Core Revision
How much does the AKT cost?
Dr Victoria HammondCo-Founder & Lead for Educational Design · 4 min read
Written August 2026
The AKT examination fee is £481 for sittings up to November 2026, rising to £494 for sittings from January 2027. You no longer have to pay it in one go — the RCGP offers an optional staged payment schedule, and knowing how the refund points work is worth real money if your plans change.
The fee is set by the RCGP and reviewed periodically, so check the current figure before budgeting. Everything below was accurate at the time of writing.
How the staged payments work
If you choose staged payments, the fee is split into three — and, on the RCGP’s current page, every stage stays refundable until the final booking deadline.
On the RCGP’s current page the whole fee stays refundable until the final booking deadline, which falls roughly eight weeks before the exam. If you are unsure whether you will be ready, booking early costs you nothing but the deposit — and you can cancel or transfer without charge right up to that deadline.
Before you spend on anything else, try twenty questions free.
Twenty original AKT questions in the exam's 80/10/10 split: sixteen clinical, two on evidence-based practice and two on organisation and management, with the reasoning after every one and a marked report. Free, no card and the first five are open to all.
The costs people forget
The examination fee is not the whole number. Depending on where you live and how you revise, budget for some of the following.
- Travel to a Pearson test centre. If you do not book your centre inside the booking window, you are allocated the nearest available one — which can mean a longer journey and, for some, a night away.
- Question banks and revision resources. Widely variable. Some are subscriptions that renew whether or not you are still revising.
- A resit. The full fee again. This is the strongest financial argument for sitting when you are ready rather than when the calendar suggests it.
- Study leave and locum cover, depending on your post and deanery.
Can you get help with the cost?
If you are a resident doctor working in England, a national scheme — agreed in the Government’s June 2026 offer to resident doctors and set out in detail by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges in September 2026 — reimburses the fees for the first two sittings you pay for, for exams taken after 1 April 2026. The AKT is required for your CCT, so it is in scope, and the claims system is due to go live shortly. Outside England, check locally: study leave budgets often exclude exam fees. Ask your training programme administrator early rather than assuming either way — the answer differs more than most people expect.
Whether any tax relief applies depends on your individual position, so check HMRC guidance or ask an accountant rather than taking a colleague’s word for it.
- Cancelling without charge is possible until the final booking deadline — after that, the fee is not normally refundable.
- Your booking is not secured until payment is complete, however early you started the process.
- Booking a Pearson seat is a separate step and does not cost extra, but missing it can cost you in travel.
Book early and pay the deposit. It holds your place, it is refundable until the final booking deadline, and it makes the decision about readiness a separate one from the decision about availability.
— Dr Victoria Hammond, Co-Founder & Lead for Educational Design
In short
- £481 for the AKT up to the November 2026 sittings and £494 from January 2027, with an optional three-stage payment plan.
- On the RCGP’s current page every stage is refundable until the final booking deadline.
- Nothing is normally refundable once that deadline passes.
- Budget for travel, resources and the possibility of a resit — and ask about study leave funding early.
Written by practising UK GPs — Dr Victoria Hammond and Dr David Palethorpe. Education only — always confirm against current guidance. Core Revision is an independent revision resource.