PLAB mock tests
Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board test
Free practice tests
- PLAB 1 practice test 1: 180 single best answer questions in three hours, one mark each, in the PLAB 1 pattern.
- PLAB 1 practice pool 1: Untimed single best answer practice across the PLAB 1 topics, four items for each skill.
About PLAB
The PLAB test is for many doctors who qualified outside the UK, the European Economic Area or Switzerland. It checks knowledge and skills at the level of a doctor starting the second year of the UK Foundation Programme (F2). A GMC Online account, an acceptable primary medical qualification and acceptable evidence of English are required before a place on part 1 can be booked.
Part 1 is an applied knowledge test. It asks you to apply knowledge to the care of patients, using current UK practice and equipment that is routinely available in UK hospitals, rather than to recite facts or follow local arrangements from somewhere else. It can cover common, important and acute conditions seen by an F2 doctor, and the management of long-term conditions in primary care. It does not cover the advanced duties of a GP. The GMC states that PLAB 1 meets the requirements of the Medical Licensing Assessment.
The paper has 180 single best answer questions and lasts three hours. Each question is a short scenario and a lead-in. One of five answers is the best. A correct answer scores one mark. The result is that total, together with the score required to pass that paper and the average score of candidates who sat it. The pass mark is set for each paper by the Angoff method, with one standard error of measurement added. It is meant to stay at the same standard over time: what is expected of a doctor entering Foundation Year 2. There is no expected pass rate. Results are published about six weeks after the exam, in the My Tests section of GMC Online.
Feedback groups the questions into ten areas drawn from the MLA content map: reproductive health; renal and urology; neurosciences and senses (including skin); musculoskeletal; mental health; gastrointestinal; endocrine, metabolic and clinical haematology; child and adolescent health; cardiorespiratory; and ethics and other. You are told the percentage you answered correctly in each area, and the average for all candidates.
Part 2 is a clinical and professional skills assessment, in the form of an objective structured clinical exam. It is 16 scenarios of eight minutes, with at least two rest stations, and the circuit takes around three hours. Before each scenario there is 1 minute 30 seconds to move and read the instructions. Stations can be a consultation, a telephone call, an examination, a practical procedure or an acute ward, with a simulated patient, a manikin or a high-fidelity simulator. Examiners mark three domains: data gathering, technical and assessment skills; clinical management skills; and interpersonal skills. Names of drugs follow the current British National Formulary. Part 2 runs through the year at the GMC clinical assessment centre. This site describes that exam and does not offer a practice circuit.
A pass in part 2 needs both the overall pass mark and a minimum number of stations. Station pass marks come from borderline regression and are not fixed. The overall pass mark is the sum of the station cut scores plus one standard error of measurement. The minimum number of stations is also calculated for that exam and is not printed on the result. After both parts are passed, registration with a licence to practise can be applied for. The GMC says the application must be approved within two years of passing part 2.
PLAB 1 exam pattern
3 hours
- Applied knowledge test: 3 hours, 180 single best answer questions
PLAB 2 exam pattern
Around 3 hours, including at least two rest stations
- Clinical stations: 8 minutes for each of 16 stations, 16 scenarios, not a written paper