PLAB 2 Experience & Samson Academy Review
Background: I had a 2 year gap in my clinical experience but I had decent if not good communication skills. I also didn’t do any prep before Samson
Samson course: I did the two week course, the course as everyone knows is really long, I think my biggest negative would be that 14 days straight feels like forever and not having breaks between those 14 days meant that I couldn’t really practice during the course. This is the one negative during the course.
However, for me, the best thing about Samson were the mock exams - the mocks & the feedback really helped me iron out issues that I didn’t even know existed ( like issues with my expression whilst taking a history) & also from my 18 stations in the exam, 16 of those stations were ones I had either did in the mock exam or we had talked about in class. You do 4 mocks, and that really helps, especially as you get used to the time pressure of having 6/8 minutes. Also, you get used to the stamina required for a 3 hour exam. I think the Samson course is good, but it is the mocks that I felt like are the best thing about it. The mocks are as close to the real exam as you can get ( for example, my first station in the mock ended up being one of my stations in the exam. The mock feedback can be a little painful, but it personally helped me.
I had 8 days after the course ended, which is not ideal in my opinion, you should have 2 weeks after the course ends so you can practice, but somehow I managed to pass the exam.
If I had to do it again, I’d do Samson, I’m sure all the other academies are good too but I didn’t have any regrets doing Samson. Also, imo, Samson goes the extra mile to prep you for the new stations that have been coming up in the exam over the last few months. Of course, all of this is subjective and I know not everyone likes the course but for me the course really helped me pass the plab 2 exam.