There is no single best DRCOG resource, and any article that names one is answering the wrong question. The right question is which resources fit your profile — how long you have, what you can spend, and where your specific weakness sits. This is a decision tree for the Diploma of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, built to route you to the smallest stack that closes your gap rather than the largest stack you can afford.
The DRCOG format, briefly
The DRCOG is one computer-based paper: 120 single-best-answer questions in three hours, each question worth two marks (240 marks total), with the pass mark set by modified Angoff. It is single-best-answer only in its current form — no EMQs — and covers women's health for GPs and other non-specialists: contraception and sexual health, early pregnancy, antenatal and intrapartum care, the postnatal period, common gynaecology (menstrual disorders, menopause), subfertility, urogynaecology and gynae-oncology awareness. For medicines detail — contraception, HRT, drugs in pregnancy — anchor to FSRH and NICE/CKS guidance and the SmPC/eMC.
Segment yourself first
Pick the row that describes you before you shop.
| Profile | Core need |
|---|---|
| First attempt, on schedule | Breadth, official calibration, one good bank |
| Retake | Diagnose the gap, then targeted volume and unseen re-testing |
| GP or doctor working in women's health | Efficiency; convert existing clinical knowledge into exam-format marks |
| Weak foundations | A teaching source before, or alongside, a bank |
| Strong knowledge, poor pacing | Timed mixed blocks, not more content |
| Strong on MCQs, weak on applied decisions | Case-style, application-heavy items, not recall drills |
The minimum viable stack
Most candidates need only four things, and often fewer: one primary question bank; the official RCOG calibration material; one teaching or reference source, but only where foundations are weak; and one measurement tool for unseen, timed practice. Adding a fifth resource usually adds duplication, not coverage.
Budget bands
Verify every figure on the day you buy — these are vendor-reported and dated 21 July 2026.
| Band | What it buys | Example resources (vendor-reported) |
|---|---|---|
| Free / low-cost | Foundation and unseen measurement | iatroX free UK-core questions; daily free questions from some banks; borrowing the Cambridge DRCOG Revision Guide |
| One premium resource | A single strong primary bank | Passmedicine DRCOG (over 1,000 SBAs; ~£20 for 2 months, ~£30 for 4 months); BMJ OnExamination DRCOG (350+ questions; ~£29.99/month to ~£139.99/12 months) |
| Comprehensive stack | Primary bank + official calibration + teaching + measurement | A premium bank, the RCOG eLearning DRCOG revision resource, the Cambridge revision guide, and iatroX for unseen measurement |
Time bands — and what to omit
The discipline here is subtraction. Say what you will not do, rather than overloading every plan.
- Under four weeks: one bank, mixed timed from the start, plus the RCOG official material for calibration. Omit the textbook and any second bank. Depth is a luxury you do not have; coverage and pacing are the priority.
- Four to twelve weeks: one primary bank worked domain by domain, a teaching source only for genuinely weak areas, official calibration in the last fortnight, and unseen mixed blocks in the final two weeks. Omit a second full bank.
- More than twelve weeks: you can add a teaching source and a second bank for breadth — but only if the first is genuinely exhausted, and only using the two-bank rule so you do not simply re-see the same questions. Omit nothing, but sequence carefully so you are not revising cold in week two.
Decision matrix: resource to best job
| Resource | Best job | Notes (vendor-reported, 21 July 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| RCOG eLearning DRCOG revision | Official calibration and blueprint fidelity | The exam body's own SBA bank with feedback; verify price on elearning.rcog.org.uk |
| Passmedicine DRCOG | High-volume first pass with integrated teaching notes | Over 1,000 SBAs plus a syllabus textbook; performance histogram against peers |
| BMJ OnExamination DRCOG | Volume with guideline-aligned mocks | 350+ questions; green-top-aligned; daily free questions |
| Cambridge DRCOG Revision Guide | Teaching and reference for weak foundations | Book format; practice questions |
| iatroX DRCOG bank | Unseen, timed measurement and adaptive retrieval | UK-focused adaptive bank; free UK-core; used to check transfer |
Cannibalisation guardrail
This hub deliberately does not reproduce full platform reviews. For the detailed evidence on any single product — question counts, interface, explanation quality — follow the narrow child audits and the vendor pages rather than duplicating them here. The job of this page is to route you; the job of a child audit is to prove the detail.
Three worked profiles
First attempt, ten weeks, moderate budget. Weeks 1–6: Passmedicine DRCOG, two domains a week, always in test mode. Weeks 7–8: RCOG official material for calibration; iatroX unseen blocks to find hidden gaps. Weeks 9–10: full timed mocks; re-test misses. Exit criterion: unseen accuracy comfortably above the standard across every domain, holding pace to time.
