This workflow is for GPs, GP trainees and other doctors working in women's health who are sitting the DRCOG's single computer-based single-best-answer (SBA) paper. BMJ OnExamination is a reasonable revision option for that paper, but it publishes no proprietary adaptive engine, and its difficulty filters and weak-area analytics can quietly under-sample low-volume syllabus areas. The principal limitation is coverage drift: you drive the "adaptation" yourself, so you must hold every blueprint domain to a floor.
What BMJ OnExamination offers for the DRCOG right now
Everything in the table below is vendor-reported (BMJ OnExamination product page) and last checked on 20 July 2026. Counts, tiers and prices change without notice, so confirm each figure on the product page before you buy.
| Item | What is published (vendor-reported, checked 20 July 2026) |
|---|---|
| Exam covered | DRCOG (dedicated product) |
| Question count | 350+ practice questions |
| Format | SBA items matched to the DRCOG paper; mock tests curated by BMJ's editorial team |
| Personalisation | Choose your difficulty level; recap questions you found hard |
| Analytics | Peer comparison and a daily leaderboard |
| Access and pricing | Monthly tiers from £29.99 (1 month) to £139.99 (12 months); roughly 10 free questions daily on trial; mobile app for offline use |
| Adaptive AI | No proprietary adaptive difficulty algorithm is claimed on the product page |
The honest read: this is a well-edited but modest DRCOG bank with manual difficulty control and peer benchmarking — not an algorithm that guarantees blueprint balance. That is exactly why the discipline below sits with you, not the software.
The exam you are actually sitting
The DRCOG (Diploma of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists) is one computer-based paper: 120 SBA questions in 3 hours, each SBA worth 2 marks (240 marks total), with the pass mark set by modified Angoff standard-setting. The current format is SBA-only — the older extended-matching component has gone. It samples women's health as a GP meets it: contraception and sexual health, early pregnancy and gynaecological emergencies, antenatal and intrapartum care, common gynaecology and menstrual disorders, the menopause, subfertility, gynaecological oncology, urogynaecology, and the ethics, consent and epidemiology that wrap around them. Work from the current RCOG DRCOG syllabus and the official sample questions for the authoritative content list — not a third-party topic list.
The blueprint point that matters here: a handful of domains carry far fewer questions than the antenatal and contraception core. Gynaecological oncology, urogynaecology, subfertility, safeguarding and sexual assault, medical ethics and consent, and applied statistics are all easy for a difficulty-led feed to skim. Those are the domains this workflow protects.
Baseline week: measure before you personalise
Before you let difficulty filters or "recap hard questions" shape your feed, complete a small, blueprint-stratified unseen sample so you have a true starting map. Build a 40-item mixed block that deliberately touches every domain — including the low-volume ones — and sit it timed, at roughly 90 seconds per item. Record a first-attempt score per domain, not just an overall percentage. Your overall figure is the least useful number you will generate; your Q-bank percentage is not your exam score, and it hides exactly the domains that will fail you.
First pass: set domain floors so a rising score cannot hide a gap
The core failure mode of any personalised feed is that a climbing overall percentage masks unattempted syllabus areas. Pre-commit to a floor for every domain — for example, a minimum of 25 attempted first-pass items in each low-volume domain before you call revision "balanced". Write the floors down. When the platform's difficulty filter or analytics steer you toward high-volume, high-yield topics, the floors force you back to gynaecological oncology, urogynaecology, ethics and statistics whether or not the software surfaces them.
Error taxonomy: code every miss, then act once
Do not transcribe explanations. Classify each miss with one code and take one corrective action.
| Error code | What it means | First corrective action |
|---|---|---|
| K — knowledge gap | You did not know the fact | Short source read (NICE/CKS, SIGN or SmPC/eMC), then a transfer item |
| S — misread stem | You misread the vignette or the lead-in | Slow the stem-read; re-answer under time |
| P — premature closure | You locked on before weighing options | Force a differential list before selecting |
| G — guideline error | Outdated or wrong guidance applied | Read the current guideline section; note the change |
| C — calculation error | Dating, dosing or risk arithmetic slip | Redo the calculation type deliberately |
| T — time pressure | Right idea, ran out of time | Re-drill under a stricter clock |
Review interval: match the fix to the error, not the calendar
Not every miss deserves an immediate repeat — repeating the same item mostly trains recognition of that item. Route by code: K and G errors earn a short source read plus a new transfer question testing the same principle; S, P and T errors earn a spaced re-test in a mixed block a few days later; C errors earn a deliberate re-drill of that calculation type. Reserve immediate repeats for near-misses where a single fact closes the loop.
Mixed-block switch: objective triggers, not a feeling
Move from topic-filtered practice toward timed random blocks when three things are true: every domain floor is met, your first-attempt accuracy in each domain is stable across two mixed samples, and your pace is holding at exam speed. Until then, keep topic blocks for the domains below floor. After that, tilt the ratio toward timed random blocks so the exam's mixed, unsignposted structure — not a topic label — is what cues your recall.
Exit criteria: what "ready" actually means
Stop adding new topic blocks when you can show all five: full blueprint coverage above your floors; stable first-attempt performance on unseen mixed blocks; pacing inside 3 hours with margin; retention of earlier misses on spaced re-test; and a clean run at the official RCOG sample questions as a calibration check. Bank completion alone is not on that list — finishing 350 questions is an activity metric, not a readiness signal.
