The short answer is no: PLAB has not been replaced by the UKMLA, and the two are not competing exams you choose between. The General Medical Council states that international doctors "will continue to take PLAB", and that PLAB is compliant with its Medical Licensing Assessment requirements. UK medical students sit the MLA inside their degree. International medical graduates sit PLAB 1 and PLAB 2, which are built on the same MLA content map. If you qualified outside the UK, EEA or Switzerland and want GMC registration, PLAB is still your exam in 2026.
Every figure in this guide is checked against the official regulator sources linked below — last verified 6 September 2026.
This article exists because the question keeps being asked in five different wordings - "is UKMLA replacing PLAB", "is PLAB and UKMLA the same", "how is UKMLA different from PLAB" - and the answers found online are often recruiter summaries written before the GMC finalised the arrangement. Below is what the GMC actually publishes, then the practical differences that matter to an IMG planning a 2026 or 2027 sitting.
What the MLA is, in the GMC's own terms
The Medical Licensing Assessment is the GMC's common standard for doctors entering UK practice. It has two components: an Applied Knowledge Test (AKT) and a Clinical and Professional Skills Assessment (CPSA). For UK medical students, both are delivered through their medical school as part of the degree, so a UK graduate never "books the UKMLA" as a separate exam.
For international graduates the GMC did not create a new booking route. Instead it aligned the existing PLAB test to the MLA requirements: PLAB 1 meets the AKT requirement and PLAB 2 meets the CPSA requirement. The exam you register for in GMC Online is still called PLAB 1, it still costs a PLAB fee, and it still sits at the GMC's international and UK test centres. The MLA is the standard; PLAB is the route through which IMGs meet it.
PLAB 1 and the MLA AKT side by side
The practical comparison, using the GMC's published descriptions:
- Who sits it. MLA AKT: UK medical students, inside their degree, delivered by their school. PLAB 1: graduates of medical schools outside the UK, EEA or Switzerland who want GMC registration.
- How you book. MLA AKT: you do not book it; the medical school schedules it. PLAB 1: you book a place yourself in GMC Online, after your primary medical qualification and English evidence have been verified.
- Content. Both are written to the same MLA content map, which is why the GMC describes PLAB 1 as MLA-compliant. The content map covers clinical presentations, conditions, and the professional behaviours and patient-safety themes the GMC expects of a doctor starting Foundation Year 2 level work.
- Format of PLAB 1. 180 single-best-answer questions, each a short clinical scenario with five options, in three hours. The GMC describes it as an applied knowledge test - it tests how you apply knowledge to a patient, "not how well you can remember and recite facts".
- What comes after. MLA: the school reports completion; the graduate applies for provisional registration. PLAB: after PLAB 1 you sit PLAB 2, the practical clinical examination held at the GMC's clinical assessment centre in Manchester, and then apply for registration with a licence to practise. Your application must be approved within two years of passing PLAB 2.
The differences are in who sits it and how it is delivered, not in what is being tested. That has one useful consequence for preparation: the MLA content map published by the GMC is the definitive syllabus for PLAB 1, and any question bank or course that claims a separate "UKMLA syllabus for IMGs" is describing the same document.
Will PLAB get harder because of the MLA
This is the second most common version of the question, and the honest answer is that the GMC does not publish difficulty comparisons, so any "UKMLA is harder than PLAB" claim is an opinion. What the GMC does publish is the pass-mark method. For every PLAB 1 sitting the pass mark is set using the Angoff method plus one standard error of measurement, and your results letter states your score, the pass score for that sitting and the cohort average. Because the standard is set per paper by a panel judging each question, a harder paper gets a lower pass mark and an easier paper a higher one. There is no fixed number to chase and no reason to expect the alignment with the MLA to move the bar in either direction.
Scoring is one mark per correct answer and nothing deducted for wrong answers, so you answer all 180 questions.
The 2026 PLAB 1 facts that matter for planning
These are the volatile items. Each is taken from the GMC page linked in the sources and should be rechecked at booking.
