This protocol is for a DGM candidate roughly four to six weeks out who wants one honest readiness reading before the final push. It combines the genuinely official material — the RCP's published KBA sample questions — with British Geriatrics Society (BGS) resources as the knowledge standard you calibrate your reasoning against. The principal limitation to state first: BGS resources are not a mock, so the calibration sitting needs actual questions, and none of this rehearses the Part 2 OSCE.
What British Geriatrics Society resources can and cannot do here
Be clear about the tool. The BGS co-develops the DGM with the RCP but does not run the exam and publishes no DGM questions; there is no BGS mock to sit. What the BGS gives you is the authoritative account of good geriatric medicine — the Frailty Hub and frailty e-learning, best-practice guidance, and Age and Ageing — which is exactly the reference you need after a sitting to judge whether your answers were right for the right reasons. The genuinely official questions come from the RCP.
| Attribute | Finding (last checked 21 July 2026) |
|---|---|
| Product type | Society knowledge resources; not a question bank, mock provider or exam body |
| DGM questions | None from BGS; the official sample questions are on rcp.ac.uk |
| Access / price | Frailty Hub and much e-learning free to all; some content member-only (BGS-reported) |
| AI / adaptive features | None |
| DGM components supported | Knowledge/reasoning standard for the KBA; nothing for the OSCE |
The exam this sitting rehearses
The KBA is one online paper of 100 best-of-five questions in three hours, once a year, no negative marking, Hofstee-standard-set (RCP, last checked 21 July 2026) — about 1.8 minutes per item. The OSCE that follows is four live stations, roughly 1.5 hours, at Liverpool, sat only after you pass the KBA, with a four-year window. Your calibration sitting rehearses the KBA and nothing else; iatroX, likewise, is the KBA knowledge and unseen-MCQ layer, not an OSCE simulator.
Inventory your official material and label each item
Before you can sit anything "unseen", you must know what is still unseen. List every genuinely official item you hold — the RCP sample questions, any RCP self-assessment material, the specimen content in the regulations — and label each unseen (never worked), attempted once (done once, months ago) or contaminated by review (drilled repeatedly and now memorised). Only the unseen pile is fit for calibration, because a contaminated item measures recognition, not reasoning. If your unseen official pile is thin, top up the sitting with a fresh, unseen bank block (iatroX or another) so the total is a meaningful length.
Choose the calibration date
Pick a single date late enough to be representative but early enough to act on. Four to six weeks out is the sweet spot: your knowledge is broadly in place, so the reading reflects your real level, but there is still time to repair what it exposes. Sitting too early gives a pessimistic reading you over-correct from; sitting in the last week gives you a result you cannot use. Put the date in your calendar and protect it. One calibration reading is worth more than several half-hearted ones, so resist the urge to warm up on the official material beforehand — every rehearsal you do first contaminates the instrument and flatters the result. Treat the date as you would the real exam: no cramming the topic the night before, no peeking at the sample questions to reassure yourself. The value of the reading is precisely that it is cold.
Reproduce exam conditions exactly
The reading is only valid if the conditions are. Sit the block online, in one uninterrupted window, at full length or a defined fraction of it, with the same permitted references as the real exam (none), the same absence of negative marking (so answer everything), and the same clock. No pausing to look things up, no splitting it across two evenings, no marking your own answers as you go. The discomfort of a single continuous timed sitting is the point — it is the only way to see how your accuracy and pace behave under load.
Code every error, not just the subject
When you mark it, go past "I got the delirium one wrong." Code each error three ways: by domain (frailty, falls, continence, pharmacology, capacity and so on); by cognitive process (a knowledge gap, a misread stem, a reasoning slip, or a timing panic near the end); and by format (did the five-option structure or a data-interpretation image trip you?). This three-way coding is what turns a score into a study plan, because the remedy for a knowledge gap (read the BGS guidance) is different from the remedy for a timing panic (practise pace) or a misread stem (slow your first read).
Map each error to fresh practice — and keep official questions out of daily use
Now the BGS resources earn their place. For every error coded as a knowledge gap, go to the relevant BGS e-learning or guidance and repair the concept properly — not a glance at the answer, but the reasoning behind it. Then, crucially, test that repaired concept on fresh questions, not on the official item you just failed. The RCP sample questions go back in the drawer the moment the sitting ends; they are calibration instruments, not daily drill, and re-using them destroys their value for the next reading.
Repeat only with genuinely unseen material
If you want a second calibration reading closer to the exam, it must use genuinely unseen official material — a newly released sample, or an official set you kept sealed — or, failing that, a fresh unseen bank block. Re-sitting the same RCP questions is not a calibration; it is a memory test that will tell you, reassuringly and falsely, that you have improved. When official material runs out, transfer questions from a bank you have not exhausted are the honest substitute.
