I am so so thankful to all my friends with whom I practiced stations every day. So thankful to the universe, my family, mom, husband, children and everything that worked for me. There are a lot of things necessary for us to pass the PLAB 2 exam. I made a lot of blunders and I had 3 weeks preparation time after exam which made my cry. I don’t believe those who said they passed in 5 days unless they read the material beforehand many times or they practiced before. It is not easy as you think but it is very doable. So,please don’t believe those who passed in just few days without previous preparation. If they did great!!
( By the way, I sucked in my two mocks…till the end. But don’t judge yourself based on the mocks only. Work on your weaknesses and believe that on your exam day you’re going to be awesome no matter what )
- Hardwork is so so so important
- Please take it seriously and don’t waste time once you start.
- Need a group to practice stations every day- changing partners everyday
- Choosing the right academy ( I studied in Common Station and Dr Hamed is an amazing teacher.)
- Staying positive
- Choosing the right questions to ask in history taking and not missing important ones
- Not missing out important management plans.
- Having great interpersonal skills -Sympathy/Empathy/ ICE/ Pausing/ Giving options and letting patient decide on what he wants to know/ understanding non verbal cues etc
- Enough time to prepare - at least 5 weeks will be great after the course ( in my case less than 3 weeks after the course and I was literally crying…but my practice partners/friends and my husband lifted me up and boosted NY confidence)
- Confidence
- Practice at least 30 stations a day, 20 old and 10 new stations. Read the script/teaching material first in less than 30 minutes and then practice that station. Do it simultaneously. We followed this way.This way finish 30 stations at least a day. I made a mistake of reading teaching materials instead of practicing for the first 5 days after the course which is why I only had like 2 weeks after it. So I only had like 2 weeks to practice. I just practiced half of the stations and read the remaking half as I had no time left.
- Neve give up!! Remember to have hope always!! You are capable of doing anything you want. The only thing that’s between you and your dreams is your belief and your action. So make the right choice!!
One thing to remember - Everyday before you go to bed visualise yourself doing great in your exam date with the simulator. Imagine you’re confident, happy and charismatic. Imagine you’re doing great! This will boost up our confidence but please remember it is not possible without hard work.
Edited : I also did not have enough time to read all the teaching materials of Dr. Hamed. So only read selected ones. I was able to go through the scripts once… very fast though…and I didn’t have time to properly practice stations the second time…only read the management part from the scripts…Like I said, I had to be very selective to read the teaching material or the script or just the important parts of the scripts as my exam days were near. So, please make sure you have enough time and please don’t waste anytime. Time is so precious.