Fellowship Examination SAQ

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 only, and you can pause and resume whenever you need to. The paper does not submit automatically.
• Timed paper mode: a 60, 120 or 180-minute countdown that mirrors the real examination. A timer pill in the top bar counts down, gives warnings as time runs low, and submits the paper automatically the moment time expires.
• Reading (perusal) time: in timed paper mode you can add 5 or 10 minutes of reading time before the countdown proper begins. During reading time the response fields are locked, so you can read the paper without writing, in the same way as perusal time on the real examination day.

Flagging questions vs reviewing questions

These are two different tools, and it helps to know which one to reach for.

• Flag: a temporary marker that applies to the current attempt only. Use the Flag button while sitting a paper to mark a question you want to return to before finishing. Flags are cleared automatically once the paper is submitted. The question navigator has a Flagged only filter so you can jump straight between flagged questions.
• Review later: a permanent marker, independent of any single attempt. Use the Review later (star) button on a question, either while sitting a paper or afterwards in the submitted-paper review, to add it to your personal Review questions list. This list is stored in this browser until you remove an item yourself, and it is kept separate from any one attempt, so it stays available after you submit and move on to other papers.

Submitting papers

When you are ready to finish, press Finish. You will be asked to confirm submission. Once you submit, the supplied model answers are revealed for the section you attempted, and your own responses remain saved alongside them for review. You can return to a submitted paper at any time from the Papers or Progress views, either to reread it or to start a new attempt.

Printing your responses

From the submitted-paper review, use the "Print responses / Save PDF" button. This produces a standardised, legible document containing your own responses alone, without the question stems or model answers, suitable for handing to a marker or saving as a PDF.

No accounts, and how this relates to your Progress page

FEx SAQ does not use accounts or logins. Your written responses, timings, flags, review list and completion history remain saved locally in your browser's storage on the device you are using. They are never uploaded to or shared with the platform. FEx SAQ records a small number of anonymous product events — such as opening the paper library, starting a paper, completing a question, reaching a practice milestone and submitting a paper — so the platform's use and usefulness can be evaluated. These events never contain your written responses or personal information. They carry a random identifier that is created in your browser and kept only on this device, so that returning visits can be counted without identifying you; clearing your browser's site data replaces it with a new one.

This is also why the Progress page shows only what has been saved on that particular computer, phone or tablet. If you switch to a different device or browser, or clear your browser's site data, you will not see the same progress, because there is no account tying it all together across devices. To keep working from a continuous history, use the same browser on the same device and avoid clearing its site data.

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 trainees

Trainees can work through any paper in the catalogue in either of two modes, and can move between papers without having to source and print documents themselves.

• Practice mode: work through a mock paper without time pressure, building technique and consolidating knowledge.
• Exam mode: sit the paper under simulated examination conditions, replicating the timing and format of the real written examination.
• Paper library: ready access to a growing catalogue of mock papers contributed by sites across Australia.
• Response printing: on completion, print your responses alone as a standardised, legible PDF for marking.
• Answer booklets: answer material supplied with each paper is hosted alongside it for ready access by markers.

Benefits for training sites, DEMTs and markers

• Consistent output for marking: trainee responses are printed alone in a standardised, clearly formatted PDF, removing the variability and legibility problems of handwritten or ad hoc submissions and making review substantially quicker.
• Answer material in one place: answer booklets supplied with each paper are hosted on the platform and available to markers at the time of review.
• Simulated conditions for your own trainees: sites that choose to contribute a paper can have their own trainees sit it under simulated examination conditions, with no additional preparation or printing required by the department.
• Shared value across sites: papers already written at your site reach trainees nationally, and your registrars gain access to papers written elsewhere.

Intellectual property remains entirely with the site or health service that authored each paper. The platform claims ownership only of the software that converts and presents the papers. Every paper is labelled with the year it was written and the site that produced it, all contributors are acknowledged on the Disclaimer page, and any paper can be withdrawn at any time on request.

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.
• Use the platform to run your own in-house mock examination under simulated conditions.
• 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.