The College does not select you - your state network or hospital does, and the PGY floor has diverged by jurisdiction: NSW will not approve PGY2s (PGY3 start, 3-year contract), WA and ACT want two years' experience, Vic…
Typical start years; people vary by a year or two. Diamonds are exams. Stage list and sources in the pathway tab.
3/5 to get any BPT position nationally; 4.5/5 for a first-preference marquee tertiary network; 5/5 for procedural Advanced Training afterwards. Ratings are the encoder's 1–5 call from college numbers and r/ausjdocs; applicant-to-place ratios double-count people who apply in several states. Evidence rows are in getting selected.
oria's big four want PGY3+, while Queensland, SA, NT and some Victorian services still take PGY2s. Getting a BPT job somewhere is a soft gate (~78% success in QLD's published data); the Written, the Clinical and then Advanced Training selection are the hard ones.
Matched to unmatched 😭. Hope there was better news for others
BPT? Have a pulse. Advanced training? Be good at your job, be a good team player, show interest, do research/audits, sacrifice a goat to the blood moon, go to conferences...
Arrive. Coffee. Get berated. Ten thousand phone calls. Question life. More coffee. Home. Repeat
No, exams suck and sometimes the job gets very busy. Occasionally there is some politics. None of these are uniquely BPT problems If your fellow BPTs are cool, you make lifelong friends. You also upskill a lot during these years and it feels nice to know things
All 225 curated quotes by topic, trajectories and threads.
racp.edu.au for the facts and summary · rating and pathway encoded by hand from the same sources · quotes are verbatim r/ausjdocs comments, community view not policy
Number = distinct authors who said it; dashed chips are single reports (under three authors). Hover or long-press a chip for the why.
Stages: racp.edu.au, reddit.com · terms: r/ausjdocs term-strategy collection, counted by distinct author, community view not policy
"Mandatory" is the college's word. Amber "community" rows are what the sub says panels actually want.
Legacy PREP language still appears on hospital websites; label by cohort.
Attempt limit corrected 2026-09-13: RACP raised the DCE maximum from 3 to 4 from 2027 for Divisional Basic Trainees who have not exhausted their attempts (https://www.racp.edu.au/trainees/examinations/dce-attempt-limit-changes). The DCE is one exam sat by both Adult Medicine and Paediatrics & Child Health candidates, so paediatrics.yaml and this file now agree (QA CONTRADICTIONS 3b R3 / 3a A12).
applies_from_intake here means the first exam year the 4-attempt limit applies (RACP says 'from 2027'), not a selection intake - trainees already in the program are covered if they still have attempts left. Before 2027 the limit was 3.
Canberra Health Services / Canberra Physician Training Network; merit panel + referee reports; selection criteria in the position description; >=2 yrs FTE postgraduate by contract start.
11 HETI-coordinated networks (Concord, East Coast, Hunter Regional, Illawarra, Liverpool, Nepean, Northern Sydney Coastal, RPA, St George, St Vincent's South West, Westmead). Apply separately to each network in the NSW Health Annual Medical Recruitment main round, rank preferences by emailed link (editable until midnight on the final interview day), receive ONE offer. No published scoring rubric - 'merit-based approach'. Min PGY3; 3-year contract. A NSW BPT Rural Pathway is being established for 2027-CY entrants.
Top End HS (RDH) and Central Australia HS (Alice Springs) DPEs select locally; interview with the DPE; 'interest and motivation for working in remote Australia'. Main cycle May-Aug, applications welcome year-round; NT 2-year Medicine stream from PGY2 leads into BPT at PGY3.
Single statewide Queensland Physician Training Network with 5 rotations (Far North, North Queensland, Northside, Southside, Coastal), applied for inside the RMO & Registrar Campaign. Fully published scoring: referee reports (shortlisting only), short statements 20%, clinical experience 5%, QLD rural/regional experience 10%, rural background 5%, 6-station MMI 60%. The MMI also determines SHO vs Registrar start. Mid-year (August) entry exists; deferral up to 6 months.
3 LHNs (NALHN 24, SALHN 18, CALHN 25 positions in 2026-CY) via the SA MET centralised PGY2+ EOI. Weights: CV + cover letter 10%, referee reports 30% (heaviest referee weighting in Australia), interview 60% (two sequential 10-min panels, 3 questions each, first from a scenario given 10 min prior). PGY2+.
RHH / LGH / NWRH via the Statewide RMO Campaign with the BPT stream nominated; panel of senior clinicians; three consultant referees; explicit preference for UTAS graduates, local internship and local residency.
5 consortia; hospital-specific applications (Apr-Jun for BPT1) plus PMCV BPT1 and BPT2&3 matches. 'Each employing health service is solely responsible for selecting and ranking candidates'; PMCV runs the match algorithm only. RMH/Alfred/Monash require PGY3+; Monash runs a PGY2 pre-BPT year. Monash: 'Publications/additional degrees are a bonus, but are not as highly weighted'; preference to Monash interns.
PMCV 2027 match dates not yet published; Victorian dates come from individual health services - re-verify each March.
4 networks (East/North/South/Rural) via MedCareersWA, separate from the employment campaign. Written application /50: selection-criteria responses 10, CV 12.5, professional development/teaching attendance 10, research evidence 7.5, two referee reports 10; +7 marks for Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander candidates. 5-station MMI /50, max 3 candidates per place. One BPT application only. Must already hold a >=12-month RMO/SMR contract at an eligible site (RPH/Bentley, SJOG Midland, Armadale, SCGH/Osborne Park, Joondalup, FSH/Fremantle, Rockingham, Peel).
Dates drift a week or two each year; the calendar has confirmed vs expected windows.
Gates, no points: referees.
Requirements and rubric: elearning.racp.edu.au, racp.edu.au, heti.nsw.gov.au +5 · state mechanics: racp.edu.au, heti.nsw.gov.au, careers.health.qld.gov.au +2 · community rows from r/ausjdocs
Dots are sittings the college has dated; "approx." means only a month was published.
Hollow dots are hearsay — the poster was not citing a figure. A bar spans the components or years quoted; hover for the exact words.
