About
Preparing for the ORE or LDS Part 1 usually means several textbooks, a folder of PDFs and a question bank that tells you the answer without telling you why. This is an attempt at the alternative — built first for ORE Part 1 and now covering the LDS route as well, and not designed in one go: it was corrected again and again by the people sitting the exams.
How it was built
Work started 2 years ago. Rather than launch it, we gave it to candidates who were actually sitting the papers — more than 200 of them across the ORE and LDS sittings since — and asked them to tell us what did not work.
Some of what came back was small: a screen that was confusing, a subject that needed more questions. Some of it changed the product. The weakness report exists because candidates kept saying they did not know what to revise next. The two-week plan and the 72-hour pass exist because they said the last fortnight was where their preparation fell apart. The mock exam gives no feedback until you submit because they said a quiz that corrects you as you go cannot tell you whether you are ready.
Each sitting, the next group got a better version than the one before. That is the whole method, and it is why this went on sale 2 years after it was started rather than three months after.
How this was built, and how it is checked
What those two years produced, and what keeps it right.
Two years in the making
Every topic and every question was drafted against the named UK source that governs it, then rewritten around what candidates told us: what was missing, what was unclear, what they kept getting wrong.
More than 200 candidates before launch
Candidates sitting the real ORE and LDS papers used the course before it was sold and sent back what did not work. The order of the subjects, the Essential and Important split, the explanations under every option: all of it came from that.
Regularly updated
Guidelines change and the material changes with them, dated. Everything stays structured the same way so nothing has to be searched for: one place, written out, easy to use on a phone between patients.
Information last updated: ORE Part 1 material on 5 September 2026 · LDS Part 1 material on 5 September 2026.
Almost everybody sitting Part 1 is a working dentist several time zones from any classroom. The way this exam is usually taught does not fit that life, and the candidates who tested this said so in almost identical words, sitting after sitting.
The principle underneath all of it: the candidate is in charge. Nobody knows how much time you have this week, which subjects frighten you, or whether tonight is a two-hour night or a twenty-minute one. So the portal does not decide those things. It does the part that is genuinely hard to do alone — telling you, from the questions you have actually got wrong, what to study next.
Three things, joined together. A question bank large enough that you are not re-answering the same items in week three. A revision guide covering the whole syllabus, so that when a question exposes a gap there is somewhere to go and read. And a link between them, so reading and testing are one activity rather than two.
The material is checked against current UK guidance — the BDA, SDCEP, the BNF, Delivering Better Oral Health, Resuscitation Council UK, NICE, HTM 01-05 and IRR17 — and where recent guidance contradicts what older revision material teaches, the guide says so explicitly rather than quietly presenting the new version.
We are independent of the General Dental Council, the Royal Colleges and every examining body. We do not see the papers, we have no relationship with the examiners, and nobody can tell you what will come up. Anyone who says otherwise is selling something.
Passing an examination is also not the same as finding work. The GDC is explicit that success in the ORE does not mean you will automatically secure a job in UK dentistry.
We do not publish a pass rate. We cannot verify what happens in an examination hall, and nor can anybody else selling you material — a figure nobody can audit is not evidence, it is decoration. We do not publish reviews we have not received. We do not use countdown clocks or invented discounts.
What we will do instead is let you look before you buy: a full 100-question mock exam and a section of the guide, free, so the decision rests on the material rather than on our adjectives. The 50% line we mark it against is ours, and is labelled as ours; the GDC does not publish the mark you need.
Who we are, what we hold about you and what happens if you change your mind are all written down: terms of sale and use, privacy notice, cookies and local storage, and refunds and cancellation.
Questions about access, payment or the material go to the contact form on the sign-in page, and are answered by a person. If you spot something in the guide that is wrong or out of date, please say — corrections are the most useful message we get.
Pre-launch feedback
Neither course went on sale until candidates sitting the real exam had worked through it and told us what was wrong with it. 50 of them wrote back, and every word below is theirs. It is feedback on courses that were still being finished — which is the point, because what they said is why both work the way they do now.
