3-month AMC CAT preparation plan

• 3,850 to 4,000 first-pass questions
• 1,800 to 2,500 wrong/marked-question repeats
• 6 to 7 full 150-question mock exams
• A daily error log and Australia-specific guideline revision

---

Targets for your 90 days

---

Non-negotiable rules

1. Every incorrect question is more valuable than an easy correct question.
2. Do not read explanations passively. Write one line:
   • Why was I wrong?
   • What was the deciding clue?
   • What is the AMC/Australian-style next step?
3. Mark questions as:
   • Red: wrong or guessed
   • Yellow: correct but uncertain
   • Green: correct and confident
     Review red first, then yellow. Do not waste much time repeating green questions.
4. From Week 3 onward, answer timed blocks at 90 seconds per question or less. The actual exam pace is about 84 seconds per question.
5. Do not interpret Q-bank percentage as an AMC score. CAT performance is adaptive and does not convert directly from a Q-bank average.
6. Keep one running notebook or digital file titled AMC Error Book. Limit each error to 1 to 3 lines.
7. Rest every 14th day. It is a real break, not a “catch-up” day.

---

Daily 10-hour timetable

First 2 weeks adjustment

• Block 1: 20 new questions
• Block 2: 20 new questions
• Use the saved time for deeper explanation review.

From Week 3 onward

• Aim for 45 to 55 new questions/day
• Keep review quality high
• If a topic score is below 55%, reduce new questions for that topic and spend more time repairing fundamentals.

---

Mock-exam day timetable

---

90-day strategic timetable

Phase 1: Build core clinical foundations

Days 1-13, then Day 14 complete break

End-of-phase target

• Do not judge yourself harshly by percentage.
• Build the habit of reviewing every miss.
• Your error book should have about 100 to 150 concise entries.

---

Phase 2: Surgery and acute care

Days 15-27, then Day 28 complete break

End-of-phase target

• You should be faster at deciding the next best step.
• Aim to identify unstable patients before looking for the final diagnosis.

---

Phase 3: Women’s health and paediatrics

Days 29-41, then Day 42 complete break

End-of-phase target

• Know emergency algorithms cold.
• Practise answering: “mother/child is unstable, what must happen first?”

---

Phase 4: Paediatrics, psychiatry and population health

Days 43-55, then Day 56 complete break

---

Phase 5: Second pass of high-weight areas

Days 57-69, then Day 70 complete break

End-of-phase decision rule

• Below 55% in a subject: give it 2 focused repair days in Phase 6.
• 55% to 65%: continue mixed practice plus red-question review.
• Above 65%: maintain it with mixed blocks. Do not overspend time here.

---

Phase 6: Exam-mode training

Days 71-83, then Day 84 complete break

• Red and yellow repeats
• Mixed timed sets
• Full mocks
• Repairing your lowest three areas
• Australian guideline and ethics patterns

---

Final 6 days: sharpen, do not burn out

Days 85-90

---

Question-bank filter strategy

Use these as your main filters

• Medicine: for adult medicine, paediatrics, psychiatry where available
• Surgery: surgery and procedure-related acute scenarios
• Women’s Health: dedicated O&G work
• Population Health: epidemiology, ethics, prevention, Indigenous health
• Acute Care Medicine: use alongside medicine/surgery, not as a separate low-yield silo
• Basic Sciences: only for concepts exposed by your errors

Important

---

Weekly score dashboard

• fewer repeated error patterns
• faster recognition of emergencies
• stronger prioritisation
• increasing accuracy in mixed timed blocks
• fewer guessed answers

---

What “topper-level” actually means

• You know why the wrong options are wrong.
• You identify unstable patients first.
• You choose the next step rather than over-investigating.
• You learn Australian ethics, population health and culturally safe care rather than neglecting them.
• You repeat your mistakes until they disappear.
• You protect sleep and take the scheduled break days.

3-month AMC CAT preparation plan

• 3,850 to 4,000 first-pass questions
• 1,800 to 2,500 wrong/marked-question repeats
• 6 to 7 full 150-question mock exams
• A daily error log and Australia-specific guideline revision

---

Targets for your 90 days

---

Non-negotiable rules

1. Every incorrect question is more valuable than an easy correct question.
2. Do not read explanations passively. Write one line:
   • Why was I wrong?
   • What was the deciding clue?
   • What is the AMC/Australian-style next step?
3. Mark questions as:
   • Red: wrong or guessed
   • Yellow: correct but uncertain
   • Green: correct and confident
     Review red first, then yellow. Do not waste much time repeating green questions.
4. From Week 3 onward, answer timed blocks at 90 seconds per question or less. The actual exam pace is about 84 seconds per question.
5. Do not interpret Q-bank percentage as an AMC score. CAT performance is adaptive and does not convert directly from a Q-bank average.
6. Keep one running notebook or digital file titled AMC Error Book. Limit each error to 1 to 3 lines.
7. Rest every 14th day. It is a real break, not a “catch-up” day.

---

Daily 10-hour timetable

First 2 weeks adjustment

• Block 1: 20 new questions
• Block 2: 20 new questions
• Use the saved time for deeper explanation review.

From Week 3 onward

• Aim for 45 to 55 new questions/day
• Keep review quality high
• If a topic score is below 55%, reduce new questions for that topic and spend more time repairing fundamentals.

---

Mock-exam day timetable

---

90-day strategic timetable

Phase 1: Build core clinical foundations

Days 1-13, then Day 14 complete break

End-of-phase target

• Do not judge yourself harshly by percentage.
• Build the habit of reviewing every miss.
• Your error book should have about 100 to 150 concise entries.

---

Phase 2: Surgery and acute care

Days 15-27, then Day 28 complete break

End-of-phase target

• You should be faster at deciding the next best step.
• Aim to identify unstable patients before looking for the final diagnosis.

