This is a workflow for GP trainees, SAS doctors and IMGs using PassPaeds for the DCH theory paper — the RCPCH Foundation of Practice (FOP) paper. PassPaeds targets exactly that paper, so it is a sensible engine for the written component. The principal limitation to hold in mind throughout: this workflow prepares you for the FOP theory paper only. The DCH Clinical is a separate OSCE-style examination that no question bank reproduces, and it needs its own preparation.
Current-state box: PassPaeds for DCH
Vendor-reported from passpaeds.com, last checked 20 July 2026. Counts differ between the vendor's pages, so verify the current FOP figure on the product page.
| Attribute | PassPaeds (vendor-reported, 20 July 2026) |
|---|---|
| Exams supported | MRCPCH FOP and TAS; AKP described as in development; FOP is the DCH theory paper |
| DCH coverage | Via the FOP bank; no separately badged DCH product; no DCH Clinical content |
| Question count | FOP stated as "over 1,500" (FOP page) or "over 1,200" (homepage); wider MRCPCH library advertised as "over 3,900"; verify |
| Access period | 4 or 6 months |
| Price | £20 (4 months), £30 (6 months) |
| Features | Spaced-repetition "knowledge tutor", explanatory notes, unlimited timed tests, readiness histogram versus other candidates |
| Adaptive difficulty | Not claimed as a difficulty-adapting algorithm |
Exam anchor
The DCH has two components. The theory paper is the RCPCH Foundation of Practice: 100 single best answer questions in two hours, computer-based, with no negative marking — the same paper the RCPCH sets for MRCPCH candidates. The DCH Clinical is a separate OSCE-style circuit (college and vendor materials describe eight stations, each with about four minutes of reading time, in a window of roughly one hour fifty minutes). You may sit the two components in either order. This workflow concerns the FOP paper only; treat the Clinical as a distinct project.
Build a blueprint inventory and protect an unseen pool
Before your first block, sketch a blueprint inventory: the RCPCH theory domains — development, child health promotion, acute paediatrics, system-based conditions, neonatology, safeguarding, behaviour and mental health, ethics and communication, therapeutics, and genetics — with a column for your current confidence in each. Then, at the outset, ring-fence a protected pool of questions you will not touch during learning. This is the single most important step for honest measurement: if every item eventually becomes one you have seen, you lose the ability to take a clean unseen reading later. Reserve perhaps a fifth of the bank, untouched, for timed mixed assessment near the end.
First pass: topic blocks only where foundations are weak
Do not reflexively grind every topic in filtered blocks. Use topic-filtered blocks only where your inventory shows weak foundations — the domains you rated low-confidence. Everywhere your foundations are adequate, start mixed, because topic-filtered practice quietly cues you: when every question in a block is on neonatal jaundice, you stop having to recognise that jaundice is the issue, and recognition of the topic is half the skill an SBA tests. Topic blocks build; mixed blocks measure. Weight the early weeks toward building only where building is genuinely needed.
Review each miss with an error code and one action
For every missed item, assign a short error code and one corrective action — and stop there. Do not transcribe the whole explanation; copying text feels like studying but mostly consumes time. A workable code set:
- K — knowledge gap (didn't know the fact) → one line on the fact, checked against NICE/CKS or the SmPC/eMC where relevant.
- R — reasoning error (knew the facts, chose wrong) → one line on the discriminator you missed.
- M — misread the stem → note the cue you skipped.
- G — outdated or misapplied guidance → note the current source and date.
One code, one action, next question. A weekly scan of your codes tells you whether you have a knowledge problem, a reasoning problem or an attention problem — three very different fixes.
Use transfer practice before repeating an item
When you get something wrong, resist re-answering the same PassPaeds item soon after; you will remember the answer, not the principle. Instead, use transfer practice: answer a new item — ideally from a different source — that tests the same principle in a different stem. If you can apply the rule to an unfamiliar presentation, you have learned it; if you can only get the original right, you have memorised it. This is where a second, unseen source is not a luxury but the mechanism that proves transfer.
Switch to mixed timed blocks when domain floors are met
Switch to mixed, timed blocks once each domain clears your personal floor — even if your overall completion is nowhere near 100%. Completion is not the trigger; domain-level adequacy is. A candidate who has cleared every domain floor at 60% completion is more ready than one who has finished the bank but is weak in safeguarding and development. Time the mixed blocks at roughly one minute per item to rehearse the FOP's two-hours-for-100-questions pace, and use your protected unseen pool so the score reflects readiness, not recall.
Exit criteria: not 100% completion
Exit when the evidence says you are ready, defined as all of the following, none of which is "finished the bank":
- Coverage — every blueprint domain practised and above your floor.
- Unseen timed performance — an acceptable accuracy on a timed block from your protected pool.
- Pacing — you finish a 100-item equivalent within time with room to review flags.
- Retention — topics strong a month ago are still strong.
- Calibration — your unseen score sits close to your bank score, and both are checked against the RCPCH sample material.