"Cost to get on" is a name-based pick of the one-off fees paid before or at selection. The college schedule is a lifetime-of-training list at each item's own year, not one bill; community amounts overlap it and are never summed. Courses, travel and repeat sittings are the part the sub complains about.
Not shown: 2 paid products under three independent authors.
Exams and fees: racp.edu.au, medicalboard.gov.au · claims, prep and costs quoted: r/ausjdocs exams-and-costs collection, community view not policy · paid prep products need three independent non-suspect authors and a free alternative to appear
Scored by the Basic Physician Training (Adult Internal Medicine) rules — whether or not the title names the specialty — highest first, closing soonest next.
"Has anyone heard back?" reports on r/ausjdocs, 2023–2026 folded onto one calendar year; dashed line is the official date for the 2027 intake where published.
16 dated reports, weekly bins
15 dated reports, weekly bins
7 dated reports, weekly bins
Jobs: last night's scrape, scored by hand-written rules (no AI) · units and offer reports: r/ausjdocs, counted by distinct author · campaign windows: canberrahealthservices.act.gov.au, health.nsw.gov.au, healthjobs.nt.gov.au +5
Verbatim, one caution beside one encouragement per topic where both exist, the rest folded. Every quote links to the comment.
failed -feel like such a failure. only one in my study group too
I’m sorry to hear that. If it helps I passed on my third try. I went and saw a psychologist to talk through my nerves and self sabotage and found that really helped. Take some time to yourself to process it before you decide what you want to do next. This exam does not define your worth as a doctor or a person.
The cardiologist examining me was extremely fixated on weight loss for the young female patient who was starting chemotherapy next week. Was quite rude about it. Like really fixated on it. Marked me down quite harshly for not focusing more on weight loss for her. I felt like maybe she has bigger priorities right now…
1. Don’t stress about anything you can’t control - ie: cases, examiners etc. 2. You will create an impression with the examiners in seven seconds - make eye contact and introduce yourself strongly 3. If you feel you have screwed up in an early case - deep breath and try to put it behind you. Phone a friend for support…
Side note - I find it pretty fucked up none of the RACP specialties have exit exams?? Just me? Okay
I resat DCE after the same scores. First sitting is you vs rapidly acquired knowledge. Resitting is you vs your ego/MH. I studied less and worked more on being settled. As you alluded to it wasn't the medicine that caused you to fail. Another year of study and you realise the whole thing is still a circlejerk. I passed…
Everyone knows that the secret to passing RACP exams is that if you don't get the result you want the first time, just re-sit the exam three more times. That's the College Way!
I failed last year and passed this year. I had to do a lot of soul searching - if anyone wants to talk about that feeling it feel free to chuck me a message - it’s an awful exam that has minimal basis in reality so don’t let it affect yours! (Easier said than done)
Failed , 2nd time round too. I keep getting sent tot be big centres, I wonder if that’s working against me.
I've examimed a number of trial exams and have talked to people who are regular examiners, this has made me realise something. The difference in knowledge between your examiner, who has spent years siloed in a specialty and is now examining you in another specialty, and you, a BPT who has spent months studying…
That's like $15,000 just to do my job.
I understand your frustration but compared to other exams its realy not that bad. The pass park is usually around 50-55% though which if you think about, gives a huge room for error. Pass rate is >70% usually for the written exam. It's totally fine to get all the obscure questions wrong and you can still pass.
Sure the Tert mutation is cool. The oncologist also thinks their mutations are cool. The nephrologist thinks their stuff is very cool too. When it becomes not cool is when you have to learn 50 obscure diseases that you've never seen and probably will never see because they just go straight to a sub speciality. Sure…
100% of their candidates passed this year, so that’s something. Can’t comment on the AT situation though
On my end, only one in my study group passed. Also failed here…
I did 0 journal article reading and scored >70% raw mark. Pass mark was 51.
"Has to distinguish the excellent from the average" >70% pass rate, thus by definition not actually distinguishing an excellent BPT from an average one as the "average" (statistically speaking) BPT passes >excellence is apparently knowing esoteric facts >no reason why an exam which by definition is meant to be a…
Austin is a hundred percent pass rate for writtens? i believe
Pass/fail exams that should be evaluating competence and safety to practice as a consultant do not need to separate the excellent from the average, they need to separate the competent/safe from the incompetent/unsafe. That shouldn’t need to be pointed out to you.
In a rural hospital here over 3 hours from a capital city BY CHOICE that has no formal BPT teaching and I passed my exam.
However, *objectively*, the pass rate for writtens this year was \~ 80%, and for clincials was \~ 60%. We tend to do a little worse yearly than the Australian average.
Have you considered Alice Springs? Great BPT program there with high pass rates in recent years
Ok. I’ll rephrase. Distinguish the bottom 30% from the rest. Neprilysin inhibition was ‘esoteric’ when I did my exam. PDL-1 was esoteric the previous generation. How does a physician contribute to the MDT if they are not at least INTERESTED in the future of medicine. The written is not about safety. We want…
I did the clinical this year! I would recommend if you’re working in a smaller centre to get REALLY good at common long case topics (falls, frailty, osteoporosis, anaemia, heart disease, cancer etc) and know the roles of allied health so you can talk about physio led balance exercise in falls etc. You don’t need to…
E.g for RACP, Annual BPT fee of $3700, Ahpra $1000, $6000 for exams, $2000 for exam prep courses. That's nearly $12k in expenses for ONE financial year
Second attempt 7,7 for longs, 7,7,7, 6 for shorts No additional study, I in fact did LESS prep for longs. Worked on mindset more, got up to exam venue earlier and took myself out to dinner/movie etc. It really is about 'dancing the dance' at the end of the day, you clearly have the knowledge as youve passed the…
This is for a few reasons, namely that they curve the absolute hell out of it. The pass mark itself is getting lower and lower as the exam gets more and more ridiculous; if you look back around 10-15 years ago the pass mark was ~65% or thereabouts, now it’s just above 50%. Given ~15% of the exam is past questions (ie…
Pass rates for writtens generally pretty average, 65-75%. Pass rates for clinicals usually above average, this years pass rate was almost 90% for a large sitting cohort of >40.
