Fellowship Examination SAQ

Find a paper or browse individual questions

• Papers: search by hospital or sitting, then filter by year, hospital or answer availability. Open a paper to choose your mode and, where available, the section you want to attempt.
• Question Browser: open Question Browser from the navigation menu to search across question stems, subquestion prompts and question tables. All your search words must match; supplied answers are excluded from the search.
• Focus your revision: use Browse by topic or filter by topic, hospital, year, progress and answer availability. Questions stay together with all their parts, even when only one part matches your topic.
• Read progress labels: Response saved means at least one part has a draft or submitted response on this device; it does not mean the whole question is complete. Answer material may be partial or examiner guidance.

Build a custom practice paper

In Question Browser, tick Select for custom paper on the questions you want. Your selection stays as you change filters, so you can combine complete questions from different papers and topics.

Under Build a custom paper, give your paper a name and choose Open selected questions. It opens in Practice mode; use Practice / timed settings to change the mode. To work on just one question, choose Open question on its result.

Return to Saved custom papers in Question Browser to reopen a set. Each selection saves its own responses and submissions separately from the original papers, and the original hospital, sitting and question number remain visible.

Keep papers unseen for a mock exam

In Question Browser, expand Reserve papers for a mock exam and tick the papers you want to save for later. Their questions are excluded from search and topic browsing by default, while the full papers remain available in Papers.

Use Include reserved papers in results when you want to see them in the browser, or untick a paper in the reservation list to remove its reservation. Reservations are saved on this device.

Practice mode and timed mode

When you open a paper, choose one of two modes.

• Practice mode: no enforced time limit. The clock records your elapsed time for reference, and you can pause and resume. The paper does not submit automatically.
• Timed paper mode: choose a 60, 120 or 180-minute countdown. The timer gives warnings as time runs low and submits the paper automatically when time expires.
• Reading time: add 5 or 10 minutes before a timed paper begins. Response fields are locked during reading time.
• Autosave: your responses are saved as you work in this browser. Reopen the paper to continue an unfinished attempt.

Flag a question or save it for later review

• Flag: mark a question to return to during the current attempt. Use the navigator’s Flagged only filter to find it again. Flags clear when you submit.
• Review later: use the star button during a paper, in submitted review, or in Question Browser to keep a question on your personal review list. This marker survives submission until you remove it.
• Find your review list: open Review Questions from the Question Browser navigation menu, or choose Marked for review in the browser’s Progress filter.

Submit and revisit separate saved attempts

Choose Finish and confirm submission when you are ready. Submitted review shows your responses alongside the supplied answers where available.

Each submitted attempt is saved separately for that paper. Starting a new attempt keeps earlier submitted responses available, so you can revisit what you wrote on a previous sitting.

• Reopen the paper and choose an entry under Saved submitted attempts. Each entry shows its attempt number, section and submission date and time.
• While reviewing, use the Saved attempt selector to switch between submissions and the question navigator to jump to a question.
• Select the attempt you want before printing: the printout uses that attempt’s saved responses.

Print selected questions and your responses

From submitted review, choose Print responses / Save PDF.

1. Choose Entire paper to print every question in the selected attempt. For a section attempt, this means that section only.
2. To print only the questions you have done or want marked, choose Custom, then Clear selection and tick those question numbers. You must select at least one question.
3. Choose Print responses / Save PDF again, then print or select your browser’s PDF destination.

The document includes the selected question stems, part prompts, associated images and your saved responses. Supplied answers are not included in this response printout.

Use the answer library and track your progress

Open Answer library to browse supplied answer material, or use Open answer book from submitted review. Answer material can include original booklet pages, images and marking guidance; some questions have no supplied written answer.

The Progress page shows completed papers, Practice and Timed completions, total study time and your day streak. Use the recent activity chart, time spent per paper and completion breakdown by year to plan your next session.

Report a question problem

If you spot missing content, an incorrect image or a formatting issue, use Report problem on that question so its paper and question details are included. For a general technical issue, use Report a problem in the navigation footer.

Choose an account or practise as a guest

With an account: sign in before starting a paper. Your in-progress and submitted attempts save to your account, so you can open My attempts on another device and continue. Check that saving has completed before closing the page or switching devices. An internet connection is needed to sync account work and use group, messaging and marking features.

As a guest: you can still practise without signing up. Responses and local study history stay in that browser on that device; clearing its site data can remove them. Guest work does not automatically appear on another device or in your account. Print or save a PDF of completed responses if you need a separate copy.

When signed in, Progress opens your account’s My progress page. Guest progress remains available as local study activity. Written responses saved to an account are stored online, and submitting them for marking makes them available to the authorised marker. Product analytics are separate from saved attempts and do not include written response text.

Join your hospital and send a paper for marking

1. Create an email/password account and confirm your email, then sign in.
2. Open Hospital Groups to find a group and request membership. A group marker approves your request. You can belong to more than one hospital.
3. Complete and submit a paper, then choose Send for marking from My attempts or the submitted review screen.
4. Choose a hospital pool or an individual marker. External markers can be found by name; a direct request must be accepted before they can view your responses.
5. Return to My attempts for released feedback, annotations and marks. My progress brings together your results and topic-based practice suggestions.

