DHA Exam Preparation: A 6-Week Study Plan for Doctors Heading to Dubai

A 6-week DHA exam study plan for General Practitioners from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Egypt and other countries, built on the official DHA topic list and 150-question format.

The DHA licensing exam is the gate to practising as a General Practitioner in Dubai. Doctors from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Egypt, Sudan and many other countries sit the same computer-based exam at Prometric centres. This plan covers 6 weeks at around 2 hours a day.

What you are preparing for

150 MCQs in 3 hours for General Practice (exam code GEN5331), with the time including check-in and the tutorial.
Pass score 60%. DHA tells you only Pass or Fail in your Sheryan account; the score itself is not shared.
Official coverage: chronic diseases, acute and common medical problems, common pediatric problems, women's health, emergency problems, common surgical problems, common psychiatric problems, common eye and ENT problems, common dermatology problems, basic epidemiology and EBM, family medicine concepts, and screening and periodic health examination.

Notice that the list is built around primary care, not specialist depth. See our DHA General Practitioner exam guide for the full structure.

The 6-week plan

Week	Topics
1	Chronic disease: diabetes, hypertension, asthma/COPD, CKD, thyroid, lipids
2	Acute and common medical problems: chest pain, abdominal pain, infections, anaemia, headache
3	Women's health and pediatrics: antenatal care, contraception, menopause; immunisation, growth, common childhood illness
4	Emergency, surgical, psychiatry, eye/ENT and skin problems
5	Epidemiology, EBM, screening, preventive care, family medicine concepts, then mixed blocks
6	Two full 150-question timed practice sessions, then review every miss

Daily routine

Warm up with 10 questions from yesterday's misses.
Do 40 to 50 new questions in Tutor mode, reading each explanation.
Write one line for each miss. Re-read them at the end of the week.

Study with the right sources

DHA's own reference list for General Practice includes Toronto Notes, Davidson's Principles and Practice of Medicine, Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine (19th ed.), Kumar and Clark's Clinical Medicine, Hacker and Moore's Essentials of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Gynaecology by Ten Teachers, Pediatrics for Medical Students and Nelson Essentials of Pediatrics. Use them to look up a topic, and use questions to learn how it is tested.

Before you book

DHA's exam costs USD 280 per attempt for doctors; see the DHA exam fee guide and the DHA exam booking guide. Do not book until your timed blocks are reliably above 70%, which gives you a buffer over the 60% pass mark.

Sample questions

1. A 41-year-old man develops itchy, polygonal, violaceous papules on the flexor aspect of his forearms. Some of these papules have coalesced to form plaques. What is the most likely diagnosis?

A) Lichen planus ✅
B) Scabies
C) Lichen sclerosus
D) Morphea
E) Psoriasis

Itchy polygonal violaceous papules on the flexor forearms are lichen planus.

2. A 25-year-old man with a family history of multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 is reviewed in clinic. What is the single most useful investigation to monitor such patients?

A) Short synacthen test
B) Urinary catecholamines
C) Serum calcium ✅
D) Thyroid function tests
E) Serum prolactin

Serum calcium is the most useful screening test for MEN type 1 (parathyroid hyperplasia).

3. A 45-year-old man presents to the Emergency Department due to severe pain in the perineal area over the past 6 hours. On examination the skin is cellulitic, extremely tender and haemorrhagic bullae are seen. What is the most appropriate management?

A) Surgical debridement ✅
B) IV cefuroxime and metronidazole
C) IV flucloxacillin and benzylpenicillin
D) Plasma exchange
E) Urgent microscopy of wound swab

Necrotising fasciitis needs urgent surgical debridement as the single most important step.

4. A 40-year-old woman presents with recurrent episode of vertigo associated with a feeling or 'fullness' and 'pressure' in her ears. She thinks her hearing is worse during the attacks. Clinical examination is unremarkable. What is the most likely diagnosis?

A) Meniere's disease ✅
B) Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo
C) Acoustic neuroma
D) Cholesteatoma
E) Somatisation

Recurrent vertigo with aural fullness and fluctuating hearing is Meniere's disease.

Practise with the DHA QBank, which includes timed mock exams. Your first 20 questions are free.

Exam rules change. Everything above comes from the DHA Healthcare Professional Licensing Assessment Guideline (CBT); confirm the current version on the official portal before you book or pay.