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Australia · Exam

ADC exam preparation: where to learn

The Australian Dental Council (ADC) tells candidates to treat its own handbooks and materials as the definitive source for exam preparation. They include a written exam practice paper built from retired questions, a resource list of journals and textbooks, and the marking rubrics for the practical exam. The ADC doesn’t recommend or endorse any commercial course, and it says paid courses run without its input. Build your ADC exam preparation on its material first, and treat anything else with care.

  • 40Clinical scenarios in the ADC practice paper
  • NonePrep courses the ADC endorses
  • Retired exam questionsWhere the practice paper comes from
Where to study

Updated October 2026 · Written from official sources, listed at the bottom of this page

Where should ADC exam preparation start?

The ADC’s Handbooks and Materials page holds everything below. In the order you’ll need it:

  1. Read the Written Examination Handbook for General Dentistry. Its blueprint shows the share of questions for each of the four clusters and 13 disciplines.
  2. Read the Professional competencies of the newly qualified dental practitioner. Both exams are built on them.
  3. Work through the ADC Written Examination Practice Paper. Scenarios 1 to 40 are the ones for general dentistry, and the answer keys are at the back.
  4. Use the ADC Examination resource list to choose journals and textbooks for the areas you need most.
  5. Once you pass the written exam, move to the practical handbook, the information package, the marking rubrics and the five-tips sheet.
How the ADC exam works →The ADC practical exam →

ADC exam study options compared

OptionPriceFree to useLinks
Official
ADC Written Examination Practice PaperOfficial · PDF downloadClinical scenarios built from questions retired from the Australian Dental Council (ADC) item bank, each with five multiple-choice questions, and answer keys at the back. Scenarios 1 to 40 are for general dentistry. The ADC bans adding answers or commentary to the questions and selling them.
No price listedOpen to download from the ADC’s Handbooks and Materials page, with no login
Practice paper (PDF) ↗
ADC handbooks for general dentistryOfficial · PDF downloadThe written handbook has the exam blueprint, timings and how grades work. The practical handbook has every technical task rubric, an example OSCE (Objective Structured Clinical Examination) scenario with its rubric, and the infection control rubric. The information package lists the equipment and materials supplied at the Melbourne centre.
No price listedOpen to download, with no login
Written handbook (PDF) ↗Practical handbook (PDF) ↗Information package (PDF) ↗
ADC Examination resource listOfficial · reading listJournals and textbooks grouped by area, from cariology onwards. The ADC calls it a starting point, not a complete list, because the exams draw on the same range of resources Australian dental students and practitioners use.
No price listed for the list; the books and journals on it are sold or subscribed to separatelyThe list itself, open to download
Resource list (PDF) ↗
ADC practical exam rubrics and feedback guidesOfficial · PDF downloadThe standard OSCE communication rubric, the anterior and posterior resin composite rubrics, a sample feedback report, the Understanding your results profile fact sheet and the five tips sheet, with the common mistakes the ADC sees.
No price listedOpen to download, with no login
Handbooks and materials ↗Sample feedback report (PDF) ↗
ADC Candidate ForumOfficial · live event and recorded videosThe 2026 forum was set for Tuesday 10 November 2026, 3:30 to 5:30 pm AEDT (Australian Eastern Daylight Time), with registration by 2 November 2026 through a link sent to candidates. Speakers cover topics from cultural safety to informed consent and day-to-day work as a dentist in Australia.
No fee to attendForum videos on the ADC’s YouTube channel
Candidate Forum videos ↗2026 forum notice ↗
Pearson VUE exam software tutorialOfficial exam partner · online demoThe ADC’s written handbook points to this demo of the software used for the written exam, so you can practise moving between questions before exam day. A tutorial also runs at your workstation at the start of each exam day.
FreeThe whole demonstration of the test software
Software demo ↗
Courses
Academically ADC Exam Preparation CourseOnline course with live classesIts page describes 14 weeks of sessions, 100 hours of live online training with recordings, handouts, mock tests and one-on-one feedback. It’s a commercial course run without ADC input, and the ADC doesn’t recommend or endorse any preparation course.
Not shown on its course pageA free artificial intelligence (AI) mock test, offered on the course page
Course page ↗

Prices and ratings checked October 2026.

What the ADC says about paid coaching and courses

The ADC’s July 2025 notice on commercial preparation providers says it knows of providers that:

  • make extravagant claims about their candidates’ success rates
  • may mislead candidates about their own professional credentials
  • may try to get information about the exam from candidates, sometimes offering incentives

It says these courses are often very expensive and that, from the data it collects, they don’t give candidates any extra advantage in passing. Sharing exam content is misconduct, and the ADC can refer candidates who contribute to it to a Misconduct Panel.

In June 2026 it added a warning about social media profiles, podcasts and other content that claims to be from the ADC. The only authorised exam preparation materials, it says, are on its website, and you can contact it to check whether something is genuine.

Sample questions and mock exams for the written exam

The ADC publishes one practice paper for the written exam, and its handbooks include example questions too. The practice paper’s questions were retired from the ADC item bank and won’t be used in a future exam. It covers every profession the ADC assesses, so check the contents page for your scenarios.

The ADC owns the questions. It bans editing them, adding answers or commentary, and selling them, so a mock exam or past paper sold under its name isn’t official material. To get used to the screen, Pearson VUE has a free tutorial of its test software.

Books for the ADC exam

The ADC doesn’t name a single textbook. Its resource list says the exam draws on the same broad range of resources Australian dental students and practitioners use, so no narrow list of books is possible. It suggests current editions of the titles on the list, grouped by area, as a starting point, alongside six journals: the Australian Dental Journal, British Dental Journal, International Dental Journal, Journal of the American Dental Association, Journal of Dentistry and Operative Dentistry.

Preparing for the practical exam

The ADC publishes the rubrics its examiners use: the standard OSCE communication rubric, the resin composite restoration rubrics for anterior and posterior teeth, and the full set of technical task and infection control rubrics in the practical handbook. Its sample feedback report shows what a candidate who fails a task or station is told.

Its five tips for the practical exam list common mistakes, among them giving a rehearsed answer at a standard OSCE station, working on the wrong tooth or quadrant, and not taking breaks on the technical skills day.

Sources: ADC and 6 more. Checked October 2026.

Rules and fees can change, so check the official site before your test.

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