Only SCFHS tells you what is high yield: its SMLE blueprint marks topics with mastery levels 1 to 3, and level 3 is what to learn first. Qatar DHP gives item counts by area, with Medicine 47, Obstetrics and Gynaecology 36, Paediatrics 37 and Surgery 30 out of 150. Other regulators publish no weights, so for them "high yield" means common, guideline-based and safe to test. This page ranks topics on those grounds, adds the Gulf-specific items, and lists the numbers worth knowing cold.
How we decide what is high yield
Prep providers often call a topic "frequently tested" without a source. We use three tests instead. A topic is high yield if a regulator's blueprint marks it as core, if it is common in general practice across the region, and if its answer rests on a stable international guideline rather than a local rule that changes. The first test needs a published blueprint, so it applies cleanly only to the SMLE.
The second and third tests apply everywhere. They are why heart failure, asthma and diabetes outrank rare conditions, and why a topic whose answer depends on a local circular, such as emirate-specific vaccine ages, is a poor use of study time. We also do not state items we could not verify. The UAE national immunisation ages and screening start ages, for instance, are not in the sources we could retrieve, so use WHO schedule logic for immunisation and the guideline you are told to follow for screening.
Tier 1: SMLE mastery level 3 topics
The 2026 SMLE blueprint marks these as mastery level 3. They are the clearest high-yield list that exists, and they are good revision targets for any Gulf GP paper because they are common conditions.
| Area | Level 3 topics named in the blueprint |
|---|---|
| Cardiology and respiratory | Coronary artery disease, heart failure, asthma, COPD, pulmonary embolism, pneumonia, tuberculosis |
| Gastroenterology and renal | Peptic ulcer disease, inflammatory bowel disease, chronic viral hepatitis, hypo- and hypernatraemia, hypo- and hyperkalaemia |
| Endocrine and haematology | Thyroid disorders, diabetes diagnosis and acute complications, iron deficiency anaemia, thrombotic disorders, sickle cell disease |
| Rheumatology and neurology | Systemic lupus erythematosus, ischaemic stroke |
| Obstetrics and gynaecology | Pre-eclampsia, third-trimester bleeding, preterm labour and PPROM, postpartum haemorrhage, ectopic pregnancy, spontaneous abortion, abnormal uterine bleeding |
| Paediatrics | Gastroenteritis, febrile seizures, bronchiolitis, urinary tract infection, rickets, immunisation, development, congenital heart disease, croup, cystic fibrosis, nephrotic syndrome, hypoglycaemia, haemoglobinopathies |
| Surgery | Trauma and ATLS topics, bowel obstruction, appendicitis, biliary disease, hernias, burns, compartment syndrome, diabetic foot, necrotising fasciitis |
| Ethics and safety | Breaking bad news, patient privacy, confidentiality, conflict of interest, sick leave, research ethics, social media practice |
The blueprint also assigns lower levels to some Gulf-flavoured topics: brucellosis (level 1 for adults, 2 for children), MERS-CoV and COVID-19 (1 for adults, 2 for children), rheumatic heart disease (2), travel health (2) and death certification (1). Lower levels mean less depth, not absence.
Tier 2: the Gulf-specific items
These are legitimate stem contexts in the region and the easiest place to lose marks if you trained elsewhere. We have kept to facts from WHO and the named guideline bodies.
MERS-CoV
Dromedary camels are the primary reservoir. Humans are infected by direct contact with dromedaries or raw camel products. Human-to-human spread is mostly in households and health-care settings. WHO reports about 37% of reported cases died, a figure it says is probably overestimated, and more than 2,600 laboratory-confirmed cases, about 84% from the Arabian Peninsula and most from Saudi Arabia. Risk factors for severe disease are age over 65, immunosuppression, renal disease, cancer, chronic lung disease, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. There is no licensed vaccine or specific treatment, care is supportive, and cases are reported to WHO under the International Health Regulations.
Brucellosis
Infection comes from unpasteurised milk or cheese from infected goats or sheep, or contact with animal blood, placenta or uterine secretions. Human-to-human spread is very rare. Incubation is from one week to two months, usually two to four weeks. Presentation is fever, weakness, malaise and weight loss, and may be atypical. WHO lists doxycycline 100 mg twice daily for 45 days plus either streptomycin 1 g daily for 15 days or rifampicin 15 mg/kg/day (600 to 900 mg) for 45 days. Complications worth knowing are sacroiliitis or spondylitis, epididymo-orchitis, endocarditis and neurobrucellosis.