On my very last attempt. Last long case I will ever do, patient tells me she has a plan in place to kill herself when her palliative partner dies, refuses to eludicate details. Examiners didn't believe me.
Some hospitals run subsidised ARC ALS2 courses, mine was ~$700 a few years back in NSW, not sure if QLD has anything similar
Failed as well - have a feeling the marking was harsher this year in line with the increased number of attempts
I passed BPT written and clinical on first attempt with 0 dollars spent on ANYTHING post med school I.e. no masters, no study courses (except the mandatory 2 week course they made us pay for) etc. Just a straight mbbs kinda guy. My approach 1. Get access to the study courses/videos from last year. Someone will have…
Written and clinical exam results for each hospital should be published so that trainees know what their prospects are like at time of job application. It only takes one or two dedicated clinicians to change systems to support bp trainees. BPTs are highly self sufficient, goal directed mature learners. But they can't…
3. Training. SCGH over the last few years has had the highest pass rate for BPT (from what I’ve heard) with 100% pass rate this year for Written exams. Not sure what your inclination is but something to think about.
probably a higher proportion of people passed at Wollongong
I was in a similar position to you in BPT1 - i.e. moved to be closer to home, but hospital had <50% pass rate the year before me for writtens and around 50% pass rate for clinicals.
My (yet to be) wife cried for about two days, when I tried to reassure her, she got angry at me (which is a very rare occurrence). We caught up with several of her friends the night of the exam and they all got written off and convincing each other of who did worse. They all passed.
Hi I’m a BPT1 (PGY4) with many BPT3/PGY4 friends doing their exam this year. I have been told that at our hospital the fail rate was >50% (when in the last few years it has been 100% pass rate). I do not know if that extrapolates to the entire group who sat the exam Australia-wide, but it appears that most likely it…
Did no study in BPT1 - pretty much spent most of the year trying to be a good med reg (pgy3). Started study first day of BPT2 for DWE - started from the basics of basics. Used top physician + Uptodate to make hand written notes from Feb to Aug for all specialities and topics. Did deltamed Aug - Sep to cement knowledge…
Pass rate 40%
Low yield AF
St Vs have had not so long ago had a less than stellar pass rate. My wife was a senior reg there at the time.
I would say most put in a gradual 5-20hrs/week effort over the 12 months leading up. All do the intense 2 week study course 1-2months prior. Most study intensely in 1-3 months leading up to exam - hermit mode. But many smart doctors still fail with this method and many average doctors pass with minimal study. BPT exams…
Aha appreciate your subjective disclaimer and interesting comment, though wasn’t Monash’s BPT written pass rate high 60s-low 70s?? Someone could confirm, but seems like their program might be lacking?
I will give an example: You get a stem of examine the hands and proceed. You see the patient has sclerodactyly and digital infarcts with Calcinosis. Still have to do a quick hand exam and you are suspecting systemic sclerosis Then you do BP and find they are hypertensive Then look for facial/ mouth involvement Note…
Not true (I know who few that failed at least for last year). OP I don't think you'll go wrong with any inner city metro hospital tbh. They're all great in terms of teaching. There are some horror stories of rostering around exam time in all of them too. Not sure about outer suburban hospitals. Think Western and Monash…
Historical argument is that the RACP divisional examinations are so amazingly difficult that anyone passing them will automatically be brilliant at any subspecialty after a bit of time as an AT.
I have just had my indemnity come up for renewal at almost $4,000pa.
Constantly doing MCQ questions is good. You don’t need to be smart to pass the exam. You need to become and MCQ answering machine. Do a trial paper every other weekend (usually 100qs) in exam conditions. Then mark your answers and record the results. That way you can see some results after a few months. I remember…
I also wouldn't put too much weight into "100% exam pass rate" claims as I'm sure people have heard of, basically all the top Victorian BPT hospitals (RMH, Alfred, Austin, even Bendigo) have achieved this. The numbers can be inflated as some hospitals may discourage people who are not ready from sitting the exam. Even…
The thing to remember with the RACP clinical is that the examiners are going in blind as well. Essentially the point of the exam is that they essentially just want you to reach a similar conclusion to the examiners. And given the examiners will (mostly) be examining *outside* their specialty; it should be a fairly…
This question does not really have an answer. Best in terms of what metric? Pass rate? Exam support? Culture? Regardless of what metric you use, there is no one best hospital for BPT. The metro hospitals tend to have the highest pass rates (the best performing hospital varies each year but they tend to be 80-90%+ pass…
Nah nothing really, depending on where exactly you are you just have to apply for a medical PHO job. Most hospitals will have some allowance for a few places for this (ultimately every hospital always ends up needing more med regs), whether or not they can provide formal exam support is another thing but if you’ve done…
Coming into consultant physician year 2, Avant quotes me $2500 and MIPS quotes me $1600 or there abouts.
Ikr. luckily I got the exact pass mark. Thank god
Essentially 73.8% of the cohort got over the pass mark of 54.4%
St George is also a decent place for BPT - it’s busy, and the written prep is a bit piecemeal, but the clinical prep program is awesome, with the most supportive dedicated bosses.
Concord Hospital in Sydney, has a reputation for having light workloads that enable plenty of study, leading to high pass rates
Despite a lower passing rate, Westmead BPT still has most people pass the first time and by the 2nd attempt the vast majority have passed. This also tends to fluctuate from year to year for every hospital. It's also worth noting that some hospitals have in the past had unwritten policies of stringly encouraging…
I have been offered a 1 year BPT Position at Campbelltown hospital (with prospect to complete the three years over there with the exam preparation) they were recently upgraded to a level 3 hospital.
I mean you got through med school presumably without much of a study group. BPT is similar but the only difference is you actually have to work full time and study on your own volition part time. The study group isn't there to make you smarter, its there to give you some level of accountability. A bunch of people that…
2. Canberra Hospital was notorious for having the lowest BPT pass rate in previous years. However since last two years there has been an overhaul in physician education department and passing rate last year improved quite significantly. Approx 20/21 BPTs passed their written exam last year. I am not sure about the…
So what I was told is that for the longs in particular the examiner sees them first and gets less time than you - they do their hx and exam and their findings are basically the passing standards. Your job with 20min more than what the examiner got, is to find what they found and exceed it. In that sense it doesnt…
I personally think if you are struggling to balance competing interests, you should shelve research. I think it is unrealistic to expect too much of yourself on this front in the study year (unless tying up loose ends). For most people the purpose of research is to get on to a training program, and you have to pass the…
Written pass rate for 2024: 12/15
The BPT DWE for example has a fairly high pass rate, but that’s burying the lede on its difficulty a fair bit because while they want people to pass they paradoxically make the exam harder year on year, so the pass *mark* gets lower and lower and lower.
