What is the format of the AMC Part 2 Clinical OSCE?

The AMC Clinical Examination (often called the AMC Part 2 OSCE) is the second of the two assessments international medical graduates sit on the AMC standard pathway to general registration with Ahpra. It is an Objective Structured Clinical Examination: candidates rotate through a fixed circuit of timed stations, each one a self-contained clinical scenario with a standardised patient, an examiner, and a clear task printed on the door.

This guide breaks down the exact structure of the examination, what happens at each station, how the two delivery modes (in-person and online via Zoom) differ, what the standardised patients are doing, and what the AMC actually means when they say candidates must demonstrate an intern-level pass.

The 20-station circuit

The AMC Clinical OSCE has 20 stations on the circuit. Twenty sounds like a lot, but only 16 of them are clinical encounters, and only 14 of those count toward your result. The breakdown is:

• 14 scored stations. These are the ones your result depends on.
• 2 unscored pilot stations. The AMC uses these to trial new material for future sittings. They look and feel identical to scored stations and you will not know which two they are on the day. Treat every station as if it counts.
• 4 rest stations. Empty rooms with a chair, water, and a chance to reset between encounters.

Each station runs for 10 minutes from start to finish: 2 minutes of reading time outside the room (a printed prompt on the door with the scenario, the task, and the time available) followed by 8 minutes inside the room with the standardised patient and examiner. A bell or buzzer signals each transition, and you must move at the signal even mid-sentence.

Pass standard: 9 of 14

To pass the AMC Clinical OSCE you must pass at least 9 of the 14 scored stations. The pilot stations do not count and the rest stations do not exist as a graded item. Each scored station is graded by the examiner against pre-set domain criteria (approach to patient, history or examination technique, accuracy of interpretation, clinical management, and communication) and recorded as a pass or a fail.

This means you can fail up to 5 of 14 stations and still pass overall. It also means a single catastrophic station does not end the day. Many candidates have one station that goes badly, recover their composure at the next rest station, and pass comfortably.

In-person vs online via Zoom

The AMC delivers the same examination in two modes.

In-person

In-person sittings run at AMC assessment centres in Melbourne (the AMC's main National Test Centre in Melbourne Airport precinct), with additional venues used in other Australian cities at various sittings through the year. You arrive, register, store belongings, and walk a physical circuit of 20 rooms. Standardised patients are real people in the room with you. You can take a pulse, percuss a chest, palpate an abdomen, and inspect a rash. Procedural and examination stations are easier to perform realistically because the physical contact is real.

The in-person fee is approximately A$3,000 at time of writing. Always check the current fees on amc.org.au before applying because the AMC adjusts fees most years.

Online via Zoom

The online sitting is delivered from your home or workplace on a single laptop with webcam, microphone, and a stable internet connection. You sign in to a Zoom session, are placed in a virtual waiting room, and are then routed through 20 breakout rooms in turn. Standardised patients appear on your screen, the examiner is also on screen, and you complete the same blueprint of station tasks. Examinations are described verbally rather than performed (you describe what you would do, the examiner gives you findings), and procedural stations are usually simulated using a verbal walk-through.

The online fee is approximately A$3,400, again subject to change.

Both modes are assessed against the same blueprint with the same pass standard. The AMC has been clear that neither mode is easier or harder. Which one suits you depends on your circumstances: candidates already in Australia often prefer in-person; candidates overseas who do not want to fly to Melbourne often prefer Zoom. A small minority who struggle with technology, microphones, or video latency prefer in-person regardless of geography.

Station types you will encounter

The 14 scored stations are not random. The AMC blueprint guarantees coverage across five task types and several clinical domains. The five task types are:

• Focused history-taking. A standardised patient presents with a clinical complaint. Your task is to take a focused, hypothesis-driven history in 8 minutes and present a working diagnosis or differential to the examiner.
• Focused physical examination. A standardised patient presents with signs (or a scenario in which signs may be present). Your task is to perform a targeted examination, find and interpret the relevant signs, and propose a diagnosis or next step.
• Counselling and explanation. A patient has just received a diagnosis, a treatment plan, or a piece of bad news. Your task is to explain it clearly, address concerns, and check understanding.
• Procedural skills. A simulated task such as venepuncture, IV cannulation, or interpretation of a procedural finding. In-person sittings allow some hands-on contact; online sittings rely on a verbal walk-through against a checklist.
• Ethics and communication. A scenario with a conflict, an angry patient, a confidentiality issue, an error disclosure, or a consent question. Your task is to navigate the situation using a recognised communication framework.

