Investigators have exposed the litany of failures and blind faith that caused a disastrous IT meltdown halfway through a high-stakes medical exam.

An independent inquiry has shed light on the pandemonium that ensued when an “unknown technical fault” shut down the Royal Australian college of Physicians' (RACP) first attempt at a computer-based test.

Some of the registrars hit by the exam glitch. Credit:Wolter Peeters

The chaos on exam day in February 2018 left 1200 trainee doctors distraught, angry and confused after months of study, punishing hospital shifts on minimal sleep and personal sacrifice.

The meltdown was caused by a technical glitch with the computer-based exam timer that overrided a scheduled one-hour break halfway through the five-hour exam, according to the investigation report published last Friday on RACP’s member-only website.