Core Revision
Preparing for the DGM clinical exam: a six-week rehearsal plan
Victoria4 min read
Written October 2026
The DGM clinical exam is four live stations of 15 minutes at the RCP Assessment Centre in Liverpool, and it is rehearsed rather than revised. CGM results come out on 31 March 2027 and the June sitting runs from 1 to 4 June, which leaves about nine weeks; this plan uses six of them. It covers technique and logistics only: what to practise, how to run a mock station, and what to sort out before you travel. The station structure is as set out in the RCP’s candidate guidance and regulations, checked on 11 October 2026.
The shape you are rehearsing for
Each station is 15 minutes, with five minutes outside the door to read the candidate instructions and a two-minute warning after 13 minutes. Two examiners sit in every station; they agree the standard together beforehand and then mark you independently, without conferring. Each examiner grades you as clear fail, fail, pass or clear pass, the grades are converted to one to four and summed across the eight marksheets, and the pass mark is confirmed for each sitting by the examination board.
| Station | Who is there | How the 15 minutes run |
|---|---|---|
| 1 and 4: Integrated Clinical Assessment | A patient and two examiners | 13 minutes to take a relevant history, carry out a focused examination, interpret your findings and explain them and a plan to the patient; then 2 minutes with the examiners |
| 2: Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment | Two examiners, no patient | Up to 5 minutes asking the examiners for the information you are missing, then 10 minutes of discussion. The guidance says the aim is not a diagnosis but prioritising problems and explaining how the plan would be carried out, individually and in the multidisciplinary team |
| 3: Ethical and legal principles in practice | A patient or their representative and two examiners | 10 minutes of conversation applying ethical principles and the legal frameworks used across the four UK nations, then 5 minutes with the examiners |
Three details from the guidance shape the rehearsal. Examiners will not interrupt while you are with the patient unless you need redirecting or are causing discomfort, so you will get no steer about how it is going. If you finish early they will tell you whether time remains. When the station ends you leave at once; nothing said after the bell counts. You may take notes in, but they stay with the examiners.
Sitting the CGM or the DGM clinical exam?
The DGM package has 1,000 best-of-five questions across fourteen modules, timed 50-question mocks, a revision guide and an OSCE module for the clinical stage. It is £49.99 for 12 months, which covers both stages. Try ten questions first, free and with no sign-up.
How to run a mock station
You need two colleagues: one to play the patient or relative, one to examine. The examiner writes a one-paragraph candidate instruction, a short brief for the patient, and the two or three questions they will ask at the end. The patient does not improvise beyond the brief. The examiner runs a timer with a warning at 13 minutes and a hard stop at 15, says nothing during the encounter, and afterwards grades each of the station’s marked areas as clear fail, fail, pass or clear pass before anyone discusses anything. Then five minutes of feedback, one specific thing to change, and swap roles. A phone propped on a shelf to record yourself is worth more than a third opinion.
The six weeks
| Week | Focus | What to actually do |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Map the exam | Read the RCP’s candidate guidance and sample marksheets. Recruit your two colleagues and fix a weekly 90-minute slot. Record one cold run of an ICA station so you know your baseline |
| 2 | The ICA stations | Three timed runs. Work on the split: how long you spend on history, how long on a focused and explained examination, and leaving time to tell the patient what you found and what happens next before the 13-minute warning |
| 3 | The CGA station | Three timed runs with no patient. Practise using the five minutes to ask for what is missing in a structured way, then prioritising and describing a plan that names who in the team does what |
| 4 | The ethics station | Three timed runs with a relative or patient. Ten minutes is long for a conversation and short for a decision; practise explaining the principles in plain words, and answering the examiners’ why for five minutes |
| 5 | Full circuits | Two complete four-station circuits on different days, with reading time, in order, with different colleagues if you can. Feedback against the marksheet grades only |
| 6 | Logistics and taper | Travel booked after the admission document, dress code checked, one light run of your weakest station, then stop two days before |
What to practise saying out loud
Every station ends with the examiners, for two minutes or ten, and the question is always some version of why. Rehearse a 60-second summary of what you found and what you would do, spoken not written, until it comes out in the same order every time. Rehearse explaining a plan to a patient without jargon and then explaining the same plan to an examiner with it. Rehearse saying I don’t know, and what you would do about not knowing. Candidates who have only ever revised silently tend to find the first spoken run a shock; make that shock happen in week one, not in Liverpool.
Logistics
- Dates and fee. June 2027: apply 30 March to 12 April, exam 1 to 4 June, results by email by 5pm on Wednesday 7 July. November 2027: apply 31 August to 13 September, exam 2 to 5 November, results Wednesday 8 December. The fee for each 2027 sitting is £668.
- Your slot. After applications close the RCP emails an admission document with your exam date, report time and reporting address. The exam runs across several days and you get one of them. Book travel and a hotel after it arrives, and plan to be in Liverpool the night before.
- Dress. The regulations apply the NHS-style dress code: bare below the elbow, no watches or bracelets apart from one plain ring.
- Devices. No electronic devices in the exam. Bring your candidate badge; marking is electronic and you present it as you enter each station.
- Time limit. You have four years from being notified of your CGM pass to pass the DGM, and a maximum of six attempts.
How this fits the platform
The DGM OSCE module is written station by station: integrated clinical assessment, the CGA station and ethics and the law, each with what the examiners are grading and worked scenarios you can hand to a colleague as a brief. The OSCE is a consultation, not a viva is the one-page version of the technique. The module comes with the CGM & DGM package.
Core Revision is independent and not affiliated with the Royal College of Physicians or the British Geriatrics Society.
