the qualities the examiner rates while you do the task. According to the AMC's assessment domains page, a station typically assesses three to five domains, drawn from areas such as your approach to the patient, history, examination, use of equipment and procedures, commentary on findings, investigations, diagnostic thinking, and management and counselling.
So a station typically assesses more than one thing. A history station still rates how you interact with the patient, and a management station still rates whether your plan is safe.
How do I turn the topic list into station practice?
Five-discipline by four-task matrix
Use this matrix to build a practice plan. Each row gives illustrative presentations for one discipline group, and each column shows one way a station could ask you to work with them. For each presentation you choose, aim to practise all four task types over your preparation, not just the one you find most comfortable.
| Discipline group | Illustrative presentations | History task | Examination task | Diagnostic formulation task | Management and counselling task |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adult medicine | Chest pain; breathlessness; headache; a new diagnosis of diabetes | Characterise the symptom, red flags and risk factors | Focused cardiovascular or respiratory examination with commentary | Prioritised differential, with the investigations that would change your plan | Explain a new chronic diagnosis and agree next steps |
| Surgery and emergency | Acute abdominal pain; minor trauma; post-operative fever; a new lump | Abdominal pain history that screens for surgical emergencies | Focused abdominal or injury examination | Reason through post-operative fever and what you would check first | Explain the risks and benefits of a procedure for consent |
| Women's health | Early pregnancy bleeding; contraception; first antenatal visit; an abnormal screening result | Sensitive, focused history, including safety questions | Examination as the station instructions direct | Interpret results you are given and explain your reasoning | Counsel on options in plain language and check understanding |
| Child health | Febrile child; developmental concern; respiratory distress; vaccination questions | History from a parent or carer, including red flags | Focused paediatric examination as instructed | Use growth or developmental information to reach a reasoned view | Give a worried parent clear safety-netting advice |
| Mental health | Low mood with thoughts of self-harm; possible psychosis; substance use | Risk assessment within a respectful history | Mental state examination | Formulate a differential and immediate risk level | Safety planning, escalation matched to the assessed risk, and involving supports with consent |
Prevention and normal development run across every row, for example screening conversations, health checks and developmental milestones. Ethical issues and cultural safety can appear in any station.
Illustrative presentations, not recalled or guaranteed cases
Every example above is illustrative. The AMC does not publish a list of the cases that will appear, and no course or forum post can honestly promise one. Do not chase "recalls". They can be inaccurate, they encourage memorised scripts that ignore what a station actually asks, and confidential examination material should not be shared. Instead, write or use original practice cases, and practise each presentation in more than one task format.
How do communication and safety change my answer?
Patient language versus examiner commentary
Before you speak, be clear who you are talking to. The station instructions decide:
- If the task says to explain to the patient, talk to the patient in plain language, check their understanding and respond to their concerns.
- If the task asks you to present findings, give a diagnosis or discuss your reasoning with the examiner, speak to the examiner in concise clinical language.
- If the instructions ask you to comment on findings as you examine, that commentary is for the examiner. Keep explaining to the patient what you are doing and checking that they are comfortable.
Reading the instructions carefully during the two minutes of reading time is part of the skill. As you read, make a mental note of who the audience is for each part of the task: the patient, the examiner or both. Annotating can help you build that habit, but keep it to your own practice cases. In the examination, use supplied writing materials only where the AMC's Clinical Examination Specifications (section 5.10.1) allow.
Consent, cultural safety and escalation
Some habits belong in every station, whatever the topic:
- Consent and comfort: introduce yourself, explain what you are about to do and gain consent before you examine.
- Cultural safety: do not make assumptions. Ask what matters to the patient, offer an interpreter when needed, and be respectful of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients' perspectives. The AMC's Clinical examination page includes a section on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, so read it.
- Safety awareness: stay alert to red flags and to any sign that the patient needs urgent care, whatever the task.
What you say aloud about dangerous causes, escalation and safety-netting should follow the requested task and the clinical situation:
- Red flags: in a history task, ask the red-flag questions the presentation needs. When the task asks for your diagnosis or differentials, name the dangerous possibilities and say why they are more or less likely.
- Escalation: when the task asks about management or next steps, or the scenario shows that the patient needs urgent care, say when you would seek senior help, arrange urgent assessment or call an ambulance.
- Safety-netting: when the task asks you to explain a diagnosis or agree a plan with the patient, tell them exactly which symptoms mean they should come back early or seek emergency care.
Do not add a differential, management plan or safety-netting speech to every station by default. The AMC's examiner tips say unrequested tasks earn no marks.
Can I practise one presentation in different task formats?
Original educational example
Fictional educational example, written for practice. It is not a recalled AMC station.
Take one presentation: a 34-year-old woman with headaches for three months. Here is how four different station instructions change what you do.
| Task type | Fictional instruction | What a good performance focuses on |
|---|---|---|
| History taking | Take a focused history from the patient. | Pattern and impact of the headaches, red flags, medication use, and the patient's own concerns and expectations |
| Physical examination | Perform a focused neurological examination and explain your findings to the examiner. | A logical, efficient sequence; patient comfort; clear commentary directed to the examiner |
| Diagnostic formulation | Tell the examiner your most likely diagnosis, your differentials and any investigations you would arrange. | A reasoned, prioritised differential; explaining why dangerous causes are more or less likely; justifying any tests |
| Management and counselling | Explain the likely diagnosis to the patient and agree a plan. | Plain-language explanation, shared decision-making, follow-up, and the specific symptoms that need urgent review |
Task discipline and flexible time allocation
The AMC's tips from examiners (October 2024, still linked from the current Clinical examination page) make two points that should change how you practise. First, unrequested tasks earn no marks. If the station asks for a history only, a management plan delivered "just in case" uses time without earning credit. The previous version of this guide suggested outlining management even when unprompted. That advice was wrong and has been removed. Second, when a station has more than one task, the requested tasks and their allocated times should direct how you use your eight minutes. Practise with the instructions in front of you, and use the reading time to plan how you will divide the eight minutes, following any time allocation the instructions give.
