PLAB 2 Personal Experience
This is going to be a very detailed guide from a-z as there is very minimal everything guides with lot of myths about to be busted
The day I passed plab 1, happy, celebration, booked plab 2, 4 months away, fuck – I didn’t start to prepare, I don’t know what is visa, never travelled in air , how am I going to go there alone, etc.,
so let me take you through what happened , note – I hate to be subjective, so will try to be as objective as I can- so booked my exams, got so depressed, I don’t know how to book academy, which academy, visa etc.,
so, to know and orient myself, what happening- “I have my exam on MONTH DAY, does anyone have the exam on same date? “ – I went to every group and spammed there and finally found few peoples, and got some orientation and via this got into a group for moshoby (more on this useless later on) – and paid them – via international transfer and starts to study , watching videos and other stuffs.
VISA- this is a very big process, which you have to be as true and honest as possible, but do not mention academy, just say you need a month to acclimate to the climate and other stuffs, and try to follow TREWLINK guide (they are Indian too) and not road to UK where they say to show academy. Yes, that’s the fact many have said the academy and got visa but always its riskier than keeping silent about academy.
Some tips- do not pay SMS notification to VFS, as they are not useful and much slower than mail notification, the only thing I would suggest paying is for courier facility if needed.
Before uploading, make sure you recheck everything if they are correctly uploaded and not corrupted.
Book early morning slots – like max an hour from opening, so it’s free and you kind of get priority access without paying.
After that EPIC, very straight forward, a good video is there, you can use- one issue is – name DR First name Surname is how they expected, and my passport have my surname as initial, that’s how India works, so had to provide my driving license and other stuff as evidence in mail, which is quite straight forward.
Done both, in visa, after everything and VFS (where u just say some details and id proof) u handover Ur passport and u get an amil stating ur passport visa is done, and it’s on the way back to you. So be happy, your is success. If you get any mail stating its forwarded to some other team. Relax mostly you will get ur visa or they might ask some proof or clarifications. Simple right
Book flights, also return- can use Qatar as they have free 1 date change for basic economy class. Book accommodation- be careful sometimes scammers do scam people in spare rooms.
Reached uk, book train via train pal or trip.com – you can always compare rates. And I believe train pal is under trip.com as when I wanted a refund from trianpal they asked me to return to trip.com. so, you can check, reach room, relax, breathe.
Going to academy, do the routine stuffs and surprise Suprise. You are about to be fucked.
PLAB 2/ UKMLA 2- both are same, as of now, as of the date of this post, so no more doubts regarding this. Both are same, I attended both.
So, what is PLAB 2/ UKMLA 2
This s an exam which has talking stations which include history, OG, dermatology, psychiatry, counselling, talking to patient relative, bbn, confidentiality and so on, and 5 clinical domains – prescription, procedure, simman, examination, teaching.
So ideal exam is 1 simma, 1 teaching, 1 examination, 1 pescription,1 procedure and lot of counselling based which is patient relative, angry patient, bbn and 2-4 history-based station.
Exam is not always idea, I didn’t have procedure in my 2nd exam, and my friend had no simman, so not always ideal, but always have derma, prescription
Some are called combined station- which means history + examination
In exam- you will be entering the centre in said time, they take a photo, get ur passport, give locker to keep ur stuff and wait for exam and exam starts either at 10/13.00 timings, so you wait for like an hour, relax there, have some biscuits and coffee or tea – your preference.
exam tips – as everyone says, smile, confident, thank them etc.,
need of academy – huff, not MO shoby.
I used mo., lovaan, ala, azt, aspire, nwanekka, all days so I will conclude my points as below
Azt for prescription is not better than MO- so go with MO, simpler to understand
All days, nwanekka – too big, and they give all dd we have to filter out what we need to use, which isn’t an easy task, and make us develop an inner sense of insecurity if we didn’t ask all questions, we remember taking a lot of time. But you can use patient notes in practice
Aspire- too simple, and read negativism then decide, that’s so bad, you can never speak to parents those things, rest are copy from NICE
Mo- such a useless scammer, who joined register recently 7301147 his number u can check for yourself
copy from NICE he is very new to the field but was good, and no more. So why- 1. All his mentors are recent pass out who has no idea what they are speaking, except very few who has knowledge.
