Success of record Fellowship exam revealed

Australia now has more than 800 new future GPs, who have demonstrated competency in the clinical skills needed to deliver quality general practice care.
 
The 2025.2 Clinical Competency Exam (CCE) had 31.4% more candidates than the 2025.1 cycle, the latest exam report reveals, making it the largest CCE the RACGP has ever run.
 
From a total of 1006 candidates who sat the exam across 18–19 October, then 25–26 October, 813 passed, translating to a pass rate of 80.82%. For the previous CCE cycle, the 2025.1, a total of 611 candidates passed.
 
Dr Rebecca Lock, the RACGP’s CCE National Assessment Advisor, welcomed the results.
 
‘We now have an additional 813 GPs ready to become Fellows and deliver longitudinal primary care for our communities,’ she told newsGP.
 
‘Successful candidates are demonstrating competency in the clinical skills needed to deliver quality general practice care to the Australian population.
 
‘The CCE is based on real-life GP cases, reflects the increasing complexity of our patient cohort, and requires candidates to demonstrate managing multimorbidity and complexity we see every day in practice.
 
‘Australian communities can be assured the standard of Fellowship delivered by the RACGP will provide primary care services to meet the needs of the population now and into the future.’
 
The CCE is the final exam on the pathway to Fellowship of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (FRACGP). Delivered online, it follows the written Applied Knowledge Test and Key Feature Problem assessments.
 
Candidates who passed the 2025.2 CCE demonstrated competency in communication, reasoning, diagnostic, management, and professional aspects across the range of increasingly complex general practice presentations in Australia. 
 
For perspective candidates preparing for the exam, Dr Lock says that working in comprehensive general practice is the foundation, as patients ‘provide the opportunity every day’ to practice the necessary skills to demonstrate in this exam.
 
‘In each interaction, consider the phases of the consultation and how you demonstrate the skills we assess – for example, active listening, establishing the patients’ ideas, concerns, and expectations, creating a patient-centred management plan by offering choices and taking the patient’s perspective, and explicitly safety netting and providing follow up,’ she said.
 
‘Reflecting on the presentations that make up the spectrum of Australian general practice and considering what the candidate may see less of is also important – this allows candidates to stretch their skills into areas they may need to focus study into or speak with peers about.’
 
Dr Lock recommends future candidates use the college’s guide to be ‘technically ready’ and familiarise themselves with Zoom functions needed in the exam, as well as using the RACGP’s exam support resources.
 
‘Practice the cases with peers under timed conditions over Zoom – reading a case or watching the video demonstration of the case is not the same as practising by doing the case,’ she said.
 
‘As candidates who have already been successful in the written exams, the foundational knowledge is there, but practising case discussions and expressing reasoning in a succinct format takes practice and feedback from peers.
 
Congratulating the successful candidates of the most recent CCE, Dr Lock says the success is also owed to the behind-the-scenes team.
 
‘My heartfelt gratitude to the clinical and professional CCE teams who go above and beyond to deliver the exam each cycle,’ she said.
 
‘Our huge cohort of examiners delivered their cases with skill and reliability to candidates, and our medical educator team is looking forward to welcoming new examiners into the pool for 2026.
 
‘As we see candidate numbers continue to grow, the CCE responds, as it was designed to, an agile modern assessment, the largest of this type of specialist assessment in the world.
 
‘These candidates should feel proud to have been successful in demonstrating their skills in this final hurdle assessment.’
 
The 2026.1 CCE is scheduled for 13–14 and 20–21 June 2026, with results published on 22 July. College members interested in becoming a CCE examiner can find out more via the RACGP website.
 
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