SUMMARY The undergraduate medical curriculum in the United Arab Emirates University has been in existence for just over a decade. It is integrated, organized in courses and modules, and has an increasing proportion of problem-based learning (PBL). Though educationally sound, PBL has presented the faculty and students with particular challenges. Used to a very teacher-centred approach to learning, and with the special local circumstances of the UAE, students needed much more support and encouragement in taking advantages of active learning and tutorial support than their western counterparts would require. Study Guides have been an important feature of this process and they have evolved to become a valuable supplement to the tutor's contribution and a day-to-day aid to student learning.