The OTA is open book — use it well

The arithmetic

Seventy-two seconds a question. You cannot look up fifty answers; you can look up perhaps eight or ten. So the paper rewards two things: knowing most of it cold, and knowing exactly where the rest lives, so that a look-up costs twenty seconds rather than two minutes.

What to have open

Three tabs, no more, each already open at the page you use most:

• The UKMEC 2025 summary tables. If you have learned the reasons behind the categories, the table is a confirmation, not a search.
• The emergency contraception decision points — the copper IUD window, the ulipristal caveats (enzyme inducers, progestogen in the last seven days, severe asthma on oral steroids), and the weight and BMI threshold for double-dose levonorgestrel.
• The missed-pill and quick-start summaries — one screen each.

Anything you find yourself opening a fourth time is something to learn before the day, not look up on it.

How to read the stem

OTA stems are short, and every detail is there for a reason. Read for the four things that change answers: age (under 16, over 35, over 40, over 50), timing (days since sex, weeks postpartum, hours since a missed pill), the one medical fact (migraine with aura, breastfeeding, an enzyme inducer, a BMI), and what is actually being asked — the safest method, the most effective, the next step, or the category. Then read every option before you decide: two will be nearly right, and the difference is usually one of those four things.

Pace and flags

Answer every question on the first pass, flag the ones you want to check, and only then spend your look-ups. A flagged question you return to with fresh eyes is often obvious. Never leave a blank — an unanswered question cannot score.

The pass mark

Sixty per cent — thirty questions right. You do not need to be sure of everything; you need to be reliably right on the essentials (UKMEC categories, missed pills, emergency contraception, quick-starting, postpartum timing, first-line STI treatment) and calm about the rest. The question bank’s timed mock is the same shape: sit it once with the guidance open and once without, and notice which questions cost you look-ups. Those are your last week’s reading.

The one-line version

Sit one timed mock with the guidance open and count your look-ups. Every look-up you can turn into knowledge before the day is a minute back on it.