The course was given to candidates across the last 3 ORE Part 1 sittings. 25 wrote back, from 9 countries.
I mostly followed the daily plan on the portal after entering my exam date. It stopped me from jumping between different resources. By the final few weeks I knew exactly which subjects were costing me marks and I focused on those.
The explanations helped me the most. I made a habit of reading why the other options were wrong even when I got the question correct. That made similar ORE questions much easier to separate.
I was working full time, so I could not follow long classes every day. I used the portal mainly on my phone after work and during breaks. Having everything in one place made the preparation realistic for me.
My first mock score was lower than I expected. That was useful because it showed me I was overconfident in a few subjects. I revised those areas, repeated more questions and could see the improvement.
Before this I had too many PDFs and notes saved everywhere. The biggest benefit was the structure. I stopped wasting time deciding what to study and simply followed what was left on the portal.
The final revision section was very useful close to the exam. At that stage I did not want to start another long set of notes. The two-week plan and last 72-hour material helped me concentrate on the important points.
I liked that the weak subjects were based on my actual question performance. There were topics I thought I knew well, but the scores showed otherwise. That changed how I used my last month of revision.
I used tutor mode at the beginning and changed to exam mode later. That worked well for me because initially I wanted to understand every answer, and later I needed to practise making decisions under time pressure.
The portal gave me a routine. Some days I studied for two hours and some days much less, but I always knew the number of questions I should complete. That consistency was probably more useful than trying to do very long study days.
I started later than I should have and thought I would need to study all day. Following a fixed question target was much more manageable. I concentrated on understanding the explanations properly rather than rushing through large amounts of material.
What I found different was that the wrong options were explained too. A few times I realised I had chosen the correct answer for the wrong reason. That was very useful before the actual exam.
I switched between my laptop and phone depending on work. I did short question sessions during weekdays and longer mocks on weekends. Being able to continue without reorganising everything each time was helpful.
The progress page was a good reality check. Reading a topic several times had made me think I knew it, but my question scores did not always agree. I went back to those topics only when the data showed I needed to.
Previously I spent most of my time watching lectures and making notes. This time I made question practice the main part of my preparation and used revision notes only when I found a gap. That suited me much better.
My work schedule changed every week, so fixed teaching times were difficult. I liked being able to open the portal whenever I had time, see my target and continue without waiting for anyone.
The timed mock showed me that knowledge was not my only problem. I was spending too long on difficult questions. After practising under proper timing I became much better at moving on and coming back later.
I bookmarked questions that I was repeatedly getting wrong and reviewed them again near the exam. It gave me a very personal revision list instead of rereading every subject from the beginning.
I was part of the earlier testing group and saw the portal improve while we were using it. I gave feedback about a few confusing areas and later versions were noticeably easier to navigate.
At first I still used all my old notes beside the portal. After a while I realised I was repeating a lot of the same information, so I used the portal as my main revision source and kept the old notes only for extra detail.
The size of the question bank meant I could practise properly without feeling that I was memorising a small set of repeated questions. I kept returning to bookmarked questions during the last part of my revision.
I liked creating my own mocks. Sometimes I selected only one weak subject and other times I mixed everything. It made the revision less repetitive and helped me judge whether I was improving overall.
The main difference for me was having a clear sequence to follow. I did not need another person telling me what chapter or lecture came next. I could see my progress and continue from there.
I was not confident at the beginning because there was so much material available from different sources. Once I started following the portal in order, the exam preparation felt much less overwhelming.
I found the short revision sections useful because I could read something and then immediately answer questions on the same area. That connection between revision and practice helped the information stick better.
For me the most useful part was seeing improvement over time. My early scores were inconsistent, but after following the plan and revisiting the weaker topics I became much more stable in the mocks. It gave me confidence that my preparation was moving in the right direction.
Eighteen months in the writing, then given to candidates across the last 2 LDS Part 1 sittings before it went on sale. 25 wrote back, from 9 countries.
