ANZCA Final Exam Resources

Pages

Resources

How To Not Fail

(a work in progress)

Getting Prepared

Understand the Components

The final exam is composed of two parts. The first (written) component consists of 15

SAQs⁠

(10 mins per question) in the morning, and 150

MCQs⁠

(1 min per question) in the afternoon. If you achieve at least 40% in each section then you are invited to the viva component of exam (roughly two months later). This consists of eight anaesthetic vivas and two medical vivas (each weighted equally) over the course of two days.

General Thoughts

The final exam is the culmination of your anaesthetic training and so, no matter how far along you are as an Advanced Trainee, it is treated by ANZCA as an exit exam. That is, the standard expected in the exam is that of a first-year consultant, and anything in the curriculum is fair game to be tested. This is somewhat problematic. The number of

Learning Outcomes⁠

in the curriculum is quite overwhelming (763 at last count). There are almost 130 complex

Medical Conditions⁠

specifically listed, more than 100

Surgical Procedures⁠

, and almost 150 specific acute

Crises & Problems⁠

, amongst many other things. So having a breadth of knowledge is important. But aspects of the curriculum that are considered ‘core’ (e.g. cardiac or respiratory disease) are expected to be known in considerably more detail.

In addition, the exam is heavily weighted towards the anaesthetic/medical viva components (60% of the total mark). About 90% of candidates will be offered a viva, but only about 70% of candidates will pass overall. Hence ten scenarios, lasting 15 minutes each, strongly determine who passes and who fails. This means that passing the exam is stochastic rather than deterministic - your probability of passing improves with knowledge and technique, but someone with less knowledge and poorer technique than you could pass, even if you fail, due to more favourable scenarios for their skill set.