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Assessment within any medical specialty college is often an area that elicits deep feelings within the medical community. The speciality of general practice is no exception, and there are a number of deeply held and widespread beliefs about The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) Fellowship examination. This article seeks to publish historical data from past RACGP Fellowship examinations. It is anticipated that readers with an interest in past, present and future trends will find this information useful, and it is intended that the information contained in the article will be used to inform the many debates which focus on the RACGP Fellowship examination.
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) examination has been the major route to Fellowship of the RACGP for 50 years. Over that time the examination has changed in detail, but not in the delivery of, best assessment practice.1 Assessment within any medical specialty college is often an area that elicits deep feelings within the medical community. The speciality of general practice is no exception, and there are a number of deeply held and widespread beliefs about the RACGP Fellowship examination. Such beliefs are often contradictory yet held with equal passion by their proponents. They include, for example, that the Fellowship examination:
* is too easy, or too difficult
* becoming easier over time, or becoming more difficult over time
* has a pass mark determined by a hypothetical pass rate, or has a pass rate determined by a pass mark.
Informed discussion is invaluable for the ongoing evolution of an assessment program and therefore it is important that those involved in the discussion are informed.
We present historical data from past Fellowship examinations that the reader can use to learn more about the RACGP Fellowship examination. This may assist the reader in making their own judgments, and may aid the debates that focus on the RACGP Fellowship Assessment Program. Specifically this article considers information on:
* enrolment trends
* international medical graduates (IMGs)
* standard setting scores
* pass marks
* pass rates
* resitting candidates, and
* the capacity of general practice to be served by a gold standard assessment process.
Sources of data
Data used in the preparation of this article are the historical data...