What is the ADC exam?
It’s the Australian Dental Council’s assessment for dental practitioners trained overseas whose qualification isn’t approved for registration in Australia. The ADC does this for the Dental Board of Australia, and the Board has approved the format. It has three stages, done in order: an initial assessment of your qualification, a written exam that tests what you know, and a practical exam that tests what you can do. The ADC can’t grant exemptions from any part of it.
Do all overseas dentists need to sit the ADC exam?
No. The Dental Board of Australia lets four groups apply for registration without the ADC exams. The first is dentists registered in New Zealand, under Trans-Tasman mutual recognition. The second is holders of a qualification on the Board’s list of recognised dental practitioner qualifications, from named schools in the UK, Ireland and New Zealand. The third is holders of a Canadian Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) or Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD) in general dentistry, awarded after 31 March 2010 by a university accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation of Canada, who passed the National Dental Examining Board of Canada exam. The fourth is graduates of approved Australian programs. Dental specialists have a separate pathway with the Board. Everyone else whose qualification isn’t recognised takes the ADC route or completes an Australian qualification, and the Board says some may be eligible for limited registration instead.
How hard is the ADC exam?
The ADC’s 2024/25 annual report gives the results for its 2024/25 financial year. Of 3,325 written exam candidates, 404 passed (12%), down from 41% the year before. Of 1,880 practical exam candidates, 205 passed (11%). The ADC doesn’t publish its cluster pass marks, and it doesn’t give you your own cluster scores.
Is there a limit on ADC exam attempts?
No. The ADC sets no limit on attempts at either the written or the practical exam, but each try is a new application and fee, and earlier attempts give you no credits. What limits you is time: your initial assessment and your written pass both have to stay valid, and you can’t sit the practical exam in two periods in a row.
How do I book the ADC written exam?
On 23 September 2026 the ADC announced a trial of a new booking order. You confirm in ADC Connect that you want to sit, choose a test centre on Pearson’s website, then go back to ADC Connect to pay. Your seat is held for two hours, and you can send the payment link to someone helping you pay. Book both days at the same centre, or the booking is cancelled. The ADC said it would make the change permanent if the trial goes well. Its written exam page and handbook describe the older order, where you paid first and booked a centre later.
What English test do overseas dentists need for registration?
English is checked when you apply to the Dental Board of Australia, not by the ADC, which asks for no English test at any stage. The Dental Board’s English language skills registration standard gives four pathways: combined education, school education, advanced education, and a test. The three education pathways rest on study taught and assessed in English in a recognised country. The test pathway accepts the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Academic, the Occupational English Test (OET), the Pearson Test of English (PTE) Academic, the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) iBT, and Cambridge C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency. The minimum scores changed for tests taken from 23 April 2026, and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) lists both sets by test date.
Do I need an ADC skills assessment for a visa?
Only if your visa asks for one; the Department of Home Affairs can tell you. If you’re going through the ADC exams, you no longer send skills documents at the start. Since 27 October 2025 the ADC asks for them after you pass the practical exam, and there’s no fee if you ask within 12 months. Dentists who can register without the exams, such as graduates of recognised UK, Irish, New Zealand or Canadian programs, apply for a skills assessment on its own. Home Affairs treats it as valid for three years.
Does the ADC assess dental hygienists, therapists and prosthetists?
Yes, through the same three stages with their own exams and handbooks. Dental hygienists and dental therapists need at least two years of full-time study, oral health therapists and combined hygienist/therapists three years, and dental prosthetists a three-year qualification. Their written exams run in Melbourne and six overseas hubs, and their practical exams in Melbourne. Dental assistants can only get a skills assessment, under a Designated Area Migration Agreement.
Australia · Exam