PLAB 2 OSCE / CPSA course hub
Everything you need to understand PLAB 2 and practise for it: how the exam is built, how eight minutes should be spent, how each station is marked, and a growing library of free practice stations with actor scripts and examiner mark schemes — written by UK GP trainers and mapped to the GMC’s MLA content map.
Reviewed and kept current
Last editorial review: 19 September 2026 · Next scheduled refresh: March 2027.
Four pages, in the order you need them
1 · The exam: structure and syllabus
Sixteen scenarios, the F2 standard, station types, the examination and practical skills the GMC lists, and how the six domains of the MLA content map define what can be tested.
Read the exam guide →2 · Anatomy of the 8-minute station
What must happen in the first minute, where you should be by minute five, and how to close safely by eight — mapped minute by minute to the three marking domains.
See the timeline →3 · The mark scheme and passing
Three domains, each marked 1 to 4. The generic scheme, a worked example of how it is customised to a station, the GMC’s ten feedback statements, and the two conditions for an overall pass.
Understand the marking →4 · Practice OSCE cases
High-yield stations to run with a study partner: candidate instructions, actor script, generic and station-specific mark schemes, examiner points of fact, and a reflection form. Indexed by MLA area of clinical practice.
Open the case library →One standard, two routes
The Medical Licensing Assessment (MLA) has two parts: the Applied Knowledge Test (AKT) and the Clinical and Professional Skills Assessment (CPSA). The GMC states that PLAB is compliant with the MLA requirements: PLAB 1 meets the requirements for the AKT, and PLAB 2 meets the requirements for the CPSA. The questions and stations used in PLAB are based on the MLA content map — the same map that UK medical schools use for their own finals. That is why every case in this course is tagged to it.
Source: GMC — PLAB and the MLA · GMC — MLA content map
Read, rehearse, reflect
Learn the rules of the game
Read the exam guide, then the 8-minute anatomy and the mark scheme. Forty minutes, once.
Practise in threes
Candidate, actor, examiner. Pick a case. The candidate reads only the instructions; the actor opens the script; the examiner opens the mark schemes and keeps time — 1 min 30 s to read, a practice bell at 6:00 (the real examination may not give one), stop at 8:00.
Mark, then swap
The examiner gives 1–4 in each domain and ticks any GMC feedback statements that applied — the areas where underperformance was identified. Two minutes of feedback, then rotate roles and take the next case.
Record and reflect
Each case ends with a short reflection form. Your marks, the case link and your learning points are emailed back to you, building a revision log you can download.
Built by UK GP trainers and examiners of consulting
The course is convened by Prof Rajesh Varma — NHS GP partner and GP trainer, Joint Professor of Primary Care — with an expert GP faculty. It grew out of our face-to-face PLAB 2 OSCE masterclasses at the Royal Society of Medicine and uses the same station format, timing and marking approach.
Independence & scope. Independent, formative training material from MD Acumen Ltd. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or delivered on behalf of the General Medical Council. The GMC does not publish its station mark sheets: every mark scheme and descriptor on these pages is an Acumen training tool calibrated to the GMC's published marking domains, feedback statements and the MLA content map. Practice scores are not a prediction of examination performance. Clinical content reflects UK guidance at the date of editorial review — always check the current guideline. All patients are fictional.
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