Diabetes and Ramadan
The IDF and DAR International Alliance guidance of 2021 groups people into risk categories, and the very high risk group is advised not to fast. Structured education and assessment are advised about 6 to 8 weeks before Ramadan. Break the fast for glucose below 3.9 mmol/L, symptomatic hypoglycaemia, or glucose above 16.7 mmol/L. Metformin usually needs no dose change and is taken with iftar. Prefer second-generation sulfonylureas, taken at iftar, and avoid glibenclamide. SGLT2 inhibitors are continued but should not be started just before Ramadan, because of volume depletion and euglycaemic ketoacidosis risk. Basal insulin is taken at iftar with a dose reduction of 15 to 30% in type 2 diabetes. See the endocrine domain for revision method.
Inherited blood disease and G6PD
Beta-thalassaemia trait gives microcytic hypochromic indices with a normal or raised red-cell count, a Mentzer index below 13 and raised HbA2, with normal ferritin, so iron is not given without iron deficiency. When both parents are carriers, each pregnancy carries a 25% risk of thalassaemia major. For sickle cell disease, the stems test dehydration and hypoxia avoidance, prompt strong analgesia in a vaso-occlusive crisis, penicillin prophylaxis in childhood and vaccination. G6PD deficiency is X-linked; triggers include primaquine, dapsone, rasburicase, high-dose sulfonamides, nitrofurantoin, methylene blue and fava beans, and neonatal jaundice is a classic presentation. Do not rely on prevalence figures. We did not retrieve current ones and they are not needed to answer the stems.
Rickets, vitamin D and heat
Rickets in children follows low sun exposure, covering clothing, exclusive breast-feeding without a vitamin D supplement and dark skin, with low calcium or phosphate, raised alkaline phosphatase and bowed legs. For vitamin D, name the guideline: the Endocrine Society's 2011 treatment guideline defined deficiency as below 20 ng/mL (50 nmol/L), and its 2024 guideline advises against routine testing in healthy populations. For heat, heat stroke is a core temperature above 40 degrees Celsius with central nervous system dysfunction, treated with immediate cooling, airway-breathing-circulation support and intravenous fluids. Heat exhaustion has normal mentation. Antipyretics do not work.
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Tier 3: numbers to know cold
These are the thresholds and doses that appear again and again in guideline-based items. Each is tied to a guideline family. Where a guideline has changed, the item should name the version, and you should too.
| Topic | Fact | Guideline |
|---|---|---|
| Diabetes diagnosis | Fasting glucose 7.0 mmol/L or more; 2-hour OGTT 11.1 mmol/L or more; HbA1c 6.5% (48 mmol/mol) or more | ADA |
| Gestational diabetes | 75 g OGTT: fasting 5.1 to 6.9, 1 hour 10.0 or more, 2 hour 8.5 to 11.0 mmol/L | WHO 2013 |
| Hypertension | Office BP 140/90 mmHg or more; severe 180/120 or more. State the guideline in the stem | ESC/ESH |
| Pre-eclampsia | Severe features include BP 160/110 or more. Magnesium sulphate 4 g IV loading, then 1 g/h, monitoring reflexes, respiratory rate and urine output | WHO |
| Postpartum haemorrhage | 500 mL or more within 24 hours. Oxytocin 10 IU first line. Tranexamic acid 1 g IV within 3 hours | WHO |
| Anaphylaxis | Adrenaline IM 500 micrograms for adults and over 12 years; 300 micrograms for 6 to 12 years; 150 micrograms for 6 months to 6 years; repeat at 5 minutes | Resuscitation Council UK |
| Sepsis | Antimicrobials within 1 hour in septic shock; 30 mL/kg crystalloid in the first 3 hours for hypoperfusion; noradrenaline first line; MAP target 65 mmHg | Surviving Sepsis 2021 |
| Hyperkalaemia with ECG changes | Calcium gluconate 10% 30 mL over 10 minutes, insulin 10 units with 25 g glucose, nebulised salbutamol 10 to 20 mg | UK Kidney Association |
| DKA | Fixed-rate insulin 0.1 unit/kg/h; add 10% dextrose when glucose falls below 14.0 mmol/L; potassium replaced by level | JBDS |
| Acute coronary syndrome | Aspirin 300 mg load; primary PCI within 120 minutes in STEMI, fibrinolysis if not achievable in time | ESC |
