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KFP and AKT to go paper based
The move away from online Fellowship exams has been made to ensure a ‘seamless experience’ for candidates, the RACGP has said.
The RACGP has said the AKT and KFP will be paper based until it is confident that exams can be delivered online in a safe, reliable and cost-effective way.
The upcoming Applied Knowledge Test (AKT) and Key Feature Problem (KFP) assessments will both be paper based, the RACGP has announced.
Candidates were informed of the change via an email sent earlier today, which explained that pre-exam software testing conducted by the college had identified an issue that could have impacted those undertaking July’s exams.
The RACGP’s Chief Education Officer Rob LoPresti told newsGP the decision had not been made lightly, but that in the end the need to ensure a reliable experience for candidates could not be ignored.
‘The decision was made after the consistent and rigorous testing the RACGP has been undertaking revealed an issue that could impact candidates’ exams,’ he said.
‘By remaining with paper-based exams, we can ensure that every candidate has a seamless experience on exam day.
‘We won’t put candidates at risk of not completing exams due to technical issues outside of their control.
‘Their hard work deserves to be met with a secure exam setting. By going paper based, we’re ensuring there will be no major disruptions.’
While the AKT has been successfully run online twice in the past year, both exams were due to take place online for the first time since an outage impacted candidates in 2020. However, the return to paper-based exams also coincides with a ‘difficult decision’ that will see the RACGP part ways with its exam software provider.
‘COVID showed the value of a robust online exam platform and we’re committed to leveraging the lessons we’ve learned for any future system,’ Mr LoPresti said.
‘However, we’ll only reintroduce the computer-based format when we’re confident that exams can be delivered online in a safe, reliable and cost-effective way.’
Despite shifting back to paper-based AKT and KFP exams, the Candidate Assessment and Applied Knowledge Test (CAAKT), which is supported by a different vendor, will continue to be delivered online.
Likewise, there are no plans for the Clinical Competency Exam to revert to a paper-based format, having recently made a successful transition to online delivery.
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