---

Phase 3: Women’s health and paediatrics

Days 29-41, then Day 42 complete break

End-of-phase target

• Know emergency algorithms cold.
• Practise answering: “mother/child is unstable, what must happen first?”

---

Phase 4: Paediatrics, psychiatry and population health

Days 43-55, then Day 56 complete break

---

Phase 5: Second pass of high-weight areas

Days 57-69, then Day 70 complete break

End-of-phase decision rule

• Below 55% in a subject: give it 2 focused repair days in Phase 6.
• 55% to 65%: continue mixed practice plus red-question review.
• Above 65%: maintain it with mixed blocks. Do not overspend time here.

---

Phase 6: Exam-mode training

Days 71-83, then Day 84 complete break

• Red and yellow repeats
• Mixed timed sets
• Full mocks
• Repairing your lowest three areas
• Australian guideline and ethics patterns

---

Final 6 days: sharpen, do not burn out

Days 85-90

---

Question-bank filter strategy

Use these as your main filters

• Medicine: for adult medicine, paediatrics, psychiatry where available
• Surgery: surgery and procedure-related acute scenarios
• Women’s Health: dedicated O&G work
• Population Health: epidemiology, ethics, prevention, Indigenous health
• Acute Care Medicine: use alongside medicine/surgery, not as a separate low-yield silo
• Basic Sciences: only for concepts exposed by your errors

Important

---

Weekly score dashboard

• fewer repeated error patterns
• faster recognition of emergencies
• stronger prioritisation
• increasing accuracy in mixed timed blocks
• fewer guessed answers

---

What “topper-level” actually means

• You know why the wrong options are wrong.
• You identify unstable patients first.
• You choose the next step rather than over-investigating.
• You learn Australian ethics, population health and culturally safe care rather than neglecting them.
• You repeat your mistakes until they disappear.
• You protect sleep and take the scheduled break days.

1. One primary Q-bank
2. One concise clinical reference
3. Australian guidelines for management
4. A small number of timed mocks
5. An error notebook and repeated revision

First: do you need an intensive course?

• A fixed weekly curriculum
• Live or recorded concept classes
• Australian clinical management and ethics focus
• Weekly question discussions
• Timed mock exams
• Tutor feedback or a strong doubt-clearing system
• A clear start and end date that fits your planned exam month

Do not choose a course just because it advertises “recalls”

• Promise guaranteed recall questions
• Tell you to memorise question banks without clinical reasoning
• Have no structured mock exams
• Do not teach Australian ethics, population health, Indigenous health, and guideline-based care
• Require you to buy several extra books and Q-banks immediately

My practical recommendation

1. Is the course designed for the current AMC CAT format, not an old paper-based format?
2. How many full 150-question, 3.5-hour mocks are included?
3. Is there teaching on Australian guidelines, Indigenous health, ethics, law, and public health?
4. Can I access recordings for the full six months?
5. Is the teaching concept-based, or mostly recall-question memorisation?

---

The resource list: buy or use only what is necessary

Tier 1: essential resources

1. eMedici question bank

• First pass: topic-wise and timed
• Second pass: wrong, guessed, and marked questions
• Last 6 to 8 weeks: mixed, timed blocks and mocks
• Do not aim to complete every question available. Aim to learn deeply from about 4,000 to 5,000 well-reviewed questions across six months.

2. Official AMC MCQ preparation app

3. Therapeutic Guidelines: eTG complete

• Antibiotic choices
• Emergency management
• Cardiovascular and respiratory treatment
• Anticoagulation
• Obstetrics and gynaecology
• Paediatric treatment
• Peri-operative management

4. Australian Medicines Handbook, AMH

• Drug adverse effects
• Contraindications
• Interactions
• Pregnancy and breastfeeding safety
• Dose-related principles, not for memorising every dose

5. RACGP Red Book

• Screening
• Prevention
• Immunisation
• Cardiovascular risk
• Cancer screening
• General-practice style preventive care

---

Tier 2: choose one concise clinical textbook

Best choice if your basics are weak: John Murtagh’s General Practice

• Chest pain, dyspnoea, abdominal pain
• Headache, dizziness, weakness
• Back pain and joint pain
• Depression, anxiety, suicide risk
• Paediatric fever and rash
• Pregnancy-related presentations
• Common skin, ENT and urinary complaints

Best choice if you prefer hospital-based medicine: Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine

• Murtagh if you need a systematic clinical foundation and GP-style approach.
• Oxford Handbook if your basics are good but you need rapid structured revision.

---

Tier 3: Australian professionalism, ethics and population health

• AMC’s Good Medical Practice: Professionalism, Ethics and Law
• Consent and capacity
• Confidentiality and privacy
• Mandatory reporting
• Open disclosure
• Child protection
• Elder abuse and family violence
• Cultural safety and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health
• Epidemiology and biostatistics basics

---

What not to buy initially

• Multiple AMC Q-banks
• Full Harrison’s or Davidson’s cover-to-cover
• Large USMLE books as your main AMC source
• Several recall files
• Expensive coaching plus another expensive coaching programme
• Too many flashcard subscriptions

---

Your 6-month roadmap

Month 1: Build clinical basics and study method

Topics

• Cardiology
• Respiratory medicine
• Gastroenterology and hepatology
• Endocrinology and diabetes
• Nephrology, fluids, electrolytes, acid-base
• Neurology
• Infectious diseases and sepsis
• Basic epidemiology and biostatistics

Q-bank target

• 35 to 45 new questions per study day
• About 800 to 1,000 questions total
• Slow review is expected

Output

• Topic
• What was the key clue?
• Why was my answer wrong?
• Correct next step
• Guideline or rule to remember

---

Month 2: Acute care, surgery and emergency priorities

Topics

• Trauma and ABCDE
• Shock and sepsis
• Surgical abdomen
• GI bleed
• Peri-operative care
• Orthopaedics
• Urology
• Vascular emergencies
• Burns, poisoning, anaphylaxis
• Emergency cardiology and respiratory care

Q-bank target

• 45 to 55 new questions per study day
• About 900 to 1,100 questions
• One mixed 75-question timed test at month end

Key skill

1. Is the patient unstable?
2. What kills first?
3. What is the next immediate management step?
4. What investigation can wait?