When those five hold, more questions are reassurance. When any fails, that is your next target — regardless of how much of the bank remains.
Worked example: a seven-day plan
An IMG SHO, five weeks from the FOP paper, low-confidence in development and safeguarding, adequate elsewhere. PassPaeds does the building and consolidating; iatroX supplies unseen transfer and measurement. No proprietary-algorithm claims are made about either.
- Day 1 (Mon): two 25-item PassPaeds topic blocks on development and safeguarding (the weak foundations). Code every miss; one action each.
- Day 2 (Tue): 20-item iatroX unseen block on the same two domains, timed — transfer practice. Compare with Monday.
- Day 3 (Wed): 40-item PassPaeds mixed block (foundations elsewhere are fine, so start mixed). Code misses.
- Day 4 (Thu): rest or review the week's error codes only.
- Day 5 (Fri): 30-item iatroX mixed unseen block, timed at one minute per item.
- Day 6 (Sat): targeted PassPaeds block on the weakest domain from Friday; transfer-check two misses on iatroX.
- Day 7 (Sun): review codes; carry the three most frequent into Monday.
By week five, the protected pool provides a clean, timed, unseen mock — the reading that actually tells you whether to sit or defer.
Notice what the week does not contain: it never re-answers a seen PassPaeds item to inflate a score, and it never treats completion as the target. The building happens on PassPaeds, where the explanatory notes and spaced-repetition tutor help; the measuring happens on unseen items, where recognition cannot flatter you. That separation is the whole point, and it is what keeps the final reading trustworthy.
Decision checklist: continue, supplement, switch or stop
- Continue PassPaeds while topic blocks are still lifting your weak domains and transfer scores rise with them.
- Supplement with unseen items for transfer practice from the start, and for a clean mock at the end.
- Switch to mixed timed blocks the moment every domain clears its floor, whatever your completion percentage.
- Stop using PassPaeds for measurement once your second pass is memory-driven; keep it as a reference only.
Every branch turns on a measured gap, not on finishing the bank or on the subscription you have paid for.
FAQ
Is PassPaeds enough for DCH on its own? As the engine for the FOP theory paper it can carry most of your written preparation, because it targets that exact paper, but a workflow built on one bank alone cannot prove transfer or give a clean unseen mock, so pairing it with an unseen source is what makes it sufficient for the theory; for the DCH as a whole it is not enough, because it does not address the Clinical.
Which DCH component does PassPaeds not reproduce well? The DCH Clinical. That OSCE-style circuit assesses development, communication, safeguarding and examination as observed behaviours, and a multiple-choice workflow — however well run — cannot rehearse a station, so plan supervised clinical practice and communication rehearsal separately and do not let a strong FOP score stand in for Clinical readiness.
How many PassPaeds questions should I complete per day for DCH? There is no official number; a sustainable pattern for a working doctor is roughly 40 to 60 items a day split into blocks, with the discipline placed on coding and acting on every miss rather than on raw volume. Two well-reviewed blocks beat four skimmed ones, and burnout from over-large daily targets is a common, avoidable cause of stalled progress.
When should I stop using PassPaeds and move to mixed mocks? Move to mixed mocks when every blueprint domain clears your floor and your errors are shifting from knowledge gaps to careless slips and pacing, even if the bank is not finished; if a second pass is climbing mainly because you recognise the items, that is the unambiguous signal to stop measuring on PassPaeds and switch to unseen mixed blocks.
How should I combine PassPaeds with iatroX without duplicating practice? Give them separate jobs: PassPaeds builds and consolidates a topic, iatroX supplies fresh unseen items that test the same principle so you measure transfer rather than replay a seen question. Keep a protected, unreviewed pool in each, and use iatroX for the timed mixed mock at the end so your final reading is genuinely unseen.
Editorial notes and references
Written by Dr Kolawole Tytler, NHS GP and founder of iatroX. Last checked 20 July 2026. PassPaeds question counts, access periods and prices are vendor-reported from passpaeds.com as of that date and differed between the vendor's own pages, so verify the current figures on the product page before relying on them. Disclosure: iatroX operates a competing UK question bank and clinical-knowledge platform; in this workflow it appears only as the unseen-transfer and measurement layer, and neither product prepares you for or replaces the DCH Clinical. Corrections are welcome via the feedback route on iatrox.com.
References: RCPCH DCH and theory examination guidance and sample papers (rcpch.ac.uk); PassPaeds product pages (passpaeds.com); iatroX, "Your Q-Bank Percentage Is Not Your Exam Score" (https://www.iatrox.com/blog/qbank-percentage-not-your-exam-score); iatroX, "The two-Q-bank rule" (https://www.iatrox.com/blog/the-two-q-bank-rule-how-to-add-a-second-bank-without-duplicating-questions-or-destroying-calibration); iatroX PassPaeds DCH coverage audit (https://www.iatrox.com/blog/passpaeds-for-dch-a-blueprint-by-blueprint-coverage-audit); iatroX comparison hub (https://www.iatrox.com/compare).