This workflow is for the DRCOG candidate who wants to use the RCOG's own materials — the Official DRCOG Revision Resource and released sample questions — as the calibration gold-standard, then build breadth with a bank. It addresses the knowledge component: the single 120-question SBA paper. The principal limitation is one of supply. Official material is finite, so once you have worked through it, it can no longer give you a clean, unseen reading, and daily practice has to come from elsewhere.
The honest finding first: official material is gold-standard but finite
Nothing else calibrates you to the real thing like the exam body's own questions, because they are written and standard-set to the exact register the paper uses. That makes them the most trustworthy mirror you have. It also makes them a scarce, one-use asset: the first time you sit an official question it is a valid measurement; every subsequent time it is a memory test. The whole workflow below is built to protect that value — to extract maximum calibration from a finite set, and to keep those questions out of your daily grind so they stay meaningful.
Current-state box: RCOG official DRCOG resources
Last checked 20 July 2026. The RCOG does not publish a headline question count for its revision resource, so verify the current size, term and fee on elearning.rcog.org.uk before you rely on any figure.
| Attribute | RCOG official DRCOG resources (20 July 2026) |
|---|---|
| Official question bank | "Official DRCOG Revision Resource" — an online single-best-answer bank with answers plus additional feedback and learning content, on elearning.rcog.org.uk |
| Additional official material | RCOG Learning DRCOG collection; released sample questions on the DRCOG exam pages |
| Question count | Not published by the RCOG — treat as finite and verify; do not assume a large volume |
| Access period | Time-limited subscription — verify the current term |
| Adaptive/AI features | None claimed; a curated bank with learning content, not adaptive software |
| Price | Not stated on the resources page — verify the current fee |
| DRCOG components supported | Knowledge for the SBA paper; the DRCOG has no separate clinical or oral component |
Exam anchor
The DRCOG is one computer-based paper: 120 single best answer questions in three hours, each worth two marks (240 total), pass mark set by modified Angoff to the standard of a competent GP trainee, currently SBA-only. The syllabus runs across seven RCOG modules from fertility regulation and sexual health, through early pregnancy, the pregnant woman and the peripartum period, to urgent and non-urgent gynaecology. The RCOG syllabus and sample questions are the primary reference; third-party banks interpret that blueprint, and where their framing differs from the official material, the official material wins.
Inventory all official material and label each item
Before you touch a single official question, inventory what you have and label its status, because status determines whether an item can still measure you.
| Status label | Meaning | Allowed use |
|---|---|---|
| Unseen | Never attempted | Reserve for calibration; do not spend casually |
| Attempted once | Answered under proper conditions once | Use for error review, not for a fresh score |
| Contaminated by review | Read explanations or re-answered | Reference only; worthless as measurement |
Keep a simple list of every official source — the revision resource, each released sample set, any specimen items — with its label. The unseen column is your scarcest resource; ration it.
Choose the calibration date
Pick the date on which you will sit a block of unseen official questions under strict conditions. Late enough that it is meaningful — you have done real preparation and the result reflects something — but early enough that you still have time to act on the weaknesses it exposes. For most candidates that is two to three weeks before the exam. Booking the date in advance stops you from nibbling at the official set out of anxiety and spoiling its measurement value.
Reproduce exam conditions exactly
When the calibration date arrives, reproduce the exam exactly: the full three hours (or a scaled equivalent), the same on-screen single-best-answer format, no notes, no pausing, the same permitted breaks and none you would not get on the day. A calibration sat in fragments across a week, with the reference open, tells you nothing about performance under pressure. The value of official questions is realised only under official conditions; anything less converts your gold-standard into ordinary practice.
Code every error, not merely by subject
After the sitting, code every error along three axes, not one. Subject alone ("I got a contraception question wrong") is the least useful classification.
- Domain — which of the seven RCOG modules.
- Cognitive process — was it a knowledge gap, a misread stem, a reasoning error, or a failure to apply current guidance?
- Format — did an embedded image, chart, calculation or a very long stem contribute?
A cluster of "misread stem" errors is a pacing-and-attention problem, not a knowledge problem, and more questions will not fix it. Coding by process is what turns a score into a plan.
Map each error to fresh third-party practice
Now take each coded error and map it to fresh, non-official practice, keeping the official questions out of daily repetition. A knowledge gap in module 6 becomes a run of unseen bank items on urgent gynaecology; a guidance-application error becomes a focused read of the relevant NICE/CKS or RCOG source plus unseen items that test its application; a data-interpretation error becomes targeted image or data items. The official question that exposed the gap goes back on the shelf, its job done. Your daily volume comes from the bank; the official set is reserved for the next calibration only.