---

Month 3: Women’s health and paediatrics

Obstetrics and gynaecology

• Antenatal care
• Hypertension in pregnancy
• Diabetes in pregnancy
• Labour and CTG principles
• Postpartum haemorrhage
• Shoulder dystocia
• Ectopic pregnancy
• Miscarriage
• Contraception
• Pelvic pain, abnormal bleeding, gynaecological cancer

Paediatrics

• Neonatal care and jaundice
• Fever and sepsis
• Respiratory illnesses
• Dehydration and fluid management
• Growth and development
• Immunisation
• Seizures
• Non-accidental injury and safeguarding

Q-bank target

• About 900 to 1,000 new questions
• One 150-question mock in 3.5 hours at month end

---

Month 4: Psychiatry, population health, ethics and first major revision

Topics

• Depression, bipolar disorder, psychosis
• Anxiety, OCD, PTSD
• Suicide risk assessment
• Delirium, dementia, capacity
• Substance withdrawal and intoxication
• Study types, bias, screening, NNT, sensitivity/specificity
• Ethics, law, confidentiality, consent, mandatory reporting
• Indigenous health and cultural safety
• Preventive health

Q-bank target

• About 800 to 900 new questions
• Begin repeating every red and yellow question
• Two full 150-question mocks this month

---

Month 5: Mixed timed practice and weakness repair

Weekly pattern

• 2 days: weakest subject repair
• 2 days: timed mixed blocks
• 1 day: ethics/population health/Indigenous health plus review
• 1 day: full mock or 100-question timed set
• 1 day: review only
• Every second Sunday: complete break

Q-bank target

• 600 to 800 selective new questions
• 1,000 or more incorrect/marked question repeats
• Two or three full mocks

Rule

---

Month 6: Exam simulation and consolidation

Priorities

• Complete official AMC app questions
• Review your entire AMC Error Book
• Repeat all red questions
• Do 3 to 4 full 150-question mocks
• Do at least two mocks under strict 3.5-hour conditions
• Reduce new resources and new notes
• Sleep consistently and avoid burnout

Final 10 days

• No major new book
• No new course
• No panic resource switching
• Revise emergency algorithms, ethics, statistics, common presentations, and your repeated errors
• Use light question blocks in the final 48 hours unless you personally find them calming

---

Your daily schedule for the first month

---

The starting checklist for this week

1. Decide your likely AMC exam month, about six months from now.
2. Purchase or access only one concise core book: Murtagh or Oxford Handbook.
3. Ensure you have eTG access and AMH access.
4. Create your AMC Error Book today.
5. Start with cardiology, respiratory medicine, diabetes, and renal/electrolytes.
6. Complete 35 to 40 questions daily for the first two weeks.
7. Take Day 14 fully off.
8. Do not enrol in an intensive course until you compare at least two providers using the five questions above.

1. Foundation rebuild: adult medicine, core physiology, common clinical presentations
2. Acute care and surgery
3. Women’s health and paediatrics
4. Psychiatry, population health, ethics, Indigenous health
5. Mixed practice and targeted weak-area repair
6. Full CAT simulations, error review, and final consolidation

3-month AMC CAT preparation plan

• 3,850 to 4,000 first-pass questions
• 1,800 to 2,500 wrong/marked-question repeats
• 6 to 7 full 150-question mock exams
• A daily error log and Australia-specific guideline revision

---

Targets for your 90 days

---

Non-negotiable rules

1. Every incorrect question is more valuable than an easy correct question.
2. Do not read explanations passively. Write one line:
   • Why was I wrong?
   • What was the deciding clue?
   • What is the AMC/Australian-style next step?
3. Mark questions as:
   • Red: wrong or guessed
   • Yellow: correct but uncertain
   • Green: correct and confident
     Review red first, then yellow. Do not waste much time repeating green questions.
4. From Week 3 onward, answer timed blocks at 90 seconds per question or less. The actual exam pace is about 84 seconds per question.
5. Do not interpret Q-bank percentage as an AMC score. CAT performance is adaptive and does not convert directly from a Q-bank average.
6. Keep one running notebook or digital file titled AMC Error Book. Limit each error to 1 to 3 lines.
7. Rest every 14th day. It is a real break, not a “catch-up” day.

---

Daily 10-hour timetable

First 2 weeks adjustment

• Block 1: 20 new questions
• Block 2: 20 new questions
• Use the saved time for deeper explanation review.

From Week 3 onward

• Aim for 45 to 55 new questions/day
• Keep review quality high
• If a topic score is below 55%, reduce new questions for that topic and spend more time repairing fundamentals.

---

Mock-exam day timetable

---

90-day strategic timetable

Phase 1: Build core clinical foundations

Days 1-13, then Day 14 complete break

End-of-phase target

• Do not judge yourself harshly by percentage.
• Build the habit of reviewing every miss.
• Your error book should have about 100 to 150 concise entries.

---

Phase 2: Surgery and acute care

Days 15-27, then Day 28 complete break

End-of-phase target

• You should be faster at deciding the next best step.
• Aim to identify unstable patients before looking for the final diagnosis.

---

Phase 3: Women’s health and paediatrics

Days 29-41, then Day 42 complete break

End-of-phase target

• Know emergency algorithms cold.
• Practise answering: “mother/child is unstable, what must happen first?”