SCGH also has an insanely high BPT pass rate if that’s your thing.
Agree with all of the above comments. To answer more specifically about exams / training sites, written preparation is mostly driven by you as the individual with both north and south running competitive online lectures, with the clinical preparation being highly dependent on your training site. To this end, I’d advise…
Matched to unmatched 😭. Hope there was better news for others
As cliche as it sounds: You can’t buy time for things that really matter in life, which includes making memories with the people that really matter, like travelling and seeing world with someone you love. Work, including a traineeship, will always be there waiting for you when you get back. If this job teaches you…
Sydney has a big 4 for hospitals lol? This isn't the corporate world. City based/eastern suburbs hospitals aren't any better then the rest of the state. They just have very good media connections and some have a TV show. Dont drink the kool aid 😆
WA physician here. I’m sorry for this. Terrible luck 1. Please don’t be too hard on yourself. You sound like an excellent candidate. And you have received some detailed feedback from your Director of training. You must have just missed it and these things happen. Comparison is the theft of joy. One year is not going to…
For physician training most hospitals preference their own interns.
As a med student you can take up leadership roles in societies. You can get started on research to publish or submit as an abstract or poster. As an intern and resident, you can continue with leadership and research. You can add teaching med students, quality improvement activities like audits and morbidity mortality…
This is so awful, I got matched to my first preference initially and end up getting matched to other health facilities down my preference list after the rerun at 4pm. PMCV had 2 days to sort out the allocation but they messed up during the day of result publication. This is extremely disappointing and unprofessional.
Know some doctors whonhave done at least a year at the Gong. They apparently have a strong BPT focus with written and clinical exams, very structured and a lot of AT support too. Not surprising given theyre pretty much tertiary with tertiary level support
I would have thought if they have said no outside the match it is pretty unlikely they are going to say yes in the match. That really sucks you did not get the gig - BPT is becoming more competitive and this is happening to more people sadly
I think everyone in my intern year who wanted to stay at our (metro) hospital for BPT got a pre-match spot. It’s not hard.
Despite what the above comments might say, I would agree with your registrars in saying that time spent regionally prior to BPT is not really beneficial to BPT (this is coming from someone that did a reasonable amount of time regionally/rurally as a locum). Unlike surg or anesthetics where time spent regionally means…
Definitely email around if you're super keen on doing it next year, particularly as people change their minds or get other jobs but otherwise just focus on making good relationships with your colleagues, especially the nurses and allied health and patients families, focus on learning each term. Next year a couple of…
they cannot unfortunately. Hence that's why it's important for you to intern/be already employed at a hospital that you intend to do BPT at.
Barwon easily. Good teaching, level 3 hospital, subspec stuff, beaches nearby (having worked along Great Ocean Road so obvs biased) Simply put if I was in your position, I'd choose Barwon.
My view is to ignore the PGY stuff. What matters is how long have you worked towards your goal and what other life priorities you are balancing. Deciding a year out what you want to pursue shouldn’t have expectations of immediate success with applications especially considering so many spend 1-3 years with intentional…
If you do end up pushing on, just wanted to flag that in my experience, BPT2 positions are a lot harder to fill and far less competitive than BPT1 (at least in Vic). I also had a lot of colleagues doing a year of BPT then transitioning to crit care or GP. I'd seriously consider reapplying to your home state's hospitals…
Subjectively, the workload is alright. There are a few busy rotations (e.g. Cardiology, Renal) where you'll stay till quite late. I used to see Renal BPTs staying back till 10-11 pm routinely, and depending on how your on-take goes for Cardiology, I've seen some Cardiology BPT notes around midnight. Staffing has…
Westmead are supportive and will allow you to go part time without issue and they will tend to rehire if you don’t happen to pass exams. They also dont tell people not to sit exams if they aren’t likely to pass which other hospitals do. The teaching programs have improved immensely over the past few days. You will…
It depends on the hospital you are applying to. In Victoria a number of hospitals are taking PGY2s into BPT, however if the applicants chooses to leave BPT after the first year they will still have not completed internship, and may find it difficult to apply for other streams. As a result some hospitals(i.e. Monash)…
Werribee support all their trainees to go to a tertiary hospital for bpt3. They have a fantastic DPE and you will have a better bpt experience and I would argue pass rates, compared to being lost in the crowd at an RMH.
Heya, DPE here. As of 2025, the RACP will not let PGY2s apply to start BPT. PGY3 is the earlist you can start, moving forward.
