THE DRUG SOCIETY, JNMC Branch, Aligarh
PROFESSIONAL AND LINGUISTIC ASSESSMENTS BOARD
Introduction
It is licensing exam for limited registration for practice of medicine in UK. Those doctors, who clear PLAB, get limited registration with General Medical Council of UK and then they can apply for job of Senior house Officer in UK hospitals.
Various Steps For PLAB:
1) Acquire Passport (exam fees)
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2) IELTS (Rs5000/-)
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3) PLAB part 1 (Rs11,000/-)
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4) PLAB part 2 (Rs35,000/-)= (430 pounds)
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5) Apply for job as SHO
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6) Do 18 months SHO ship in a particular speciality, then give membership exam
for that speciality like [MRCP-Member Of Royal college Of Physicians.]. MRCP
step1 can be given even after MBBS, but at present it is held in UK & some
overseas center (unfortunately India is not one of those overseas centers).
Chances of success in various
exams - No authentic data available but what is projected by most
candidates who had given is as follows):
1) IELTS - It assess your English what you read up to 10th standard. Passing
rate by Aligerians=85%
2) PLAB Part 1-70%
3)PLAB PART 2-90%
3) MRCP=30%. GMC allows 30% of candidates to pass MRCP at a time. Number of
attempts is limited. GMC is going to set new guidelines for MRCP so please get
updated from their website. (www.gmc.co.uk)
Ideal timing: (It depends upon your level of aspiration
& commitment)
MBBS final year – Apply for passport as normally, it becomes ready in 5-6
months.
Internship- Give IELTS exam in 1st month. Once passed it remains valid for 2
years.
PLAB part 1 give it in internship or after India’s PG entrance(do not leave
India’s PG seat at any cost, unless you had made your mind that you will not do
PG from here ).
- This is crucial decision, it should be taken after a lot of thought and
discussion with family.
After clearing part 1 go to UK for part 2 ( But before
passing part 2 and getting the job there, do not leave here’s PG),that is again
a crucial thing to manage.
Interval between clearing Part 2 & getting SHO job varies between 15
days to 7 months.
Most difficult thing, in whole process, is this period as
you had to manage things without a job in a foreign country(minimum expenditure
is 25 pounds/day).
All these things should be kept in mind, then a well thought and mature decision
should be taken.
After MBBS (period of euphoria) every step is crucial b/c you can not go back
and as the time passes, things become more and more difficult.
HOW TO PREPARE FOR EXAM
IELTS - STRUCTURE OF EXAM
IELTS consists of four parts - Listening, reading, writing & speaking.
1]LISTINING
There will be a prerecorded conversation in four parts which will be in order of
increasing level of difficulty and you will be assessed for your ability to
understand different dialects of English language which will consist of one
monologue, a dialogue, a conversation among three or four students about a class
or trip(most difficult part) and an university lecture by a professor (easiest
part).
After each part there will be 10 question based on recording. In total there
will be 40 questions you will be given appropriate time.
2]READING
There will be four reading passages from different fields like medicine,
linguistic, commerce & any common topic. There will be 40 questions and you had
to answer them on basis of text.
Questions will be structured in ;fill in the blank; True/False and three word
answer format. True/False type questions are generally tricky & tough.
3]WRITING
You had to write two passages
1) You will be provided a diagramatic chart( pie or bar) and using given
information you had to write a paragraph in 150 words.
2) In second task you will be required to write an essay in 250 words. Topics
are general and thought provoking like ;capital punishment should be kept or
scraped from book of law, freedom of expression etc. you should cover all
subheadings and give your opinion in clear and concise way.
4] SPEAKING
There will be an interview with an examiner which will be recorded.
After initial introduction you will be given a prompt card which will have
subheadings like - speak about something which you do not have at present but
tends to have in future
Where will u buy it
What will you do with it.
You will have one minute to think or make notes after that you had to speak
non-stop for at least two minutes, generally examiners do not stop before four
minutes. This is the most important part in whole IELTS because you require at
least 7 band out of 9 for PLAB.
NOTE YOU SHOULD SPEAK AS IT IS NORMAL CONVERSATION NOT AN EXTEMPORE, SLIGHT
PAUSES ARE NORMAL, THEY OCCUR EVEN WHEN BRITISH PEOPLE TALK IN THEIR NATIVE
LANGUAGE. BUT YOU SHOULD NOT REPEAT WORDS OR SENTENCES STARE IN THE EYES OF
EXAMINER IT SENDS MESSAGE THAT YOUR ARE CONFIDENT,( NOT NERVOUS ).NEVER REPEAT
WORDS OR SENTENCES IT GIVES IMPRESSION THAT YOU ARE SHORT OF WORDS.
RESULT - It is generally declared within a fortnight. Minimum for PLAB is 7 in speaking And overall 7 out of 9 band .
RECOMMENDED BOOKS
1* IELTS PART 1,2,3* CAMBRIDGE
2 101 HINTS FOR IELTS
3 202 EXERCISES FOR IELTS
4 INSIGHT INTO IELTS
5 *PASSPORT TO IELTS (AVAILABLE AT ACADEMIC BOOK DEPOT ON DEMAND)
PLAB PART 1
This is a written exam based on MBBS subjects.
