PLAB TRAINER

PLAB 1

The exam tests your ability to apply knowledge to the care of patients rather than how well you can remember and recite facts. Questions relate to current best practice in the UK (and equipment routinely available in UK hospitals). You’ll need to answer them in relation to published evidence and not according to your local arrangements. The exam covers the common, important or acute conditions (common in emergency departments) seen by trainees entering the second year of the Foundation Programme (F2), and the management of long term conditions seen in primary care. It excludes the advanced duties of a general practitioner (GP).

 How to Prepare

It’s made up of 200 single best answer questions (SBAs). It’s a multiple choice type exam question also known as best of five or one from five. Each starts with a short scenario followed by a question eg ‘What is the single most likely diagnosis?’ You need to choose the right one out of five possible answers labelled A to E. Some of the other answers may be valid but you need to choose the best one. If you enter more than one answer on the answer sheet you’ll gain no mark for the question.