CRACK THE PLAB 1
All the materials you need to study are available for free. Provided that, the social media, Facebook is also for gathering information and a place to discuss any question you might have and share your input.
The question banks are available everywhere but please do not take the preparation lightly thinking questions will repeat exactly the similar like past papers/recalls. It is for practice and to understand the way the MCQs are formulated.
Lately, they have started to transition the MCQs by adding trial base questions that are more analytical then just rote/memorization-based, that you might see in old recalls. They are going to change PLAB > UKMLE in 2023 but they are already conducting trial questions, in every session of the forthcoming exam. The aim of the preparation should always be to understand why the options of the MCQs, is not the answer, learning that way.
The duration of preparation, as mentioned earlier, depends upon your planning and pace.
But remember to tick box the following steps
1. Get yourself in the related Facebook groups for PLAB 1 preparation. Always search in the discussion section of the group, there is always a discussion thread, about the very question you need someone to answer, make the effort to find your answers to learn better.
2. Download the 1700 Q-bank and other related materials. If you cannot, send an email to the following email address and all the freely available material will be forwarded to you via email, which is already present in the Facebook groups, just to make it easy for you. (dromernasim@gmail.com)
3. Mark the questions you think need reviewing. This simple habit will save you hours of going through easy questions when you are revising your material.
4. Look up the references. Do not believe the key or explanation blindly in the Q-bank 100%. If you are even slightly unsure, do not hesitate to be lazy to look it up in the reference books e.g. Oxford Handbooks, etc.
5. Attempt as many mock tests. Try to assess yourself at the end of your preparation. Take as many mock tests as you can, putting yourself in an exam hall scenario, timing yourself and all, e.g. Plabable. Timing is key since the length of the STEM is very long and under pressure you need that timed practice to get you through.
It is not tough preparing for PLAB 1 because it is not extensive. If you can implement all the resources that are there for free, effectively, success is sure to come.
The preparation period should be around 8 to 16 weeks. However, if you have 6 weeks, you will pass this exam, if you put in the hard work with dedication.
Most of the 180 questions are from Medicine. A few are from Surgery, Pediatrics, OBGYN, ENT, Ophthalmology, Psychiatry, and Ethics.
Available Avenues
1. Plabable (Paid Subscription) — 6000–7000 Rupees
2. Ukmedapp (Paid Subscription) — 5500 Rupees
3. Plabkeys — multiple versions available in the Facebook groups e.g. Plab 1 Preparation Forum
4. Plabverse — (Paid Subscription)
5. Passmedicine (Paid Subscription)
6. Mocks (Swammy/Samson) (Paid Subscription)
7. Arora audiobooks — (Paid Subscription) — but might be available in some WhatsApp groups
8. 1700 MCQ banks (lots of available variation) — make sure you download the latest one
9. Recalls from the previous exam in the file section of Facebook Plab groups.
10. Revision WhatsApp groups — revision groups
It is ideal to have gone through 3,000 questions twice before the exam. Having gone through the notes is helpful, but not vital. You should go through at least 5 to 10 mocks before you take the exam. If you are using Plabable, make sure you score in 90%s, to be sure you are good to go for your exam.
Everyone will need this question bank for preparing for Plab. Use the online version of Plabable as there are more MCQs compared to offline and they do update the resource. If you are going to use it, flag the questions that you want to review later, also learn the concept, not the rote/memorization.
It is good to revise two or three times. Do all the mocks since they are essentially a repetition of all the questions from the Q-bank just in a shuffle setting. The comments section in the Plabable has perfectly summarized key pointers by fellow users of the subscription which should not be ignored.
They have a separate section for notes and a separate section of MCQs in the same app, do not have a desktop version. The notes are precise and only include the information. It is different from other available resources and a lot of things that were not in Plabable are covered in this application.
PLABKEYS/PLABVERSE
These are resources that are available in many groups as offline PDFs. They are a shorter concise version of the notes from Plabable mostly and studying these sources cannot be taken as studying two separate resources but just one. Would suggest spending money on an established resource like Plabable instead and make your notes in your notebook for a review later.
A very good resource to improve your overall medical knowledge and is popular among UK students. But the questions tough and have been designed to be testing higher standard of knowledge that is not at par with the level of Plab, and more of MRCP level.
MOCKS (SWAMMY’S/SAMSON)
Their mock questions will be shared in the group by students who enroll for the course. It is good to go through them if you have the time and you are done with the other resources. It can be a confidence-building exercise but otherwise, they will be the same sort of questions that you would have come across in the previous free recalls in the Facebook groups.
The old classic 1700 MCQs, that everyone knows about in regards to the PLAB 1, and they all believe this would be enough and but it is not the case now, old seniors might have suggested this as at their time this was the only existing compilation of recalls that had been completed. You could skim through them and join the Facebook page, where Khalid posts regularly MCQs, with discussions in the comments section.
OXFORD MEDICINE HANDBOOK/CLINICAL SPECIALTIES
Consider this to be the reference book that can be sourced for any ambiguity in your concepts and potential answers. But do not start with the coursebook, go directly for the MCQs, and learn through understanding the wrong answers and the concepts will build along the way. And if there is a topic that you might feel that needs more attention, you can go through the handbook, or there is always google search to the rescue.
Everything that has been mentioned in this blog-post has been based on personal experience and a compilation of relevant posts and has been composed of experiences of friends and material read in other blogs. This is a condensation of all those pieces, for my colleagues who might want to start on the road to the UK through the route of PLAB.
If you have any particular questions and or need some guidance you can always refer to the links of the Facebook groups that have been hyperlinked for your ease or if you feel that there is something you would want to ask, you could always leave an email as well — (dromernasim@gmail.com) — I will try my best to get back to you in a week.