A seven-day worked example
Build the week around one calibration sitting, with BGS resources as the repair job and iatroX as unseen transfer practice. The loop is candidate-driven; no proprietary algorithm is implied.
- Day 1: Inventory and label your official material; confirm the unseen pile.
- Day 2: Sit the calibration block under exact exam conditions; do not mark as you go.
- Day 3: Mark and three-way code every error; retire the official items.
- Day 4: Repair knowledge-gap errors from BGS resources and current guidance.
- Day 5: Test the repaired domains on a fresh, timed iatroX block.
- Day 6: Drill pace or stem-reading if those were your coded weaknesses, using more unseen items.
- Day 7: Review the error log; set the next fortnight's quotas by domain.
Decision checklist: continue, supplement, switch or stop
- Continue your current plan if the sitting shows balanced accuracy near your target with time to spare.
- Supplement specific domains where the coded errors cluster, using BGS repair plus fresh questions.
- Switch your emphasis from reading to timed practice if pace or stem-reading, not knowledge, cost you marks.
- Stop re-sitting official material once it is contaminated; move to unseen transfer questions instead.
The bottom line
A one-sitting calibration is one of the highest-value hours in DGM preparation, but it depends on keeping two roles separate: the RCP sample questions are the genuinely official instrument you sit once, and British Geriatrics Society resources are the standard you calibrate your reasoning against afterwards. Sit the official material unseen and once, code your errors properly, repair from the BGS, and test the repair on fresh questions. That sequence gives you a reading you can trust — for the KBA, and only the KBA.
Frequently asked questions
Is British Geriatrics Society Resources enough for DGM on its own? No. BGS resources are the knowledge standard, not the exam instrument: they contain no DGM questions, no timed mock and nothing for the OSCE, so alone they cannot tell you whether your knowledge converts into marks under exam conditions. Used as the repair layer beneath a calibration sitting built from RCP sample questions and a fresh bank, they are extremely valuable; used as your only preparation, they leave the format, pace and application layers unmeasured.
Which DGM component does British Geriatrics Society Resources not reproduce well? Neither exam component is reproduced by BGS resources, because they are knowledge, not assessment. They do not reproduce the KBA's best-of-five, timed, mixed-domain format, and they reproduce the OSCE even less — the four live stations at Liverpool test performed clinical and communication skills that no reading resource can rehearse. That is exactly why this protocol pairs BGS knowledge with an actual timed sitting rather than relying on the resources alone.
How many British Geriatrics Society Resources questions should I complete per day for DGM? None, because there are none to complete — the BGS publishes no DGM questions. The daily number that matters is measured elsewhere: after your calibration sitting, aim to repair one or two flagged domains from BGS resources and then test them with 20 to 40 fresh, timed questions in a bank such as iatroX. Count domains repaired and questions tested, not BGS "questions", which do not exist.
When should I stop using British Geriatrics Society Resources and move to mixed mocks? You never fully stop, but you change their role after the calibration sitting. Up to that point, BGS resources build knowledge; from the final month, mixed timed mocks lead and you drop back into BGS material only to repair the specific gaps a mock or your calibration reading exposes. The signal to make the resources a reference rather than the main activity is when your errors are about pace and application, not missing knowledge.
How should I combine British Geriatrics Society Resources with iatroX without duplicating practice? Keep the two jobs distinct and the flow one-directional. BGS resources repair the knowledge behind a coded error; iatroX measures whether that repair holds on fresh, timed, unseen questions. Read the BGS to fix a gap, then test the gap in iatroX — never the reverse, and never re-read a topic you have already tested well. That single rule keeps the knowledge layer and the measurement layer from overlapping.
Editorial notes and references
Written by Dr Kolawole Tytler, NHS GP and founder of iatroX. Last checked 21 July 2026. Society access terms and the availability of official RCP sample material change over time; confirm current details on rcp.ac.uk and bgs.org.uk before you build your sitting. Disclosure: iatroX operates a UK question bank; this article confines iatroX to supplying unseen transfer questions when official material runs out — a job BGS resources do not claim to do — and it is not a substitute for the OSCE. Corrections are welcome via the feedback route on iatrox.com.
References: RCP Diploma in Geriatric Medicine exam page, regulations for candidates and syllabus/blueprint (February 2025), rcp.ac.uk; British Geriatrics Society DGM career page and e-learning/Frailty Hub, bgs.org.uk; "Your Q-Bank Percentage Is Not Your Exam Score," iatrox.com/blog/qbank-percentage-not-your-exam-score; iatroX DGM resource, iatrox.com/dgm.