Short answer: DHA's guideline lists General Practice as 150 multiple-choice questions in 3 hours, including registration time, with a 60 percent pass score. Consultant titles differ: Family Medicine consultant is 100 questions at 70 percent. DHA can change these, so confirm yours. Primary care questions are broad, so revise across subjects.
What DHA says about the GP paper
DHA's CBT guideline (September 2026) lists General Practice as 150 multiple-choice questions in 3 hours at a 60 percent pass score, delivered by Prometric. It does not say single best answer or how many options there are. Its outline has twelve areas and no weights. DHA can change these without updating the document, so read it for your title.
Specialist and consultant papers differ. Family Medicine as a specialist is 150 questions at 60 percent, and as a consultant it is 100 questions at 70 percent, so do not assume the GP figures apply to you.
The DHA exam for GPs and family medicine doctors: who sits it
Whether you must sit a DHA exam depends on your category, qualifications and experience. We cannot decide that for you. Use the eligibility checker as a first screen only, then confirm with DHA in writing.
Topics that deserve time
Primary care is broad, so the paper rewards breadth. DHA's twelve General Practice areas include chronic diseases, common acute problems, women's health, psychiatry, eye and ENT, dermatology, epidemiology, family medicine concepts and screening. This list is a Meddex study map, not DHA's.
- Common acute illness in adults and children, and when to refer.
- Long-term conditions: diabetes, hypertension, asthma, COPD, heart failure and kidney disease.
- Women’s health: contraception, antenatal care and common gynaecology.
- Mental health: depression, anxiety, psychosis and substance use.
- Prevention: screening, immunisation and risk factors.
- Safe prescribing and interactions.
How family medicine questions are built
Expect a short consultation, a result or two, and a question about the next step, the likely diagnosis or the safest advice. Many ask what you do first, or when you refer or admit. Look for the red flag: a fever in a baby, new neurology, weight loss, suicidal thoughts. The safe answer usually responds to it.
Example, invented for teaching. A woman of 28 asks for a repeat prescription of a medicine that is unsafe in pregnancy and says she may be pregnant. The deciding detail is possible pregnancy, so the next step is a pregnancy test before prescribing.
Close the hospital gap
GPs and family doctors often feel strong on common problems and less sure on hospital medicine, surgery and obstetric emergencies. Take a mixed baseline and spend your weak hours there. Our maternal and child health guide and the sepsis guide are good places to start.
A simple plan
Many candidates plan eight to twelve weeks around work, though no length is guaranteed to suit you. See how long to prepare. Use weekly timed sets and an error log, and read the DHA exam for doctors overview for the process.
Safety questions in primary care
Safe prescribing runs through every subject, and primary care questions often hide it in the history. Look for kidney function, pregnancy, breastfeeding, older age, allergy and other medicines. One of these usually rules out the option that looks most familiar.
Practise a short check before you pick an answer: who is this patient, what could make the usual choice unsafe, and what would you do if you could not review them for a month. The last question helps with follow-up and safety-netting items, where the best answer names what the patient should watch for and when to return. Read the medication safety guide for the shared principles.
Pace and practice
On 150 questions in 3 hours you have at most 72 seconds for each one, and DHA says the time includes registration and the introduction. Consultation-style vignettes are often short, so you can bank time on easy items and spend it on the long ones. Do not stay on one question for more than two minutes. Flag it, make your best choice and move on.
Build pace with timed sets of 50 in about an hour once a week. Afterwards, sort your errors into knowledge gaps, misread lead-ins and rushed choices, and fix the largest group first. See time management for the exam for checkpoints you can copy.
What to confirm before you book
Before you pay for any course or book a slot, check three things with DHA: your exact title, whether an exam applies to you, and the current format for that title. Keep the reply and its date. Rules and formats change, and an old forum post is not evidence.
Then check the Prometric candidate pages for identification and test centre rules. Meddex is independent and not connected to either body, so treat our pages as preparation help and the official pages as the final word.
Related guide
If you trained in India, see DHA licence for Indian doctors: DHA exam or EMREE?.
Frequently asked questions
This article is general educational guidance, not official advice. Exam rules, fees and timelines are set by the Dubai Health Authority and the test provider and can change, so always confirm the latest details on their official channels.
Last updated .