Re-sending is available only before marking starts. Older archived attempts remain available to open through your account.

For markers: organise, mark and return

Choose Marker when creating your account, or change your user type in Account settings. Markers can also complete practice papers and view their own progress.

Request a hospital group for site-administrator approval, or join an existing group. Group administrators manage membership; the group message board and individual messages help coordinate teaching and feedback.

Use Create a Mock Exam to choose a past paper or select whole questions in the question browser. Review the mark allocations and publish to a hospital group you belong to. Candidates’ completed papers enter the hospital marking pool.

In Marking Queue, accept a direct request or pick up a hospital submission. The dedicated marking page has question and part navigation, fixed candidate responses, supplied answers, highlighting, cross-outs, inline comments and mark fields. Review the maximum marks, save your work, and select Release feedback when it is ready. Candidates cannot see draft feedback before release.

About the platform

FEx SAQ was created and developed by Dr Daryl Goh. It draws on mock SAQ papers that hospitals and health services have already produced and shared openly, and converts those Word or PDF documents into an interactive online examination. Trainees answer on screen in a format that mirrors the conditions of the real examination day, rather than working from a printed handout.

The platform is offered free of charge for educational purposes and is available for public use. It claims no intellectual property in the examination content itself; its contribution is the conversion software and the online examination environment in which the papers are delivered.

Objectives

• To give trainees a realistic online examination environment in which to practise with mock papers.
• To build and maintain a national mock examination catalogue through ongoing collaboration between sites.
• To make mock papers and their answer material easy for both trainees and markers to access.

Benefits for candidates

• Practice and timed papers: build understanding at your own pace or rehearse under timed conditions.
• Your answers across devices: sign in to save drafts and submitted attempts to your account. Resume from My attempts on another device once your work has synced.
• Feedback from your markers: share a submitted attempt with a hospital pool or an individual marker, then review their released marks and comments.
• Progress with direction: view study activity, marked results, topic performance and suggested questions for further practice. Topic suggestions depend on available question categories and released marks.
• Your hospital community: join groups, access planned mock exams, comment on group posts and message other members.
• Guest practice remains available: practise without an account, with responses saved locally. Print responses or marked feedback when you need a PDF.

Benefits for training sites, DEMTs and markers

• A shared hospital marking pool: coordinate submissions across multiple markers and pick up papers ready for feedback.
• A dedicated marking workspace: navigate by question and part, compare fixed candidate responses with supplied answers, highlight or cross out text, and add inline comments.
• Clear marks and feedback: enter scores and comments for each part, review the calculated total and release feedback when complete.
• Mock exams for your group: use existing papers or assemble a custom exam from the question browser, review allocations and distribute it to your hospital.
• Support across sites: belong to multiple groups, manage memberships where you are a group administrator, share updates and follow candidate activity.
• Keep practising yourself: marker accounts also include personal attempts and progress.

Original papers and supplied answers remain attributed to their authors and institutions. Account and marking features support teaching around these resources; they do not replace the supplied marking guidance or make a mock score an official examination result.

How your site can participate

• Direct your trainees to the platform to practise with the papers already in the catalogue.
• Contribute a mock SAQ paper written at your site, with any answer material, for conversion and hosting with full attribution.
• Create a marker account and request a hospital group, then invite trainees to request membership.
• Prepare a mock exam from existing papers or selected questions, distribute it to your group and return feedback through the marking platform.
• Provide feedback on the format, the question presentation or the marking output, so the platform continues to reflect what trainees and markers actually need.

If your department would like to use the platform, contribute a paper, or discuss how it might fit with your existing teaching program, Dr Goh would be glad to hear from you and to arrange a short demonstration for your team.

About the developer

I am Dr Daryl Goh, a FACEM who fellowed in 2026. I work as an emergency physician, and I have a longstanding interest in medical education and in finding practical ways to improve the learning experience of junior doctors.

Having recently studied for and sat the ACEM Fellowship Examination, I was struck by the time and effort that hospital sites and health services across the country put into writing and sharing mock written papers. I also noticed two gaps: the formatting of those papers varies considerably between sites, and there was no straightforward way to complete them online in a format resembling the ACEM examination. FEx SAQ was developed to address both, so that trainees can practise in conditions closer to the real examination.

I want to restate that I hold no intellectual property in the examination papers themselves and will clearly attribute the source of every paper. I intend the platform to remain a free resource, and I hope it encourages the continued collaboration of the dedicated teams around the country who produce these papers for our trainees.

Contact

FEx SAQ is an independent educational resource provided free of charge. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or approved by the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine.

Intellectual-property acknowledgement

• Original attribution: each paper remains attributed to the hospital, emergency department, health service or other institution identified in its paper metadata and source material.
• No ownership claim: Dr Daryl Goh and this platform do not claim ownership of the intellectual property contained within the original papers or supplied marking resources.
• Educational use: the platform is provided for non-commercial examination preparation and medical education. It is not an official ACEM product.
• Amendment, removal or addition: an author, department, hospital or health service may use the form below to request correction, amendment, attribution review or removal of a paper, or to submit a new paper for inclusion.