Where should I start after AMC MCQ?
Minimal resource stack
Start smaller than you think. A workable stack has five parts:
- The official material: the AMC's current Clinical examination page, the specifications, the examiner tips and the briefing videos on the AMC page.
- One reliable set of Australian clinical references for checking management, rather than several overlapping summaries.
- A bank of original practice cases covering the matrix above, written as station instructions.
- A practice partner or small group who will time you and give honest feedback.
- A simple log of which presentation and task you practised, what went wrong and when you will repeat it.
Then apply a stopping rule: once you can practise every task type and fix your gaps, stop adding resources. If the problem is how you perform a task, fix it with practice and feedback rather than more notes. LearnMedicine's general AMC Clinical preparation tips can help with broader study planning; for format and logistics, rely on the official material.
Partner practice and working while preparing
This guide recommends making timed partner practice the core of your preparation. Take turns as candidate, simulated patient and examiner. Set a timer for two minutes of reading and eight minutes of performance, and give feedback against the station's actual task. Before any examination practice, agree what it will involve and make sure your partner consents and knows they can stop at any time. Keep intimate and invasive examinations out of informal partner sessions (see the physical-examination question below). For more on running practice sessions and giving feedback, read how to practise with a role-play partner.
If you are working full time, consider shorter regular sessions rather than occasional marathons: for example, two or three timed stations on weeknights and a longer partner session at the weekend. There is no universal preparation length that suits everyone. Plan around your own gaps and the time you genuinely have, and be wary of anyone who promises a fixed number of weeks. If you are considering a paid course, LearnMedicine has an AMC Clinical preparation course. Apply the same test as for any resource: what specific gap would it fix for you?
How should I use station feedback?
Global result versus domain feedback
Under the current specifications, the examiner's global rating determines whether you pass each station. The domain ratings tell you where your performance was strong or weak, but there is no separate pass or fail cut-off for an individual domain. Be careful with commercial explanations that claim every domain must reach a particular score. That is not how the current AMC specification describes marking.
Across the examination, 14 of the 16 assessed stations count towards your result, and you need to pass at least nine of them. The other two are pilot stations, which you cannot identify, so treat every station as if it counts. If a non-pilot station has to be excluded, a pilot station can be used in its place.
Targeted repair and re-practice
Use feedback, from the AMC or from your practice partner, to find a pattern rather than a list. Ask:
- Did I do the task that was asked, in the time allowed?
- Did I cover the red flags this presentation needed, and escalate when the task or situation called for it?
- When I explained things to the patient, did I use language they could follow?
- If the task included an examination, was it logical, and was any requested commentary clear?
- If the task asked for a plan, was it specific and safe, with safety-netting where the task and situation called for it?
Pick the one or two problems that recur, practise them deliberately for a week, then repeat a similar station and compare.
What do candidates ask about AMC Clinical preparation?
Where should I start after passing the AMC MCQ?
Read the official specifications and examiner tips, pick five or six presentations from the matrix, and do one timed station on each with a partner. That baseline shows you what to fix before you buy anything.
Can I prepare for AMC Clinical without buying a course?
Yes. The plan in this guide does not depend on a paid course: it is built on the official AMC material, one reliable set of references and regular timed partner practice. A course or paid mock adds value only if it gives you something you cannot get yourself, such as structured feedback from experienced practitioners or realistic timed circuits. If you are weighing one up, work through LearnMedicine's checklist of questions to ask before choosing a course. No course can guarantee a pass.
How should study partners run timed practice?
Use written station instructions, a strict two-plus-eight-minute timer, and rotate roles. The examiner role gives feedback on the specific task asked, not on everything that could have been said.
How do I prepare for physical-examination stations?
Practise each examination until the sequence is fluent and efficient within eight minutes, with commentary when the task asks for it. Practise non-intimate examinations only with a consenting study partner who knows what you will do and can stop at any time. Do not practise intimate examinations (such as breast, pelvic, genital or rectal examination) or any invasive procedure on a study partner. For those, use manikins or simulation models, or a supervised clinical skills teaching session where consent and supervision are formally arranged. Online videos can help you see technique, but plan hands-on practice with feedback as well. For how findings are given and when the examiner may speak, rely on the station instructions and the AMC's specification and briefing material. Candidates' descriptions online differ.
Should I explain my reasoning to the patient or the examiner?
Follow the task wording. Explanations "to the patient" are in plain language to the patient. Diagnoses, differentials or findings you are asked to "present" or "discuss with the examiner" go to the examiner in clinical language.
How can I choose resources without collecting too many?
Keep the five-part stack above. Before adding anything, ask what specific gap it fixes. If you cannot name one, you probably do not need it.
How do I decide what to improve from station feedback?
Look for patterns across stations, such as task discipline, timing, red flags or plain-language explanation. Fix the most frequent one first, then re-practise.
When are booking dates released, and is the exam online or face to face?
Booking periods, fees, delivery arrangements and results timing are set by the AMC and can change, so check the AMC Clinical examination page before you plan travel or leave.
Sources
Official AMC sources checked on 7 October 2026:
- AMC Clinical examination (format, booking, fees, delivery and results)
- AMC assessment domains
- AMC Clinical Examination Specifications, version 8.3 (dated 8 April 2026)
- AMC tips from examiners (October 2024)
About LearnMedicine
This guide is published by LearnMedicine. LearnMedicine's founder, Dr Roman Pathak, is an Australian GP and educator. Read more about LearnMedicine.