Retake, six weeks, higher budget. Start by diagnosing — an iatroX baseline plus your previous score breakdown to find the two or three domains that failed you. Weeks 1–4: targeted volume in those domains from your primary bank, plus the relevant NICE/CKS and FSRH guidance. Weeks 5–6: mixed timed blocks and official calibration. Exit criterion: your former weak domains now at or above your strong ones on unseen items.
Busy GP, twelve weeks, minimal budget. One premium bank plus iatroX free UK-core. Little and often — 20–30 items on most days around clinics — worked in mixed mode to exploit existing clinical knowledge. Official calibration in the last two weeks. Exit criterion: stable unseen performance and confident pacing, without having bought a stack you had no time to use.
Evidence hierarchy
Rank your sources deliberately: official RCOG material first for format and blueprint; primary guidance (NICE, CKS, FSRH, SmPC/eMC) for content and thresholds; vendor pages for product facts, treated as vendor-reported; and independent user experience last, for interface and usability only. Never let a vendor claim outrank the official blueprint.
When to add a second bank — and when not to
A second DRCOG bank is worth adding only when the first is genuinely exhausted — your domain floors are met on unseen items and your errors have gone quiet — and even then only under the two-Q-bank rule, so the new bank supplies fresh questions rather than re-showing you concepts you already own. Adding a second bank early, out of anxiety rather than evidence, usually just duplicates content and muddies your calibration, because a rising percentage now reflects two banks' worth of recognition instead of genuine gains. If in doubt, spend the money on official calibration and full mocks, not on a third source of the same recall questions. Our two-Q-bank rule sets out how to combine two banks without wrecking the signal you rely on.
Bottom line
Choose by profile, not by reputation. A first-timer on schedule needs one strong bank and the official material; a retake needs diagnosis then targeted volume; a busy GP needs efficiency and unseen measurement. iatroX sits in the measurement seat here — a fresh, timed baseline whose domain profile tells you which branch of this tree to follow — and it is one input to your decision, not the decision itself.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know whether I have covered the full DRCOG blueprint? Map your practice against the RCOG DRCOG curriculum domain by domain rather than against a single bank's topic list, and mark a domain covered only when you have met a floor of unseen, timed accuracy there — not when you have simply read the questions. A blueprint-coverage matrix makes the empty cells visible so you stop over-revising strengths.
Can one question bank be enough for DRCOG? For many well-prepared candidates one strong bank plus the RCOG official material is genuinely enough, because the DRCOG is a single SBA paper on a defined women's-health curriculum. The exception is the retake or weak-foundations candidate, who usually needs a teaching source alongside the bank and a source of unseen questions to confirm the gap has actually closed rather than just been re-read.
What should I measure instead of my overall Q-bank percentage for DRCOG? Measure unseen, timed accuracy by domain and your pacing to time, not the cumulative percentage across questions you have already reviewed, which mostly reflects recall of the bank. Our note on why your Q-bank percentage is not your exam score explains why the headline number drifts upward without your readiness improving.
When should I stop doing new DRCOG questions? Stop adding new questions when your unseen accuracy has plateaued above the standard in every domain and your remaining errors are careless rather than conceptual — beyond that point, spaced re-testing of prior misses and full timed mocks give you more than fresh volume does. Chasing 100% completion of a bank is not a readiness signal; stable unseen performance is.
Which DRCOG resource should I use for my weakest component? Match the tool to the deficit: for weak foundations in a domain, a teaching source such as the Cambridge revision guide or the relevant NICE/CKS and FSRH guidance; for weak applied decision-making, case-style items rather than recall drills; and for weak pacing, timed mixed blocks. Use a broad bank for coverage, but treat your weakest domain as a targeted project with its own resource, not as something extra general questions will fix.
Editorial notes and references
Written by Dr Kolawole Tytler, NHS GP and founder of iatroX. Last checked 21 July 2026. Product counts and prices are vendor-reported and change frequently — verify each on the product page and on the day you buy. Disclosure: iatroX operates a DRCOG question bank and therefore competes with the products listed here; this article aims to route candidates to the resource that best fits their profile, and confines iatroX's recommended role to unseen measurement and adaptive retrieval. Corrections are welcome via the feedback route on iatrox.com. References: RCOG — DRCOG diploma and DRCOG resources (rcog.org.uk); RCOG eLearning DRCOG revision (elearning.rcog.org.uk); Passmedicine DRCOG; BMJ OnExamination DRCOG; iatroX — "DRCOG Exam 2026: Complete Guide to Revision, Resources and the iatroX Adaptive Q-Bank"; iatroX — "Your Q-Bank Percentage Is Not Your Exam Score".