Pick the plan that matches the weeks you have, not the weeks you wish you had: 8 weeks if your clinical knowledge is current and you can study about 15 hours a week, 12 weeks as the default, 16 weeks if you have been out of general practice or are working shifts. All three follow the same order: baseline, ten domains weighted by size and weakness, mixed timed blocks, full mocks at exam pace, taper. Pace target for the 150-item papers is 72 seconds an item; the SMLE is the same pace in blocks of 100.
Choose your length
Answer three questions honestly, then pick.
- When did you last work in general medicine? Within the past year points to 8 or 12 weeks. More than two years ago points to 16.
- How many hours can you protect each week? About 15 hours supports the 8-week plan. About 10 supports 12 weeks. About 6 to 8 supports 16 weeks.
- Which exam are you sitting? The plan is built for 150-item papers. If you are sitting the SMLE, read the SMLE adjustments at the end first.
Hours matter more than weeks. Eight weeks at 6 hours is 48 hours, the same as 3 weeks at 16. If your honest total is under 80 hours, choose a longer plan.
The weekly rhythm
All versions use the same week. Five study days, one mock-and-review day and one rest day.
| Block | What you do | Typical time |
|---|---|---|
| Read | One guideline summary or chapter for the day's topic, with the guideline name noted | 40 to 60 minutes |
| Practise | 20 to 40 original questions on that topic, untimed in early weeks | 30 to 50 minutes |
| Review | Read every explanation, including for questions you got right. Log the error type | 30 to 40 minutes |
| Mixed set | 20 questions from earlier domains, to stop forgetting | 20 minutes |
| Weekly mock | 50 mixed items timed at 72 seconds an item, then full review | 90 minutes |
The mixed set is not optional. A plan that moves straight from domain to domain with no spaced questions produces a candidate who knows the last two weeks well.
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The 8-week plan
| Week | Focus | Output |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baseline of 100 mixed items. Then cardio-respiratory and critical care | Error log started; weak list drawn up |
| 2 | Endocrine, renal and gastrointestinal | Diabetes, fluid and electrolyte rules written on one sheet |
| 3 | Infectious disease, haematology, rheumatology, neurology | Gulf infections and inherited blood disease covered |
| 4 | Obstetrics and gynaecology | Emergency pathways memorised: pre-eclampsia, PPH, ectopic |
| 5 | Paediatrics and neonatology | Immunisation logic, development, fluids and emergencies |
| 6 | Surgery, trauma, emergency and psychiatry | ABCDE and acute abdomen sequencing |
| 7 | Primary care specialties, preventive medicine, ethics and safety. First full mock | Timed pacing known; weak domains re-ranked |
| 8 | Two full mocks, weak-domain repair, rules and booking check. Taper in the last three days | Stable mock scores; logistics confirmed |
The 8-week plan has no slack. If you miss two days, drop the weakest-yield domain content (see high-yield topics) and keep the mocks.
The 12-week plan
| Week | Focus |
|---|---|
| 1 | Baseline of 100 mixed items. Set up the error log. Read the format rules for your regulator |
| 2 | Cardio-respiratory and critical care |
| 3 | Endocrine, renal, gastrointestinal and hepatology |
| 4 | Infectious disease, haematology, rheumatology, neurology and oncology |
| 5 | Obstetrics and gynaecology, part one: antenatal, complications, hypertension in pregnancy |
| 6 | Obstetrics and gynaecology, part two: bleeding, gynaecology, contraception, menopause. Add preventive medicine screening |
| 7 | Paediatrics and neonatology |
| 8 | Surgery, trauma and emergency medicine |
| 9 | Psychiatry and primary care specialties |
| 10 | Ethics, law and patient safety. Epidemiology and statistics. First full mock |
| 11 | Mixed timed blocks of 50, daily. Repair the three weakest domains. Second full mock |
| 12 | Third full mock at exam pace. Rules check. Taper |
The 16-week plan
This version doubles the weeks for the four largest areas and adds a reading layer: for each domain, read at least one guideline document in full rather than only a summary.
| Weeks | Focus | Extra |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baseline and set-up | Choose your regulator and read its rules |
| 2 to 3 | Cardio-respiratory and critical care | ESC and Surviving Sepsis headlines |
| 4 to 5 | Endocrine, renal, gastrointestinal | ADA, IDF-DAR 2021, KDIGO |
| 6 to 7 | Infectious disease, haematology, rheumatology, neurology | WHO MERS-CoV and brucellosis pages |
| 8 to 9 | Obstetrics and gynaecology | WHO pre-eclampsia and PPH recommendations |
| 10 to 11 | Paediatrics and neonatology | WHO diarrhoeal disease, immunisation schedule logic |
| 12 | Surgery, trauma and emergency | ATLS primary survey |
| 13 | Psychiatry and primary care specialties | Small-specialty recognition drills |
| 14 | Preventive medicine, epidemiology, ethics and safety | Statistics worked by hand |
| 15 | Mixed timed blocks. First two full mocks | Weak-domain repair |
| 16 | Third mock, rules check, taper | Logistics |
Where 100 hours go
If your honest total is about 100 study hours, here is a split that follows our bank weights. It is a starting allocation. Shift hours from strong domains to weak ones after your baseline.
| Item | Hours |
|---|---|
| Baseline, full mocks and their review | 20 |
| Cardio-respiratory and critical care | 7 |
| Endocrine, renal, gastrointestinal | 7 |
| Infectious disease, haematology, rheumatology, neurology | 7 |
| Obstetrics and gynaecology | 10.5 |
| Paediatrics and neonatology | 10.5 |
| Surgery, trauma and emergency | 10.5 |
| Psychiatry | 3.5 |
| Primary care specialties | 7 |
| Preventive medicine and public health | 3.5 |
| Ethics, law and safety | 3.5 |
| Weak-domain repair | 10 |
The domain hours are 70% of the total, divided by the bank weights. For the SMLE, move about five hours from the small domains into obstetrics and gynaecology and paediatrics.
