Updates to ADC written examination dental hygiene and/or dental therapy

The Australian Dental Council (ADC) is excited to announce the release of the revised written examination for dental hygiene and/or dental therapy. The updated examination format brings the examination in line with all other dental professions assessed by the ADC and will take effect from March 2026.

Key changes include:

Reduced number of questions

Removal of standalone multiple-choice questions

ADC written examinations will now only contain scenario-based multiple choice questions and will no longer have the standalone item type

(multiple choice questions without an overarching clinical vignette).

Examples of scenario based MCQ’s can be found via the ADC written examination practice paper on the ADC website.

Revised examination blueprints

Examination blueprints play a critical role in guiding the ADC to develop balanced examinations, by ensuring fair sampling of content across

the various disciplines of dentistry. They also help candidates to gain a better understanding of the weighting of content to be assessed in each examination.

Previous disciplines and domains have now been recategorized and the target distribution of questions can be seen reflected in the updated blueprints.

Every item in the written examination is attributed to a single domain and discipline. Some items also are attributed a subdiscipline (i.e. implants, pharmacology, radiology) which may traverse all disciplines.

Changes to passing requirements

Candidates will progress from needing to pass individual examination papers, to needing to pass each cluster of competency.

The clusters of competency (as shown in the examination blueprint) include:

• Cluster 1: Social Responsibility, Professionalism, Health Promotion
• Cluster 2: Clinical information gathering
• Cluster 3: Diagnosis and management planning
• Cluster 4: Clinical treatment and evaluation

While a grade will still be provided for each assessment cluster, the new grades will give candidates further insight into their performance relative to

the passing standard (set using a Modified Angoff standard setting method, to the level of a minimally competent new dental graduate).

For further information on the ADC written examination dental hygiene and dental therapy please visit the resources section of the ADC website.