Apply

Eligibility

To be eligible to sit the examination, you must be an AFOEM trainee in Stage B training with:

• current general AMC/MCNZ medical registration
• approved registration for the current training period
• an Educational Supervisor
• a minimum of 18 months completed and certified active Stage B training (3 training period)
• your most recent training period certified with all teaching and learning activities and assessments complete
• a relevant University Graduate Diploma (or equivalent) and proof of completion received by the Faculty

You must also have:

• paid all College training fees
• applied by the exam due date

If you have outstanding training fees, you’re ineligible to sit the exam. See College Fees Terms and Conditions.

Exam attempt limit

You cannot continue Advanced Training if you exceed the examination attempt limit based on when you commenced training.

See Progression Through Training Policy for more information about examination attempts.

The exam is not a pre-requisite for attempting the AFOEM Stage B Practical Examination.

Overseas trained physicians : Check eligibility requirements with your overseas trained physicians case officer before applying.

Application process

Submit your application

Applications have now closed.

Application confirmation

After submitting your application from, we email you to confirm it’s been received. If you don’t get a confirmation email, check your junk/spam folders and contact us if it’s not there.

Payment

Once applications have closed, we email you a link to pay the exam fee and any other outstanding fees.

Final confirmation

You receive a candidate allocation letter via email when your eligibility has been finalised. This confirms your exam registration and venue.

Withdrawal

Withdrawals are not counted as exam attempts. Contact us to withdraw up until the start of the exam. Refund rules apply. See College Fees Terms and Conditions for more information.

To request a refund for withdrawal on medical or compassionate grounds, submit an application form under the Special Consideration for Assessment Policy.

If you withdraw, you can re-apply to sit the exam the following year if you meet the eligibility criteria. Application fees will not be rolled over from one year to another.

Special consideration

Applications for special consideration must be submitted in writing using the application form.

We consider these circumstances before the exam:

• permanent and longstanding impairment
• temporary impairment with medical grounds
• non-medical compassionate grounds or serious disruption
• essential commitments (religious, cultural, societal or legal obligations)

Once you start the exam, only technical or procedural problems will be considered.

For more information on how to apply and possible outcomes, see Special Consideration for Assessment Policy.

Prepare

Exam format

15 min reading time | 3-hour exam | 2 papers split over 2 consecutive days

The exam is a summative assessment that tests your knowledge through several short answer questions.

It's made up of 2 papers (Paper 1 and Paper 2) split over 2 consecutive days. Each paper has 5 equally-weighted questions. Each question is a scenario and includes a variable number of sub-questions. Scenarios are sampled from the Occupational and Environmental Medicine Training Curriculum (PDF):

• Paper 1 | Domains 10, 30, 40 and 80 (but may to refer to other domains)
• Paper 2 | Domains 10, 20, 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90

You have 15 minutes reading time before each paper.

The exam is designed to determine if you have reached the appropriate level to proceed to Stage C, a competent occupational medicine practitioner who is not yet a specialist occupational physician.

Additional references

• see pages 296 to 297 in Occupational and Environmental Medicine Training Curriculum (PDF) for a list of references
• Stage B Learning Objectives (PDF)

Exam day

Timetable

Bring

• printed copy of your candidate allocation letter confirming your name, candidate number, and venue
• current photo ID with your full name and signature, for example a passport or driver licence – digital IDs are not accepted
• blue or black ballpoint pens (no pencils, gel or felt-tip pens)
• 1 x highlighter (optional)
• 1 x ruler (optional)
• basic analogue watch (optional)
• water in a clear plastic bottle (optional)

Due to COVID-19 safety restrictions, some venues may not provide jugs of water. We highly recommend bringing your own water in a clear plastic bottle.

Tip: Wear additional clothing layers to adjust to the room temperature.

Not permitted during the exam

• written material (other than your candidate allocation letter)
• calculators
• food or beverages (other than water)
• all other belongings

During the exam, all mobile phones, digital watches, sport watches, smart watches (including but not limited to Apple watch, Garmin, Fitbit, Samsung), pagers and electronic communication devices must be switched off, placed on the floor under your desk and visible to the invigilators.

Devices that sound during the exam are subject to an incident report.

Seating arrangements

Seating lists showing your allocated seat number are displayed near the venue entrance.

Desks will be labelled with your name and candidate ID number.

Discuss seating enquiries with the Chief Supervisor as early as possible on exam day.

Apply for special consideration for exceptional circumstances by the due date.

Completing the exam

At your seat, you receive:

• a question booklet
• answer booklets (1 for each question)

When instructed, write your name, candidate number and exam city on all materials.

Write your responses neatly using black or blue ballpoint pen only.

You must use a separate booklet for each question. If you run out of space, ask an invigilator for an additional booklet to continue your response.

If you use more than 1 answer booklet for a question, you must indicate this on the front of each answer booklet (for example, 1 of 2 and 2 of 2).

Where a question asks for 4 answers and you provide 5, only the top 4 responses will be marked (unless clearly crossed out). Any extra responses will be ignored whether they are correct or not.

Leaving the exam room

Don't leave the exam room without an invigilator’s approval. If you need the toilet, an invigilator will escort you. If you want to leave before the end of the exam, stay seated and raise your hand. An invigilator will check your materials and release you.

You cannot leave in the first 30 minutes or last 10 minutes of the exam.

On completion of the exam, your exam booklet and answer booklets will be collected before you can leave.

The content of all documents is confidential and cannot be removed from the exam room. You’re not permitted to reproduce or distribute exam materials at any time or in any way. Doing so is a breach of the Academic Integrity in Training Process.

Results

Marking

The exam consists of 10 questions, across Papers 1 and 2, each with around five 5 parts (or sub-questions). Each question is equally weighted. Marks are not deducted for incorrect answers.

Each question is marked by a different pair of SMEs. The SMEs mark the questions independently according to a pre-determined marking guide then review their scores together and arrive at a consensual mark. 

Questions undergo item analysis to ensure that they perform to expectations.

We use the Modified Angoff method to set the pass mark. Several subject matter experts (SMEs) estimate the score that a minimally competent candidate would receive on each question. The SMEs’ ratings are averaged per question and this average rating is the Angoff score for each question.

The pass mark for the exam is then determined as the sum of all Angoff scores for all questions. As a result of this process, the pass mark may vary across year according to the paper difficulty.

See previous exam pass rates.

Results email

You receive an email with your exam result. Ensure we have your current email address and contact number. Contact us if you don’t receive the email.

Results will include a general summary of candidate performance for each question.

See:

Feedback Report 2021 (PDF)
Feedback Report 2022 (PDF)

Next steps

In order to progress to Stage C Training, you must pass this exam and:

• pass the AFOEM Stage B Practical Examination
• complete your year of training including all other training requirements in the Occupational and Environmental Medicine Training Program handbook

Refer to the eligibility criteria and exam attempts set out in the Progression through Training Policy and the Occupational and Environmental Medicine Training Program handbook.