Advanced Care Paramedic License GCC 2026: ACP7002

ACP7002 is the Dubai Health Authority exam code for the Advanced Care Paramedic title. The paper is 150 single best answer questions in three hours, and the pass mark is 60 percent, which means 90 correct answers. Those numbers are the same as the paramedic paper, PMD7003, and that is exactly where candidates go wrong. The two exams share a format and a pass mark but not a scope, and the advanced care paper is written at the top of the scene based ladder, one step below critical care transport.

This guide explains what the advanced care paramedic exam is actually testing, how it differs from the paramedic paper below it and the critical care paper above it, which GCC regulators license the title, and how to prepare when no topic blueprint has been published.

The paper in numbers

Item	ACP7002
Exam code	ACP7002 (DHA allied health listing)
Questions	150 multiple choice, single best answer
Duration	3 hours, about 72 seconds per question
Pass mark	60 percent, 90 correct answers
Published blueprint	None. Questions follow the regulator's scope of practice for the advanced care paramedic role
Delivery	Prometric for DHA, MOHAP and the other Prometric based regulators. DOH Abu Dhabi uses Pearson VUE
FMC practice bank	425 explained questions in 17 chapters, plus three timed 150 question mock papers

No blueprint means the scope document is the syllabus

Most allied health papers on the DHA list come with a published list of coverage areas and weightings. ACP7002 does not. There is no domain list to revise against, so the only honest description of the syllabus is the regulator's own scope of practice for the advanced care paramedic grade.

That changes how you should prepare. In the UAE, the emergency medical services ladder is defined in five grades: emergency medical responder, emergency medical technician, paramedic, advanced care paramedic and critical care paramedic. The Department of Health Abu Dhabi publishes a Scope of Practice for Emergency Medical Services Professionals that sets out what each grade may do. Read the current version of that document before you open a question bank, because the examiner is testing whether you know where your grade's authority starts and stops.

The practical consequence is that a question is rarely asking "what is the right treatment" in the abstract. It is asking what the right treatment is for an advanced care paramedic, under medical direction, on scene or during primary transport, with the equipment and drug list that grade carries. A clinically correct answer that belongs to a different grade is a wrong answer on this paper.

What separates the advanced care paper from the paramedic paper

If you already hold a paramedic licence, the temptation is to revise the paramedic syllabus harder. That is the wrong direction. The advanced care grade exists because there are interventions and decisions a paramedic is not authorised to make alone, and the exam concentrates on those.

Expect the weight to fall on four things.

Pharmacology with calculation. The advanced care drug list is longer than the paramedic list, and the questions assume you can work out a dose from a weight, a concentration and a rate under time pressure. Dosing arithmetic is where otherwise strong candidates drop marks, because they revise the drugs and not the maths.

Cardiac interpretation. Rhythm recognition alone is paramedic level. The advanced care paper expects you to read a 12 lead, recognise an ST elevation pattern, decide on a destination and justify it. Several questions will describe a tracing in words rather than show it, so you need to know the criteria, not just the picture.

Advanced airway and ventilation decisions. The questions go beyond placing a device. They ask when to escalate, when not to, and what to do when the first plan fails. Whether a given technique sits inside the advanced care scope or above it in critical care is a point you must take from the regulator's scope document, not from your home country's practice.

Special populations. Paediatric, obstetric and geriatric presentations appear in proportion to how often they cause harm in practice, which is more often than their share of call volume suggests.

What separates it from the critical care paper

The grade above, critical care paramedic (CCP7001), is a transport specialist who moves patients who are already on ventilators and infusions between facilities. The advanced care paramedic is still a scene clinician. If you find yourself answering a question with ventilator settings or transport sedation regimes, you have climbed one grade too far. Our guide to the critical care paper covers that scope separately.

The simplest test when you are stuck between two answers: the advanced care answer is the one that stabilises and moves the patient to definitive care. The critical care answer is the one that maintains definitive care in a vehicle. ACP7002 wants the first.

Where candidates lose marks

• Answering as a paramedic. Choosing the conservative, basic life support option when the scope allows and the scenario demands an advanced intervention.
• Answering as a critical care paramedic. Reaching for interventions that belong to the transport grade or to the receiving physician.
• Dose arithmetic. Correct drug, wrong number. Practise conversions between milligrams, micrograms, millilitres and rates until they are automatic.
• Home country protocols. Candidates trained in one national system often answer from their own service's standing orders. The paper follows the regulator's scope, which may be narrower or wider than what you did at home.
• Time. Seventy two seconds per question is enough only if you do not reread. Flag and move on.

Which regulator licenses the title

ACP7002 is a DHA code. Each GCC regulator classifies the EMS ladder in its own way, and the title you are assessed for depends on your qualification and documented experience, not on the title your home employer gave you.

