nikopol

Yeah I got it sent to be via my agent the day I applied.

I got mine. I'll check my emails when I get back home to be 100% sure.

I second that. The UK police check is very rapid at the minute. I guess it may change at certain times of year.

I'm also in West Sydney - I already had family here so it was a no brainer but I think you could argue quite convincingly against Sydney based on the house prices around here. I've had friends seriously looking at going to Melbourne or Adelaide mostly due to that (but also due to other complex taxation differences for healthcare professionals). I love being close to the Blue Mountains and not too far from a major city - but that's just me.

It may be worth while seeing your gp before the exam as if the bp is very high and uncontrolled (i.e. unmedicated) that will cause a concern at the medical. Your far better having normal bp on the day and admitting to using one regular med than coming in with a bp of 180/110 that hasn't been cared for. That said I have a friend get residency with severe arthritis requiring daily injections and that went fine.

I did the police checks - I got the medicals just a few weeks back when AHPRA (the people I was dependent on to validate my medical credentials) finally looked about to get their act together as the medical/CXR/Hep BC/HIV are only valid for a year. Congrats to all on getting your positive responses. Fingers crossed this will be smooth ride (After AHPRA, I think it can only get better).

Got one too. Applying now.

There's also a 2 year limit on the IELTS score at point of application IIRC

yep - that's nice. I hope never to see that kind of stuff again. Is that spreadsheet run by the forums?

It depends if you opt for the super-fast one (which is a bit more expensive) or the normal speed one. I've used both and they were rapid turnarounds - "slow" one was in oz 14 days after I posted it so not too shabby at all.

Thanks for the input. I have an agent acting for me so hopefully they did the maths right. That said, I'm probably better off with a solid 70 rather than an iffy 75 (though I've got enough evidence to back it up). Fingers crossed.

I actually just recalculated my points and looks like I get to 75? Have they changed it recently as I was sure it was 70 last time I checked. It seems to break down as age - 25 (for another year only!) English - 20 (for an acceptable IELTS score) thanks to working in Oz for the last year and 3 years in my profession in the UK: 10 (5+5) PhD and 2 degrees in the very distant past: 20 = 75. or did I miss something there?

And yes - do pester them. They are freaking useless at times. I emailed my person (for my transition from general registration) thrice asking them if they need anything more for my application. No answer - no out of office reply - nada - zip. I stay patient for a week after my third email and then call up. Nice (but very junior) person whom I have to explain the complexities of my application (they've recently removed my limited registration status and all links and forms for it on their website meaning that they can't remember how to deal with them). Solution to not hearing from him: send him another email. I politely but firmly at that point asked how it would be any different this time around. I was then passed on to my man's supervisor who accepted that he should be answering emails (good!) but he hadn't been and my file had just been gathering dust for the last month or so. Cue promises from them to deal with the next stage immediately (which they did) and my file was sent to the AMC pronto. Then when I had to add the AMC letter to my application, I was told by the person who was asleep on my file for a month, that my supervisor's report was quite some time in the past (now 3 months due to them doing nothing with my file!) so I may need a new one. I don't tend to lose the plot and once again failed to stand up for myself, smiled, said that's fine and walked away. Thankfully they didn't request it and then let me sail through with no further issues.

My CV is a doctor's one if that's of any use? I can PM it to anyone who needs to peruse it (it wasn't rejected by them - but that doesn't say much).

There's some nude photos spam on that spreadsheet - _not_ family friendly at all.

I'd tend to agree that the amount of tattoos on display are similar to the UK (I work in ED so I see a fair amount of them from fresh to sundamaged and rather blurry). There's plenty of nurses with neck tattoos and a few sleeves which makes me think that it is again at a similar level to the UK if not more relaxed in the acceptance level. (Doctors generally never have visible tattoos - not sure why but that's the unwritten rule). Anyway, healthcare doesn't seem to make it taboo. I do wonder if hand and neck tattoos may be pushing some employers acceptance limit but with every rejection, you'll probably get another one who will remember you from the interview because of it...

I lodged my EOI today and had 70 points and I lost a fair amount on not being a whippersnapper so 75 sounds more than feasible. I was told invitations will be issued on Friday 19th December.

No worries! I just though of some further stuff I did. One thing I'd consider doing is thinking of topics and jotting down a set of points that you'd make. It doesn't really take long but it's a good exercise to make sure you can do it on the day. So for example off the top of my head: Globalisation: has it got more positives than cons? Immigration: same foreign travel: same people living for longer: curse or panacea? governmental subsidies for cultural activities: waste of money? etc etc I found that forcing myself to spend 5 minutes planning out what I'd write was not exactly easy but with some rigor I think I was better prepared for the day. Another thing to bear in mind is the length of time you have to write the essay and the expected length. Getting used to the timing of it is essential and on the day, it will all feel quite different and more compressed time wise. The initial idea blitz is a crucial skill to hone but the timing and length of essay is equally so.

I sat it late June and found that probably the most taxing part was the written test if you're a native speaker (as I am supposed to be - I was brought up in France by British parents meaning that for the Australian Medical Council I had to sit the IELTS exam). The oral part was quite straight forward and I don't think I particularly did very good answers but remained fluent throughout and managed to crack a few wry comments. (IIRC the theme was about national holidays in your own country - I discussed the issues of blind nationalism, the fact that it does have good community building elements to it but that younger people probably don't find it too relevant and prefer online hangouts). The written gives you enough time to plan a little so I'd spend a few mins jotting down the points you want to make (pros and cons if that's the overall question being asked) and have a simple but clear structure in paragraphs. This is where my French education kicked in - every essay needs an introduction where you set out the problem and explicitly tell the reader you'll be first exploring the arguments against/for then the arguments for/against (the last part should always be the side you are arguing in favour of). Then a short synthesis and a conclusion.The description of the graphs (I was doing academic) was actually slightly trickier and I felt required more planning to make sure you don't miss any comparison (I think it was part one of the written part). So all in all, I think if you're a native speaker the real banana skin in the written part - it doesn't matter how grammatical your English is, if you head down the wrong alley answering the question incorrectly, you'll struggle to get a good score on it. FWIW, I got 9.0 in all sections though I think I was slightly lucky on some on the listening and written answers as some were delightfully difficult to answer and if you thought too much about it you could make yourself believe that two of the answers were equally valid and depended slightly on your point of view (not on your understanding of the English language).