General Practice Prometric Exam (GEN5331): The Complete GCC Guide for 2026

Most doctors who move to the Gulf will tell you the same thing: the medicine was never the hard part. The hard part was a three-hour multiple-choice paper sat in a windowless room in a Prometric centre, taken months after the last time anyone asked them to recall the empirical antibiotic for a four-year-old with otitis media.

If you are a general practitioner planning to work in the GCC, this paper is the gate. Our broader guide to the Prometric exam covers the system as a whole; this article is about the general practice paper specifically — what it asks, where candidates lose marks they should never have lost, and how to prepare so that you only have to do this once.

What the Prometric exam actually is

Prometric runs exams for accountants and IT engineers too. The Gulf health authorities simply use its centres and its software to deliver their licensing papers. That distinction matters more than it sounds: the questions come from the health authority, not from Prometric, and the experience of sitting the exam is identical whether your centre is in Karachi, Kochi, Cairo or Dubai.

For general practitioners the paper carries an exam code, and across most authorities the general practice bank sits under GEN5331. What you get is a computer-based, single-best-answer test. No essays, no vivas, no OSCE. Roughly 150 questions, about three hours on the clock, and a pass mark that in most authorities lands near 60% — the authority-by-authority pass scores are worth checking for your own case.

There is no negative marking. That has one very practical consequence: never leave a question blank. A guess is worth more than a gap, always.

On the numbers below. Question counts, time limits and pass marks are set by each authority and they do get revised, usually without announcement. The figures here reflect what candidates were seeing in 2026. Confirm against your authority’s own portal before you pay a fee.

Seven authorities, one specialty, seven sets of rules

“GCC licensing” is not one system. It is seven, each with its own portal, its own document list and its own idea of what a valid CV looks like.

The good news, and it is genuinely good news: the clinical content overlaps enormously. A candidate who has properly worked through a general practice question bank is prepared for the DHA paper, the SCFHS paper and the QCHP paper alike. What differs between countries is process and paperwork, not whether you know how to manage a hypertensive diabetic with an eGFR of 45.

The paperwork comes before the exam, not after

You do not book the exam and then sort out documents. You sort out documents, wait, receive an eligibility letter, and only then are you allowed to book.

1. DataFlow. Every GCC authority requires primary source verification — your degree, licence and experience certificates checked directly with the institutions that issued them. Not a notarised copy: DataFlow writes to your university and your former employers. Budget several weeks, sometimes longer if a hospital you left in 2016 is slow to answer email. Our complete DataFlow guide covers timelines, cost and the usual rejection reasons.
2. Application to the authority. Uploaded through Sheryan, Mumaris Plus, the DOH portal or whichever system applies to you.
3. Eligibility letter. Once your file clears, you receive permission to test. In DHA’s case this letter has typically carried a one-year shelf life — miss the window and you start again.
4. Booking with Prometric. Only now do you choose a centre, a date and pay the exam fee.
5. The exam. Results usually within a couple of weeks, sometimes faster.

The practical takeaway: start DataFlow and start studying on the same day. Do not treat them as sequential. Candidates who wait for the eligibility letter before opening a book end up cramming into whatever slot the centre has free.

What the general practice paper actually asks

This is the single biggest misunderstanding we see. It is not a knowledge test. It is a decision test.

Very few questions ask “what is the mechanism of action of metformin”. Most give you a clinical vignette — a 58-year-old woman, three weeks of symptoms, these observations, this result — and then ask for the most appropriate next step. You will frequently find that three of the five options are things a reasonable doctor might do. Only one is the best first move.

That is the skill being examined, and you build it by doing hundreds of questions, not by re-reading a textbook chapter. If you have never seen the format, our sample questions walkthrough shows what a real stem looks like.

The content spread is roughly what you would expect from a busy primary care clinic:

• Chronic disease management — diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidaemia, asthma, COPD, thyroid. The largest single block, and where the marks are.
• Paediatrics — fevers, rashes, growth and development, immunisation schedules, the sick child you must not send home.
• Women’s health — contraception, antenatal care, abnormal bleeding, menopause, common gynaecological presentations.
• Emergency and acute presentations — chest pain, breathlessness, the red flags that mean referral rather than reassurance.
• Psychiatry — depression, anxiety, first-line pharmacology, risk assessment.
• Dermatology, ENT and ophthalmology — small in volume, easy marks if you have revised, brutal if you have not.
• Epidemiology, screening and evidence — sensitivity, specificity, NNT, study design. Doctors routinely skip this and routinely regret it.

If you are short on time, weight your revision by yield: chronic disease and paediatrics first, epidemiology and dermatology last — but never zero.

Why good doctors fail this exam

They studied from recalled questions with no explanations

Free “recall” files circulate on WhatsApp constantly. Some of those questions are real. Many are misremembered, several have the wrong answer marked, and almost none explain why. Learning a wrong answer confidently is worse than not studying the topic at all.