I did BPT in Adelaide! There are 3 networks - CALHN, SALHN and NALHN. CALHN and SALHN are generally considered to have better BPT teaching and higher exam pass rates, but in recent years have also heard good things about NALHN. From speaking to people from other states I feeling like the training is pretty equivalent,…
Officially there is no pre-match system. Unofficially if you are a good intern and resident and don’t make enemies you will likely get a job at the hospital you did PGY1/2 at. Be a conscientious and reliable junior at the hospital you want to do BPT at and you’ve got a pretty good chance. As a medical student the…
as a past graduate of their program I can attest to it being a great place to work. Collegiate, reasonable workload, excellent clinical experience and fantastic exam preparation. They take care of you and it’s a good place to work with exciting medicine. People do very well getting onto QLD AT programs from there…
My completely subjective, low level evidence opinion based on experiences working there, placements, as well as hearsay... Rated out of 5 Culture and how chill the bosses are / JMO culture (higher is less toxic) / BPT pass rate and teaching quality / how busy you will be (higher is more work) St Vincent's 5 / 5 / 5…
Another strategy if you have a specific preferred destination of those four would be to go to the rural area within the network (as all BPTs spend 3-6 months/year outside of the city at the rural attached hospitals e.g. Port Mac for POWH, Dubbo for RPA, etc.) - the physicians at those hospitals supervise BPTs within…
The interview is weighted at 60% so really it's the thing that matters most. It is also hurdled, with different minimums for SHO roles and Reg roles Your CV is officially not considered (although you must submit it). There are some short response questions, one of which asks about research and other extra curricular…
I had only 1 medical term in my pgy2 year, last up. I applied for BPT on the normal timeframe anyway using an Ed Consultant and a Surg consultant as references and I scored an interview and got in no problems. Don't stress, even if your placement rotation is terrible, you can still get onto BPT as long as you interview…
I wouldn’t throw out an entire state for BPT based on a single consultant in a single hospital in a single network …
Most of the BPT training in VIC are okay. I confess I do know a little bit about St. Vincent's BPT a bit since I did my clinical years of med school and internship there. The head of registrar training there basically has been teaching for as long as some heads of department have been practising medicine, she is quite…
PGY2 entry to BPT is primarily a Victorian anomaly. Most states commence BPT in PGY3. It is inevitable that Vic goes this way with the introduction of the framework. There is some hope that a properly structured PGY2 year will count as BPT1 retrospectively which RACP are considering but there is no guarantee they will…
There's lots of fighting regarding which is the "best" network. Having actually worked across a few LHDs as a locum pre-BPT in NSW and having been through the BPT application process myself I'd rank competitiveness as below. Please note that the tiers do not reflect how good a network is only how popular they appear to…
as a medical reg from a 'big 4' you can get on with a suprisingly little amount of CV material, a lot is based on your recommendations and references for in network jobs.
I would choose Geelong! Don’t think Ballarat has BPT 3. But double check!
I can't tell you exactly what you need to do because I'm not a physician but I did recruitment for our ICU registrars several times. For the intake there's a scoring grid for your CV, for example masters could be +20, ALS course +5, teaching affiliation with a university +20, etc. Anything that's not vague like…
I just checked this with the college, in fact it looks like VIC is still going to allow PGY2 starters. NSW will not. The messaging on this is extremely confusing. I had communication from the college late last year informing me that it would be a blanket 'no' to PGY2 starts from 2025 onwards, but it seems since then,…
In NSW historically you could do BPT1 in PGY2, BPT2 in PGY3 and BPT3 in PGY4. That is no longer allowed. You now have to be a med reg/BPT for 3 years which is not everyone's cup of tea.
Your best bet is to have worked there prior to your bpt application, be good when you're there and make it known that you want to do bpt. Even better is if you know who is on the bpt panel for the respective network and try to get terms in the speciality of that boss to get some face time. Most places prioritise…
if you are set on BPT and geographically unrestricted , do not forget to apply interstate (earmark the application dates asap)
Monash's BPT entry is PGY3, yes, but they are offering a PGY2 pre-BPT year (ie. unaccredited BPT HMO!) that guarantees entry onto the program - so functionally it's similar I'd be curious though to see if other health services follow suit.
In QLD there is no internal/external applying; everything is network based. You apply to the *network* and then preference hospital locations for the entirety of your training if you get accepted onto said network.
Damn has bpt gotten that hard to get into? Back in my day, anyone with a pulse got on.
BPT? Have a pulse. Advanced training? Be good at your job, be a good team player, show interest, do research/audits, sacrifice a goat to the blood moon, go to conferences...
Sorry you didn't get an offer. It used to be that BPT and GP were essentially available to anyone who was able to submit the application form, but it looks like it's very grim out there these days.
I think realistically if you get some good cons references and have a pulse you will get onto BPT somewhere in Sydney. To improve your chances at the big centres getting involved in an audit perhaps, and then also doing some med student teaching would strengthen your application.
Which state / hospital network are you applying for? I know of some excellent candidates who didn't get into the program on 1st application, and know of some not-so-good candidates who got straight in. Will highly suggest getting feedback from the local committee on which aspects that can be improved (interview, CV,…
This year pass rates between networks were not disclosed, probably for good reason. Med reg absolutely admits from ED, that is widely considered one of the worst parts of the job. 25% of your workload will be nights or admitting. BPT positions are not competitive. Occasionally Coastal and Northside are oversubscribed…
Hi! I applied in metro WA, where I’m told the ratio was 1:2 in my particular hospital network :( - I did receive a call from our director of postgrad med Ed after the rejection as I’d asked for feedback and she essentially said I was very very close but scored less in teaching on my CV, some of my selection criteria…
There’s heaps of jobs in private land after specialisation. Regarding competitive AT spots, if you keep trying, even if it takes a few unaccredited years, you’ll get on eventually. If you don’t like the idea of GP id finish physician training if I were you.
I also feel the same way. PGY3, have done a lot of medical rotations, have always gotten good feedback and thought I had good references. CV ok but not wow, maybe my statements weren’t good enough? Will see if I have any luck with VIC otherwise guess I’ll have to PHO too. Seems we’re entering the era of unaccredited…
In QLD at least, unless it has changed: more or less everyone gets an interview, and if you interview well that’s about it.
Has the research publications Arms Race now trickled down to BPT? Madness
I’m a GP so I’m not qualified to answer re AT competitiveness but all of my medical BPT friends who kept trying eventually got onto their desired AT programs including cardio and gastro.
The bottleneck is not at BPT. Not competitive to get in. It's the AT specialties where the bottleneck is
Coming from a regional site, applying for BPT in a metro site, you have almost zero chance, sorry. Metro hospitals recruit mostly from internal applicants. Unless you are a genius or have some published papers already, you probably have a greater chance of being struck by lightning.
BPT is not the bottleneck for physican training. It’s AT and consultant jobs that are the bottleneck, especially for competitive subspecities. Physican training is different to surgical training, in that you don’t have to go through the unacreddited slog to get into BPT - you can start work as a BPT reg without doing…
But just to put things in perspective - last year there were I think less than 5 people who made it into Austin as external candidate. It’s highly competitive to apply as external for metros
A guy I knew got interviews from every single hospital but had no jobs at the end of it. Many people had one interview and got the job.
You would need to see what they've done historically. From what I have seen, most major centres hire internally. Of 14 BPTs, perhaps 4 will be external hires. So not impossible, but you would need to stand out.