---

Phase 4: Paediatrics, psychiatry and population health

Days 43-55, then Day 56 complete break

---

Phase 5: Second pass of high-weight areas

Days 57-69, then Day 70 complete break

End-of-phase decision rule

• Below 55% in a subject: give it 2 focused repair days in Phase 6.
• 55% to 65%: continue mixed practice plus red-question review.
• Above 65%: maintain it with mixed blocks. Do not overspend time here.

---

Phase 6: Exam-mode training

Days 71-83, then Day 84 complete break

• Red and yellow repeats
• Mixed timed sets
• Full mocks
• Repairing your lowest three areas
• Australian guideline and ethics patterns

---

Final 6 days: sharpen, do not burn out

Days 85-90

---

Question-bank filter strategy

Use these as your main filters

• Medicine: for adult medicine, paediatrics, psychiatry where available
• Surgery: surgery and procedure-related acute scenarios
• Women’s Health: dedicated O&G work
• Population Health: epidemiology, ethics, prevention, Indigenous health
• Acute Care Medicine: use alongside medicine/surgery, not as a separate low-yield silo
• Basic Sciences: only for concepts exposed by your errors

Important

---

Weekly score dashboard

• fewer repeated error patterns
• faster recognition of emergencies
• stronger prioritisation
• increasing accuracy in mixed timed blocks
• fewer guessed answers

---

What “topper-level” actually means

• You know why the wrong options are wrong.
• You identify unstable patients first.
• You choose the next step rather than over-investigating.
• You learn Australian ethics, population health and culturally safe care rather than neglecting them.
• You repeat your mistakes until they disappear.
• You protect sleep and take the scheduled break days.

1. One primary Q-bank
2. One concise clinical reference
3. Australian guidelines for management
4. A small number of timed mocks
5. An error notebook and repeated revision

First: do you need an intensive course?

• A fixed weekly curriculum
• Live or recorded concept classes
• Australian clinical management and ethics focus
• Weekly question discussions
• Timed mock exams
• Tutor feedback or a strong doubt-clearing system
• A clear start and end date that fits your planned exam month

Do not choose a course just because it advertises “recalls”

• Promise guaranteed recall questions
• Tell you to memorise question banks without clinical reasoning
• Have no structured mock exams
• Do not teach Australian ethics, population health, Indigenous health, and guideline-based care
• Require you to buy several extra books and Q-banks immediately

My practical recommendation

1. Is the course designed for the current AMC CAT format, not an old paper-based format?
2. How many full 150-question, 3.5-hour mocks are included?
3. Is there teaching on Australian guidelines, Indigenous health, ethics, law, and public health?
4. Can I access recordings for the full six months?
5. Is the teaching concept-based, or mostly recall-question memorisation?

---

The resource list: buy or use only what is necessary

Tier 1: essential resources

1. eMedici question bank

• First pass: topic-wise and timed
• Second pass: wrong, guessed, and marked questions
• Last 6 to 8 weeks: mixed, timed blocks and mocks
• Do not aim to complete every question available. Aim to learn deeply from about 4,000 to 5,000 well-reviewed questions across six months.

2. Official AMC MCQ preparation app

3. Therapeutic Guidelines: eTG complete

• Antibiotic choices
• Emergency management
• Cardiovascular and respiratory treatment
• Anticoagulation
• Obstetrics and gynaecology
• Paediatric treatment
• Peri-operative management

4. Australian Medicines Handbook, AMH

• Drug adverse effects
• Contraindications
• Interactions
• Pregnancy and breastfeeding safety
• Dose-related principles, not for memorising every dose

5. RACGP Red Book

• Screening
• Prevention
• Immunisation
• Cardiovascular risk
• Cancer screening
• General-practice style preventive care

---

Tier 2: choose one concise clinical textbook

Best choice if your basics are weak: John Murtagh’s General Practice

• Chest pain, dyspnoea, abdominal pain
• Headache, dizziness, weakness
• Back pain and joint pain
• Depression, anxiety, suicide risk
• Paediatric fever and rash
• Pregnancy-related presentations
• Common skin, ENT and urinary complaints

Best choice if you prefer hospital-based medicine: Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine

• Murtagh if you need a systematic clinical foundation and GP-style approach.
• Oxford Handbook if your basics are good but you need rapid structured revision.

---

Tier 3: Australian professionalism, ethics and population health

• AMC’s Good Medical Practice: Professionalism, Ethics and Law
• Consent and capacity
• Confidentiality and privacy
• Mandatory reporting
• Open disclosure
• Child protection
• Elder abuse and family violence
• Cultural safety and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health
• Epidemiology and biostatistics basics

---

What not to buy initially

• Multiple AMC Q-banks
• Full Harrison’s or Davidson’s cover-to-cover
• Large USMLE books as your main AMC source
• Several recall files
• Expensive coaching plus another expensive coaching programme
• Too many flashcard subscriptions

---

Your 6-month roadmap

Month 1: Build clinical basics and study method

Topics

• Cardiology
• Respiratory medicine
• Gastroenterology and hepatology
• Endocrinology and diabetes
• Nephrology, fluids, electrolytes, acid-base
• Neurology
• Infectious diseases and sepsis
• Basic epidemiology and biostatistics

Q-bank target

• 35 to 45 new questions per study day
• About 800 to 1,000 questions total
• Slow review is expected

Output

• Topic
• What was the key clue?
• Why was my answer wrong?
• Correct next step
• Guideline or rule to remember

---

Month 2: Acute care, surgery and emergency priorities

Topics

• Trauma and ABCDE
• Shock and sepsis
• Surgical abdomen
• GI bleed
• Peri-operative care
• Orthopaedics
• Urology
• Vascular emergencies
• Burns, poisoning, anaphylaxis
• Emergency cardiology and respiratory care

Q-bank target

• 45 to 55 new questions per study day
• About 900 to 1,100 questions
• One mixed 75-question timed test at month end

Key skill

1. Is the patient unstable?
2. What kills first?
3. What is the next immediate management step?
4. What investigation can wait?

