ORE Part 1 and Part 2 exam dates for 2026

The GDC publishes ORE sittings one or two at a time rather than a full-year calendar, so a page promising “all 2026 dates” is either guessing or out of date. Below is what is actually confirmed on the GDC’s booking page, and this page is updated whenever that changes.

Confirmed sittings

Nothing beyond these two sittings has been published at the time of writing. If you are planning further ahead than October, plan around the pattern rather than a date: Part 1 has been running roughly twice a year, and booking has consistently opened about two months before the sitting, at 14:30 UK time on a Tuesday.

What 14:30 actually means

Booking windows open at 14:30 UK time, and that is the time your GDC account displays — not your local time. Work out the local equivalent the day before, not on the day.

Those assume British Summer Time. Between late October and late March the UK is on GMT and every one of them shifts by an hour, so check again if your sitting falls the other side of a clock change.

How places are actually allocated

This is the part candidates most often misunderstand, and the GDC states it plainly.

• Priority candidates are allocated first. If you have only a few sittings left before your time limit expires, the GDC emails you separately with how to secure a place. That allocation happens before general booking.
• Everyone else is first come, first served once priority places are gone.
• The exam appears in your bookings tab as “unavailable” about eight hours before it opens, showing the time it is due to open. Seeing it greyed out is normal and is not a fault.
• You have 48 hours to pay once you have a place. If somebody else is paying for you, make sure they know that before the day, not after.

The three things that cost people a place

None of these are about knowledge. They are about the ten minutes after the window opens.

1. Logging in on two devices. You can only be logged in on one device at a time. Open a second browser or a phone alongside your laptop and you are logged out of the first. Candidates do this thinking it doubles their chances; it halves them.
2. Being logged out for inactivity. Fifteen minutes of no activity ends your session. If you log in at 14:00 to be safe, you may be logged out by 14:30.
3. Reading an error as a system fault. When the window opens the system takes a few minutes to update under load. An error message usually means the sitting is now full, not that something broke.

Our guide to what happens on booking day goes through the sequence minute by minute.

If you do not get a place

Two things worth knowing before you panic.

First, the GDC has added capacity in recent cycles rather than reduced it, and further sittings are announced as they are scheduled. Missing one window is not the same as missing a year.

Second, the ORE is not the only route. The LDS, awarded by the Royal College of Surgeons of England, leads to the same GDC registration, is sat at home under remote proctoring, and is meaningfully cheaper. If your ORE window has closed, it is worth reading the comparison before waiting six months for the next one.

Planning your preparation backwards from the date

Once you have a date, work backwards rather than forwards. For a 14–15 October sitting, and assuming twelve to fifteen hours a week alongside work:

Our eight-week plan covers the compressed version if you are already inside that window.

Frequently asked

When is the next ORE Part 1 exam? 14–15 October 2026. Booking for it opened on 18 August 2026 at 14:30 UK time.

When is the next ORE Part 2? 10–13 September 2026, and that sitting is fully booked. Later sittings had not been published at the time of writing.

What time do ORE bookings open? 14:30 UK time. Your GDC account shows UK time, so convert to your own before the day.

How many ORE sittings are there each year? The GDC does not publish a fixed annual calendar. Part 1 has recently run roughly twice a year, with booking opening about two months ahead.

How long do I have to pay after booking? 48 hours. If a third party is paying, tell them in advance.

Why does the exam show as unavailable before booking opens? That is expected. It appears in your bookings tab around eight hours early, with the opening time next to it.