Not sure but anecdotally people around me seem to have gotten anything between 2-6 interviews
I just got an email saying I was not successful, local, pgy3 applicant , good references and lots of medical blocks- applied to metro north south and Gold Coast
lol defs not true. Eastern confirmed 80 interviews for 30 spots.
Queen/king shit. That is bonkers - 11?! Most I’ve heard of was 6. And he didn’t get any job offers :(. I am that BPT that only got one interview (at one of the big 4) and got it. Would actually rather swallow dirt than repeat that process again.
Arrive. Coffee. Get berated. Ten thousand phone calls. Question life. More coffee. Home. Repeat
No, exams suck and sometimes the job gets very busy. Occasionally there is some politics. None of these are uniquely BPT problems If your fellow BPTs are cool, you make lifelong friends. You also upskill a lot during these years and it feels nice to know things
I took a break prior to jumping ship to RACGP. I used all my sick leave for about 6 to 8 weeks. I needed it. I was burnt out. I was turning up to work angry. I was thinking constantly, "For fucks sake what now?" I was taking my anger out on things around me and at work. The only person who gave a shit about me truly…
You are PGY3 and being pushed into a role of the Night Med Reg must be so hard on itself, have you considered that nearly none of that is a personal failing, the job requirement is just that steep and perhaps that’s why it feels like you are failing, when actually you are doing the absolute best you can! I haven’t ever…
Can you drop down to part time? I am sure you are not the only one in your position and can find someone to jobshare with. Depending on how your hospital works could you take leave without pay? You could supplement your income with locum work although there isn’t much of that in the first half of the year. Otherwise,…
> I don't want to invalidate what BPTs are going through, but the exam hellscape/overworking/shit work life balance is something that you'll encounter in pretty much every specialty. This isn't unique to BPT/AT. You are probably hearing so much about it because there are more (louder) people going into BPT than other…
BPT in Victoria is essentially resident work with very little registrar duties usually with an AT that is optimum for studying BPT in NSW they may throw you on call for subspecialty advice / run mets / usually thr only reg on a team etc. in some networks that can make it harder to pass. I think QLD is more similar to…
I didnt realise I was mega burnt out until I failed the writtens in BPT. I was on ward round and then ended up being annoyed by this poor guy who came in for an NSTEMI. At that point I realised I was wrecked. Took 2 months off (stupidly studied for the oct exam and then failed that). I had to tell admin that they…
day to day \-730am: arrive at work and flick through eMR to look at significant overnight events, bloods etc for existing patients alongside the overnight admissions. JMOs will prepare the notes for the WR. \-8am-11am: ward round that could potentially get interrupted by random arrival of consultants or MET calls…
Unpopular opinion: Only in medicine do people advise you to stay in a place where you don’t feel like you fit in or where your mental health is suffering. Unless you're in financial trouble or desperately need the income and can’t find another job, I’d say leave and find a BPT job somewhere that aligns with your career…
I had a child between BPT1 and 2, returned Feb 2025 for BPT2 which allowed me to link in with the most amazing study group ever and coupled with a lot of parental help was able to sit and pass the written this year. I can’t imagine how women with partners who also work full time can do this without extensive help…
If I could I would have moved to Vic to do BPT. Substantially less responsibility as a BPT (we literally just had a thread on this few weeks ago - vic BPTs are essentially NSW SRMOs), better pay and better annual leave. Your main goal in BPT is to pass exams, gain exposure in diff specialties but not get saddled with…
1) responsibility is usually similar across most NSW networks. Most hospitals are BPT-run and ATs do specialty specific stuff (niche clinics, procedures, outpatient stuff). In almost all networks you run the ward round for all specialties (eg: cardio, resp, gastro, renal etc), make your own plans and then text/call the…
I agree with you. I was a JMO in VIC, the BPTs in subspec terms had time to study. I was always guided by the ward ATs rather than BPTs. Stark difference when I moved to NSW. Being BPT in NSW Health was a shock to my system. Honestly, I’m not sure if looking after inpatient wards, consults and clinics as a BPT is of…
I got pregnant in BPT2 and took a year off and deferred my written. There was no way I could have studied during maternity leave (fussy baby, terrible sleeper, on survival mode pretty much the whole year). I went back to work part time for a year and studied, did my written last year and then got pregnant and passed my…
Sadly - it doesn’t get better and it’s only shit from here. This is coming from a 3rd yr BPT sitting the DCE next month, getting 3 - 4 hours sleep every night, spending all day at the hospital after work to see patients and still being told that all of us are shit and we should be doing more. Wish I told my younger…
Would you rather this or 1M spent on multiple EGMs throughout the year? And yes those are your only two choices
My wife is an incredibly hard worker and she’s just quit BPT. It’s not a job for a married person with children.
Have heard of a competitive specialty asking a female trainees about their family planning during interview (illegal), and telling another applicant that their specialty would be too difficult because she has a child 💀
So stupid. The problem with the College (well, one of the many problems) is they provide almost no training and no incentive to consultants to complete these assessments, or deliver effective training. The college justify their existence and the supposed rigor of the training by piling on more and more box ticking…
The best solution is simply to get in and out of training as quickly as you can if you want a normal life. Unfortunately BPT --> AT is mostly not that. Medical/Surgical Registrars are the absolute backbone of our hospitals (alongside ED). They coordinate the JMOs doing the grunt work, and they actually keep patients…
I’m currently a BPT and kick myself for passing up on some specific specialties.
This is the first time I have ever heard/seen someone say something good about Werribee. I worked there a few years ago and their Gen Med service was unsafe, understaffed and unsupported. I watched HMO2 BPT1s rounding on ~20 inpatients without any in-person supervision. The hospital itself was poorly run and had a…
Get out now while you can. Signed a FRACP.
