(Disclaimer: I have not compiled any notes, documents or anything I’m providing here, myself. I have tried to mention those who’ve done the hard work and made it available to us. May they have good returns!)
How do I prepare for PLAB 1? What books do I study? Where can I get the books/ materials from? Please send me a direct link to download.
We are very fortunate there is a very big (over a hundred thousand members in it) facebook group called PLAB. I was thinking of providing a link for it, but why don’t you involve yourself? You need this group for prep. This group is a HUGE discussion forum sort of thing just without the boundaries set by the regular “forums”. And it flourished a lot over time. Years of discussions and opinions just under the fingertip and the search box. Whoever compiled something for their own benefit, posted here – that’s how it has a very enriched files section. It is actually the ultimate coaching / course you need for PLAB 1.
Now, how to effectively use it?
In my opinion, just never browse through the posts people put up lazily. That’s not targeted studying. To effectively use this group, you need the 1700 Questions explained by Dr. Khalid Saifullah. Download it from here. (This copy is the Subject Wise 1700 questions explained by Dr Khalid Saifullah organized by PLABZillas)
What is this 1700 questions?
This is a QBank from the past PLAB 1 tests. It’s been here for a while and the numbers to the specific questions has sort of became a tag for it. As for example:-1:
That’s one of the uses of the PLAB group. You’re confused about one question in the 1700, why don’t you just search it in the group searchbox? And find discussions from people who are most probably working in the UK right now.
Now this pool of questions in 1700 has been studied a lot by Plabbers and some of them has organized the questions according to their own need. A group called Unity also made a subject wise 1700 questions with their own researched explanations. Get the combined copy of their separate subjects here. Same old 1700 questions (with there number tags on them) but different explanations.
Now question may arise- Can you pass by ONLY reading this 1700 questions with explanations? Do they exactly repeat these questions?
Yes and No.
They don’t repeat exactly, but the themes of the questions stay similar to a great degree. That’s why the best way to solve these questions is never to memorize which one is the answer right away, rather to understand why the other fours are not.
Sometimes the explanations won’t satisfy your curiosity or clarify the question. That’s where the Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine (OHCM) and Oxford Handbook of Clinical Specialties (OHCS) come in. The former more than the latter, in my opinion. It’s not necessary to know everything from these books. But if you can grow the habit of looking up the question related topics, then by the end of your prep, you will see you’ve read a lot of this book. But don’t go crazy and try to cram everything. These should be only the ultimate reference book.
Again, these Qbank solving and reference book may seem two extremes for preparation. What’s the middle ground? Here comes the Notes For PLAB 1. These are from 2014, but I read it and found it helpful for quick reviewing.
And after all these still there are so much more materials out there- recalls, mocks, ecg notes, clinchers etc and etc. Should I provide all the links? Nope. Rather, let me tell you about the GOLD MINE.
** The FILES section of the PLAB group. **
There are 365 days in a year and there are 1194 (and counting) files in it. ALL for your taking, absolutely for free. From IELTS to Getting a driver’s license in the UK- you’ll find everything here. I always used to keep an eye out in this section and I will suggest you do too.
To summarize:
Get yourself in the PLAB facebook group.
Download the 1700 QBank, Oxford handbooks, Notes.
Set how many questions you wanna solve per day. (So it depends on how many days you have left. I will strongly recommend you go through 1700 at least twice.) I also had the habit of marking the questions that deemed tough. So, the marked questions helped in my reviewing.
During solving the questions, search them in the group or look the topic up in the oxford handbooks.
When you’re tired, go through the notes.
At the end of your prep, self-exam by the available latest mocks.
Keep reviewing 1700 as many times you can.
It’s really not that tough preparing for PLAB 1. If you can implement all the resources that is there for free, effectively, success is sure to come.
Good luck to everyone.