By the grace of almighty Allah (SWT), I am passed in plab 2 exam, cleared 15/18 stations by just having only 7 days after the course to practice.
Thanks to almighty Allah the impossible turned out to be possible for me. Alhamdulillah
My uk journey was going smoothly until I cleared plab 1, after that it was more like a roller-coaster ride.
I took my time for ielts and plab 1 preparations. I was working full time, have 2 small kids to look after along with other commitments. It took me some time, compare to other people, but I am not complaining alhamdulillah I cleared them with ease.
There is no point in sharing my ielts and plab 1 experiences as it might be rather boring and will not help anyone. But I am sure there are many plabbers out there struggling with the tiring process of visa and refusals and might find my experience of passing plab 2 in no time helpful.
After passing plab 1, I booked my plab 2 test. Then I went on and booked my plab 2 course at Common Stations academy in a way that after the course I still had 28 days to study and practice. I discussed this with Dr Hameed and he gave me the green signal.
I then applied for plab 2 visa. I applied straight away as I already had almost all the documents ready and sorted.
I waited and waited and waited… there was no response from the embassy.
It took so long that the course I had in mind already started. I was panicking… I contacted common stations to explain the situation.
I was reassured that they will keep my seat reserved in that batch until I hear from the embassy and if I get my visa sorted, I could join the course half way and then they would allow me to cover the classes I missed with their next batch. Or I could postpone my course to any of their upcoming courses.
The course I wanted to attend ended and I was still waiting. I postponed my course to the next available one.
Initially I thought to myself, the embassy is going to reject my visa so I can reschedule my exam without losing any money and postpone my course to another batch.
But guess what? They issued my visa only 26 days before my exam. That was literally 4 days before the course and left me with only 7 days After the course to prepare for the exam.
It was a nightmare; I was extremely stressed out. I immediately booked my flight and started the course right after I reached uk.
My preparation before, during and after the course:
Because I was so uncertain about my visa status, I didn’t take the online study materials, which was sent to me by the academy, that seriously. I couldn’t spend more than 10 days on them.
Common stations study room is open 24/7, so I used to go there early morning around 7 – 7:30 and study for around 1:30 - 2 hours before the lecture.
Classes were over at 19:30 – 20:00 on average. After the class I was again studying and practising there till almost midnight then I used to go to my room, have dinner and sleep.
When I was in the academy the only thing I did aside from studying and practising was the time I needed for prayers.
Even though I had only 7 days after the course and I couldn’t manage to go through all the details and everything, but I was still confident and comfortable with the exam. The trick which worked best for me was that dr Hamed teaches the map and structure for each and every situation we might face in the exam. Even he formulates the ethical stations in an easy way. His systematic method of teaching was so easy to grasp and literally saved me!
There is no doubt, if I had 4 - 5 weeks, I would have gone through all the notes and would probably get a better score but for those who don’t have much time I would say follow dr Hameed’s systematic approach even if you cannot manage to read everything.
Now I can say that I owe my entire success first to Allah (SWT) and then Dr Hameed.
Words cannot describe him and his teaching skills, he is like a live encyclopaedia. He knows your name by heart just after one day and looks after everyone in the class.
The secret of my success was that dr Hameed never taught us to memorise the materials.
Instead he made us fully understand the concept of exam, structure and skeleton of different stations and pathways you should follow in order to successfully manage ANY scenario. Without these skills, it was impossible for me to pass this exam in this short period of time.
GMC is adding too many scenarios and trust me it is not easy to memorise the scrips.
The notes provided were comprehensive and suitable for anyone with limited or enough time to practice. You can read the short version if you have less time, plus you can read the detailed teaching materials if you have more time or need a source/guideline to refer to.
He also teaches interpersonal skills throughout the course along with the scenarios.
Last but not the least, the strongest point of this academy is that Dr Hameed takes all the sessions and teaches all the subjects himself.
The sessions are related and binding with each other.
For example, what he teaches in one session, is required in the next session. He was asking us to read whatever he taught us on the same day to be prepared for the next session.
I highly recommend this to those with limited time.
Even if you don’t manage to study, he reviews what you learnt a day before, over and over in next sessions making things stick in your brain.
I teach in my college back home. I personally think his method is one of the smartest ways of teaching.
If you are one of those who have less time to prepare, find a study approach tht works for you, remove all distractions, trust yourself and do it!
Remember that everything has its timing to occur and nothing is impossible for Allah SWT.
May he respond your duas.
Good luck everyone!