PLAB 1 is a 180-question, three-hour single best answer paper. On paper that sounds straightforward. In practice most failures come from two things: treating it as a knowledge exam rather than a decision-making exam, and booking a seat before the study time exists.
What PLAB 1 is really testing
The GMC blueprint is built around what a doctor at the end of the UK Foundation Programme year 1 would be expected to do. That means the questions rarely ask "what is this disease". They ask what you would do next, in a UK setting, with UK guidelines and UK escalation norms.
Three habits separate people who pass comfortably:
- They answer as an FY2 in a UK hospital, not as a senior clinician in their home system.
- They know NICE and Resuscitation Council UK pathways, not the guidelines they trained on.
- They read the last line of the stem first. It tells you which of the five plausible answers is being asked for.
The commonest error is choosing the clinically ideal answer instead of the correct next step.
Booking: the part people get wrong
PLAB 1 runs several times a year in the UK and at overseas centres. Booking opens roughly three months before each sitting, and the popular overseas centres fill within days of opening.
Two rules that save people a wasted attempt:
- Have your English result before you book. You cannot apply for PLAB without an accepted IELTS or OET result, and test dates themselves book out.
- Book the sitting that gives you at least twelve clear weeks. Not the next one. The exam does not get easier because you sat it early.
Current fees for every step are on our exam dates and fees page, which we keep updated as the GMC revises its charges.
A twelve-week plan that works around clinical work
Weeks 1 to 4: build the base. Read one recognised PLAB-focused resource cover to cover at a steady pace. Do not start question banks in anger yet. Aim for 20 to 25 hours per week if you are not working, 12 to 15 if you are.
Weeks 5 to 9: question bank as the primary tool. Target 100 to 150 questions a day in timed blocks of 30. For every question you get wrong, write one line in a notes file: the concept, not the answer. That file becomes your revision material — nothing else will be as useful in the final fortnight.
Weeks 10 and 11: mocks under exam conditions. Full 180-question papers, three hours, no pauses, same time of day as your real sitting. You are training stamina as much as knowledge. Most people lose marks in questions 130 to 180 purely through fatigue.
Week 12: your own notes only. Re-read your error file twice. Revise ethics, consent, capacity, confidentiality and safeguarding — high-yield, easy marks, and consistently under-prepared by candidates from systems with different legal frameworks.
High-yield areas people under-prepare
- UK-specific ethics and law: Gillick competence, Mental Capacity Act, DVLA reporting duties.
- Prescribing safety and common drug interactions.
- Sepsis, acute coronary syndrome and DKA pathways as written in UK guidance.
- Safeguarding for children and vulnerable adults.
- Communication and escalation: who you call, and when.
On the day
Arrive early, take the water break, and do not leave blank answers — there is no negative marking. If a question takes more than 90 seconds, flag it and move on. Finishing the paper is worth more than perfecting five questions.
After the result
Results usually arrive within a few weeks. Log in the day they are published — PLAB 2 seats in Manchester are released in batches and the earliest dates go first. Our PLAB 2 guide covers how to plan that trip.
Dates and fees
Booking windows, current GMC fees and English test costs are all on the exam dates and fees page. If you are still weighing PLAB against the postgraduate exam route, read PLAB vs MRCP, and use the timeline calculator to map your own dates.