Most DRCOG candidates stop doing new questions when they run out of questions, not when they have covered the blueprint. Those are different things. This is the exam-level hub for a single decision: before you conclude that more new questions will not help, what must you be able to show? The answer is a checklist of evidence, not a timetable. It applies whichever bank you use, and it is deliberately measurable so that "I feel ready" is replaced by "here is what I have verified."
The direct answer: the minimum evidence of coverage
You have covered the DRCOG blueprint when you can produce five things at once: a blueprint coverage table showing attempted questions and first-attempt accuracy in every one of the seven RCOG modules; a first-attempt accuracy above your personal floor in each module, not just overall; a set of guidance-sensitive topics each checked against a dated NICE, CKS, SIGN, RCOG or SmPC/eMC source; at least one timed, unseen, mixed block sat under exam conditions with an accuracy and a pace you would accept; and a short list of high-confidence errors you have since closed. If any one of those is missing, you have not yet covered the blueprint, however high your bank percentage is. Everything below expands that into checklists you can tick.
Current exam snapshot
The DRCOG is one computer-based examination: 120 single best answer questions in three hours, each question worth two marks for a total of 240, with the pass mark set by a modified Angoff method by trained consultants and GPs against the standard expected of a competent GP trainee. It is currently SBA-only; there is no EMQ paper and no separate oral or clinical component. Pass marks and pass rates vary between sittings because standard setting accounts for paper difficulty. The authoritative references are the RCOG DRCOG syllabus and the RCOG's own sample questions and Official DRCOG Revision Resource; treat those as primary and any third-party "blueprint" as a secondary interpretation.
The syllabus is organised into seven modules: fertility regulation and sexual health; the couple with subfertility; the woman in early pregnancy; the pregnant woman; the peripartum woman and the neonate; urgent or emergency gynaecology; and non-urgent gynaecology. Women's health as a GP will meet it, in other words, from contraception to the acutely unwell woman.
Build a blueprint coverage table
The single most useful artefact in DRCOG revision is a coverage table you maintain yourself. Copy this structure and fill one row per module.
| Module (RCOG) | Official emphasis | Questions attempted | First-attempt accuracy | Last reviewed | Confidence (L/M/H) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Fertility regulation and sexual health | Contraception, STIs, cervical screening, TOP pathways | ||||
| 2. Subfertility | Causes, investigation, assisted reproduction principles | ||||
| 3. Early pregnancy | Miscarriage, ectopic, recurrent loss | ||||
| 4. The pregnant woman | Antenatal care, screening, medical disorders of pregnancy | ||||
| 5. Peripartum and neonate | Labour, obstetric emergencies, postnatal and neonatal check | ||||
| 6. Urgent/emergency gynaecology | Acute pelvic pain, PMB, suspected malignancy | ||||
| 7. Non-urgent gynaecology | Menstrual disorders, menopause, prolapse, procedures |
The columns matter more than the rows. "Questions attempted" without "first-attempt accuracy" tells you nothing about coverage, and "last reviewed" is what catches the module you learned in week one and never revisited. A module can look complete on volume and still be your weakest on accuracy.
Ten domain-level blind spots self-selected practice tends to hide
Self-selected practice over-samples what you enjoy and under-samples what you avoid. These ten areas are the ones most likely to remain hidden until the exam. Each should be reviewed by a clinician familiar with the DRCOG before you consider a topic closed.
- Contraception in complex situations (UKMEC categories, drug interactions, the perimenopausal woman).
- Early pregnancy assessment and the ruptured ectopic that does not read like the textbook.
- Antenatal screening choices and how to counsel around them, not just recall the thresholds.
- Medical disorders of pregnancy (hypertension, diabetes, thyroid, venous thromboembolism risk).
- Obstetric emergencies and the first management step under time pressure.
- The postnatal period, including mental health and safeguarding.
- Menstrual disorders and heavy menstrual bleeding pathways in primary care.
- Menopause and hormone replacement decision-making, including contraindications.
- Gynaecological cancer red flags and referral thresholds.
- Sexual health, safeguarding and consent, including the young person.
If you cannot immediately say how confident you are in each, that uncertainty is the blind spot.
