If you are planning to sit plab 2

If you are planning to sit plab 2 and need some advices about the academies and the exam, this is a VERY unique post for you. I have attended this exam 3 times with 3 different academies and also i took some sessions with a plab teacher at her house. I will do a very honest review and give you some advices.

My first plab 2 exam was in august 2018, i attended samson course and i failed the exam.
My review about samson academy:
-Positives: the best mocks’ system in all academies by putting you in real exam circumstances with british actors. Also the video recording is very beneficial which as far as i know not in any other academies. Free coffee and water. There is alot of integration with the doctors in the classes by practicing each station with one doctor infron of the class. I think the best tbing in this academy is teaching interpersonal skills.
-Negatives: now with my favorite part the negatives; they have bunch of drawbacks. Samson is not someone who will treat you as a doctor, but he treats you as a student not a doctor. And i dont mean by a student a father son relationship, but i mean a play school where you can shout, insult or even throw students out if needed. NO NOTES ARE GIVEN TO YOU AT SAMSON ACADEMY. Meaning: you have to write down everything or find notes outside in the parallel world. He plays videos in the classes so 70% of the teachings are videos and the rest are done by very good teachers. So open samson videos on youtube if you understand his accent go for it, but personally i don’t. Manniqans availability is limited and granted sometimes not always, sometimes samson or one of the workers will ask you to get out and lock the doors of the manniqans.
My recommendation: i will not recommend samson academy in general unless you are a nerd who will pass the exam under any circumstances, and you understand his accent in the videos and willing to write down hundreds of notes because he provides no notes. Personally i would never attend this academy. However, for some unknown reason, he has good passing rates.

2nd attempt:
In November 2018 with dr swamy academy and i failed this attempt
Positives; doctor swamy is very nice elegant respectful and friendly teacher, doctor and brother. He respects all doctors.
This academy has good teachers and also dr swamy teaches some of the classes by himself. They are generaly all good and the academy is one of the oldest in the uk. Its located in manchester so you will save money from staying in london. There is a very big room for group studying and manniqans. They have very good notes. You will be updated in your email by the new cases and their notes as well. They provide good accommodation for doctors. Very comfortable environment. There also good integration in the classes with the doctors by letting them practicing during the classes.
Negatives: mocks are not putting you in real exam atmosphere as there is no british actors and only 8 stations per mock in contrast to the exam which is 18.
My recommendation: although i failed there i recommend dr swamy’s academy but under the contingency that you have a serious study partner who can do 4 mocks with you as real exam mocks, or otherwise you will only try the exam experience inside the exam cubicle only, which you will not like at all.

3rd attempt was june 2019 with dr hamed academy and the private plab teacher sessions. I passed this exam.
Dr hamed academy:
Positives: dr hamed is a memory card walking on earth. He remembers everything. If you say 20 numbers infront of him and asked him to recite, he will. He knows everything about this exam. EVERYTHING! If he explained a station, he will not leave any chance for the gmc actor to ask you a new question in this station. His notes is something that i will also mention in the negatives, but they are the most professional and will let you act like a boss in the exam IF you remember them. The practicing rooms are available all day with the manniqans. Also there is a studying room that closes midnight for serious ppl. The simman classes are the best in this academy, they are done for each 2 students separately for about 30 minuts and are very very beneficial.
Negatives: dr hamed is very professional which could be a positive and a negative as he has no much time to build this friendship with you that we expect with our plab teacher. You are not allowed to ask any questions during the class, only after the class finish, so if you don’t write down the questions, you will go back home with no answers as you will forget them after class. Classes are very long and unlike other academies there is no much cases’ practicing during the classes, most of the time dr hamed is teaching and talking about the cases. As much as notes are very good but they are very long and they are about 2000-2500 pages i guess, thats including the teaching materials. Ofcourse that is not realistic and i decided to only study 30-40% from dr hamed notes and the rest from aspire. Mocks are not done by british actors, although they are 18 but won’t put you in real life experience.
My recommendation: i will recommend you to attend dr hamed academy under the contingency that you have at least at least at least 5 weeks after the course to study. Because the notes there will make this exam something long to study.
The private teacher:
She is a very helpful teacher that will teach you interpersonal skills and give you a personal feedback and practice many stations with you face to face in london or online. I recommend her, she might be the reason you get that extra 10 marks that will let you pass. If you want to contact her you can contact me and i will connect you with her.

One academy i didn’t join is aspire: although i never joined it but i think its the best academy out of all as I studied from dr ankur notes and i saw his online videos which showed me how great he is.

My advices:
If i go back in time to my first attempt i will plan as following: i will study all the notes before i travel 60% from aspire and 40% from dr hamed as you need to read some of dr hamed notes as his way is very professional and detailed in the cases which is hard to miss but also hard to study all. It will take you in average 20-30 days to read them with concentration. After that i will attend the course “mostly aspire” also dr hamed and dr swamy are good options. Then i will give myself 5 weeks to study and practice “ always practice with the opposite gender”. Finish the notes at least twice after the course and practice at least 100 cases excluding the examinations and the manniqans. From these 100 cases you can practice 50 with The plab teacher doctor i went her home for private sessions. One of the most common reasons why ppl fail This exam especially people from dr hamed academy is that they take a very good long history and boom there is no time for managment. Do a short history with very very specific questions then fast PMH and run to managment. Examiners in the gmc are having ipads ticking out points to score you. Make sure you tick these points. For example if you have a case of giant cell arteritis, the main thing here in managment is corticosteroids, you can keep talking about corticosteroids and their doses for 10 hours but you won’t get more than 1 out of 4 in the managment in the exam although corticosteroids will save this patient, but there is points in the scoring system needs to be ticked; explaining the diagnosis, corticosteroids, follow up, leaflets, red flags, biopsy, investigations, make patient ask questions at least 2 questions, and ask him to recap on the managment plan to make sure you explained in an easy way. So finish each point in 10-15 seconds then if you have time ask the patient which point you want me to explain in details, or you explain from yourself. Remember very good history taking means you will definitely fail the station cuz in real life very good history taking is 6-7 minuts and the exam is only 8 minuts. Take no more than 3 minuts in history. Dont panic, if you have time managment plan, good preparation and keep treating the patients as how customer service agents do; you will pass this exam inshaAllah!

All the best for everyone!