Has a reputation as one of the most dysfunctional hospitals in Victoria. Has no BPT3 spots, so where exactly do these people go once they complete BPT2 and are about to sit their written + prep for clinical? Unless La Trobe has a strong relationship with a metro hospital where you have a basically guaranteed BPT3 spot,…
has been mentioned but will +1 that geelong means you can do all your training there and more subspec, bigger hospital, interesting work. some terms allow bpt1 to function as registrars and hold phones very early (may be a negative if you are not a confident junior) negatives are mainly workforce which is arguably the…
Because it’s a tough slog to get to the end. If you are burning out now, there are so many hurdles to come. Advanced training can be demanding depending on what you want to do or how competitive the specialty. I’m on the other end now and it’s great but wouldn’t do it again (nor medicine for that matter).
St George will hire the BPT from St goerge unless they dont have one then they might get one from pow/rpa.
Queensland usually has a lot of spots for BPT and I would recommend the metro north network, the interviews are fair and everyone I know got a spot.
It is also frustrating to see this pay offer given QLD Health are bringing in the physician assistant role, which has base pay equivalent to a PGY4 registrar!
Hi guys, I’ve been offered a BPT reg position at Royal Darwin hospital.
I’m hoping to apply to BPT at one of the big 4 in Sydney (specifically POW or RNSH as I have lots of family in those areas + career prospects).
Hello all I have just received a BPT offer for eastern health next year.
I am applying for Victorian BPT from interstate and have interviewed at Northern Hospital.
apply to Townsville/cairns for BPT training for best chance to get into cardio AT.
Hi all, I have an interview for a mid-year entry med reg job at RHH and was hoping to see if anyone had an interview tips eg any curveball questions they ask, and more info on what the hospital is well known for, reasons I can use if they ask why I want to come to RRH.
Also if you apply for an RMO job at WCH then get on the program for the next year you can have your final terms of the RMO year approved for RACP (which is what a lot of us do).
Results released at 1000 hrs today, correction email received at 1449 hrs
I jumped straight into BPT1 as PGY2 and almost all my colleagues who I finished BPT with also started in PGY2.
They’re trying to poach you, congrats! But suggest deleting this post because it does not happen often and will be hugely identifying for you…
Whilst you can pay for the privilege of being a 'BPT' you can't be a registrar until PGY3.
They re-released the offers at 4pm
Yep says they’ve lost everything and to reply with preferences.
Anyone who interviewed for St George BPT second round?
The PMCV BPT1 match algorithm this year was apparently broken and they're re-running the match at 4pm today, FYI!
24 hours I think
This Wednesday 10am match results will be out on PMCV
I am currently a BPT on my geriatrics rotation at HNE in NSW.
BPT program in Victoria is generally more well supported during exam years (can only speak about the big hospitals like monash, rmh, alfred).
Recently there has been a proposal to employ Physician Assistants in teaching hospitals by Queensland Health.
There is no such thing as a Westmead BPT for they are BPT, then AT, then consultant all in the same, blended together.
Considering a rotation in Albury Wodonga as part of gen med AT.
A business case put out by the Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service to hire more physician assistants last week sparked furore among medical peak bodies, with Ms Fentiman’s office saying there were no plans to recruit more amid questions from the media.
WCH bpt here, been at WCH for two years now but not yet done a PICU rotation.
If you go Southside, I think you are at a disadvantage getting an AT position for Cardiology if you aren’t placed at the PA for your tertiary time (as Mater and Greenslopes don’t have cardio AT positions) in terms of making contacts; whereas all 3 northern tertiary sites have cardiology positions.
Of the 3 years of BPT, I had 3 terms that were day shifts only, the remainder through BPT were all shift work (that's across QCH and outer metro hospitals).
That makes no sense, you can't be allowed to start a mid-year entry course without a 6 month contract to last you until the new RMO year. It's one of the criteria for applying. You're meant to ask the DPE prior to applying that they can accommodate you
Sounds like you'll love being a GP. I've been doing it for 14 years and love the variety, the minor procedures, and the gratitude of my patients for just doing my job. My work is my happy place and I take 3 weeks off a year because that's all I need, and I'm itching to get back to work after a week off. I don't know if…
I have huge respect for anyone who goes down the BPT/AT pathway. The step up from resident to registrar is massive, and the growth during that journey is insane. Having said that, I do also know from personal experience from many friends who are BPTs that a significant proportion of them chose BPT because they simply…
Mostly everyone scrapes together at least 0.6 FTE in public even in competitive metro as long as you’re somewhat flexible across a few sites. Then across the 3 places you’re working at, after a few years the 0.2 FTE slices will naturally evolve to 1 FTE or a 1 FTE opens up in the hospital you really want that you apply…
ED - The extra breadth needed (O&G, paeds, psych, surg, etc) can be daunting at first but you'll find you ease into it faster than you imagined. Big adjustment is being comfortable doing half a workup and then referring. Resus is cool. Shiftwork isn't. I know a lot of great BPT-come-FACEMs. GP - Feels like an obvious…
BPT roles still available to apply in the ACT: [https://acthealth.taleo.net/careersection/external/jobsearch.ftl?lang=en](https://acthealth.taleo.net/careersection/external/jobsearch.ftl?lang=en)
For public, dual training may improve your job prospects by a little in smaller hospital settings. Satisfaction for subspecialty practice in these positions tend to be low as you may be requested to do extra clinic without extra FTE. There’s also a general lack of interaction with other physicians in your subspecialty.…
- this matter a lot. Like I can't stress how much this matters. Who they are matters a lot less than what they say about you. Having a no name consultant who writes "best resident I've ever had, works at the level of a final year BPT. Must hire this person. Team player etc etc" is worth more than an esteemed prof going…
Use someone from your internship as a referee Use your ED bosses as referees. There’s heaps of FACEMs in ED so you can make more than one your referee. Use your paeds boss as a referee because ultimately at this stage they want someone who is a professional and safe no matter what capacity they worked in.
try to secure medical rotations earlier in the year. It can be very hard to get a good reference from a consultant on surgical rotations.
Paediatricians are physicians too. Dr Paeds Boss FRACP could be a very reasonable referee for the attributes needed to ~~survive~~ flourish in basic training
If you have focused on becoming a good doctor, chances are that will be reflected in your references. It’s quite amazing how some supervising consultants can unleash all of their pent up rage about a candidate underperforming in a confidentially submitted referee form. If you are a great doctor who is performing above…
Application cannot proceed without all three references completed.
My worst day as a med reg in QLD Health is just a Tuesday in Victoria.