Mostly clinical subjects are coverd, medicine constitute 70% of paper.There are
200 EMQ, divided into 40 themes.(different from MCQ that we do in Indian exams).
There is no negative marking, but options are very close so tukka does not
work..
You had to get minimum score which is set by GMC depending on paper generally it
varies between 120 to 135. once you are above minimum you are declared pass.
There is no grading.
The exam is based mainly on what you study during M.B.B.S.
especially ward teachings. You will be asked presentation(sign & symptoms and
immediate management) rather than pathophysiology of disease like
1) In case of a road injury your immediate priority is immobilization of
cervical spine and securing airway, and not eliciting reflexes to know spinal
level of injury.
2) You must know that B symptoms of lymphoma are similar to tuberculosis and
sometimes it is aggrevated by alcohol intake. You will not be asked about minute
details of various types, their histology or any hypothesis about its causation
(but you can not forget reed-sternberg).
As with all exams, PLAB examiners also have their pets, you must know all about
hypothyroidism (from croaky voice, toad facies to cerebellar ataxia).
Important topics - You will come to know after doing some
previous questions and from peoples who had cleared PLAB.
MINIMUM TIME FOR PREPARATION -
VARIES depending upon your previous knowledge, but most people feel confident in
five months preparation .To be safer, start 6 months before exam date.
RECOMMENDED BOOKS
1 *Oxford handbook of medicine (covers 60% OF PAPER)
2 OXFORD HANDBOOK OF CLINICAL SPECIALITIES
3 Hand book of emergency medicine (few topics)
REFERENCE
1 Kumar & clark medicine
2 Oxford textbook of surgery (few topics like head injury,DVT, diseases of
breast and thyroid etc.)
3 Ten teachers for obs&gyn (PIH, STDs)
EMQ BOOKS
1 Plab digest by Atish pratap mathur (old is gold)
2 Plab plus by pradapu babu (contains explainations which are good)
3 Passtest for plab (they contain explainations which are authentic)try to get
as many as u can
NOTE There are a lot of books in market which are
hurriedly written by successful candidates but they contain a lot of silly
mistakes. They will confuse you(b/c for many questions clear cut answers are
written nowhere they had to be answered on your clinical judgement) NO
successful candidate is 100% correct.
LIKE First aid to plab, a colourful book, by RxPG contain a lot of silly
mistakes (they might improve their next edition)
TIPS
1) Do EMQ daily. It will check your knowledge & you will come to know what is
important what is not.
2) Make a study group of 4-5 people .It will provide you necessary competitive
spirit and moral support.Group must be professional not emotional, not
leg-pullers.
3)you must do previous papers especially during last week.In exam there is
always repetitions from previous papers ,somesay it is 30% !
PLAB PART TWO
IT is a OSCE(practical) type exam.
It consists of 14 stations on which you had to do certain procedures like
1) Doing CPR on a dummy you will be assessed for accuracy and efficiency
2) p/r on a dummy pelvis
3) Suturing a split arm
4) *TAKING BLOOD PRESSURE(almost in every exam)
5) Advising an epileptic patient
6) Telephonic conversation (telling your consultant about patient on phone) etc.
On basis of your performance you will be declared pass or fail (no score, no grade)
For taking part 2 you had to take dates with GMC, arrange
visa (easy nowadays). Most people go 20-25 days earlier do a coaching . They
prepare you for OSCE. Some coachings arrange your stay in UK for which you had
to pay necessary amount. So you have not to worry, if you do not have relatives
in UK. All you need to have is strong willpower and spirit for hardwork.
You have to pay Rs 6000/- for registration in Coaching and a post dated cheque
worth Rs 35,000/- to your coaching sponsors.
Important Addresses -:
PLAB MASTER COACHING CENTER IN INDIA.
YBES, 4 Neel Kamal,
Near "Daya Kashama Shanti",
Bhaskar Colony, Naupada,
Thane (west),
Pin - 400602, India.
UK VISA FASCILITATION CENTER
Opposite St. Thomas Church,
Africa Avenue Road,
Near Bikaji Gama Complex,
B 2/3, Safdargung Enclave,
New Delhi
For more information on part 2 coaching you may consult
www.plabmaster.com
Part two result is declared within a fortnight after that you can apply for SHO
(senior house officers) job in NHS (national health scheme). Once you get a job
you are paid about 2000/- pounds/month.
SHO is 6 monthly job. You have to give inteview, get it every 6 monthly and side by side prepare for MRCP. Sometimes you have to wait for some time for getting first SHOship after that there is little problem.
THIS IS A BROAD OUTLINE ABOUT PLAB. IF ANYONE HAD ANY
CONFUSION HE/SHE SHOULD REFER TO GMC WEBSITE. IT HAD BEEN WRITTEN IN GOODFAITH
IN ORDER TO HELP NEW ASPIRANTS. I HAD TRIED TO COVER MAJOR POINTS AND DOUBTS
WHICH I HAD DURING MY PREPARATION FOR PLAB AND I AM INDEBTED TO MY SENIORS WHO
HAD GUIDED ME TIME TO TIME.
THANKS
DR. IMTEYAZ AHMAD KHAN
MBBS 96 BATCH