PLAB 1 covers the subjects we study in final year

PLAB 1 covers the subjects we study in final year (surgery, medicine, Gynae & Obs, ENT and Ophth), only addition is psychiatry. If you follow the tricks right, this exam is pretty much a joke. There are 200 MCQs and time is 3 hours. You can take plab 1 in Pakistan, it is being held twice a year.The recommended books are “Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine” and “Oxford Handbook of Clinical Specialties”. Nothing comes out of these 2 books but there are over 800 pages in each book. you can not remember all. I did read both books in full during my house job and hardly retain much. I got the MCQs online and also whatever MCQs books I was given by Farooq book store in urdu bazar. I solved nearly 6000 and the best ones were the online collection as there was nearly 60% repeat questions from the online MCQs. (onexamination.com). Better technique is to ditch the Oxford books and solve MCQs and read their explanations and you will ace it. Try to memorize the book and you are doomed, this is not MBBS. One to 2 months are good enough for prep.

PLAB 2 (The Drama). This is an OSCE based exam. Involves 16 stations. Clinical exposure obviously helps but the GMC people are looking for some specific “Bullshit” that you can learn in PLAB preparation courses. Its like a driving test, you go by the book during the test and the real driving is different. A few things might feel weird but just do what the course people teach. There are various courses available, mostly in and around London. All courses are near about the same. There is a course “PLAB Wright” in Liverpool. These guys provide accommodation on site and you can pay after the course and exam and in some situations after you get the job. Plab 2 is held in Manchester and Liverpool is right next to Manchester, so I would say that its kind of better location. Do move to Manchester the day before the exam and stay in some B&B close to your exam location. DO NOT allow gap between the course and the exam. Book exam first and course accordingly.

There are four kinds of stations in PLAB 2.

  1. Information gathering/History taking.
  2. Information giving/Counseling.
  3. Examinations
  4. Manikin stations

There is a limited list of these stations and the course will prepare you for that so there are not much issues. If you have done a station good then you will clear it and if you have done a station bad or incomplete, you will still clear it. I saw people who said that they screwed the exam and need to appear again, they still passed. If you do not take a course then you will definitely fail. Land there 1 month before your exam take the course and appear in your exam. Any questions, just fire away!!!