---

Month 3: Women’s health and paediatrics

Obstetrics and gynaecology

• Antenatal care
• Hypertension in pregnancy
• Diabetes in pregnancy
• Labour and CTG principles
• Postpartum haemorrhage
• Shoulder dystocia
• Ectopic pregnancy
• Miscarriage
• Contraception
• Pelvic pain, abnormal bleeding, gynaecological cancer

Paediatrics

• Neonatal care and jaundice
• Fever and sepsis
• Respiratory illnesses
• Dehydration and fluid management
• Growth and development
• Immunisation
• Seizures
• Non-accidental injury and safeguarding

Q-bank target

• About 900 to 1,000 new questions
• One 150-question mock in 3.5 hours at month end

---

Month 4: Psychiatry, population health, ethics and first major revision

Topics

• Depression, bipolar disorder, psychosis
• Anxiety, OCD, PTSD
• Suicide risk assessment
• Delirium, dementia, capacity
• Substance withdrawal and intoxication
• Study types, bias, screening, NNT, sensitivity/specificity
• Ethics, law, confidentiality, consent, mandatory reporting
• Indigenous health and cultural safety
• Preventive health

Q-bank target

• About 800 to 900 new questions
• Begin repeating every red and yellow question
• Two full 150-question mocks this month

---

Month 5: Mixed timed practice and weakness repair

Weekly pattern

• 2 days: weakest subject repair
• 2 days: timed mixed blocks
• 1 day: ethics/population health/Indigenous health plus review
• 1 day: full mock or 100-question timed set
• 1 day: review only
• Every second Sunday: complete break

Q-bank target

• 600 to 800 selective new questions
• 1,000 or more incorrect/marked question repeats
• Two or three full mocks

Rule

---

Month 6: Exam simulation and consolidation

Priorities

• Complete official AMC app questions
• Review your entire AMC Error Book
• Repeat all red questions
• Do 3 to 4 full 150-question mocks
• Do at least two mocks under strict 3.5-hour conditions
• Reduce new resources and new notes
• Sleep consistently and avoid burnout

Final 10 days

• No major new book
• No new course
• No panic resource switching
• Revise emergency algorithms, ethics, statistics, common presentations, and your repeated errors
• Use light question blocks in the final 48 hours unless you personally find them calming

---

Your daily schedule for the first month

---

The starting checklist for this week

1. Decide your likely AMC exam month, about six months from now.
2. Purchase or access only one concise core book: Murtagh or Oxford Handbook.
3. Ensure you have eTG access and AMH access.
4. Create your AMC Error Book today.
5. Start with cardiology, respiratory medicine, diabetes, and renal/electrolytes.
6. Complete 35 to 40 questions daily for the first two weeks.
7. Take Day 14 fully off.
8. Do not enrol in an intensive course until you compare at least two providers using the five questions above.

1. Foundation rebuild: adult medicine, core physiology, common clinical presentations
2. Acute care and surgery
3. Women’s health and paediatrics
4. Psychiatry, population health, ethics, Indigenous health
5. Mixed practice and targeted weak-area repair
6. Full CAT simulations, error review, and final consolidation

Your 6-month AMC roadmap

1. Month 1: Adult-medicine foundation
   • Cardiology, respiratory, gastroenterology, endocrinology, renal medicine, neurology, infectious diseases
   • Start slowly with 35 to 45 questions/day and detailed review.
2. Month 2: Acute care and surgery
   • Trauma, shock, emergency medicine, general surgery, orthopaedics, urology, vascular, peri-operative care
   • Increase to 45 to 55 questions/day and begin timed blocks.
3. Month 3: Women’s health and paediatrics
   • Antenatal care, labour, obstetric emergencies, gynaecology, neonatology, paediatric emergencies, growth and development.
4. Month 4: Psychiatry, population health, ethics
   • Depression, psychosis, suicide risk, substance use, epidemiology, statistics, screening, consent, capacity, Indigenous health and Australian professional conduct.
5. Month 5: Mixed revision and weak-area repair
   • Mixed timed question blocks, repeat incorrect and guessed questions, targeted repair of your three weakest subjects.
   • Start full AMC-style mocks.
6. Month 6: CAT exam-mode practice
   • Full 150-question, 3.5-hour simulations.
   • Official AMC/eMedici questions, error-book revision, guideline review, minimal new content.

Non-negotiable schedule rules

• 10 focused hours/day
• One complete rest day every 14 days
• Start: Friday, 25 September 2026
• Approximate end: Wednesday, 24 March 2027
• Use eMedici as the primary Q-bank.
• Do not try to complete all questions. Aim for about 4,000 first-pass questions, then repeat your incorrect and uncertain questions.
• Complete at least 6 full mocks before the actual AMC CAT.
• The AMC CAT is 150 MCQs in 3.5 hours, so final months must be timed and mixed. The current AMC MCQ format should guide your mock conditions.

1. Rapid diagnostic framing in AMC vignettes
   Separate the syndrome, such as psychosis, delirium, intoxication, or withdrawal, from the underlying cause.
2. Alcohol-related psychiatric presentations
   Alcoholic hallucinosis, alcohol withdrawal, delirium tremens, Wernicke encephalopathy, intoxication, and alcohol-related mood symptoms.
3. Differentiating psychosis from delirium
   Consciousness, attention, orientation, fluctuation, hallucination modality, autonomic features, and insight.
4. Substance-induced psychosis versus schizophrenia
   Timeline, symptom persistence after abstinence, negative symptoms, functional decline, thought disorder, and differential diagnosis.
5. AMC single-best-answer strategy
   Extract discriminating clues, rule out close alternatives, avoid over-reading, and select the most specific diagnosis or immediate next step.
6. Safety and management questions
   Assess withdrawal severity, suicide/violence risk, medical causes, capacity, thiamine need, and when urgent escalation is required.

