PLAB 1 and PLAB 2

PLAB is the two-part assessment most international medical graduates take. Part 1 is a written examination; Part 2 is a practical examination taken in the UK.

PLAB 1

A single-best-answer written paper. It is held on fixed dates each year, in the UK and at a set of overseas centres, and the centres and dates are published by the GMC in advance.

Two practical points that shape planning more than anything about the content:

• Sittings are a few times a year, not on demand. A missed booking window is months, not weeks.
• Overseas centres fill. The centre nearest you may not have a seat on the date you want, and travelling to another country to sit it is a real cost that belongs in the plan.

PLAB 2

An objective structured clinical examination, taken at the GMC's assessment centre in Manchester. It is a set of timed stations covering history taking, examination, procedures, and communication.

Because it is only held in the UK, PLAB 2 has consequences that PLAB 1 does not:

• You need a visitor visa if your nationality requires one, and that is its own application with its own timeline.
• Slots are booked in advance and the wait varies.
• It has to fall inside the window in which your PLAB 1 pass remains valid, and inside the window in which your English evidence remains valid. Those two clocks are running at the same time and they do not start together.

What we do not state here

The number of stations, the pass mark, the fees, the validity windows and the current sitting dates all come from the GMC and all change. They are on the page linked above. This page is about the shape of the process; that page is the authority for its contents.

Where this platform fits

Road to NHS covers the knowledge tested in PLAB 1 and the UKMLA applied knowledge test. It does not simulate PLAB 2 stations. The simulated-patient work is not built yet, and when it is, it will say plainly what it does and does not prepare you for.