PLAB and the UK Medical Licensing Assessment are connected, but they are not interchangeable names for one candidate pathway. PLAB remains the General Medical Council route used by many international medical graduates. Its two parts now meet the corresponding MLA requirements: PLAB 1 meets the Applied Knowledge Test requirement, while PLAB 2 meets the Clinical and Professional Skills Assessment requirement.
UK medical students normally take an MLA delivered through their medical school. An international graduate should follow the GMC's registration and PLAB guidance rather than assume that any separately advertised “UKMLA exam” is the correct booking route.
Every figure in this guide is checked against the official regulator sources linked below — last verified 8 August 2026.
What the PLAB pathway is for
PLAB helps the GMC assess whether a doctor who qualified abroad has the knowledge and skills expected of a doctor entering the second year of UK Foundation Programme training.
The route has two assessments:
- PLAB 1: a written applied-knowledge examination.
- PLAB 2: a practical objective structured clinical examination.
Passing PLAB 1 does not grant GMC registration, a licence to practise or a UK job. A doctor must pass both parts and then make a separate registration application. The GMC assesses the medical qualification, internship or experience, English evidence, identity, good standing, recent activities and fitness to practise as relevant to that application.
Check eligibility before preparing to book
To access PLAB 1 booking, the GMC requires:
- an acceptable overseas primary medical qualification, or confirmation that final examinations and the other requirements for the qualification have been completed; and
- acceptable evidence of knowledge of English.
The GMC must verify the relevant evidence before the booking service becomes available in GMC Online. IELTS and OET are common evidence routes, but they are not the only possible routes, and the evidence rules for sitting PLAB can differ from those for registration.
Doctors with a relevant European qualification may follow a different registration route under current legislation. Use the GMC route guidance for the exact qualification and circumstances; do not book PLAB merely because the degree was obtained outside the UK.
Current PLAB 1 format and results
PLAB 1 currently contains 180 single-best-answer questions in three hours. Each item begins with a short scenario and offers five possible answers.
Each correct answer receives one mark. The total number correct is the candidate's score. There is no permanent published pass mark to memorise: the GMC sets the pass mark for each sitting using the Angoff method and one standard error of measurement. The result shows:
- the candidate's total score;
- the score required to pass that sitting;
- the average score for all candidates; and
- percentage performance across ten broad areas of clinical practice.
The GMC publishes results in the My Tests section of GMC Online and currently states that results are released six weeks after the examination. The scheduled result date for each sitting appears on the official results page.
What PLAB 1 tests
PLAB 1 tests applied knowledge rather than recall in isolation. The question is usually not “What fact do you know?” but “What should this doctor do for this patient now?”
The official syllabus boundary is the MLA content map. It covers the knowledge, skills and behaviours needed for UK practice, including:
- clinical presentations and conditions across the life course;
- acute assessment, stabilisation and escalation;
- investigation, diagnosis and management;
- prescribing and medicines safety;
- prevention, safeguarding and public health;
- communication, consent, capacity and confidentiality;
- professional values, ethics and law; and
- safe work within UK systems.
The GMC also directs candidates to the Foundation Programme curriculum, Good medical practice, its explanatory guidance, Professional standards in action and Welcome to UK practice. It does not endorse or monitor external coaching providers.
Build an applied preparation workflow
Map the official scope
Download the current MLA content map and turn it into a working tracker. Mark each topic as:
- can manage safely without prompting;
- recognises but cannot yet prioritise;
- needs a first learning pass; or
- needs UK-specific guidance review.
This separates missing knowledge from uncertainty about UK practice.
Learn decisions, not lists
For each clinical presentation, revise a compact decision chain:
- What is immediately dangerous?
- What must happen before a complete diagnosis?
- What is the best initial investigation?
- What finding changes management?
- What is the safest treatment or referral?
- What follow-up, safety-netting or communication is required?
Use current UK guidance where a national pathway matters. Avoid memorising recalled-question lists, which can be inaccurate and do not teach the boundary between close options.
Move from untimed to timed sets
Begin with short untimed sets while learning the reasoning pattern. Then use timed mixed sets. A three-hour paper for 180 questions averages one minute per item, so the final preparation phase must include full-length pacing, decision discipline and controlled skipping.
Rehearse professional judgement
Clinical knowledge alone is insufficient. Review Good medical practice alongside scenarios involving consent, capacity, confidentiality, raising concerns, colleague conduct, safeguarding and candour. Ask what a safe doctor at the assessed level should do next, not what the most senior specialist might eventually do.
Review errors with one method
Review every wrong, guessed or slow item. Record:
- Task: diagnosis, investigation, immediate action, treatment, communication or ethics.
- Trigger: the exact detail that should have changed the decision.
- Priority: whether an airway, breathing, circulation, safeguarding or escalation step came first.
- Best answer: why it is the next action at this stage.
- Near miss: why the closest alternative is premature, unsafe or outside the assessed role.
- UK rule: the relevant guidance or professional standard.
- Transfer rule: one sentence that will solve a similar scenario.
Tag the root cause as knowledge, prioritisation, UK-system knowledge, professional judgement, stem reading or pace. Re-test the rule in a different scenario within a few days. Re-reading the original explanation is not the same as proving that the error has been corrected.
Booking and readiness checklist
- I checked the GMC route for my exact qualification and circumstances.
- The GMC has confirmed that my primary medical qualification is acceptable.
- My English evidence meets the current PLAB booking requirement.
- My details and evidence have been verified in GMC Online.
- I am booking only through the PLAB service in GMC Online.
- I have read the current MLA content map and GMC preparation guidance.
- I can complete 180 single-best-answer decisions in three hours.
- I have practised mixed clinical, professional and UK-system scenarios.
- I understand that the pass mark is set for each sitting.
- I have checked the official examination and result dates.
- I know that passing PLAB 1 is followed by PLAB 2 and a separate registration application.
Quick answers
Is PLAB 1 now called the UKMLA AKT?
No. The GMC still calls the examination PLAB 1. It meets the requirements for the MLA Applied Knowledge Test and uses the MLA content map.
Do international graduates take the same MLA as UK students?
Not as one common booking. UK medical schools deliver the MLA to their students. Many international graduates continue through the GMC's PLAB route.
How many questions are in PLAB 1?
There are 180 single-best-answer questions, each with five options, to be completed in three hours.
Is there a fixed PLAB 1 pass mark?
No fixed mark applies to every sitting. The GMC sets and reports the required score for each test.
When are PLAB 1 results released?
The GMC currently publishes them six weeks after the examination in GMC Online, subject to any delay it communicates directly.
Does passing PLAB 1 allow me to work as a doctor in the UK?
No. PLAB 1 is only the written part. PLAB 2 and an approved GMC registration application with a licence to practise are separate requirements.
Should I study only diseases and treatments?
No. The official scope also includes professional behaviours, communication, ethics, patient safety and working within UK practice.