Repeat only with genuinely unseen official material
Repeat the whole cycle only when you have genuinely unseen official material — a newly released sample, or a portion of the revision resource you deliberately held back. If you have exhausted the official set, do not re-sit it and call the inflated score a calibration; switch to unseen transfer questions from a bank for your interim readings, and treat the last clean official sitting as your best official estimate. Honesty about contamination is what keeps the workflow trustworthy.
Worked example: a seven-day plan
A GP registrar three weeks out, using the RCOG Official DRCOG Revision Resource and iatroX. Official material does one job (periodic calibration under strict conditions); iatroX does another (daily unseen volume mapped to coded errors). No proprietary-algorithm claims are made about either.
- Day 1 (Mon): sit a reserved block of unseen official questions under full exam conditions. Do not mark casually — this is a calibration.
- Day 2 (Tue): code every error by domain, process and format. Write the plan the codes imply.
- Day 3 (Wed): iatroX unseen block targeting the top error domain (say module 6), timed; review each miss with a one-line corrective action.
- Day 4 (Thu): focused read of the guidance behind your "guidance-application" errors (NICE/CKS, RCOG), then 15 unseen iatroX items applying it.
- Day 5 (Fri): iatroX block on your second error domain; log misses.
- Day 6 (Sat): 40-item mixed unseen iatroX block across all modules, timed at 90 seconds per item, to rehearse pace.
- Day 7 (Sun): review the week; hold the remaining unseen official material for the next calibration in a week's time.
One calibration, six days of mapped unseen practice, and the official set protected for next time. That is the entire method.
Decision checklist: continue, supplement, switch or stop
- Continue using official material as your calibration anchor while you still hold genuinely unseen items.
- Supplement from day one with an unseen bank for daily volume — the official set is too small to be your everyday practice.
- Switch interim readings to timed unseen bank mocks once the official material is exhausted; do not re-sit contaminated official questions for a score.
- Stop re-reading official explanations as "revision" once you have coded the errors; the learning value is in the mapped practice, not in rereading the answer.
Decide on the measured, coded gap — never on novelty or on the fee you have already paid.
FAQ
Is RCOG Official Resources enough for DRCOG on its own? The official material is the closest calibration to the exam you can get but it is not enough on its own, because it is finite and one-use for measurement; it tells you where you stand with unmatched accuracy, yet it cannot supply the daily unseen volume you need to close the gaps it reveals, which is why it works best paired with a bank rather than as a sole resource.
Which DRCOG component does RCOG Official Resources not reproduce well? Because the DRCOG is a single written paper, the official material reproduces the knowledge component very well; what it cannot give you, simply by being finite, is repeated unseen timed practice — after one or two clean sittings every remaining exposure is a memory test, so it cannot stand in for the volume of fresh mixed blocks that build pace and stamina.
How many RCOG Official Resources questions should I complete per day for DRCOG? Ideally none on most days — official questions are best rationed into a small number of strict calibrations rather than dripped out daily, so your everyday count (a 20 to 40-item block on most days) should come from a bank while the official set is reserved. Any question count or subscription figure here is vendor-reported as of 20 July 2026 and should be verified on elearning.rcog.org.uk.
When should I stop using RCOG Official Resources and move to mixed mocks? You will effectively move to mixed mocks the moment your unseen official material runs out, which for most candidates is well before the exam; once your last clean official calibration is behind you, timed unseen mixed blocks are the right daily activity, with the official result kept as your best official estimate of where you stood.
How should I combine RCOG Official Resources with iatroX without duplicating practice? Assign each a distinct role: the RCOG material is your periodic, strictly conditioned calibration, and iatroX supplies the daily unseen volume mapped to the errors that calibration exposes. Never fold official questions into daily practice, and keep a protected pool of iatroX items you have not reviewed, so the two never overlap and each keeps its measurement value.
Editorial notes and references
Written by Dr Kolawole Tytler, NHS GP and founder of iatroX. Last checked 20 July 2026. The RCOG does not publish a question count, term or fee for its revision resource on the pages consulted; those details are subject to change and should be verified on elearning.rcog.org.uk before you rely on them. Disclosure: iatroX operates a competing UK question bank; in this workflow it appears only as the daily unseen-volume layer that a finite official set cannot provide, and it does not replace the RCOG's own calibration material. Corrections are welcome via the feedback route on iatrox.com.
References: RCOG, prepare for the DRCOG and DRCOG resources (rcog.org.uk); RCOG Official DRCOG Revision Resource (elearning.rcog.org.uk); RCOG, DRCOG format and syllabus (rcog.org.uk); iatroX, "Your Q-Bank Percentage Is Not Your Exam Score" (https://www.iatrox.com/blog/qbank-percentage-not-your-exam-score); iatroX DRCOG content-gap checklist (https://www.iatrox.com/blog/the-drcog-q-bank-content-gap-checklist-what-to-verify-before-you-stop-doing-new-questions); iatroX comparison hub (https://www.iatrox.com/compare).