Worked example: a seven-day plan
A GP trainee with six weeks to the DRCOG, using BMJ OnExamination for one defined job — edited SBA volume with peer benchmarking — and iatroX for unseen transfer practice and measurement. No proprietary-algorithm claims are made about either tool.
- Day 1 (baseline): 40-item blueprint-stratified unseen mixed block, timed; record domain scores; set floors.
- Day 2: BMJ topic block on the weakest core domain (say, antenatal care); code every miss; short source reads for K and G errors.
- Day 3: BMJ topic block on a low-volume domain you would otherwise skip (gynaecological oncology); then answer a fresh iatroX transfer item for each Day-2 miss rather than repeating the originals.
- Day 4: timed 40-item mixed block; review by error code; spaced re-test of Day-2 items.
- Day 5: second low-volume domain (urogynaecology, ethics or statistics); spaced review of earlier misses.
- Day 6: full timed BMJ mock at exam pace; read peer comparison as context, not as a target.
- Day 7: an unseen mixed block in iatroX as the readiness signal; re-check floors; plan the next week from the domain profile, not the overall percentage.
Three mistakes this workflow is designed to stop
First, mistaking a rising overall percentage for readiness — it is usually your high-volume domains flattering the average. Second, letting "recap hard questions" become a comfort loop where you re-see items you have half-memorised instead of testing the underlying principle on something unseen. Third, treating peer comparison and the daily leaderboard as the goal; they tell you where a self-selected cohort sits today, not whether you have cleared the modified-Angoff bar on the syllabus.
Decision checklist: continue, supplement, switch or stop
- Continue BMJ OnExamination if your domain floors are filling, first-attempt accuracy is rising on unseen blocks, and the edited explanations are teaching you.
- Supplement with an unseen measurement layer (this is where iatroX fits) if you cannot tell whether gains are real learning or item memorisation — you need questions you have never seen. See the two-Q-bank rule for how to add a second bank without duplicating practice.
- Switch primary bank only for a measurable gap — a domain the bank barely covers, or explanations that are not moving your accuracy — not for novelty.
- Stop buying more question access when your exit criteria are met; extra volume past that point is reassurance, not preparation.
Bottom line
BMJ OnExamination is a credible DRCOG revision bank with clean editing, mock tests and peer benchmarking, but it does not promise blueprint balance and does not run an adaptive algorithm. Use its difficulty control and analytics for volume and feedback, impose your own domain floors so low-volume women's health topics are never skimmed, and measure readiness on unseen, timed items — including a second bank such as iatroX — rather than on a completion count. Compare options on the iatroX comparison hub if you are still choosing.
FAQ
Is BMJ OnExamination enough for DRCOG on its own? For many candidates it can be the single primary bank, because it is DRCOG-specific and well edited, but "enough" depends on discipline rather than the product. A 350-plus-question bank (vendor-reported, 20 July 2026) gives limited unseen volume near the exam, and a single bank cannot tell you whether your gains are real or item-recognition. Pair it with the official RCOG sample questions for calibration and a small unseen set for a true readiness check.
Which DRCOG component does BMJ OnExamination not reproduce well? The DRCOG is a single SBA paper, so there is no separate clinical or oral station to reproduce — the gap is subtler. What a modest, difficulty-led bank reproduces least well is sustained, mixed, unsignposted exam conditions across the full blueprint, and it can under-represent low-volume domains such as gynaecological oncology, urogynaecology, ethics and applied statistics. Those are the areas to protect with domain floors and unseen mixed blocks.
How many BMJ OnExamination questions should I complete per day for DRCOG? There is no official number, so treat this as guidance rather than a rule: most candidates working around clinical commitments manage 30–50 fully reviewed items a day, where "reviewed" means coded by error type with one corrective action — not skimmed. Fewer, properly interrogated questions beat a high raw count, and your daily target should flex with weeks remaining and domains still below floor.
When should I stop using BMJ OnExamination and move to mixed mocks? Move to predominantly timed, random, full-length blocks once every domain floor is met, first-attempt accuracy is stable across two unseen samples, and your pace holds inside 3 hours. Keep a little topic-filtered practice only for domains still below floor. The trigger is measurable coverage and stable performance, not the calendar or a completion percentage.
How should I combine BMJ OnExamination with iatroX without duplicating practice? Give each bank one job. Use BMJ OnExamination for edited DRCOG volume, mock tests and peer benchmarking, and use the iatroX UK question bank purely as the unseen transfer-and-measurement layer: when you miss a BMJ item, answer a fresh iatroX item testing the same principle instead of repeating the original, and reserve a protected pool of iatroX items you have never seen for timed readiness checks. That keeps the two from overlapping and preserves calibration.
Editorial notes and references
Written by Dr Kolawole Tytler, NHS GP and founder of iatroX. Last checked 20 July 2026. Product figures (question counts, prices, features) are vendor-reported from the BMJ OnExamination product pages on that date and change without notice — verify the current count and price before purchase. Disclosure: iatroX operates a competing UK question bank; its role in this article is confined to unseen transfer practice and readiness measurement — jobs BMJ OnExamination does not claim to perform for you — and no proprietary adaptive algorithm is claimed for either product. Corrections are welcome via the feedback route on iatrox.com.
References: RCOG DRCOG syllabus and sample questions (rcog.org.uk); BMJ OnExamination DRCOG product page (onexamination.com); iatroX, "Your Q-Bank Percentage Is Not Your Exam Score"; iatroX, "Question-bank completion is not coverage"; iatroX, "The two-Q-bank rule".