The clinical content rotates across general medicine, surgery, paediatrics, women's health, mental health, emergency medicine, and general practice. You will not see every domain, but the blueprint guarantees a balanced sample. We cover each task type in detail on the companion guide What are the 5 task types in the AMC Part 2 OSCE.

The role of standardised patients

Standardised patients (SPs) are trained actors who portray a clinical scenario consistently across every candidate in the sitting. They are not the examiner. They are the patient, the spouse, the parent, or the nurse, depending on the station. Their job is to give you the same set of cues, answer your questions consistently, and react authentically to good and bad communication.

SPs are typically trained to a script that includes opening lines, hidden concerns, and triggers. If you ask the right question (for example, "Has anything been worrying you about this?"), they reveal a key piece of information. If you do not ask, they do not volunteer. This is a deliberate design choice: the OSCE rewards candidates who actively probe rather than passively wait.

SPs also give the examiner feedback on your communication style. In some stations a global rating from the SP feeds into your score. Treating the SP as a real human patient (greeting, eye contact, language adjusted to their level of health literacy, checking in on emotion) is not a soft skill on top of the medicine. It is part of the assessment.

What an intern-level pass actually looks like

The AMC explicitly calibrates the standard at the level of an Australian intern at the end of postgraduate year one (PGY1). That is not the level of a fully trained registrar, and it is not the level of a third-year medical student. It sits at the point where a graduate has completed a year of supervised practice in an Australian (or Australian-equivalent) hospital and is about to start their second year.

A pass-tier candidate at this standard does the following:

• Introduces themselves, confirms the patient's identity, and explains the consultation.
• Performs a focused, hypothesis-driven history or examination, not an exhaustive one.
• Recognises and addresses red flags (chest pain, suicidality, neurology, paediatric sepsis, postpartum haemorrhage, anaphylaxis).
• Proposes a sensible working diagnosis and a short differential.
• Outlines a safe initial management plan including investigations, immediate treatment, and escalation.
• Communicates in plain English, checks understanding, and addresses the patient's concerns.
• Knows when to call for help. The AMC explicitly rewards candidates who say "I would call the registrar" or "I would consult the on-call consultant" when the scenario warrants it.

You do not need to be brilliant. You need to be safe, structured, and patient-centred. Australian intern-level practice is what the rubric maps to. Trying to perform at registrar level often backfires because candidates skip the basics that the rubric is actually testing.

Failure modes specific to the OSCE

Across multiple sittings, the failure modes that recur on the AMC Clinical OSCE are different from those that sink Part 1 (the MCQ). The OSCE-specific patterns are:

• Misreading the door prompt. The prompt tells you exactly what to do. Candidates who default to a generic history when the task was an examination, or a generic counselling spiel when the task was an explanation, lose the station before they enter the room.
• Running out of time. 8 minutes is short. Candidates who spend 4 minutes on demographics and presenting complaint have nothing left for management.
• Cultural and communication mismatches. The OSCE is scored against Australian clinical norms (informed consent, shared decision-making, plain English, acknowledging emotion). Candidates trained in highly didactic systems sometimes default to lecturing the patient.
• No structured framework. Stations are easier to pass when you have a recognised framework (SOCRATES for pain, SPIKES for bad news, ICE for concerns, RACGP-aligned mental health screening). Examiners notice when you have one and when you do not.
• Forgetting to escalate. Internship in Australia is heavily supervised. Stating "I would discuss with the senior on-call" is not a weakness; it is what the rubric expects.

How PRIMEX maps to the OSCE format

• OSCE-mapped station library with door prompts, standardised patient briefs, and structured examiner rubrics across all five task types.
• AI viva simulator for practising verbalised reasoning under time pressure when you do not have a study partner.
• Australian guideline-aligned content (eTG, PBS, RACGP) so your management plans match the standard the examiner is scoring against.
• Practice flow that mirrors the real circuit timing (2 min reading + 8 min inside the room) so the format becomes muscle memory.

Frequently asked questions