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 Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Pakistan, Nigeria and Sri Lanka.[2]

Part 2: Consists of an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). This part is available in the cities of Manchester, Cambridge, and London, United Kingdom. It consists of 18 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.

When Do The Exams Take Place?

PLAB 1 takes place in March, June, September and November every year. But inconsistently around the world. Not all the countries will have all four months available for the exam date, The only place you can check the availability is through your GMC Online account. PLAB 2 takes place round the year except for August and December, the available dates can only be seen after you have passed PLAB 1.


Who Needs to Sit for PLAB

All nationals of a country outside the UK, EEA, or Switzerland who do not have EC rights and UK nationals who have graduated from a medical school outside the UK, EEA, or Switzerland who do not have the following: - A sponsorship under an arrangement approved by the GMC - A GMC approved postgraduate qualification - Eligibility to enter the GP or specialist register


PLAB Tips

There are 180 questions to be completed in 3 hours. This means you have 60 seconds to complete one question. There is a high proportion of people who fail because they were not able to complete the exam. Do not be one of them! Plan your time wisely. In the PLAB part 1 exam, they will provide you with the normal laboratory values at the back of the question booklet so you do not need to remember the normal values. However, memorising some common values can save you time from flipping back and looking for those values.


Day of Examination

In the UK, time of arrival is usually at 10am, but this varies at other centres overseas.

What to bring: Your passport, HB pencils, erasers, and pencil sharpeners. You will not need a calculator. You are allowed to bring drinks, snacks and medication, and an ordinary watch.

What about phones and valuables?

- The cloak rooms are usually not monitored so it is not a wise idea to leave your phones in your bags in the cloak rooms. The current regulations allow you to bring in your phones into the exam hall provided you declare it to the invigilator. The invigilator will provide you with an envelope to put your phone inside. It must be switched off and left underneath your desk.

[3]

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. http://plabable.com
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.