QCHP exam 2026: pass marks, format and attempts

Most practitioners applying for a Qatar licence from outside Qatar must pass DHP's qualifying exam at the evaluation stage. The Qualifying Examination Policy makes it mandatory for general practitioners, general dentists, pharmacists, registered general nurses, registered midwives, lab and radiology technologists and technicians, physiotherapists, paramedics (basic, paramedic and critical care), dental assistants, dental hygienists and dental lab technicians.

DHP's exam page also lists cut scores for dieticians, anaesthesia technologists, occupational therapists, clinical psychologists, 34 physician specialties and 8 dental specialties - 61 exams in all. Check which one applies with our Prometric exam checker.

Qatari nationals, offspring of Qatari women and graduates of Qatar's universities and higher education institutions are exempt (circular DHP/2025/24), as are dentists with a postgraduate degree of at least two years that includes accredited clinical training, and pharmacists, nurses and allied professionals with a clinical master's or PhD in their field. Our QCHP licence requirements page covers the rest of the evaluation.

A valid, verified equivalent exam exempts you. Under circular DHP 19/2025, for general practitioners: the IFOM Clinical Science Exam, USMLE Step 2, PLAB Part 1, the MCCQE Part 1, the AMC MCQ, MRCGP Part 1 (AKT) or PRES-MCQ Part 2. For dentists: NJCE-II, NDEB Canada, the Irish or New Zealand dental exams, the UK ORE (not older than 5 years), or registration with the Australian, Irish, New Zealand or UK dental boards for accredited graduates. Pharmacists are exempt with NAPLEX, PEBC, OSPAP, OPRA or CAOP, nurses with NCLEX, and dental hygienists with the NBDHE.

The exam must be valid and verified by a verification company - no exam is accepted without a verification report after 1 January 2026. Higher-level exams also count downwards within a discipline: the dentist exam qualifies for dental assistants and hygienists, the nursing exam for dental assistants, and a technologist exam for the technician title.

DHP's latest list is in circular DHP 19/2025; our GCC exam exemptions guide compares it with the other regulators. Unsure whether you qualify? Request a free eligibility assessment.

The exam is one part of DHP's evaluation, so you prepare the evaluation file and the exam together. DHP's exam page states that the registration and licensing requirements are published separately from the exam; it does not list a document set for the exam booking itself.

For the evaluation, DHP requires primary source verification (PSV) of your credentials, and our experience is that the file typically also needs your degree and transcripts, postgraduate certificates, experience letters on letterhead with exact dates, your home-country registration and a recent good standing certificate. Use the licence eligibility checker or our good standing certificate guide to plan these. The exact checklist for your title is on DHP's registration pages and can change by circular.

Yes. DHP lists primary source verification as a mandatory registration requirement for all practitioners, and the report is attached to your evaluation application. Approved providers are DataFlow, QuadraBay (circular DHP/2025/20, from 30 November 2025) and AVS (circular DHP/2026/36).

DHP publishes no PSV turnaround. In our experience, verification takes roughly 4 to 12 weeks depending on how fast your universities and employers respond, so it is usually the slowest step and should start first. Read our DataFlow verification guide, estimate the cost with the DataFlow cost calculator, or let us run it through our DataFlow verification service.

You apply to DHP for evaluation online, then register and schedule the exam on Prometric's booking page for the Qatar DHP programme. DHP's page does not set a fixed order or timeline, so the sequence below is how candidates usually organise it.

1. Confirm your title, scope and any exemption (see above). 2. Start PSV with an approved provider. 3. Register on Prometric, choose your exam and a centre, and pay the fee shown at checkout. 4. Sit the exam and keep your result. 5. Submit the evaluation on the DHP portal with the PSV report and result or exemption evidence. 6. DHP reviews the file and may classify you.

Exam booking and PSV can run in parallel. DHP does not publish evaluation review times; see our GCC licensing timeline guide and the licensing timeline calculator for planning estimates, and Prometric centres to find a seat. Prometric's DHP contact is [email protected].

General-scope exams cover entry practitioner titles (19 titles); specialist exams are separate papers for physician and dental specialties (34 and 8). Both are 150 MCQs in 3 hours, but specialist cut scores are higher: 65%, with Sports Medicine at 55%.

Attempts are counted per scope, so failing a technician exam does not use up a technologist's five. Consultancies report that DHP may also add an oral or clinical assessment or a specialist panel review for senior specialist or consultant files. DHP publishes no format, panel or duration for this, so treat it as unconfirmed and ask DHP what applies to your classification. Many specialty question banks follow DHP's specialty blueprints.

DHP publishes a cut score for every exam: 60% for general practitioners, general dentists and pharmacists, 50% for nursing, midwifery and allied and dental support titles, 65% for 33 of the 34 physician specialties and all 8 dental specialties, and 55% for Sports Medicine. Every exam is 150 multiple-choice questions in 3 hours.

A pass is valid for 3 years. If you submit your evaluation within a month of the exam expiring you do not need to sit it again, and on re-evaluation an exam that expired within the last year can be accepted once. If you have used all five attempts and your best score is no more than 3 marks short of the cut score, the policy allows rounding up using your highest mark.

Five attempts per scope, with no waiting period. DHP's exam page says you can sit five consecutive times whatever the gap between attempts, and the policy allows one additional attempt where a clear justification is provided.

Each booking is a separate Prometric transaction, so fees apply again. Failed once? Our guide to failing a Prometric exam explains how to study differently before rebooking.

You are not re-examined at licence renewal. DHP's policy also lists a licensed practitioner who left Qatar within five years and whose licence can be restored, practitioners licensed before the CBT exam began, practitioners in government sectors who move to another facility while their licence is valid, and trainee licence holders who passed the qualifying exam and move to a full licence.

DHP does not publish an exam fee, and neither does its exam page: you see the amount in your Prometric booking. We therefore quote no figure here.

Budget separately for primary source verification, which is charged by the provider. The DataFlow cost calculator estimates it, and DHP's own application and licence fees are set out on its registration pages.

The common ones are sitting an exam you were exempt from, claiming an exemption with an unverified certificate, and starting PSV last. Exam exemptions that lack a verification report are not accepted after 1 January 2026.

Other frequent errors: letting a three-year pass lapse before submitting, booking the wrong title (a technician instead of a technologist paper), and treating a DHA, DOH or SCFHS result as valid for Qatar. See our common rejection mistakes and the rejected application fix guide.

Study DHP's published blueprint for your group, then practise under timed conditions. DHP publishes a blueprint and reference list for general and specialty physicians, general and specialty dentists, pharmacists, nurses and midwives, and allied health, linked from its qualifying exam page. Our QCHP syllabus and sample questions guide walks through them.

Then use our free timed mock tests, which score you by domain, the question practice pages and the question banks with full-length 150-question papers and rationales.