I was honestly very confused when I started preparing for LDS Part 1 because I had collected material from everywhere. Once I started following the subjects in order, things became much easier. I stopped opening ten different PDFs every day and finally had a proper direction.
The question practice was probably the most useful part for me. Some questions looked straightforward but the explanations showed me why I was making mistakes. After a few weeks I noticed I was reading the options much more carefully.
I work full time, so my biggest problem was not knowledge, it was consistency. I could study for an hour after work, continue from where I stopped and not worry about missing a lecture. That flexibility suited me very well.
I had already attempted a lot of MCQs before using this material, but I was mostly memorising answers. Here I started understanding the reasoning behind each choice. That completely changed the way I approached questions.
What I appreciated most was how the subjects were organised. LDS Part 1 covers so much information that it is easy to feel lost. Having a clear structure made the syllabus feel much more achievable.
I was weak in medical emergencies and pharmacology and kept avoiding them. My scores made that very obvious. I finally spent proper time on those areas instead of repeatedly revising subjects I already liked.
The revision notes were concise enough that I could actually finish them. I didn't want another massive textbook at that stage of preparation. They worked well for refreshing the important points before doing questions.
I used the course differently from most people. I would first attempt questions without reading the topic, then go back and revise whatever I got wrong. That method worked extremely well for me because it showed me exactly what I didn't know.
I liked that I could study from my phone. Most of my revision happened on the train and during lunch breaks. Those small sessions added up much more than I expected.
My confidence before starting mocks was quite low. The first one wasn't great either, but at least I knew where I stood. Watching the scores gradually improve gave me confidence that my preparation was going in the right direction.
I had been away from academic dentistry for a few years, so initially even familiar subjects felt difficult. The explanations helped bring everything back without forcing me to read an entire textbook again.
For me, the value was not just the number of questions. It was the explanation after them. Sometimes I answered correctly but realised my reasoning was completely wrong. Those were probably the most useful questions.
I tried studying with a group before, but everybody was following different resources and different schedules. Eventually I decided to work independently and follow one structured system. My preparation became much calmer after that.
I particularly liked being able to revisit questions I had struggled with. Instead of starting every subject again from page one, I concentrated on the things I had actually forgotten.
My mistake in the beginning was trying to study everything equally. Once I started seeing which subjects were pulling my score down, I changed my revision plan. That made my study time far more productive.
I am usually someone who makes lots of notes, but for LDS I realised that was taking too much time. I started doing more active question practice and only writing down points that I repeatedly got wrong. It was much more efficient.
The mock exams were useful because they forced me to sit and answer a proper set of questions without constantly checking books. It highlighted not only knowledge gaps but also how often I changed correct answers because I was overthinking.
I didn't follow the material perfectly every single day. There were days when work was too busy. What helped was being able to come back the next day and continue without feeling that I had fallen behind an entire class.
I had a lot of old notes from different courses and WhatsApp groups. Eventually I stopped using most of them because they were making things more confusing. Keeping my preparation centred around one structured source helped me considerably.
One thing I noticed after doing enough questions was that certain concepts kept coming back in different ways. Instead of memorising individual answers, I started recognising the underlying principle. That was a big improvement for me.
I found the clinical subjects easier than the non-clinical areas, so initially I spent almost all my time on dentistry that I enjoyed. The performance breakdown made me realise that wasn't helping my overall result. It pushed me to work on the uncomfortable subjects too.
The course fitted around family life surprisingly well. I couldn't dedicate entire weekends to studying, so I divided the work into smaller sessions throughout the week. Having everything already organised saved a lot of preparation time.
I was nervous about whether my revision was actually enough. Completing mocks gave me something objective to look at rather than simply saying, 'I think I am ready.' That was especially helpful closer to the exam.
My favourite part was probably the combination of revision and questions. I would quickly revise a subject and immediately test myself. If my score was still poor, I knew I hadn't understood it properly and went back again.
LDS Part 1 preparation can become overwhelming because everyone keeps recommending another book, another lecture or another question bank. What helped me most was simplifying everything. I followed a structured plan, practised consistently, reviewed my mistakes and gradually became much more confident.
