DHA exam 2026: pass marks, fees and format

The DHA exam is a computer-based assessment of the knowledge you need to practise safely in Dubai, set separately for each profession and title. DHA states that every exam's content is developed and validated by subject matter experts and updated frequently, so the paper you sit is written for your title - a Registered Nurse, a Pharmacist and a Specialist Cardiologist each sit a different exam with its own code.

Every question is multiple choice, and the paper follows your profession's published blueprint. Our question-bank pages set out each blueprint domain by domain, so you can see exactly what you are expected to know before you start revising.

The same profession can have more than one exam, and the pass marks differ. Pharmacy is the clearest case: Pharmacy Technician is 55%, Pharmacist 60% and Clinical Pharmacy 70%. The technician and technologist titles in allied health work the same way - Anesthesia Technician 55% against Anesthesia Technologist 60%, Radiography Technician 50% against Radiographer 55%, Respiratory Technician 55% against Respiratory Therapist 60%.

For doctors, the General Practitioner exam is 150 questions with a 60% pass mark, specialist exams are mostly 60% or 65%, and a small number of Consultant titles - Dermatology, Endocrinology, Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Ophthalmology and Pediatrics - sit a 100-question written exam with a 70% pass mark. Other Consultant titles are assessed by an oral assessment instead. Your title comes from the PQR, so check it first with the professional title classifier.

Each exam has its own pass score, published as a percentage in the CBT guideline. The result is posted to your Sheryan account as Pass or Fail, and DHA does not share your score - so you will never know whether you failed by one question or thirty. DHA also reserves the right to change an exam's format or pass score without updating the guideline, which is why you should confirm yours on Sheryan before you book.

Because there is no score report, the only way to find your weak areas is before the exam. Our free mock tests score you against your exam's published pass mark and break your result down by blueprint domain.

Plan around the format: most DHA exams give you 3 hours for 150 questions, including registration, so practise full-length papers under time pressure rather than untimed question sets. Aim to score comfortably above your exam's pass mark on those papers - a margin of 10 to 15 points allows for the fact that any practice test is only a sample.

Work through the blueprint domain by domain, spend most of your time on questions rather than textbooks, and review every rationale - including for the questions you got right. Our first-attempt study plan sets out a week-by-week approach, and the DHA question banks give you three to five full-length papers with a rationale and reference for every question.

A pass lets DHA continue your licensing file: your DataFlow verification, good standing and the rest of the Sheryan application still have to clear before the licence is issued and activated by an employer. Our guide to what to do after passing the DHA exam covers licence activation and the job search, and the DHA licence requirements page covers the full process.