Format checklist: deliberate practice for the things the SBA embeds
- I have practised applying current NICE/CKS and RCOG guidance, not just recalling isolated facts.
- I have worked through items that embed an image, chart or trace (for example a CTG description, an ultrasound finding or a growth-related chart) rather than avoiding them.
- I have rehearsed primary-care women's health reasoning — what a GP does with an ambiguous presentation — not only secondary-care management.
- I have practised calculations and thresholds (dating, risk figures, dosing checked against the SmPC/eMC) to the point of automaticity.
- I have checked that I can read a long stem and extract the single decision it is testing under time pressure.
Interpretation checklist
DRCOG stems can carry data as well as prose. Confirm you can interpret, at speed: ultrasound and early-pregnancy findings; CTG descriptions; basic laboratory trends (haemoglobin, ferritin, thyroid function, beta-hCG dynamics); and simple statistics or risk figures if a stem quotes a screening result. You do not need radiologist-level skill; you need to convert the embedded data into the next correct action without losing time.
Recency checklist
- I have listed the guidance-sensitive topics for DRCOG (contraception, HRT, hypertension in pregnancy, screening, gynaecological referral thresholds).
- For each, I have recorded the source (NICE, CKS, SIGN, RCOG, SmPC/eMC) and the date I last checked it.
- I have confirmed the jurisdiction is UK, because guidance differs between countries and the DRCOG is a UK diploma.
- I have re-checked anything I first learned more than three months ago.
Recording the date and source turns "I think this is current" into an auditable claim, which is the whole point of a content-gap check.
Performance checklist
- I have sat at least one timed, unseen, mixed block under exam conditions (three hours, or a scaled equivalent, no interruptions).
- My pace leaves time to review flagged items — roughly one and a half minutes per question is the natural budget for 120 questions in three hours.
- I have identified my high-confidence errors — the items I was sure of and got wrong — because those are the most dangerous and the most correctable.
- I have evidence of retention: a topic I scored well on a month ago still scores well now.
- I have calibrated against official material — the RCOG sample questions or Official DRCOG Revision Resource — not only against third-party banks.
Stop or continue: a decision tree
Use the measured gap, not your mood, to choose the next action.
- If a module is below your floor on accuracy → continue new questions, but only in that module.
- If every module is above floor but you have not sat an unseen timed block → stop adding new questions and simulate; you need a performance reading, not more volume.
- If you passed an unseen timed block but pace was the problem → practise timed mixed blocks, not new topics.
- If you have high-confidence errors clustered in one area → seek teaching or a focused read of the primary guidance; more questions alone will not fix a wrong mental model.
- If coverage, accuracy, pace and retention all clear → consolidate and rest; doing more new questions past this point is reassurance, not progress.
Three mistakes this checklist is designed to stop
The first mistake is treating volume as coverage. A candidate who has attempted 1,500 questions assumes the blueprint is covered, but the coverage table routinely shows one or two modules sitting well below the rest — often subfertility, or the parts of gynaecology that feel less like a GP's daily work. Volume hides the imbalance; the table exposes it.
The second mistake is trusting a single overall percentage. An average of 75% can contain a 62% module and an 86% module, and it is the 62% that will cost you marks, because the exam samples every module rather than averaging your comfort. The per-module accuracy column exists precisely to break that average open before the exam does it for you.
The third mistake is confusing a familiar score with a ready one. After one pass of any bank, your rising percentage is increasingly a memory of the items rather than a measure of the blueprint, and only a genuinely unseen, timed block can tell the two apart. Candidates who skip the unseen block and rely on a second-pass score are, in effect, marking their own memory — which is why the checklist forces an unseen reading as non-negotiable.
Downloadable one-page checklist
Copy this into a single page and keep it beside your revision. It is the artefact this article is built around.
- Coverage table complete for all 7 RCOG modules (attempted, first-attempt accuracy, last reviewed, confidence).
- Every module above my personal accuracy floor.
- Ten blind-spot domains each reviewed and rated.
- Guidance-sensitive topics each checked against a dated UK source.
- At least one timed, unseen, mixed block sat under exam conditions.
- Pace acceptable at roughly 90 seconds per item.
- High-confidence errors listed and closed.
- Retention confirmed on previously strong topics.
- Calibrated against official RCOG material.
