Core Revision
12 weeks to the DOccMed MCQ: preparing alongside a full-time job
David4 min read
Written October 2026
The DOccMed written paper is typically 80 best-fit questions in 1 hour 45 minutes, sat online on a Monday afternoon twice a year: 10 May and 8 November 2027. Almost everyone sitting it is working full time, usually in general practice, and usually with the approved course and the portfolio competing for the same evenings. This twelve-week plan assumes five to seven hours a week, works back from the May paper, and treats the portfolio as a parallel project rather than something to do afterwards. Format and dates are as published on fom.ac.uk and in the Faculty’s regulations on 11 October 2026.
Know what the paper rewards before you start
The Faculty’s regulations describe the MCQ as testing factual knowledge at a generalist standard. Items are single statements or stems with up to five statements; you choose the best possible fit, one answer per statement; there is no negative marking; and at least 50 of the responses are scored, with unscored trial questions that can appear anywhere. Eighty items in 105 minutes is about 79 seconds each. Two things follow for revision. Exact facts matter more than in most postgraduate papers (limits, time periods, who is responsible for what), so learn them from the primary source rather than a summary. And speed matters, so practise in the real format from week one, not week eleven. Ten worked best-fit examples show the style.
Where the weeks fall
Counting back from Monday 10 May 2027, week one begins on Monday 15 February. The Faculty had not published the 2027 registration windows when we checked; on the 2026 pattern, registration closed about eight weeks before the paper, which would put the May deadline around the middle of March, in week four or five. If you are sitting the oral at the same sitting, your portfolio is uploaded with that application and cannot be changed afterwards, so the portfolio deadline is the registration deadline, not the oral date. Check the Faculty’s DOccMed page for the actual window before you rely on any of this.
| Week | Modules | What to actually do |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (from 15 Feb) | Principles of Occupational Health & the OH Consultation; Law, Ethics & Regulation | The framework first: what OH is for, who advises and who decides, consent and confidentiality, and the legislation the whole syllabus hangs on. Short to learn, heavily examined |
| 2 | Fitness for Work & Pre-placement Assessment | New module. Five-minute recall bursts on week one. Confirm your course certificate is in hand or on its way |
| 3 | Sickness Absence, Rehabilitation & Return to Work | New module. Check the registration window; if the portfolio is going in with this application, it needs finishing now |
| 4 | Health Surveillance, Risk Assessment & Health Promotion | The module that overlaps most with the workplace report. Register for the paper as soon as the window opens; places are limited and allocated in order of application |
| 5 | Physical Hazards: noise, vibration, thermal, radiation | New territory for most GPs. Learn the numbers from the regulations and HSE guidance, not from memory of the course slides |
| 6 | Chemical Hazards, COSHH & Toxicology | Same approach. First mixed timed set: 40 questions in about 52 minutes across weeks one to six |
| 7 | Biological Hazards & Occupational Infections; Occupational Lung Disease | Two modules; both lean on vaccination schedules, surveillance and reporting rules that reward exact recall |
| 8 | Occupational Skin Disease; Musculoskeletal Disorders & Ergonomics; Mental Health, Stress & Psychosocial Factors | Three modules a GP already half knows from clinic; the OH angle (causation, adjustments, surveillance) is what is examined |
| 9 | Second pass: the clinical and legal half | No reading. Untimed drills and recall on weeks one to four; note every module where accuracy is under about 70% |
| 10 | Second pass: the hazards half | Weeks five to eight by recall. These are the modules GPs meet least in practice, so give them the longer weekend session |
| 11 | Full papers | Two timed 80-question papers at 105 minutes on different days, plus the Faculty’s own example questions. Review every item for the reason, not just the answer |
| 12 | Consolidation and admin | Follow the TestReach instructions the Faculty sends, on the computer you will use. Recall on your three weakest modules. The regulations say failing to log in on time may void the attempt without refund, so plan Monday 10 May around the paper, not the other way round |
Sitting the DOccMed? Try ten questions free.
The DOccMed Question Bank has 1,000 questions across twelve modules, with module drills, a timed mock and the portfolio and viva guide. It is £49.99 for 12 months. Try ten questions first, free and with no sign-up.
What a realistic week looks like
Four weekday sessions of 45 to 60 minutes and one weekend session of two to three hours. In weeks one to eight, spend about half of each session reading and half on questions; from week nine, all questions and recall. On the weeks when the day job wins, ten minutes with the DOccMed Core 10 keeps the spacing intact. Protect the weekend session above everything else.
The portfolio runs alongside, not afterwards
The commonest way to miss a sitting is to finish the course, start revising for the paper and discover in week three that the workplace visit has not happened. The portfolio is two reports, a workplace assessment and a clinical case, 1,500 to 2,000 words on the Faculty’s current template, and the workplace report needs a real visit, a cooperative manager and time to write up. Book the visit during or straight after the course, write the first draft before this plan starts, and use weeks one to three for the final version if it is going in with the May application. The portfolio template, section by section has the marks and a word budget. If you would rather sit the MCQ in May and the oral in November, the regulations allow the two parts to be taken separately, which buys the portfolio six months.
Where GPs tend to drift
Towards the clinical modules, which feel like clinic, and away from occupational hygiene, toxicology, physical agents and health and safety legislation, which do not. The paper is a generalist standard across the whole syllabus, so the drift costs marks precisely where a GP’s day job gives no help. Weeks five, six and ten exist to correct for it. The other drift is towards sources that are out of date: several areas of the syllabus changed in 2026, and what changed for 2026–27 lists the ones to check.
How this fits the platform
The DOccMed question bank is 1,000 best-fit questions across the same twelve modules, with three fixed 80-question papers and a random timed mock in the published format, and accuracy tracked by module so weeks nine and ten go where they are needed. The Core Calendar lays this plan over your real study days and the portfolio and viva guide covers the second part. You can try ten questions free.
Core Revision is independent and not affiliated with the Faculty of Occupational Medicine.
