SMLE vs DHA vs Qatar GP Exam: Format, Pass Mark and Shared Books

Many Indian doctors aiming at the Gulf ask which licence exam to sit first. The answer depends on where you want to work — each licence is issued by its own regulator — but the exams are close enough in content that preparation carries across. This guide lines up the Saudi SMLE, the Dubai Health Authority's General Practice exam, Qatar's GP qualifying exam and Oman's, using each regulator's own documents where they exist.

SMLE Blueprint 2026; DHA CBT guideline (Sep 2026); Qatar DHP.

At about 72 seconds a question — a little less for DHA — the three exams ask for much the same working speed. The SMLE is simply longer — four hours of testing against three — and its 30-minute break is the only rest, so stamina matters more. A candidate who finishes DHA-style mocks comfortably but fades in the fourth hour will find the SMLE harder than the per-question pace suggests.

DHA and Qatar publish a percentage pass mark (60%). The SMLE publishes 560 on a 200–800 scale, set by standard-setting and applied through equating, so harder and easier forms lead to the same standard. There is no official percentage for 560 and it cannot be derived by dividing by 800. What it means in practice: you cannot aim for "60% correct" on the SMLE, and a score from a coaching mock is only a rough guide. DHA's pass/fail result, meanwhile, never tells you your score — only whether you passed.

The four exams report and repeat differently, and that changes how you should plan. The SMLE gives a scaled score and a feedback report comparing you with other candidates, but only 2–6 weeks after the testing window closes — so a result from an October sitting may not arrive until December. The DHA exam reports only pass or fail and does not share the score, which makes it hard to know how far you missed by. Qatar allows five consecutive attempts whatever the gap between them, and says nothing on its page about how the result is reported.

Three of the four exams run at Prometric centres, so the experience of the day is similar: identification checks, a locker for your belongings, a computer-based test with a timer on screen. The SMLE's rules, from its blueprint, are the most detailed: centres open at 7:30 a.m., arriving more than 30 minutes late counts as an attempt, and your passport name must match the scheduling permit exactly. DHA notes that its three hours include registration and the introduction, so the time spent answering is a little less than the headline. Oman's exams run through Pearson VUE, which has its own check-in rules — read them from Pearson VUE, not from a Prometric guide.

Because the DHA list is drawn almost entirely from the SMLE's, a doctor keeping both options open can prepare once. The SMLE is the longer exam and has the explicit blueprint, so preparing to its 30/25/25/20 weights covers the DHA areas too; the DHA adds named areas — dermatology, ENT, eye, psychiatry, family-medicine concepts — that the SMLE covers more thinly under other headings, and those deserve a final pass before a DHA sitting. What does not carry across is paperwork: each regulator runs its own verification, eligibility and licensing, and each charges its own fees.

A sensible order for someone unsure where they will work is the one whose result is most useful beyond the licence: the SMLE, because its score also counts for Saudi residency and it tells you how far above or below the standard you were. That is our suggestion, not a rule — if you already have a job offer in Dubai or Doha, sit that regulator's exam first.