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United Kingdom · Registration exam

The ORE dental exam syllabus, and what else to study

The General Dental Council (GDC), and the University College London (UCL) consortium that delivers the Overseas Registration Examination (ORE) for it, publish nothing called a syllabus on their ORE pages. For the ORE dental exam syllabus, start with the consortium’s examination specification. All of the exam’s content maps to the learning outcomes in the GDC’s Preparing for Practice, the second document to read.

  • 48 pagesExamination specification, both parts
  • Pages 16 to 26Dentists’ outcomes in Preparing for Practice
  • 2015 revised editionPreparing for Practice edition the ORE uses
Read the exam specification

Updated November 2026 · Written from official sources, listed at the bottom of this page

Official ORE documents compared

OptionPriceFree to useLinks
Official
Preparing for Practice, from the GDCThe GDC’s learning outcomes for registration, for the whole dental teamRead the outcomes for dentists. The GDC links it from its ORE preparation and results page.
Free PDFThe whole document
Download Preparing for Practice ↗
ORE Part 1 guidance, from the UCL consortiumThe examination specification and a familiarisation exercise for the Part 1 exam systemThe consortium strongly recommends doing the familiarisation exercise before the exam. It may load slowly when a high number of candidates are using it.
FreeBoth, on the guidance page
See the Part 1 guidance ↗
ORE Part 2 guidance, from the UCL consortiumGuidance PDFs for each component: the manikin, the objective structured clinical examination, treatment planning and medical emergenciesThe page asks you to watch the video before the treatment planning exercise.
FreeEvery PDF, and the treatment planning video
See the Part 2 guidance ↗
ORE results reports, from the GDCResults reports for sittings back to 2018The GDC posts the spread of results for each sitting once candidates have their marks. The August 2026 Part 1 report also gives each paper’s pass mark.
FreeEvery report listed
See the results reports ↗

Prices and ratings checked November 2026.

Where is the ORE dental exam syllabus?

It’s in the examination specification, one PDF for both parts. The specification maps each Preparing for Practice outcome to the part and component that may test it. Then it gives a topic blueprint for Part 1’s two papers and for the Part 2 components, with timings and marks.

The Part 2 site says its guidance documents were corrected on 4 August 2026: earlier versions mentioned the Safe Practitioners Framework by mistake. Ignore that reference, because Part 2 follows Preparing for Practice.

Past papers and practice questions

Neither the GDC nor the consortium publishes past papers on its ORE pages. Under the ORE rules, passing exam material to anyone else is misconduct: you fail the exam, and it may affect your registration later. The GDC says sharing previous questions online or between candidates is a serious breach, and it will take further action.

Before Part 1, the consortium’s familiarisation exercise shows how the exam system displays questions. The consortium says it isn’t a mock exam and doesn’t match the real exam’s content, structure, difficulty or timing.

Books and notes

Neither the GDC nor the consortium lists set books or official notes.

The specification names one outside source, for the medical emergencies test: the Resuscitation Council UK’s 2025 resuscitation guidelines, read with its quality standards for cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Choosing a preparation course

The GDC doesn’t recommend any course. It says recent clinical experience will improve your chances more than relying entirely on preparation courses, and it gives these warnings:

  • It doesn’t endorse, accredit or quality assure any ORE preparation course, so do your own checks.
  • It never asks for a fee other than the application, examination and registration fees.
  • Don’t share personal information in preparation groups, or your MyGDC login with anyone.

If you’re unsure about something you’ve been told about the ORE, the GDC asks you to call it on 020 7167 6000 to check.

A study path with the official documents

One way to use them, in our suggested order:

  1. Read the outcomes for dentists in Preparing for Practice: clinical, communication, professionalism, and management and leadership.
  2. Work through the Part 1 blueprint in the specification, paper by paper.
  3. Try the familiarisation exercise before your Part 1 sitting, to learn the system.
  4. After you pass Part 1, read the Part 2 guidance for each component.
How the two parts work →
Sources: UCL consortium · General Dental Council and 5 more. Checked November 2026.

Rules and fees can change, so check the official site before your test.

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