I did AT at Western and RMH (did BPT in Sydney) - Western is great, really lovely humans there.
toowoomba = really good culture and medicine (general medicine does so much in the west), however heavy workload and understaffed
in contrast to PA vs gold coast, gold coast i heard from my colleague who is working there as BPT found more supportive.
I got the impression registrars were more busy at St George and had lower pass rates for BPT (but happy to be corrected).
Bankstown Hospital claims this the ward medical registrar.
I ama non-BPT RMO at RHH and previously worked at NWRH; I’ve found both to be supportive workplaces, RHH is busier and more acute.
Usually I would imagine he would help BPTs get rotations at Geelong or other hospitals in the South West Victoria network.
More specifically, QCH has some (both JHO and SHO), other hospitals also offer 6 month terms in paeds as a JHO and then these people either apply for BPT or do a dedicated SHO year and then apply.
OP did you go and do any meet and greets prior to interviews? This is a must (don't listen to people who tell you that it isn't). Definitely email around asking if there are extra spots.
It's definitely possible. What stream are you looking to do? If you're unsuccessful in February applications, keep your eye on mid year vacancies, particularly for BPT2 jobs (people frequently quit). Once you're in, and if you're competent, most places will keep you on.
Definitely email them in a month or so. People drop out and a well timed email will work wonders
Aside from what others have said - keep an eye out for second round BPT applications! I know a lot of excellent candidates who missed out initially, but then scored good hospitals in the second round.
Still possible to move hospitals in PGY2 - a lot of my friends who went rural ended up doing BPT/surg at the big RMH/Alfred/Austin/St Vs.
Cairns and Townsville have excellent training and would see your regional experience as a plus… as would Darwin in the NT which asl has a training program with both BPTs and AT rotating to Katherine for real authentic experience.
Wollongong is a nice place to live tho, they will probably send you for a term in Nowra if you’re a rotational RMO for gen med - small rural hospital.
Interviews at RCH, but preferences willing/wanting to do rural training will have a slightly easier time being accepted into support rural stream BPT places.
I think it just boils down to there being wayyyyy more worthy applicants than there are training positions. Of course you don't need a PhD to be a competent cardiologist for example. But almost every Cardio AT needs a PhD nowadays. When you have many more people applying for limited spots, and most things are equal,…
we noticed this too. Highly suspicious of some chatGPT lingo in the answers. Felt lazy.
Agreed, the constant gender switching immediately made me think ESL rather than AI. Given that’s fairly important in question stems and can be a clue, it’s very frustrating and was a bit of a red flag. I agree with OP though in that I found some questions to be just straight up wrong - After I found a couple wrong…
Surgical gunner during med school. Publications, weekend assisting for free, founded uni surgical society (with other surg gunners) Did a term of plastics. Hated my patients. Young whinging men who came in after punching a wall. Did a med specs term. Registrar resigned early in my term. No cover. Got to do all sorts…
The only way I could see being rural a disadvantage in the future is if you wish to immediately do BPT in pgy2 at a competitive metro centre as they hire internally first and sometimes (like this year) do not accept external applications.
Applied to over 70 jobs to land my first unacc. med reg gig after failing to get into BPT. Honestly one of the hardest and stressful periods of finding a job I have experienced. (And no,there wasn't any locum spots in the state willing to accept me and unable to go interstate at the time)
In QLD at least the referee reports are due a couple weeks after submissions are actually due. I also had an issue with one of my referees not doing their report a few years back and was contacted directly by the recruitment people telling me this and asking if I could get onto them or just provide a different referee.…
Yeah reading between the lines sounds like if your one focus is actually doing BPT you should take the regional job. If it’s not then that’s also a fine decision to make, but be clear about it. People inevitably drop out of BPT and you might find it easier to transfer back to Melbourne as an accredited med reg after a…
7 people, counts not rates; median 2.2 yr to getting on from the 3 whose start and outcome both fell inside the dump.
PGY3 Locum. Part of a locum agency and I do temporary gigs (few weeks at a time) in regional areas filling in where there are gaps in the workforce. Very ED heavy but a few medical "rotations".comment ↗
NSW BPT here. I'm not sure it even matters? For last year's cohort applying (BPT1 this year), a fair number were SRMOs (PGY3s at time of application applying for PGY4 BPT1) and none had this new fan…comment ↗
I'm a bpt heading into renal. I've no interest in neuro. Generally only fellows and above will know about the private situation of that specialty unless its really bad (eg: monc/haem/renal) and peopl…comment ↗
Damn should've gone to GP-land cos I'm earning \~$70ph as a PGY5 with 4 weeks of leave and no study options covered as a med reg/BPT.comment ↗
Was an ED reg/locum before BPT (caveat being I was not an ED reg at either of these places). 100% liverpool. ED bosses there are great, nurses were good, there's a good culture and you're encouraged…comment ↗
Any tips for increasing chances of getting a neurology AT position when working as an intern/RMO/BPT? I am hoping to do a rotation during internship next year. What are the job prospects like after…comment ↗
I am currently doing a rural GP term as an intern and it seems like all the rural GPs are able to cover hospital inpatients and ED, and only GPs with training in obstetrics or anaesthetics get to do…comment ↗
I get paid $45/hr as PGY2. For reference I have done 6 years of medical school plus 1 year of internship, have close to 100k in HECS debt, have to spend 4.5k per year in college fees (in addition to…comment ↗
I am currently a BPT1 and thus am aware of many of my colleagues pursuing the masters of medicine for the purpose of boosting their CV in anticipation of AT applications.comment ↗
I'm a current intern and most of this sounds fairly standard for a few Victorian hospitals. I didn't know you could choose your leave anywhere.comment ↗
For what it's worth, I am an RMO, and of the first 5 UK grads I know personally off the top of my head, all are aiming to get on an Australian program or are already on one. I know the statistics cla…comment ↗
I did a surgical relieving term as a BPT. Was great learning. You should be able to do any HMO job in the hospital after internship. You can request a swap but refusing on the grounds of clinical inc…comment ↗
i was in your shoes as an intern and have now first authored a number of papers at pgy5 will try and give more practical advice than "work harder"comment ↗
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