A sample domain week: obstetrics and gynaecology
- Monday. Antenatal care, booking investigations and screening. Read, then 30 questions.
- Tuesday. Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and diabetes in pregnancy. The WHO thresholds on one sheet.
- Wednesday. Bleeding: early pregnancy loss, ectopic pregnancy, antepartum and postpartum haemorrhage.
- Thursday. Labour, induction, caesarean birth, preterm labour and PPROM.
- Friday. Gynaecology: abnormal uterine bleeding, PCOS, contraception, cervical screening, menopause.
- Saturday. 50 mixed items timed, then full review. Update the error log.
- Sunday. Rest, or a 30-minute review of the log if you are behind.
Every domain week follows this pattern: subtopics grouped by theme across five days, a timed mixed set on day six, and rest on day seven.
If you work shifts
Shift work breaks the weekly rhythm but not the logic. Anchor to blocks, not days: count 40-minute study blocks and aim for a weekly total. Do timed mocks on a day you are rested, never after a night shift, because tired practice teaches the wrong pace. Keep reading and question work separate. A short question set fits a break, but a guideline read does not. If you have to choose, protect the weekly mock and the error review.
How to review a question properly
Review is where most of the learning happens, and it is the part people shorten when they are short of time. For every wrong answer, write one line that says what the stem was really asking, one line on why the right answer wins, and one line on why your choice loses. For every right answer you guessed, do the same. After a week, group the lines by theme. Patterns appear quickly: a habit of picking the first investigation rather than the best one, or of ignoring the age in the stem. Fixing a habit is worth more than learning one more fact, because a habit repeats on twenty questions. Keep the lines short and the log in one place, so that you can read it all in half an hour in the final week.
What to track each week
- Total questions done and average score in mixed timed sets.
- Score by domain, updated weekly.
- Error types: knowledge, misread, time. The proportion of time errors should fall across the plan.
- Average seconds per item in mocks, against the 72-second target.
The last fortnight, in all versions
- Days 14 to 8. One full-length mock every three days at exam pace, each followed by a half-day of review. Do not open a new textbook.
- Days 7 to 4. Error-log revision only. Re-do every question you got wrong more than once.
- Days 3 to 2. Short mixed sets of 30. Re-read your one-page sheets for diabetes, electrolytes, obstetric emergencies and paediatric doses.
- Day 1. No new study. Check identity documents, route, arrival time and your rest.
SMLE adjustments
If you are sitting the SMLE, change three things. Practise in blocks of 100 timed at 120 minutes with a short break, because the real paper is two such blocks with 30 minutes between. Weight obstetrics and gynaecology and paediatrics up: the blueprint gives each 25%, against 15% each in our bank mix. And use the blueprint's mastery levels: topics marked level 3 deserve the first pass. See the SMLE guide and high-yield topics.
If you fall behind
Cut content before you cut practice. Drop the lowest-yield subtopics in each domain, keep the weekly mock, and push one domain to the last two weeks if you must. Never skip the error log. If you have lost more than ten days of a 12-week plan, move to the 16-week plan and rebook, rather than compressing. The cancellation terms are worth reading before you commit to a date.
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
How many weeks do I need for the Gulf GP exam?
Most candidates will choose 12 weeks at about 10 hours a week. Use 8 weeks only if your clinical knowledge is current and you can protect around 15 hours a week, and 16 weeks if you have been out of general practice or work shifts.
How many questions should I do each day?
Twenty to forty on the day's topic, plus a mixed set of twenty from earlier domains, with full review of every explanation. Quality of review matters more than the raw count.
When should I start timed practice?
From the first mixed block in week 3 or 4, at 72 seconds an item. Untimed practice is fine while you are learning a domain, but untimed practice for the whole course leaves you slow on the day.
Do I need different plans for DHA and for the SMLE?
The same domain order works, but the SMLE is 200 items in two blocks of 100, and its blueprint gives obstetrics and gynaecology and paediatrics 25% each. Adjust block length and domain weight as described above.
What should I do in the last week?
Re-do the questions you got wrong, rest, and confirm logistics. Do not open new sources. Stop heavy study the day before.
How many full mocks should I sit?
Two or three at exam pace, the last no later than about a week before the exam, each followed by a thorough review.
Should I study by regulator?
No. Study by domain, because the clinical core is shared. Add a short regulator-specific pass in the last two weeks for rules, booking and timing.
What if my mock scores keep dropping?
Check the cause before the content. Fatigue, rushing and misreading are common, and the fix is rest and pace, not more reading.