| 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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