Worked example (invented data)
A GP trainee, four weeks out, has completed 1,400 questions across two banks and sits at 74% overall. That single number hides everything. Her coverage table shows module 4 (the pregnant woman) at 81% first-attempt but module 2 (subfertility) at 58% and module 6 (urgent gynaecology) at 63%. Her last-reviewed column shows module 1 was last touched nine weeks ago. She has never sat a full timed unseen block.
The checklist reads this cleanly: continue new questions only in modules 2 and 6; refresh module 1 because retention is unproven; and, before doing anything else, sit one timed unseen mixed block, because a 74% average with two weak modules and no timed data is not evidence of readiness. Two weeks later, with modules 2 and 6 lifted above her floor and one clean timed block behind her, the same 74% would mean something entirely different.
The lesson generalises. Two candidates can share an identical headline percentage and be weeks apart in readiness, because the number says nothing about distribution, recency or performance under timed, unseen conditions. This checklist is what converts a single reassuring figure into an honest map of what remains — and, just as importantly, it tells you when to stop, because doing more new questions once every box is ticked is motion without progress. Print it, keep it beside your revision, and let a ticked box, not a feeling, decide your next action.
FAQ
How do I know whether I have covered the full DRCOG blueprint? You know when your coverage table shows attempted questions and above-floor first-attempt accuracy in all seven RCOG modules, each guidance-sensitive topic checked against a dated UK source, and at least one timed unseen block completed to an accuracy and pace you would accept — not when you have simply finished a bank. Coverage is a property of the blueprint, not of any one product's question list.
Can one question bank be enough for DRCOG? One bank can teach the blueprint, but a single bank cannot both teach you and give you a clean unseen measurement, because once you have worked through it your rising score is partly memory of the items; the practical answer is that one bank is enough for learning only if you protect a genuinely unseen pool or add a second source for confirmation. Enough for learning and enough for measurement are two different questions.
What should I measure instead of my overall Q-bank percentage for DRCOG? Measure per-module first-attempt accuracy, unseen timed-block accuracy, pace, retention over weeks, and your high-confidence error rate; the overall percentage averages away exactly the module-level and calibration information you need. As the canonical caveat puts it, your Q-bank percentage is not your exam score, and treating it as one is the commonest self-deception in exam preparation.
When should I stop doing new DRCOG questions? Stop when every module is above your floor, you have passed at least one timed unseen block at an acceptable pace, your retention holds on previously strong topics, and your remaining errors are careless rather than knowledge gaps; past that point, new questions are reassurance rather than progress, and consolidation or rest is the higher-value activity.
Which DRCOG resource should I use for my weakest component? Use the resource that matches the deficit the checklist exposes: for a knowledge gap in a specific module, targeted questions plus the primary NICE/CKS or RCOG guidance; for a calibration gap, the official RCOG sample material; and for a pace or transfer gap, timed unseen mixed blocks such as a fresh iatroX baseline rather than more of the bank you already know.
Editorial notes and references
Written by Dr Kolawole Tytler, NHS GP and founder of iatroX. Last checked 20 July 2026. Exam-format facts are drawn from the RCOG DRCOG format and syllabus pages; any product figures mentioned are vendor-reported as of that date and should be re-verified before you rely on them. Disclosure: iatroX operates a competing UK question bank; this checklist is deliberately vendor-neutral, and iatroX appears only as one worked source of an unseen timed baseline, a job the checklist requires of any product. Corrections are welcome via the feedback route on iatrox.com.
References: RCOG, DRCOG format and pass mark (rcog.org.uk); RCOG, DRCOG syllabus (rcog.org.uk); RCOG, prepare for the DRCOG and Official DRCOG Revision Resource (rcog.org.uk / elearning.rcog.org.uk); NICE and CKS (nice.org.uk); iatroX, "Your Q-Bank Percentage Is Not Your Exam Score" (https://www.iatrox.com/blog/qbank-percentage-not-your-exam-score); iatroX, "Question-bank completion is not coverage" (https://www.iatrox.com/blog/question-bank-completion-is-not-coverage-how-to-build-a-blueprint-coverage-matrix-for-any-medical-exam); iatroX comparison hub (https://www.iatrox.com/compare).