| Ischaemic stroke | IV thrombolysis within 4.5 hours; thrombectomy for large-vessel occlusion within 6 hours, up to 24 with imaging selection | AHA/ASA |
| Atrial fibrillation | ESC 2024 uses CHA2DS2-VA; anticoagulate at 2 or more, consider at 1; DOACs preferred except mechanical valves and moderate to severe mitral stenosis | ESC 2024 |
| Kawasaki disease | Fever 5 days or more with at least 4 of 5 features; IVIG 2 g/kg plus aspirin; coronary aneurysm is the key complication | AHA |
| Croup | Dexamethasone 0.15 mg/kg orally once; nebulised adrenaline when severe | NICE CKS |
| Gastroenteritis | Oral rehydration first line; zinc 20 mg daily for 10 to 14 days over 6 months old (10 mg under 6 months) | WHO |
| Tuberculosis | 2 months HRZE then 4 months HR for drug-susceptible disease; pyridoxine with isoniazid in risk groups | WHO |
| Cervical screening | HPV DNA testing from age 30 at 5 to 10-year intervals; from 25 in women living with HIV | WHO |
| Lithium | Therapeutic range 0.4 to 1.0 mmol/L at 12 hours; avoid NSAIDs, ACE inhibitors, thiazides | NICE |
Tier 4: ethics items that are safe to learn
Principles that hold in every jurisdiction in the region are safe to prepare: capacity-based informed consent, confidentiality with limited statutory exceptions, honest disclosure of errors, duty to report notifiable disease and suspected abuse where local rules require it, and no certification of illness without examination. The SMLE adds sick leave, social media practice and conflict of interest at level 3. Do not memorise article numbers from the UAE medical liability law. We verified the law's number, date and the existence of one amendment, not its article-level content.
How to use this list
- Do Tier 1 first in the domain weeks of your study plan.
- Add Tier 2 in the domain where it belongs: Ramadan in endocrine, MERS and brucellosis in infectious disease, G6PD and thalassaemia in haematology and paediatrics.
- Put Tier 3 on one sheet and review it daily for five minutes in the last month.
- Test yourself with the domain pages in the links above each week.
Sit a timed Gulf GP Exam mock exam
Blueprint-weighted questions under exam timing, then a breakdown of your result by domain.
Frequently asked questions
What are the most tested topics on the Gulf GP exam?
No regulator publishes frequency data, so nobody can say with authority. The best evidence is the SMLE blueprint's mastery level 3 list and Qatar DHP's item counts by area. Common conditions with stable guideline answers are the safest focus.
Is MERS-CoV likely to appear?
The SMLE blueprint includes MERS-CoV and COVID-19 at a low mastery level for adults and a higher one for children. It is worth a short, accurate revision on reservoir, transmission, risk factors and the absence of specific treatment.
Do I need to know brucellosis treatment doses?
The blueprint rates brucellosis lightly, but WHO regimens are stable and easy to learn: doxycycline for 45 days plus streptomycin or rifampicin. Learn the regimen, the transmission route and the main complications.
How much of the exam is Ramadan and diabetes?
Not published. Ramadan fasting is a legitimate stem context, so learn the risk categories and the main medication adjustments from the IDF-DAR 2021 guidance.
Are UAE vaccine and screening ages tested?
We could not verify national ages from sources we could retrieve, so we do not teach them as facts. Use WHO schedule logic for immunisation and the guideline named in the stem for screening.
Which guideline wins if two disagree?
The one the stem implies. Use local regulator rules for licensing and law, WHO for public health, specialty guidelines for clinical management, and NICE or the BNF as the tie-breaker for UK-style prescribing.
Should I learn drug brand names?
No. Use international non-proprietary names, such as paracetamol, adrenaline and salbutamol.
Do I need to memorise the table of numbers?
You need the ones in your own weak domains. The table lists the most commonly needed thresholds, but confirm each against its guideline before relying on it.