What resources should you use to prepare for PLAB Part 1:

The PLAB blueprint for PLAB Part 1:
- The blueprint is a guide to what the exam covers and can help you to prepare. It sets out the knowledge, skills and behaviours you are expected to demonstrate in the exam and beyond.
- All the topics and skills needed to pass are covered in the blueprint.
What does the PLAB blueprint cover? They map the blueprint against:

- Good medical practice is their core guidance which they give as an advice to all doctors on the standards they expect of them
- Outcomes for provisionally registered doctors (originally published in The Trainee Doctor): the outcomes doctors must meet at the end of their first year of Foundation program training before they can apply for full registration with a licence to practise
- The UK Foundation Programme curriculum 2021: the framework that supports the first two years of educational training of doctors in the UK.

How to use the blueprint for PLAB Part 1:

Download the PLAB user guide which explains how to read it and how you can use it.
The board presents the PLAB blueprint as an Downloadable Excel spreadsheet.
In the blueprint, the knowledge section lists the range of presentations and conditions that they test. These match those typically faced by doctors starting the second year of the Foundation Programme training.
The domains section corresponds to the Core guidance of Good medical practice. Candidates passing the PLAB test must be able to demonstrate the skills, professional values and behaviours they expect of all licensed doctors working in the UK.

How can the PLAB blueprint help me prepare?

Candidates can use the PLAB blueprint to help prepare for the test.
Before you read the blueprint, you’ll find it helpful to familiarise yourself with the four domains in the core guidance, Good medical practice. You’ll find all four domains are covered by the blueprint because the board expects PLAB candidates to know and be able to apply all the principles in Good medical practice.
The blueprint will tell you what you can expect to be covered by the questions in part 1, or the scenarios or stations in part 2. But it won’t tell you what questions or scenarios you will face on the day you take the tests.

Download the PLAB blueprint:

The PLAB blueprint is available in two formats (Both contain the same information).
- Download an Excel version of the PLAB Blueprint
- Download a PDF version of the PLAB Blueprint
If you have problems accessing the blueprint, email at plab@gmc-uk.org for advice.

The Foundation Programme curriculum for PLAB Part 1:

All the topics and skill areas covered by the PLAB blueprint match those typically faced by doctors starting the second year of their UK Foundation Programme training.
This is how the board makes sure doctors who pass the PLAB test are at the same level as UK-qualified doctors.
Read the Rough Guide to the curriculum here.
Read the Complete Foundation Programme Curriculum here.

Guidance and interactive tools:

Good medical practice is the core advice to doctors on the standards the board expects of them. You will be expected to demonstrate the professional values and behaviours set out in Good medical practice when you take the exam and when you practise as a doctor in the UK. The PLAB blueprint is mapped against Good medical practice.
You can build and test your knowledge of Good medical practice using:
- Ethical guidance for Doctors
- Good medical practice in action interactive online tool
- Welcome to UK practice interactive online tool.

Courses:

You do not need to attend a study or coaching course to pass, but many candidates choose to do so.
The board doesn’t offer courses and \does not endorse or monitor the quality of courses given by others.

Sample MCQs:

1. A 36 year old woman attends the Emergency Department with epigastric pain and vomiting. Three days before she took an overdose of some tablets and excess alcohol. She does not remember which tablets she took, as she was drunk at the time. She has low mood and has recently been prescribed an anti-depressant by her GP.

Investigations:
Serum creatinine 190 micromol/L (45-95)
Serum total bilirubin 24 µmol/L (<17)
Serum aspartate aminotransferase 75 U/L (10–40)
Prothrombin time 43 seconds (10–12)

Which drug is the most likely cause of these abnormalities?

1. 1. Amitriptyline
  2. Aspirin
  3. Fluoxetine
  4. Mirtazapine
  5. Paracetamol

2. A 72 year old man has worsening muscle weakness and lethargy over the last month. He had a recent hospital admission for heart failure and was discharged on an increased dose of furosemide. He also takes ramipril, bisoprolol and aspirin. He has a blood sample taken for serum electrolytes.

What is the most likely pattern to be found?

1. Na 130 mmol/L, K 2.5 mmol/L
2. Na 130 mmol/L, K 5.0 mmol/L
3. Na 140 mmol/L, K 4.5 mmol/L
4. Na 150 mmol/L, K 2.5 mmol/L
5. Na 150 mmol/L, K 3.5 mmol/L

3. An 89 year old man has a basal cell carcinoma on his forehead which requires excision. He has dementia and the clinic nurse feels he is not competent to give consent for surgery.

What is the most appropriate action for obtaining consent?

1. Ask a psychiatrist to assess his cognitive function
2. Ask his general practitioner to sign the consent form
3. Ask his wife to sign the consent form
4. Ask the patient to sign the consent form
5. Ask the surgeon to assess his mental capacity

4. A 21 year old woman sustained an undisplaced fracture of the midshaft of her left tibia. The fracture has been treated conservatively with a plaster cast. Two days later she has increasingly severe pain in her leg. Her toes are warm and pulses are present.

What is the most important immediate action?

1. Elevate the limb
2. Refer to orthopaedics
3. Remove the plaster cast
4. Replace the cast with increased padding
5. Re-x-ray the fracture site

5. A 14 year old girl attends the GP surgery requesting the oral contraceptive pill (OCP). She says she is sexually active and her boyfriend is in the year above her at school. Her parents are unaware of her the appointment and her request.

What is the most appropriate action?

1. Advise her about safe sex and prescribe the OCP
2. Contact her parents
3. Contact the local safeguarding team
4. Contact the police
5. Explain it is illegal to prescribe the OCP for her