| The
General Medical Council (GMC) is the statutory body
responsible for the regulation and standards of
the medical profession in the United Kingdom. In
order to carry out any sort of medical work or training,
a doctor must first obtain registration with the
GMC.
Overseas doctors who are seeking limited registration
must first pass, or be exempted from the Professional
and Linguistic Assessment Board (PLAB) test conducted
by the GMC. PLABMASTER is aimed at preparing the
candidate thoroughly for PLAB in a scientific
manner so as to improve confidence, performance
and success.
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 PLAB
is set in two parts. |
Part 1
is conducted in the UK as well as in some other
countries (currently Bulgaria, Dubai, Egypt, India,
Nigeria, Pakistan and Sri Lanka). This exam is based
on EMQ's i.e. Extending Matching Questions. You
will be given altogether 200 Questions divided in
40 themes. The passing score changes each time,
but generally it is around 130 (maximum 135, on
2 occasions in the past). There are no negative
marks for wrong answers. |
Part
2
is only available in the UK and takes the form of
Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE),
which includes an assessment of clinical and communication
skills. In an examination room, you will find a
series of 14 booths known as stations. Each station
requires you to undertake a particular task, some
task will involve talking to or examining the patient,
and some will involve demonstrating a procedure
on an anatomical model for e g suturing the wound
or giving cardiac massage to the patient (dummy).
The examiner will be closely observing you doing
the tasks. Each task lasts for 5 minutes exactly,
with 1 minute between stations.
To be eligible to take the PLAB test, a doctor
must hold an acceptable primary medical qualification
and normally have satisfactorily completed (overseas)
an acceptable internship of 12 months duration,
or other experience regarded by the GMC as equivalent.
The GMC also require doctors to pass an English
test known as International English Language Testing
System (IELTS) in order to be eligible to sit
for the PLAB test. Doctors must achieve an overall
IELTS score of 7.0, with a minimum of 6.0 in each
of the Listening, Academic Reading, Academic Writing
sections and 7.0 in the SPEAKING section.
Doctors who hold qualifications recognized by
the GMC for full and provisional registration
are not required to take the PLAB test. European
Economic Area (EEA) doctors may sometimes be asked
by their prospective employer to take an English
language test, as a condition of being offered
a post.
Doctors who are sponsored by the British Council,
or other official sponsoring bodies, or who are
on Overseas Doctors Training Scheme (ODTS), do
not have to take the PLAB test and must not do
so before or during the period of their sponsorship.
If they take the PLAB test and fail, they will
no longer be eligible for sponsorship.
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