They ran out of time

Around 150 questions in roughly 180 minutes gives you a little over a minute each. That is comfortable — until you spend six minutes on question 12. If a question has not resolved itself in ninety seconds, flag it, answer something, move on. Nobody has ever failed because of the question they guessed. Plenty have failed because of the forty questions they never reached.

They never sat a full mock

Thirty questions on a phone during a coffee break is practice. It is not preparation. Sitting 150 questions in one block, timed, with no phone, is a different physical experience — and the first time you do it should not be on exam day.

They revised topics instead of tracking weaknesses

Most people revise what they already enjoy. Chapter-level scoring exists precisely so you can see, in writing, that you are at 82% in cardiology and 41% in paediatric dermatology, and then spend your evenings where it hurts. There is more on this in our notes on practising MCQs the right way.

An eight-week plan that survives a full-time job

Assume 90 focused minutes on a weekday and a longer block at the weekend. That is enough.

• Weeks 1–2 — diagnose yourself. Work across the whole syllabus without worrying about the score. You are producing a map of what you do not know.
• Weeks 3–5 — the heavy lifting. Chapter-wise practice, in order, reading every explanation — including for the ones you got right. Keep one page of notes for facts that refuse to stick: doses, cut-offs, immunisation ages.
• Week 6 — first full mock. Timed, 150 questions, one sitting, ideally at the time of day your real exam is booked. Then review it properly. The review is worth more than the mock.
• Week 7 — targeted repair. Redo only your weakest chapters. This is where unlimited retries actually earn their keep.
• Week 8 — second mock, then taper. One more full paper early in the week, then light revision of your one-page notes. Do not learn new material in the final three days. Sleep is a higher-yield intervention than a new textbook.

The day itself

Small things, but they cost people exams. Carry the passport you registered with — not a copy, not a different passport, and not one that expired last month. Arrive early enough to absorb a traffic problem. Expect security checks, lockers and no personal items in the room; you will be given a marker and a laminated sheet rather than paper. The screen has a flag function, so use it from question one. And when you finish, resist the temptation to reconstruct the paper with the candidate next to you in the car park. It tells you nothing and it ruins your evening.

After you pass

The exam result is not a licence. It is one component of a licensing file that also needs your verified documents, in most cases an employer or sponsor, and the authority’s final approval. Results carry a validity window — DHA’s has typically run to five years — so passing early and job-hunting afterwards is a perfectly sensible strategy, and one we would generally recommend over the reverse.

If you hold a US board certification, a UK CCT, or an Australian, New Zealand or Canadian fellowship, check the exemption criteria before you book anything. Several authorities will waive the exam entirely for those credentials. It is a short email to ask, and occasionally it saves someone three months of revision.

Frequently asked questions

What is the General Practice Prometric exam?

It is the computer-based multiple-choice licensing exam that GCC health authorities require general practitioners to pass before they can be licensed. It is delivered at Prometric test centres, but the questions and the pass standard are set by the health authority — DHA, MOH, DOH, SCFHS, QCHP, NHRA or OMSB.

How many questions are in the GP Prometric exam, and how long is it?

Most GCC authorities use a paper of around 150 single-best-answer questions with roughly three hours allowed. There is no negative marking, so every question should be answered. Confirm the current figures on your authority’s portal before booking.

What is the passing score for the general practice exam?

The pass mark generally sits around 60%, though each authority sets its own standard and some report results only as pass or fail rather than as a numerical score.

Is one question bank enough for DHA, MOH, SCFHS and the rest?

Yes, for the clinical content. The general practice syllabus overlaps heavily across the seven authorities, so a well-built GP bank prepares you for any of them. What differs between countries is the application process and documentation, not the medicine.

Do I need DataFlow before I can sit the exam?

In almost all cases, yes. Primary source verification of your degree, licence and experience must clear before the authority issues an eligibility letter, and you cannot book the exam without it. Start it early — it commonly takes several weeks.

How long should I study for the Prometric exam?

Six to eight weeks of consistent daily practice is realistic for a working doctor. What matters far more than total hours is question volume with explanations, plus at least one full-length timed mock before exam day.

Can I retake the exam if I fail?

Yes, though attempts are limited. DHA has historically permitted three attempts before a formal re-evaluation process, and other authorities apply their own caps and waiting periods between sittings. Check the rules for your authority — and plan on passing first time.

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First Medical Consultancy — part of Care Bridge HR Consultancy & Recruitment — prepares healthcare professionals for GCC licensing exams and supports them through DataFlow and the licensing process. Explore the General Practice Prometric question bank.

This article is general guidance. Exam formats, fees and eligibility rules are set by the individual health authorities and change from time to time — always verify current requirements on the official portal before applying or paying any fee.