• DHA (Dubai): file on Sheryan, DataFlow verification, eligibility ID, Prometric exam, licence. The practical details are in our DHA licensing guide.
• DOH (Abu Dhabi): same ladder of five grades, but the exam is delivered by Pearson VUE after approval through TAMM, not by Prometric. Read our DOH Pearson VUE guide before you book anything.
• MOHAP (Northern Emirates): Prometric delivered, see the MOHAP guide.
• SCFHS (Saudi Arabia): the SCFHS classification exam list names Paramedics Specialist, Paramedic Science Technician and Emergency Medical Technician Basic papers. An advanced care title from the UAE is classified into one of those tiers on the strength of your degree and experience, which you should confirm with SCFHS or through an eligibility check before relying on a title transfer. Our SCFHS guide explains classification.

Requirements differ by authority, qualification and experience. Where a fee, timeline or rule is quoted on this page it is indicative and should be confirmed against the regulator's current published requirements.

Documents that decide the timeline

The exam is rarely the slow part. DataFlow primary source verification of your degree, your registration and your experience letters is the longest single step, typically four to eight weeks depending on how quickly your university and previous employers respond. Experience letters must cover every period since qualification with dates, role and employer contact details. A Good Standing Certificate from your current regulator must still be within six months of validity when DHA reads it, not when you ordered it.

For an advanced care paramedic specifically, keep your course completion evidence for the advanced grade separate from your base paramedic qualification. Regulators assess the grade from the document that proves it, and a candidate who uploads only the base qualification is assessed as a paramedic.

See the DataFlow verification guide and the Good Standing Certificate guide for the document detail. Our DHA exam dates page covers slot availability.

A preparation plan built around the scope document

Week 1. Read the regulator's EMS scope of practice end to end and write your own one page summary of what the advanced care grade may do that the paramedic grade may not, and what it may not do that critical care may. That page is your blueprint.

Weeks 2 and 3. Work the ACP7002 practice bank chapter by chapter, reading the explanation on every question you got right as well as every one you got wrong. Keep a running list of drugs with dose, route and the calculation you used.

Week 4. Cardiac interpretation and special populations only. These are the areas where revision time converts most directly into marks.

Week 5. Sit the three timed mock papers on three separate days. The target is not 60 percent, it is 70 percent with margin, because exam day questions you have never seen will cost you some of that margin.

Week 6. Review every mock question you got wrong against the scope summary from week 1. Most errors will be grade errors, not knowledge errors.

After the pass

A DHA result is available at the test centre and the licence is normally issued within a few working days. The licence is activated by an employer, so a passed exam without a facility sponsor is a credential, not a job. Advanced care paramedics are hired by ambulance services, event medical providers and hospital emergency departments across the UAE, and the FMC talent pool puts a licensed or exam ready candidate in front of those employers.

Frequently asked questions

Is ACP7002 harder than PMD7003?

The format and pass mark are identical. The content is written one grade higher, so a paramedic who passes PMD7003 comfortably can still fail ACP7002 by answering at paramedic level. Treat it as a different exam, not a harder version of the same one.

Can I sit the advanced care paper if I am licensed as a paramedic in my home country?

Only if your qualification and documented experience meet the regulator's requirement for the advanced care grade. The title is assessed from your documents during DataFlow and eligibility review, not chosen by you at booking. If you are unsure which grade you qualify for, run an eligibility check before you pay for verification.

Does DOH Abu Dhabi use the same ACP7002 paper?

DOH uses the same five grade EMS ladder but delivers its exams through Pearson VUE, not Prometric, with booking after approval through TAMM. The scope being tested is comparable. The booking route and test platform are not.

How long does the whole process take?

From opening the file to a licence in hand, eight to sixteen weeks is typical for DHA, with DataFlow verification the longest step. Candidates whose documents are complete on day one finish at the short end of that range.

Next steps

Start with the ACP7002 practice bank, where the first chapter is free. If you are not sure whether you will be assessed as a paramedic or an advanced care paramedic, the eligibility check answers that before you spend money on verification. Candidates who are already licensed can join the talent pool to be put forward for UAE and GCC vacancies.

Related reading: Paramedic License in the GCC: PMD7003, EMT License in the GCC: EMT7004, Prometric pass marks by authority.

References and official sources

• Department of Health Abu Dhabi, Scope of Practice for Emergency Medical Services Professionals (doh.gov.ae).
• Dubai Health Authority, Sheryan professional licensing portal (dha.gov.ae).
• Saudi Commission for Health Specialties, classification exams list (scfhs.org.sa).
• DataFlow Group, primary source verification (dataflowgroup.com).