3-month AMC CAT preparation plan

• 3,850 to 4,000 first-pass questions
• 1,800 to 2,500 wrong/marked-question repeats
• 6 to 7 full 150-question mock exams
• A daily error log and Australia-specific guideline revision

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Targets for your 90 days

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Non-negotiable rules

1. Every incorrect question is more valuable than an easy correct question.
2. Do not read explanations passively. Write one line:
   • Why was I wrong?
   • What was the deciding clue?
   • What is the AMC/Australian-style next step?
3. Mark questions as:
   • Red: wrong or guessed
   • Yellow: correct but uncertain
   • Green: correct and confident
     Review red first, then yellow. Do not waste much time repeating green questions.
4. From Week 3 onward, answer timed blocks at 90 seconds per question or less. The actual exam pace is about 84 seconds per question.
5. Do not interpret Q-bank percentage as an AMC score. CAT performance is adaptive and does not convert directly from a Q-bank average.
6. Keep one running notebook or digital file titled AMC Error Book. Limit each error to 1 to 3 lines.
7. Rest every 14th day. It is a real break, not a “catch-up” day.

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Daily 10-hour timetable

First 2 weeks adjustment

• Block 1: 20 new questions
• Block 2: 20 new questions
• Use the saved time for deeper explanation review.

From Week 3 onward

• Aim for 45 to 55 new questions/day
• Keep review quality high
• If a topic score is below 55%, reduce new questions for that topic and spend more time repairing fundamentals.

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Mock-exam day timetable

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90-day strategic timetable

Phase 1: Build core clinical foundations

Days 1-13, then Day 14 complete break

End-of-phase target

• Do not judge yourself harshly by percentage.
• Build the habit of reviewing every miss.
• Your error book should have about 100 to 150 concise entries.

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Phase 2: Surgery and acute care

Days 15-27, then Day 28 complete break

End-of-phase target

• You should be faster at deciding the next best step.
• Aim to identify unstable patients before looking for the final diagnosis.

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Phase 3: Women’s health and paediatrics

Days 29-41, then Day 42 complete break

End-of-phase target

• Know emergency algorithms cold.
• Practise answering: “mother/child is unstable, what must happen first?”

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Phase 4: Paediatrics, psychiatry and population health

Days 43-55, then Day 56 complete break

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Phase 5: Second pass of high-weight areas

Days 57-69, then Day 70 complete break

End-of-phase decision rule

• Below 55% in a subject: give it 2 focused repair days in Phase 6.
• 55% to 65%: continue mixed practice plus red-question review.
• Above 65%: maintain it with mixed blocks. Do not overspend time here.

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Phase 6: Exam-mode training

Days 71-83, then Day 84 complete break

• Red and yellow repeats
• Mixed timed sets
• Full mocks
• Repairing your lowest three areas
• Australian guideline and ethics patterns

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Final 6 days: sharpen, do not burn out

Days 85-90

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Question-bank filter strategy

Use these as your main filters

• Medicine: for adult medicine, paediatrics, psychiatry where available
• Surgery: surgery and procedure-related acute scenarios
• Women’s Health: dedicated O&G work
• Population Health: epidemiology, ethics, prevention, Indigenous health
• Acute Care Medicine: use alongside medicine/surgery, not as a separate low-yield silo
• Basic Sciences: only for concepts exposed by your errors

Important

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Weekly score dashboard

• fewer repeated error patterns
• faster recognition of emergencies
• stronger prioritisation
• increasing accuracy in mixed timed blocks
• fewer guessed answers

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What “topper-level” actually means

• You know why the wrong options are wrong.
• You identify unstable patients first.
• You choose the next step rather than over-investigating.
• You learn Australian ethics, population health and culturally safe care rather than neglecting them.
• You repeat your mistakes until they disappear.
• You protect sleep and take the scheduled break days.

1. One primary Q-bank
2. One concise clinical reference
3. Australian guidelines for management
4. A small number of timed mocks
5. An error notebook and repeated revision

First: do you need an intensive course?

• A fixed weekly curriculum
• Live or recorded concept classes
• Australian clinical management and ethics focus
• Weekly question discussions
• Timed mock exams
• Tutor feedback or a strong doubt-clearing system
• A clear start and end date that fits your planned exam month

Do not choose a course just because it advertises “recalls”

• Promise guaranteed recall questions
• Tell you to memorise question banks without clinical reasoning
• Have no structured mock exams
• Do not teach Australian ethics, population health, Indigenous health, and guideline-based care
• Require you to buy several extra books and Q-banks immediately

My practical recommendation

1. Is the course designed for the current AMC CAT format, not an old paper-based format?
2. How many full 150-question, 3.5-hour mocks are included?
3. Is there teaching on Australian guidelines, Indigenous health, ethics, law, and public health?
4. Can I access recordings for the full six months?
5. Is the teaching concept-based, or mostly recall-question memorisation?

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The resource list: buy or use only what is necessary

Tier 1: essential resources

1. eMedici question bank

• First pass: topic-wise and timed
• Second pass: wrong, guessed, and marked questions
• Last 6 to 8 weeks: mixed, timed blocks and mocks
• Do not aim to complete every question available. Aim to learn deeply from about 4,000 to 5,000 well-reviewed questions across six months.

