PLAB 1 does not have a syllabus in the form of a topic list you can tick off. The General Medical Council (GMC) defines it instead by scope — the conditions a doctor in the second Foundation year in the UK would be expected to manage — and by the Medical Licensing Assessment (MLA) content map that PLAB is aligned to. What the GMC publishes about PLAB 1 is enough to plan against: the scope statement, the ten content areas it reports your results in, and the exam's format and scoring. This page sets them out from the GMC's own pages, alongside the Myndaq PLAB and UKMLA course.
Where PLAB fits: PLAB and the MLA
The GMC's Medical Licensing Assessment is the standard every doctor joining the UK register is measured against. UK medical students meet it through assessments inside their degree. International medical graduates continue to take PLAB, and the GMC states that PLAB 1 is compliant with the MLA requirements and built on the same MLA content map. For a fuller explanation of what changed and what did not, see PLAB vs UKMLA.
PLAB has two parts:
- PLAB 1 — a written applied knowledge test, covered on this page.
- PLAB 2 — an OSCE-style clinical assessment taken after passing PLAB 1. Its format is set out in the GMC's own PLAB 2 guidance, linked from the GMC's guide to the PLAB test; it is not described in detail here.
What PLAB 1 tests
The GMC's description, in its own words: PLAB 1 is an applied knowledge test (AKT) that "tests your ability to apply your knowledge for the care of patients, and not how well you can remember and recite facts". Questions relate to current best practice in the UK and to equipment routinely available in UK hospitals.
The scope is "any of the common, important or acute conditions (those common in emergency departments) seen by doctors appointed to a Foundation Programme Year 2 (F2) role, and the management of long-term conditions seen in primary care". It excludes the advanced duties of a general practitioner.
Three consequences for preparation follow directly from that wording:
- UK practice, not your home country's. Where management differs between countries, the UK approach — for example NICE guidance — is the one being tested.
- Common and acute over rare. The benchmark is an F2 doctor, so emergency presentations and the everyday management of long-term conditions matter more than rarities.
- Application over recall. Knowing a fact is the starting point; the question will ask you to use it in a scenario.
The ten content areas
When the GMC reports your PLAB 1 result, it groups the questions into ten areas based on the MLA content map, and gives you your percentage correct in each alongside the average for all candidates:
- Reproductive health
- Renal and urology
- Neurosciences and senses (including skin)
- Musculoskeletal
- Mental health
- Gastrointestinal
- Endocrine, metabolic and clinical haematology
- Child and adolescent health
- Cardiorespiratory
- Ethics and other
These are the nearest thing PLAB 1 has to a published syllabus heading list. The GMC does not publish how many questions come from each area, so treat them as coverage headings, not weightings. The detailed conditions and presentations beneath them are in the GMC's MLA content map, which is not reproduced here.
The format
- 180 multiple-choice questions in three hours.
- Each question starts with a short scenario followed by a question, and you choose the right answer from five options.
That is one minute per question — enough to read a scenario carefully once, not twice.
Scoring and the pass mark
- Each correct answer is worth one mark, and your score is your total of correct answers. The GMC describes no deduction for wrong answers, so answer every question.
- There is no fixed pass mark. The GMC sets it for each test using the Angoff method plus one standard error of measurement.
- Your result states your score, the score required to pass, and the average score for all candidates, plus your performance in each of the ten areas.
- The GMC says there is no expected pass rate or average score, because candidates are at all stages of their careers.
- Results are published six weeks after the exam.
Using the content areas to plan
Because your feedback arrives in the same ten areas, use them from the start: keep an error log by area, and weight your revision towards the areas where both your accuracy is lowest and the F2 scope puts the most common presentations — cardiorespiratory, gastrointestinal, mental health and acute presentations generally. Ethics runs through the whole exam and is worth learning from the GMC's own guidance, since the "correct" answer is the one the GMC's standards require.
For the full preparation route, see the PLAB and UKMLA guide. For fees, booking and cancellation rules, see PLAB fees and booking. For worked questions across the ten areas, see PLAB 1 practice questions.
Quick answers
Is there an official PLAB 1 syllabus?
Not as a topic list. The GMC defines the scope — common, important and acute conditions seen by an F2 doctor, plus long-term conditions in primary care — and reports results in ten areas based on the MLA content map.
Has the UKMLA replaced PLAB?
No. The GMC says international medical graduates continue to take PLAB, which is compliant with the MLA requirements.
How many questions are in PLAB 1?
180 multiple-choice questions, each with five options, in three hours.
Is there negative marking in PLAB 1?
The GMC scores one mark per correct answer and describes no deduction for wrong ones.
What is the PLAB 1 pass mark?
It changes with each test. The GMC sets it by the Angoff method plus one standard error of measurement, and tells you the pass score with your result.
