PLAB 1 Guide

The Professional & Linguistics Assessment Board (PLAB) is a set of licensing exams one needs to pass before he/she is allowed to practice medicine in the UK (i.e. England, Scotland and Wales – NO IRELAND as they have a separate licensing exam). Once the exam is cleared, the candidate is eligible to apply for General Medical Council Registration (exactly the same as Pakistan Medical & Dental Council right here, except that they charge in pounds – EXPENSIVE!!). After registration, it’s a green signal for you to do your thing…practice medicine. Sounds Simple – it is too.

ATTACHED RESOURCES-PLAB1 MCQ Material

metalseinen.com/PubImages/plabmcqmaterial1.zip

IELTS

If you are a FRESH GRADUATE, then here is some GOOD NEWS (one I didn’t hear about on time). You can be EXEMPTED from appearing in IELTS if your college gives you a certificate that the language of instruction and examination was English.

Visit http://www.gmc-uk.org/doctors/registration_applications/language_proficiency.asp for further details on the subject. For all the rest of you, read the following.

This is an exam to judge your command over the English language. You should think of it as a friend actually, because it is keeping most of Europe out of the UK and leaving empty places for you to fill. You need to sit for the Academic version and will be tested in the following sections – Listening, Reading, Writing & Speaking (thank God there is no such thing as drawing in English). The Speaking section is conducted on a separate date and venue. The scoring system is based on bands and one can score from 0-9. The minimum bands you need to score (effective as of Oct 2010) for GMC purpose are:

Listening – 7

Reading – 7

Writing – 7

Speaking – 7

Overall – 7

The GMC is very strict with regards to their benchmark and will not; I repeat WILL NOT, show any leniency even if it’s for just 0.5 band.

WHERE TO APPLY: IELTS exam is conducted by the British Council and AEO Australia. It is believed that a better band is secured via the AEO. But the AEO charges Rs.2000/- more than the British Council. Visit www.aeo.com.pk/ for info on the current exam fees and most importantly – the exam dates.

PREPARATION: Before sitting for the exam, be honest about one thing. Are you really good in English? If yes, then this is how you should prepare. Buy the 6 book set series of the ESOL Cambridge University IELTS examination. It is available in Urdu bazaar (Karachi) and a good Photostat version costs around a 1000 Rs. Audio CD is provided with each book to practice the listening section. Each book has 4 sample tests designed in the exact pattern as the real test. So in total, there are 24 tests and even if one test is attempted / day, a month is all that is needed to prepare for the exam. You may start off slowly initially but timing yourself is mandatory in at least 10 practice tests. Focus greatly on listening and reading as you can score a full 9 band in these sections and can boost your overall band. I need not remind you that this is an English test and therefore Spellings need to be in order. As for the writing section, read what you have written and ask for help from a colleague to check your work (if possible). This will improve the basic structure of your write-up. As for Speaking, please remember that it’s an English language test, not your M.B.B.S viva. The examiner just asks you about general things, so it’s not a big deal. Try and converse in English for at least 10 minutes daily (hard labor eh!!)

If you’re not that good with your English, I suggest you take up preparatory classes from any renowned institute and do as they guide you (BE HONEST!!).

EXAM: The best part about this exam is that it does not bother your brain cells too much. The only thing you need to be careful about is timing. The exam is not held in a cumulative timing manner i.e. all sections are conducted separately having their own time slots. So no matter how fast you finish one section, you cannot use the spare time for the other section as it is not given to you. This poses a problem, especially for the Reading section, which can be quite difficult. Word of Advise: Please make sure both your bladders are empty before starting the test. It can be really distracting if you’re having an urge to purge. Result comes out exactly in 2 weeks time.

PLAB 1

The PLAB exam Now Only Consists Of 200  Select Best Answers (SBAs), the ones that we are used to.  You will only have 3 hours – 180 minutes – to attempt 200 questions, which makes it less than a minute for every question .

The second part is a clinical evaluation of your skills and you are tested in an OSCE pattern. You need to clear your part 1 before you can sit for your part 2. There are 15 stations, 5 minutes each.

HOW TO APPLY: The first thing to do is visit http://www.gmc-uk.org/doctors/plab.asp

Go through the website as well as all the other individual sub-sections. There is a lot of helpful information available.

Then visit http://www.gmc-uk.org/doctors/plab/test_dates.asp

And have a look at the available dates for the exams. PLAB 1 is held 4 times a year in the UK, but only twice overseas. PLAB 2 on the other hand is held every other month.

Next visit http://www.gmc-uk.org/doctors/plab/advice_part1.asp#3 and go to the set up a MYGMC account section. You need to book exams online and therefore need to set up your account.

PREPARATION: PLAB 1 exam is mainly based on final year syllabus. Its major emphasis lies on medicine, with more or less equal coverage to Gynea / Obs, Pediatrics, Surgery, Psychiatry, Eye & ENT. Basic sciences are not tested in too much depth usually with one or two questions randomly asked.

Traditionally, people go through Oxford handbook of Medicine and Clinical Specialities cover to cover for the exam. This can be very tedious and you may end up remembering NOTHING. What I did was somewhat a little different. A senior colleague of mine (whom I am very grateful to) advised me to go through STEP 2 USMLE. So I bought the USMLE WORLD STEP 2 question banks and started preparing. Not only did I get good mcq practice, my topics started to cover on their own. Please remember, if you intend to follow this theme, then you may need to make an index of the topics while you’re attempting the questions. It will help you revise the topics from question bank book with precision.

While you’re at it, start collecting PLAB 1  SBAs for practicing. PLAB DIGEST is an old resource (last updated 2002) and the bank has changed from then, but you can still practice from it if you want. A reasonable amount of recent material is present on www.aippg.com and www.rxpgonline.com

It is mandatory that you go through a healthy amount of PLAB material and TEST & TIME yourself and keep check on your scores if possible. Oxford handbooks will now come in handy to look into topics that you still have not covered via STEPS. If possible, do repeat the USMLE WORLD questions at least once for better memory. One thing about EMQs – train your self not to look at the options first. Just see the theme and start attempting the question. Whatever answer pops up, look for it in the options. If you see it, then you are 99% right and need not look at the other options. It will help save you time and a lot of confusion.

Just 3 days before the exams, acquaint yourself to Britain’s S.I.Units and their reference ranges for common lab tests and try to memorize them. Although these are given at the back of your exam, it saves a lot of time if you already know them.

If you follow the above scheme, 3 months full time preparation will hopefully bag you the exam. Even if you have 2 months, I believe the above plan can still help you, if you put in the hours and work hard. Trust me, it can be done.

EXAM: Let me make one thing clear. The only challenge this exam holds is the timing. Questions are not that difficult, except for some random ones, and you can manage them if your preparation is good. The exam is meant to finish in 3 hours and trust me, every minute is important. People who do not time themselves while testing do not finish up on time. Sadly, due to the time constraint, the Urging Purging rule applies here also.

Trust yourself: Like I mentioned before, do not look at the options initially. Seeing 15-18 options can be intimidating and will confuse you for no reason. Read the theme CAREFULLY. Know what you are asked to do. Read the question, think over it for 5-10 seconds and let an answer pop up. If it’s in the options, go for it and shade it in the answer sheet. Its better to manage the answer sheet while you’re attempting the questions rather then shade it later because you won’t get time later. If the answer doesn’t pop, then look at the options and see if it helps. If even that doesn’t help, just mark it to check it later. Don’t waste time thinking over it and try the next one.

The exam has no negative marking. So it goes without saying that you attempt all questions. One good thing about this exam is that the marks you secure is not that important, the end result is. All the GMC is interested in is whether you pass or fail the exam. Usually the benchmark for passing is somewhere between 60-70%. Your aim should be to make it to the 80% mark with a certainty (unlike a simple 99 in STEPS..yeah right).

PLANNING

PLAB is an exam which is based primarily on final year M.B.B.S knowledge. So the ideal time to appear for it, in my opinion, should also be near the final year M.B.B.S exam, preferably two to three months after it if you have already appeared for your IELTS exam. IELTS result is valid for two years, so try to appear in it as close to your PLAB 1 attempt as possible.

In case you have not sat for your IELTS yet then firstly get your passport in order and seek the date that is around 4-5 months from your final year M.B.B.S exams. Sit for your IELTS exam nearly 1 and a half month before the last date of registration for PLAB 1. IELTS result comes out in 2 weeks and so you will have at least 3 months to prepare for your PLAB. If for some reason, you miss out on your IELTS Bands but think that you can still score them, you have 1 month in spare to appear for your second IELTS attempt before the last date of registration for PLAB 1.

You do not need your housejob / internship to appear for your PLAB 1. I will still encourage people to sit for the exam soon after their M.B.B.S final year exams. The knowledge is still fresh, you can work out your IELTS exemption and you have good time in your hands to prepare. PLAB 2 though requires housejob / internship and should only be attempted once you are through with it. Also, internship adds in your CV and helps you get a job in the UK (another difference from STEPS)

BOOKS

Dr,Hina

Part 1 of Plab is a computer-marked written examination consisting of extended matching questions (EMQs) and single best answer (SBA) questions. The paper contains 200 questions and may contain images. It lasts three hours. The proportion of SBA questions may vary from exam to exam but no more than 30% of the paper is composed of SBA questions. You can have an unlimited number of attempts but you must pass Part 1 within two years of the date of your IELTS certificate.

The two main books are:

1. OHCS (Oxford Handbook of Clinical Specialties)

2. OHCM ( Oxford Handbook Of Clinical Medicine)

A book for Surgery is optional because the OHCM has a section on surgery which is sufficient.  If you want to use another book, then you may use “Oxford Handbook of Surgery”. Likewise, for gynecology/obstetrics, OHCS and OHCM are sufficient if you read them thoroughly and try to remember important details. If you want to use another book, then you may use “Ten Teachers”. For Psychiatry, however, it’s better to do it from Davidson since many people find it better than OHCS.  I also felt that in the exam, Psychiatry came mostly from Davidson.

The Extended Matching Question (EMQ) books are:

1. 1000 EMQS by Una Coales.
2. Medicbyte 3 Volumes.
3. Plab Digest by Atish Pratap Mathur.
4. RXPG First Aid 3rd International Edition by Tyagi Vidyarthi.

I suggest that you take about 4 months for the preparation for this exam. So, 1.5 month for the OHCS, 1.5 months for the OHCM, and then, take 1 month to do book and online EMQs. However, the time varies with everyone and also depends on when you graduated and for how long you haven’t been in touch with regular studies.

Join different forums where questions are discussed regularly. One of the best forums I have seen is rxpgonline.com Plab 1 forum. I also suggest that you book “123Doc Plab Part1 Online E- Course” which costs 24 Pounds for a 2 month subscription. They have up to 2000 EMQs in their bank and they daily select a topic and then you have to solve the questions. Most people recommend one online examination. It’s best to first give at least two reads to OHCM and OHCS thoroughly. And then, you should solve EMQs daily. Last but not the least; solve all the past papers from 2001 till the time you take the exam. I solved all the papers from 2001 to 2009.

Hope all the above information helps. If you have any more confusion, let me know and try to get the latest editions of all the books. Many of the latest editions are not in Pakistan, so I ordered a few books from www.amazon.co.uk and there are many book shops who can order them for you. They give you the photocopy of that book at a reasonable price.

Remember that practice is the key. Good luck!