2. Official AMC MCQ preparation app

3. Therapeutic Guidelines: eTG complete

• Antibiotic choices
• Emergency management
• Cardiovascular and respiratory treatment
• Anticoagulation
• Obstetrics and gynaecology
• Paediatric treatment
• Peri-operative management

4. Australian Medicines Handbook, AMH

• Drug adverse effects
• Contraindications
• Interactions
• Pregnancy and breastfeeding safety
• Dose-related principles, not for memorising every dose

5. RACGP Red Book

• Screening
• Prevention
• Immunisation
• Cardiovascular risk
• Cancer screening
• General-practice style preventive care

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Tier 2: choose one concise clinical textbook

Best choice if your basics are weak: John Murtagh’s General Practice

• Chest pain, dyspnoea, abdominal pain
• Headache, dizziness, weakness
• Back pain and joint pain
• Depression, anxiety, suicide risk
• Paediatric fever and rash
• Pregnancy-related presentations
• Common skin, ENT and urinary complaints

Best choice if you prefer hospital-based medicine: Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine

• Murtagh if you need a systematic clinical foundation and GP-style approach.
• Oxford Handbook if your basics are good but you need rapid structured revision.

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Tier 3: Australian professionalism, ethics and population health

• AMC’s Good Medical Practice: Professionalism, Ethics and Law
• Consent and capacity
• Confidentiality and privacy
• Mandatory reporting
• Open disclosure
• Child protection
• Elder abuse and family violence
• Cultural safety and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health
• Epidemiology and biostatistics basics

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What not to buy initially

• Multiple AMC Q-banks
• Full Harrison’s or Davidson’s cover-to-cover
• Large USMLE books as your main AMC source
• Several recall files
• Expensive coaching plus another expensive coaching programme
• Too many flashcard subscriptions

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Your 6-month roadmap

Month 1: Build clinical basics and study method

Topics

• Cardiology
• Respiratory medicine
• Gastroenterology and hepatology
• Endocrinology and diabetes
• Nephrology, fluids, electrolytes, acid-base
• Neurology
• Infectious diseases and sepsis
• Basic epidemiology and biostatistics

Q-bank target

• 35 to 45 new questions per study day
• About 800 to 1,000 questions total
• Slow review is expected

Output

• Topic
• What was the key clue?
• Why was my answer wrong?
• Correct next step
• Guideline or rule to remember

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Month 2: Acute care, surgery and emergency priorities

Topics

• Trauma and ABCDE
• Shock and sepsis
• Surgical abdomen
• GI bleed
• Peri-operative care
• Orthopaedics
• Urology
• Vascular emergencies
• Burns, poisoning, anaphylaxis
• Emergency cardiology and respiratory care

Q-bank target

• 45 to 55 new questions per study day
• About 900 to 1,100 questions
• One mixed 75-question timed test at month end

Key skill

1. Is the patient unstable?
2. What kills first?
3. What is the next immediate management step?
4. What investigation can wait?

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Month 3: Women’s health and paediatrics

Obstetrics and gynaecology

• Antenatal care
• Hypertension in pregnancy
• Diabetes in pregnancy
• Labour and CTG principles
• Postpartum haemorrhage
• Shoulder dystocia
• Ectopic pregnancy
• Miscarriage
• Contraception
• Pelvic pain, abnormal bleeding, gynaecological cancer

Paediatrics

• Neonatal care and jaundice
• Fever and sepsis
• Respiratory illnesses
• Dehydration and fluid management
• Growth and development
• Immunisation
• Seizures
• Non-accidental injury and safeguarding

Q-bank target

• About 900 to 1,000 new questions
• One 150-question mock in 3.5 hours at month end

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Month 4: Psychiatry, population health, ethics and first major revision

Topics

• Depression, bipolar disorder, psychosis
• Anxiety, OCD, PTSD
• Suicide risk assessment
• Delirium, dementia, capacity
• Substance withdrawal and intoxication
• Study types, bias, screening, NNT, sensitivity/specificity
• Ethics, law, confidentiality, consent, mandatory reporting
• Indigenous health and cultural safety
• Preventive health

Q-bank target

• About 800 to 900 new questions
• Begin repeating every red and yellow question
• Two full 150-question mocks this month

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Month 5: Mixed timed practice and weakness repair

Weekly pattern

• 2 days: weakest subject repair
• 2 days: timed mixed blocks
• 1 day: ethics/population health/Indigenous health plus review
• 1 day: full mock or 100-question timed set
• 1 day: review only
• Every second Sunday: complete break

Q-bank target

• 600 to 800 selective new questions
• 1,000 or more incorrect/marked question repeats
• Two or three full mocks

Rule

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Month 6: Exam simulation and consolidation

Priorities

• Complete official AMC app questions
• Review your entire AMC Error Book
• Repeat all red questions
• Do 3 to 4 full 150-question mocks
• Do at least two mocks under strict 3.5-hour conditions
• Reduce new resources and new notes
• Sleep consistently and avoid burnout

Final 10 days

• No major new book
• No new course
• No panic resource switching
• Revise emergency algorithms, ethics, statistics, common presentations, and your repeated errors
• Use light question blocks in the final 48 hours unless you personally find them calming

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Your daily schedule for the first month

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The starting checklist for this week

1. Decide your likely AMC exam month, about six months from now.
2. Purchase or access only one concise core book: Murtagh or Oxford Handbook.
3. Ensure you have eTG access and AMH access.
4. Create your AMC Error Book today.
5. Start with cardiology, respiratory medicine, diabetes, and renal/electrolytes.
6. Complete 35 to 40 questions daily for the first two weeks.
7. Take Day 14 fully off.
8. Do not enrol in an intensive course until you compare at least two providers using the five questions above.

