Farah Sherazi’s PLAB 1 Experience
Studied During House Job
I and my friend booked the test exactly one month and 13 days before the exam date. Thanks to Dr. Naseer Khan for convincing me to take the exam during my house job. This duration of preparation included 7 calls (24-hour duties), 13 ER duties (12-hour duties) and regular days (6-hour duties) of my OBGYN rotation. In short, we had almost three to four weeks to prepare.
Dr. Khalid’s 1700
We began our preparation with the famous Dr. Khalid’s 1700 MCQs. 100 MCQs/day was the target. So by the first week of October, we were done with them. We went to the library each day after work (obviously on easy days) and studied for 3 hours, took rest and resumed studying at 8 PM till 2 AM. So despite work we managed to study for 8 hours on every regular day. Being at the workplace, we always tried to do 50 MCQs whenever we got the time to. We made clinchers while doing 1700 for the quick recall later on.
Samson’s Mocks and PLABable
Samson mocks 2013 was our next goal. One mock per day was done. But out of 7, one mock was left untouched. Then we started with PLABable in the file section focusing on our weak topics. We did ethics, epidemiology, cardiology and genetics. Other than that we also managed to do anatomy, derma, ER med, and nephro. I would highly recommend PLABable for all those who have time.
1700 Again, Recalls, More Mocks, Clinchers, OHCM
Then we went through 1700 again in 3 days. After that we did 5 latest recalls and then we practised 3 Samson mocks 2017 by timing ourselves. And then we went through the clinchers for a quick recall of the 1700 MCQs. For references, we always googled stuff, kept Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine (OHCM) in hand, and consulted our amazing seniors who were always there to help. Never once, did we open books to read the theory in detail.
Maintained a Good Balance
And yes during all this tough time we never missed out any fun activity. We went out with friends, had good food, attended every ward gathering to keep us sane. We both scored 146 marks and passed the exam. Passing PLAB with house job is certainly possible! Perseverance is all you need! Best of luck!