PLAB Exam UK for International Doctors: Complete Guide
What is PLAB?
The PLAB (Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board) exam is the licensing exam that is taken by International Medical Graduates for registration with the General Medical Council (GMC) in the UK. The exam consists of 2 parts PLAB 1 and PLAB 2.
What is the PLAB 1 Exam?
The PLAB 1 exam (Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board Part 1) is the first part of the licensing assessment for International Medical Graduates (IMGs) who wish to practice medicine in the UK.
PLAB 1 is a written exam with 180 multiple-choice questions. The answers must be filled out on a separate answer sheet with a pencil.
PLAB 1 Exam Duration?
The exam is 3 hours long, so ideally you should take 1 minute per question.
PLAB 1 Exam Locations?
The exam is held in the UK, Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Oxford, Sheffield, and many different locations all around the world. These can be viewed once you make a GMC online account.
PLAB 1 Exam Dates 2025
| Exam Date | Result Release Date |
|---|---|
|
20 February 2025 |
3 April 2025 |
|
22 May 2025 |
3 July 2025 |
|
7 August 2025 |
18 September 2025 |
|
6 November 2025 |
To be confirmed |
PLAB 1 Eligibility Criteria
-
You will need a primary medical qualification that is recognized by the GMC.
You can check if your degree is recognized by
clicking here
.
Note: If you haven’t officially graduated, you may still be eligible to take the exam, provided you can present evidence that you have successfully passed your final medical exams. -
Meet the English language requirements.
You can get the full details
here,
but as a quick overview your options are:
-
IELTS: Overall score of at least 7.5, with no less than 7.0 in any individual category.
The certificate is valid for two years.
Note: Only Academic IELTS is accepted. - OET: At least a grade B in all categories, and it must be the medicine version of the test.
- In certain circumstances, your medical degree alone may be accepted; however, the criteria are strict. Please review the full guidelines via the link above.
Note: You do not need to have completed your internship year (house job) to sit for PLAB 1. In fact, many candidates take the exam during their internship. -
IELTS: Overall score of at least 7.5, with no less than 7.0 in any individual category.
The certificate is valid for two years.
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PLAB 1 Exam Fee
As of April 1st, 2025 PLAB 1 exam costs £273.00. Please make sure to check their official website, as these fees can change.
What does the PLAB 1 exam cover?
The exam is based on the Medical Licensing Assessment (MLA) content map. All topics are considered equally important, and there is no specific weightage for the exam.
You can view the MLA content map through the GMC official website or by clicking here.
It mostly consists of topics covered in the final 2 clinically focused years of medical school.
NOTE: You can view and attempt 85 sample questions that are available on the GMC official website or by clicking here.
PLAB 1 Exam Passing Score
The pass mark is set based on the difficulty of the exam by a panel of experts that reviews the question paper, taking into account how the candidates have performed.
PLAB 1 Exam Registration
First, you need to create a GMC online account, and through this account, you can register for and book your exams. The results of your exams will also be uploaded there.
NOTE: After you pass PLAB 1, the result will be valid for two years, and you have to pass PLAB 2 within these two years.
What is the PLAB 2 Exam?
PLAB 2 is an OSCE (Objective Structured Clinical Exam) style exam that assesses clinical and professional skills, knowledge, and behaviors. There will be a total of 16 stations, each with a different scenario lasting eight minutes each. There will also be at least 2 rest stations. The entire exam will take around 3 hours.
PLAB 2 Eligibility Criteria
After you pass your PLAB 1, you can register for and book your PLAB 2 through your GMC online account.
PLAB 2 Exam Dates & Locations?
The exam is held multiple times throughout the year. You can view the dates after you pass PLAB 1. However, unlike PLAB 1, PLAB 2 is only held within the UK in Manchester.
What does the PLAB 2 exam cover?
The PLAB 2 is a clinical exam, and therefore, it tests how you would interact with and manage patients in real life rather than your ability to memorize facts.
The exam will cover scenarios that someone in their second foundation year (FY2) would like see and be expected to manage.
NOTE: FY2 (Foundation Year 2) is basically the 2nd year of supervised clinical training (internship/house job) that some one graduating medical school in the UK has to do.
How will you be examined?
You will be assessed on 3 domains during each scenario. These are:
- Data gathering, technical, and assessment skills: This covers history taking, physical exams, procedures, and investigations.
- Clinical management skills: This includes making a diagnosis, explaining things to the patient, and creating a management plan.
- Interpersonal skills: Which is the way you interact with the patient, your overall professionalism, and understanding of ethics.
More details about these domains can be viewed by clicking here.
Additionally, instructions and a video to familiarize yourself with what to expect on exam day can be accessed by clicking here.
Furthermore a sample OSCE scenario given by the GMC can be seen here.
How much does PLAB 2 exam cost?
As of April 1st, 2025 PLAB 2 exam costs £998.00. Please make sure to check their official website as these fees can change.
What are the PLAB 2 Exam passing marks?
To pass this exam you must get at least the minimum required score AND pass a minimum required number of stations to get an overall pass.
The score you need to achieve and the minimum number of stations you need to pass are calculated and decided separately for every exam. You can read more about the details here.