1. Foundation rebuild: adult medicine, core physiology, common clinical presentations
2. Acute care and surgery
3. Women’s health and paediatrics
4. Psychiatry, population health, ethics, Indigenous health
5. Mixed practice and targeted weak-area repair
6. Full CAT simulations, error review, and final consolidation

Your 6-month AMC roadmap

1. Month 1: Adult-medicine foundation
   • Cardiology, respiratory, gastroenterology, endocrinology, renal medicine, neurology, infectious diseases
   • Start slowly with 35 to 45 questions/day and detailed review.
2. Month 2: Acute care and surgery
   • Trauma, shock, emergency medicine, general surgery, orthopaedics, urology, vascular, peri-operative care
   • Increase to 45 to 55 questions/day and begin timed blocks.
3. Month 3: Women’s health and paediatrics
   • Antenatal care, labour, obstetric emergencies, gynaecology, neonatology, paediatric emergencies, growth and development.
4. Month 4: Psychiatry, population health, ethics
   • Depression, psychosis, suicide risk, substance use, epidemiology, statistics, screening, consent, capacity, Indigenous health and Australian professional conduct.
5. Month 5: Mixed revision and weak-area repair
   • Mixed timed question blocks, repeat incorrect and guessed questions, targeted repair of your three weakest subjects.
   • Start full AMC-style mocks.
6. Month 6: CAT exam-mode practice
   • Full 150-question, 3.5-hour simulations.
   • Official AMC/eMedici questions, error-book revision, guideline review, minimal new content.

Non-negotiable schedule rules

• 10 focused hours/day
• One complete rest day every 14 days
• Start: Friday, 25 September 2026
• Approximate end: Wednesday, 24 March 2027
• Use eMedici as the primary Q-bank.
• Do not try to complete all questions. Aim for about 4,000 first-pass questions, then repeat your incorrect and uncertain questions.
• Complete at least 6 full mocks before the actual AMC CAT.
• The AMC CAT is 150 MCQs in 3.5 hours, so final months must be timed and mixed. The current AMC MCQ format should guide your mock conditions.

1. Alcohol-related psychiatric presentations
   Alcoholic hallucinosis, alcohol withdrawal, delirium tremens, Wernicke encephalopathy, intoxication, and alcohol-related mood symptoms.
2. Differentiating psychosis from delirium
   Consciousness, attention, orientation, fluctuation, hallucination modality, autonomic features, and insight.
3. Substance-induced psychosis versus schizophrenia
   Timeline, symptom persistence after abstinence, negative symptoms, functional decline, thought disorder, and differential diagnosis.
4. AMC single-best-answer strategy
   Extract discriminating clues, rule out close alternatives, avoid over-reading, and select the most specific diagnosis or immediate next step.
5. Safety and management questions
   Assess withdrawal severity, suicide/violence risk, medical causes, capacity, thiamine need, and when urgent escalation is required.

AMC Psychiatry Stem-Solving Notes: Topic Map

1. Universal AMC psychiatry question algorithm
   • Identify what the question is asking: diagnosis, next step, risk, investigation, capacity, or treatment.
   • First exclude delirium, intoxication/withdrawal, medical/neurological causes, and immediate danger.
2. Mental-state examination clues
   • Mood, affect, thought form, thought content, perception, cognition, insight, judgement.
   • How AMC stems hide these clues in ordinary language.
3. Delirium, dementia and medical mimics
   • Attention, orientation, fluctuating consciousness, acute versus chronic course.
   • Alcohol withdrawal, Wernicke encephalopathy, medication effects, endocrine and neurological causes.
4. Psychosis roadmap
   • Schizophrenia, schizophreniform disorder, brief psychotic disorder, delusional disorder.
   • Mood disorders with psychotic features, substance-induced psychosis, delirium.
5. Mood-disorder roadmap
   • Major depression, bipolar depression, mania, hypomania, mixed presentations.
   • Severity, psychotic features, suicide risk and urgent treatment clues.
6. Anxiety, trauma and obsessive-compulsive disorders
   • GAD, panic disorder, agoraphobia, social anxiety, PTSD, acute stress disorder, OCD.
7. Substance use, intoxication and withdrawal
   • Alcohol, benzodiazepines, opioids, stimulants and cannabis.
   • Timelines, key physical signs, withdrawal emergencies and safe first steps.
8. Personality disorders, eating disorders and somatic symptoms
   • Borderline personality disorder, antisocial traits, anorexia, bulimia, illness anxiety and functional symptoms.
9. Child, adolescent and older-person psychiatry
   • ADHD, autism, conduct problems, adolescent risk, dementia behavioural symptoms and late-life depression.
10. Risk, capacity, ethics and management

• Suicide, self-harm, violence, safeguarding, involuntary care principles, capacity, confidentiality and consent.
• The correct priority when diagnosis is not the first task.

1. AMC exam technique

• Stem-word triggers, differential-elimination tables, timing rules, common distractors and “best next step” method.

High-level approach

• A universal AMC psychiatry decision algorithm
• Mental-state examination clues hidden in stems
• Delirium vs dementia vs primary psychiatry roadmap
• Psychosis diagnosis map, including substance-induced psychosis and alcohol hallucinosis
• Mood disorders, mania, bipolar disorder, and depression duration clues
• Anxiety, PTSD and OCD differentiation tables
• Alcohol, drug intoxication and withdrawal patterns
• Personality, eating, child/adolescent and old-age psychiatry
• Suicide risk, capacity, confidentiality and safety-first management
• AMC single-best-answer strategy, traps, and mini-stem drills
• One-page final rapid revision map

• The universal sequence: Safety -> Sensorium -> Substances/medical -> Syndrome -> Time -> Best answer
• Delirium versus primary psychiatric illness
• Psychosis and schizophrenia-spectrum decision map
• Depression, mania, bipolar disorder duration clues
• Anxiety, OCD and PTSD triggers
• Alcohol/drug timing clues
• Suicide risk, capacity and management priorities
• Common AMC distractors and CAT tactics