Exam preparation

Monash Emergency Education offers exam preparation streams suited to every phase of training, from primary through to fellowship.

Primary

Join this stream if you are preparing for either the written or viva components of the ACEM Primary exam. We run a full mock viva exam 3 weeks before the real thing.

FEK - Fellowship Knowledge course

A 12-month course, joinable four times a year, running most Wednesdays 10am-12pm online. Questions drawn from older-style SAQs are distributed the week before each session for registrars to attempt in advance. The course builds the underlying knowledge needed before starting the Fellowship Written course, which focuses purely on exam technique.

Course coordinators: Dr Prashant Dabee and Dr Pioma Wikeyesakere.

Topics rotate across four terms covering the full ACEM syllabus. Resources include the ACEM Medical Expert domain study guide, Rosh Review, and Life in the Fast Lane (LITFL).

Term 1

Environmental incl. drowning/heat, cardiac arrhythmia/ECG, ENT/dental, resus/airway, urology, derm/rheum/immunology, admin/leadership/teaching, neuro/AMS/seizures.

Term 2

Cardiac ischaemia/ECGs/chest pain, respiratory infection/PE/pneumothorax, endocrine, peripheral neuro, obstetrics/gynae, oncology, procedural sedation, geriatric emergencies.

Term 3

Selection from nine topics: renal/electrolytes, undifferentiated shock, gastro/GI surgery, psychiatry, ophthalmology, toxicology, plastics/burns/wounds, disaster/retrieval/pre-hospital, ECGs.

Term 4

Head and neck trauma, upper and lower limb orthopaedics, chest/abdo/pelvis trauma, vascular (AAA, dissection, emboli, PVD), leadership/mentoring/coaching.

When to start

You can join FEK at any time - it runs on a rolling 12-month basis. Plan to start roughly a year before your intended Fellowship Written term, earlier if you have external rotations coming up:

Sitting 2026.2

Start FEK: Term 2, 2025
Start FEW: Term 2, 2026

Sitting 2027.1

Start FEK: Term 4, 2025
Start FEW: Term 4, 2026

Sitting 2027.2

Start FEK: Term 2, 2026
Start FEW: Term 2, 2027

On an external rotation before your Fellowship Written term? Start FEK earlier than shown here.

Fellowship written

This six-month course, held weekly on Wednesdays (10am-1pm) via Zoom, focuses on exam technique for trainees intending to sit the written exam in the next six months.

A "finishing school" for candidates who already have the underlying knowledge from FEK. We use our own dedicated Moodle website for weekly practise questions, plus submitting questions for marking by FACEMs.

A full practise SAQ exam is held roughly 11 weeks before the real thing, at the actual exam venue, with feedback three weeks later.

Course coordinators: Dr Ananth Sundaralingam, Dr Julia Dillon, Dr Chamara Walathara, A/Prof Pourya Pouryahya (on leave).

Weekly questions on Moodle

Monash Practice Fellowship SAQ Exam

Monash Health hosts a practise Fellowship Written (SAQ) examination every six months. It is open to Victorian trainees planning to sit the next ACEM Fellowship exam. It is sat under exam conditions at the Cliftons exam centre in Melbourne.

Questions are marked by a combination of ACEM examiners and ACEM Fellows, with an online feedback session held three weeks later.

Applications are limited to 40 candidates. Priority is given to:

Candidates from a hospital assisting with question marking
Candidates who haven't sat the practice exam before
Other candidates, in order of application received

Details of upcoming exams will be posted here.

Monash Practise SAQ Archives

Fellowship OSCE

A 12-16 week course of small-group teaching (1-3 trainees), increasing in frequency as the exam approaches. Each trainee is allocated a mentor or exam coach who gives regular, goal-mapped feedback. Sessions include an early positive-psychology session on managing exam anxiety, examiner-led practice sessions with ACEM-accredited examiners, and mini-mock exams (3 stations) every four weeks, building up to a 6-station final mock.

Monash trainees approaching the Fellowship Clinical exam should get in touch at least six months out - contact Dr Sindy Balachanthiran or Dr Jason Aw at OSCE@monashhealth.org. Remote and rural trainees without a local course can contact Dr Sheila Bryan, Network DEMT, at Sheila.bryan@monashhealth.org.

The OSCE itself runs over two days: 12 stations of 11 minutes each (4 minutes reading, 7 minutes assessment). Every sitting includes at least one station of each type: