Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board

The Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board (PLAB) test provides the main route for International Medical Graduates (IMGs) to demonstrate that they have the necessary skills and knowledge to practise medicine in the United Kingdom (UK). PLAB is a two part assessment that overseas doctors (or international medical graduates), from outside the European Economic Area and Switzerland, usually need to pass before they can legally practise medicine in the UK.[1] It is conducted by the General Medical Council of the United Kingdom. The test is designed to assess the depth of knowledge and level of medical and communication skills possessed by the international medical graduates. The PLAB blueprint sets out what candidates are expected to demonstrate in the test and beyond.

The PLAB test has 2 parts:

Part 1: Consists of a multiple choice format examination paper with 180 SBA's (One Hundred Eighty Single Best Answer questions) lasting 3 hours, This part is conducted in a number of countries including Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Pakistan, Nigeria and Sri Lanka.[2]

Part 2: Consists of an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). This part is only available in Manchester. It consists of 16 clinical stations. All the stations are eight minutes long, plus two minutes reading time. The standard of both parts of the PLAB exam is set at the level of competence of a doctor at the start of Foundation Year 2 (F2) in the Foundation Programme.

Eligibility criteria

You need the following to be eligible to take the PLAB 1 exam:

  • It is necessary to have a primary medical degree from an institution that is listed in the World Directory of Medical Schools.
  • Passed the academic IELTS modules with a minimum overall score of 7.5 and a minimum score of 7.0 in each of the four language skills.[3]

As long as it is a post-graduate internship, you can take the PLAB 1 without having finished your house job or internship. If your internship counts toward your graduation (i.e., is pre-graduate), you cannot take PLAB 1 until you have finished it.

Application fees

The PLAB 1 exam application fee is £ 240, while the PLAB 2 exam application fee is £ 906. The entire application procedure is done online. There are other additional expenses (IELTS/OET, Visa Processing, etc.) in addition to the application fee that you must pay.[4]

Pass rates

The pass rates on the first try for PLAB1 from September 2018 to August 2021 are 71.6% for males and 72.4% for females, which is very similar. For PLAB2, females have considerably greater pass rates 69.9% than males have 54.3%.[5]

References
  1. "Registration and licensing: PLAB: Do I need to take the PLAB test?". General Medical Council. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  2. "Registration and licensing: PLAB: Before the PLAB test: When and where can I take PLAB?". General Medical Council. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  3. "Eligibility criteria". Medico topics. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  4. "Registration and licensing: PLAB: Our PLAB fees". General Medical Council. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  5. Matt, Homer (March 2022). "Influences on pass rates in PLAB examinations: PLAB 1 and 2 Annual Report 2021 - March 2022" (PDF). Retrieved 27 September 2022.
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