The PLAB 2 exam: structure, skills and syllabus
What happens on the day, the standard you are judged against, the kinds of station you will meet, and the knowledge and practical skills the GMC says can be assessed — with every statement traced to the GMC’s own guide.
Reviewed and kept current
Last editorial review: 19 September 2026 · Next scheduled refresh: March 2027.
How a circuit runs
Do not rely on a two-minute warning. The GMC’s official PLAB 2 guidance makes no mention of a warning at six minutes: it says only that you have eight minutes and that a timer announces when to move on. Candidates at previous examinations have reported a bell or announcement with two minutes to go — a “six-minute warning” — but because it is not part of the GMC’s published guidance, you must not rely on it being given. Keep your own sense of time and treat 6:00 as the point by which you are already explaining and planning — see the anatomy of the 8-minute station.
Sources: GMC — What is the PLAB 2 exam? · GMC — What can you expect on the day? · GMC — When and where
PLAB 2 is the CPSA for international graduates
UK medical students sit the MLA as an Applied Knowledge Test and a Clinical and Professional Skills Assessment run by their medical school. International graduates meet the same requirements through PLAB: the GMC states that PLAB 2 meets the requirements for the MLA CPSA, and that PLAB stations are based on the MLA content map, which sets out the core knowledge, skills and behaviours needed for UK practice. The requirements govern how the test is constructed and delivered; the name PLAB remains for now.
Five families of station
| Station family | What you are asked to do | Where the marks are won |
|---|---|---|
| History, diagnosis and management | Take a focused history (face-to-face or telephone), reach a working diagnosis, explain it, agree a plan. | Red-flag screening, ICE, a named diagnosis, specific safety-netting. |
| Explanation, counselling and breaking bad news | Explain a result, a diagnosis, a procedure or a medicine; seek consent; deliver serious news; speak to a relative. | Checking the starting point, chunking, responding to emotion, honest next steps. |
| Clinical examination | Examine a simulated patient, model or simulator — including mental state examination. | Consent and dignity, systematic technique, correct use of instruments, presenting findings. |
| Practical procedures and prescribing | Perform a procedure on a manikin; calculate a dose; complete a drug, fluid or blood chart; interpret an ECG, X-ray or results. | Safety steps, talking while doing, sharps disposal, legible and legal prescribing. |
| Acute care, ethics and safeguarding | Assess a deteriorating patient (ABCDE) on a simulator; handle capacity, confidentiality, an angry patient, a colleague in difficulty, or a safeguarding concern. | Prioritisation, escalation to seniors, knowing the law and GMC guidance, staying calm. |
The GMC’s list of interactions that may be tested includes: explaining diagnosis, investigation and treatment; involving the patient in decisions; communicating with relatives and with healthcare professionals; breaking bad news; clear written instructions such as prescribing; seeking informed consent; dealing with anxious patients or relatives; discharge instructions; and advice on lifestyle, health promotion or risk factors.
What the GMC says you must be able to do
Source: GMC — How will you be tested?. Prescribing stations may use a drug card, adult or child fluid charts, blood prescription charts, a syringe-driver chart or a NEWS chart; samples are on the GMC sample station page.
The MLA content map in six domains
There is no separate PLAB 2 syllabus. Anything in the MLA content map that can be shown in a room in eight minutes can become a station. The map has six domains; our case library is indexed against all of them.
| Content map domain | What it contains | How it appears in PLAB 2 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 · Areas of clinical practice | 24 areas, from acute and emergency care to surgery — including general practice, mental health, child health, obstetrics and gynaecology, sexual health and medicine of the older adult. | The clinical setting of each station. Our coverage map shows which areas have a practice case. |
| 2 · Areas of professional knowledge | Medical ethics and law; clinical pharmacology and therapeutics; human factors and quality improvement; psychological principles; social and population health; the clinical sciences. | Consent, capacity and confidentiality stations; prescribing; health promotion. |
| 3 · Clinical and professional capabilities | History and examination; investigations; management of acute and chronic conditions; communication; capacity and consent; prescribing; pain; procedures; end of life care; safeguarding; complexity and uncertainty; teamwork; managing risk. | This is what the three marking domains actually measure. |
| 4 · Practical skills and procedures | The GMC’s practical skills and procedures list for newly qualified doctors. | Procedure stations on manikins and simulators. |
| 5 · Patient presentations | An A–Z of over 200 presentations — for example chest pain, headache, altered mood, domestic abuse, the sick child. | What the patient walks in with. Each case is tagged with its presentations. |
| 6 · Conditions | An A–Z of conditions an F2 should recognise and begin to manage — not exhaustive. | The diagnosis behind the presentation. Each case is tagged with its condition. |
Source: GMC — MLA content map.
PLAB 2 pass rates, 2021–2025
| Year | Candidates who sat | Candidates who passed | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 8,648 | 6,043 | 69.9% |
| 2022 | 13,533 | 8,775 | 64.8% |
| 2023 | 15,702 | 9,884 | 62.9% |
| 2024 | 19,594 | 12,902 | 65.8% |
| 2025 | 14,689 | 8,787 | 59.8% |
Source: GMC — Recent pass rates for PLAB 1 and PLAB 2, checked 19 September 2026. Roughly four in ten candidates did not pass in 2025. How the pass mark is set is explained on the mark scheme page.
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.
© 2026 MD Acumen Ltd · Acumen Institute of Primary Care · An MD Acumen school · Registered in England and Wales · 16538952PLAB 2 OSCE course · Practice cases · IMG roadmap · Observership · Legal & Regulatory · enquiry@mdacumen.com