- Sittings. PLAB 1 runs four times a year: February, May, August and November. Results are published six weeks after the exam in GMC Online.
- Fee. £283 for a PLAB 1 place from 1 April 2026 (£273 before that date). PLAB 2 is £1,036. Cancelling more than 42 days before the exam costs 10 per cent of the fee; cancelling 42 days or fewer forfeits the full fee.
- Where you can sit it in India. The GMC lists Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and New Delhi among its international centres, alongside cities in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Egypt, the Gulf, Ireland and Spain, and centres across the UK.
- Centre closures from February 2027. In a notice dated 20 May 2026 the GMC announced that it will stop running PLAB 1 in Chennai, Dhaka, Alexandria and Accra from February 2027, citing a fall in bookings. If Chennai is your nearest centre, plan on the November 2026 sitting being the last one offered there and check GMC Online for the exact final date; after that Bangalore and Hyderabad are the closest listed alternatives.
- Attempts. After four failed attempts at PLAB 1 you must apply for a fifth and final attempt and show 12 months of additional learning, such as clinical practice or a postgraduate qualification, since your last attempt. No attempts are granted beyond the fifth. The same rule applies to PLAB 2.
Why the confusion exists
Three things feed the "PLAB is being replaced" idea. First, the GMC's own MLA pages talk about a single standard for all doctors, which reads to a skim-reader as a single exam. Second, several question banks now market their PLAB products under a UKMLA label, which makes it look as though a new exam has launched. Third, recruiter and agency blogs published "UKMLA to replace PLAB" articles early in the transition, and some are still live unchanged.
The practical rule: when a resource says UKMLA, check whether it means the MLA content map (relevant to you) or a separate exam booking (which does not exist for IMGs). When the GMC says PLAB, it means the exam you will actually sit.
What this means for your preparation
Because PLAB 1 and the MLA AKT share one content map, the preparation logic is the same as it was before the alignment, with one shift in emphasis. The GMC's map is organised around presentations and professional themes rather than specialties, so a plan built from a specialty textbook list will leave gaps in exactly the areas the map adds: patient safety, ethics and law, communication, and working within UK systems. The PLAB 1 and UKMLA guide walks through building a workflow from the map; the Myndaq PLAB 1 course organises its question bank around the same structure.
Two planning decisions follow from the 2026 facts above. Book with the centre-closure list in mind if you are in southern India, Bangladesh, Egypt or Ghana. And treat the four-attempt rule seriously from the first booking: a first attempt taken as a "diagnostic" still counts.
Quick answers
Is PLAB replaced by UKMLA?
No. The GMC states that international doctors will continue to take PLAB, which is compliant with the MLA requirements. There is no separate UKMLA booking for international graduates.
Is PLAB 1 the same as the UKMLA AKT?
They are built on the same MLA content map and test to the same standard, but they are delivered differently: the AKT is delivered to UK students by their medical schools, while PLAB 1 is booked by international graduates through GMC Online.
Do I have to take both PLAB and the UKMLA?
No. If you are an international graduate outside the EEA or Switzerland route, you take PLAB 1 and PLAB 2. UK students take the MLA within their degree. Nobody takes both.
What is the PLAB 1 format in 2026?
180 single-best-answer questions, each with five options, in three hours. One mark per correct answer, no negative marking, and a pass mark set for each sitting by the Angoff method plus one standard error of measurement.
How much does PLAB 1 cost in 2026?
£283 from 1 April 2026. PLAB 2 costs £1,036. Cancellation charges apply from 42 days before the exam.
Which PLAB 1 centres are closing?
The GMC announced on 20 May 2026 that Chennai, Dhaka, Alexandria and Accra will no longer host PLAB 1 from February 2027. Other Indian centres remain listed.
How many attempts do I get at PLAB 1?
Four, then a fifth and final attempt by application, which requires evidence of 12 months of additional learning. There is no sixth attempt.
