Core Revision
How long does the DOccMed take? A realistic timeline from course to certificate
Victoria4 min read
Written October 2026
From the first day of an approved course to a diploma certificate, the DOccMed realistically takes between six and fifteen months, depending on whether you sit the written paper and the oral at the same sitting or six months apart. The Faculty of Occupational Medicine allows up to five years. Here is the sequence, the three deadlines that actually bind, and what a fast, a typical and a slow route look like, using the dates and rules published on fom.ac.uk and in the DOccMed regulations on 11 October 2026.
The sequence
- The approved course. You must complete a Faculty-approved Diploma Training Course before you can apply for the exam. The Faculty lists seven providers; our guide to choosing one compares them. The regulations ask for at least 90% attendance or an alternative the Faculty has approved, and a copy of your course certificate is uploaded with your exam application.
- The portfolio, written during the course. Two reports on the Faculty’s current template, a workplace assessment and a clinical case, 1,500 to 2,000 words in total. It is uploaded as part of your application for the portfolio examination and cannot be changed afterwards.
- Registration. The exam is applied for online through the members’ area of the Faculty’s website, and places are limited and allocated in order of application. For the November 2026 sitting the window opened at 9am on Monday 27 July and closed at 5pm on Monday 21 September 2026, about eight weeks before the paper.
- The MCQ. Typically 80 best-fit questions in 1 hour 45 minutes, online through TestReach, twice a year. The 2027 papers are Monday 10 May and Monday 8 November, both in the afternoon.
- The portfolio examination. Two examiners mark the written portfolio, then question you for 20 minutes on Microsoft Teams. For November 2026 the orals are on 17, 18 and 24 November; 2027 oral dates are to be confirmed.
- The certificate. Once both parts are passed you pay the diploma certificate fee, £286 in the Faculty’s 2026/27 fee schedule, and may use the post-nominals DOccMed.
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.
The three deadlines that bind
| Deadline | Rule | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Course complete by the registration closing date | Regulation D2: the approved course must be completed by the application closing date | A course that finishes in October cannot feed a November paper whose registration closed in September. Match the course end to a window, not to the exam date |
| Portfolio uploaded by the registration closing date | Regulation D7: the portfolio is submitted with the application and cannot be changed afterwards | If you want the oral at the same sitting as the MCQ, the portfolio must be finished about eight weeks before the paper |
| Both parts passed within five years of finishing the course | Regulations D3 and D6; if more than five years pass, the course must be retaken | Generous, but the clock starts at course completion, not at your first exam |
Three realistic routes
The fast route: both parts at one sitting. Finish the course and the portfolio before a registration window opens, register for the MCQ and the portfolio examination together, sit the paper on the Monday and the oral in the following days. From the start of the course to the certificate: roughly six to nine months, driven almost entirely by how quickly you can arrange the workplace visit and write the reports while the course is still running. The regulations allow both parts at the same time (guidance to D6).
The typical route: MCQ first, oral six months later. Sit the written paper at the first sitting after the course, use the next six months to do the workplace visit and write the portfolio properly, and take the oral at the following sitting. About twelve to fifteen months from course start to certificate, and the route most GPs with a full-time job end up taking, whether or not they planned to. Regulation D14 confirms you are not required to pass both parts at a single sitting.
The slow route. Life intervenes, a sitting is missed, or one part needs a second attempt. The five-year limit absorbs a great deal of this. Candidates have up to six attempts at each part, after which the course must be retaken; a resit of the portfolio examination requires a new portfolio each time (regulation D13); and the MCQ comes round every six months.
Where the time actually goes
Not the exam. The MCQ is an afternoon and the oral is twenty minutes. The time goes into three things: the course itself, whose length and format vary by provider; the workplace report, which needs a site you can visit, a manager who will talk to you and a write-up against the template’s sections; and waiting for windows, because registration closes two months before a paper and the papers are six months apart. A candidate who books the workplace visit in the first week of the course saves more calendar time than any amount of fast revision.
What the Faculty has and has not published for 2027
As of 11 October 2026: the two 2027 MCQ dates (10 May and 8 November); the 2026/27 fees (£530 for the MCQ, £530 for the portfolio examination, £286 for the certificate, valid 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027); and the provider list. Not yet: the 2027 registration windows, the 2027 oral dates, results dates, or the 2027/28 fees. If your plan depends on any of those, check the Faculty’s DOccMed page rather than our estimate, and expect the spring window to open around the turn of the year.
How this fits the platform
The DOccMed Core Calendar plans the revision weeks back from whichever paper you choose, the question bank has 1,000 best-fit questions across twelve modules with three fixed 80-question papers and a random timed mock, and the portfolio and viva guide is built for the months between the two parts. Our twelve-week plan covers the written paper. You can try ten questions free.
Core Revision is independent and not affiliated with the Faculty of Occupational Medicine.