2. Even worse is their mocks, and I heard mo. is better, so couldn’t even imagine how bad others are, as in a mock they failed me because I gave o2 for hypoglycaemia who maintained at 99%, saying I don’t need to give, then one more mentor in group says, as per guidelines, all simman give oxygen. WTF dude. And my 1st exam was on April mid, and April staring he said about his new book which never appeared till my exam, dude I failed and you don’t give ur book, as old mo. book has 118 cases – as per march end missing. Then 2nd attempt on June mid, and he didn’t give his book till June starting, then created a super shit app and asked extra 50 pounds for book access to already gold member.
Thank you to everyone who helped in leaking his book, and during my 1st attempt, except 2 days he never appeared in the academy, and that too he appeared to celebrate the world 1st UKMLA academy opening.
So, you are paying 350- 600 pounds to learn from someone who recently passed exam and not the professionals. Don’t be moron, use your brain.
Lovaan and ala, I had no tolerance to watch lovaan, so use ala notes from plabforums, such a gem site, and the ala notes was more than sufficient for 2nd attempt. 1st attempt purely by mo. and missing case from aspire and my IPS is gone, max was 2.
So, mo. is bad, then how do people pass- people who passed with mo., also used some other thing like lovaan and they used to practice lovaan approach in mo. accommodation and subconsciously blabber mo. is the reason for their pass.
yes, they are people who passed with mo. alone, but that’s statistics reaching almost 0 now, you- do not trust me, do your own research.
My journey- 4 months of 7 reads of mo. book 1,2 – and read aspire and other materials, nice for missing cases, did recalls, practiced all the time I woke for 3 weeks, wrote notes- exam day, was chill- went with smile, confident, unfortunately no brain – and failed by 2 marks, cleared 10/15 stations.
So, what’s next, usual story, broke, sad, but golden advice, even before I see again that I failed, booked the next exam, in like 25 days from my result, then wasted 3 days in regret, planned to see lovaan in plabforum drive, oh dude, that’s super long and I have 0 tolerance.
So, lets analyse round 1- I have rhotacism and couldn’t articulate many other syllables, so had hard time in exam making others to understand, rest went well, good, myself being moron I don’t know abdominal exam is skin to skin so I dint do, didn’t disconnect blood in anaphylaxis but verbalised, and no other major mistakes. All perfect- so leaving the fact fail by 2 mark- lets analyse, why score is that bad.
Wait, someone read 7 times, practiced whole 3 weeks, failed by 2 marks, I mean doesn’t even have ability to score 50%.
so deep analysis- in bipolar I didn’t say risperidone and olanzapine, in osteoporosis med advice I didn’t ask past medical history and missed hx of oophorectomy and thus causing porosis, forget to disconnect blood even through verbalised, forget the dose of metro in prescription, being moron forget the dose in anxiety- so all these- are mistakes, dude understand I covered rest all, I swear, but due to human tendency, introvert, I mean extreme introvert, anxious, I forget vitals, and man – who said knowledge doesn’t matter- screw them knowledge does matter. So, without knowing treatment for hypertension (I mean no knowledge part for hypertension) what will you speak. When your brain doesn’t know – you cannot speak. Don’t listen to people who had some inherit advantages like born in English speaking country, or an extrovert and screw your life.
so coming to tips and tricks –
Addressing a big question – WTF is scripted- scripted is not repeating the same phrase- let me introduce myself / I’m Dr or this is Dr – what else you expect us to say for introduction – this doesn’t count as scripted. Scripted is when you know the history /story of the station and answering /addressing some concern the patient didn’t speak about. For example – baby in poo, may be in your exam mother had no concern about infection, but you read like mother have concern of infection, so your memory in exam speaks like – because you said you have concern about infection and patient be like, doctor I didn’t say like these, and man you are done. Useless, don’t be this guy.
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Lovaaan is super long with same exact phares each time, except very few new cases and predictions which is not worth the money. He gives 150 predictions for next 2 weeks, which is very vague, 2 weeks is 10 days (mon-fri) and 2 centres, and all these are already covered in last 2m recalls. Don’t trust me – go to plabforum drive and compare different time classes of lovaan, its same thing. And its super longggggggg, and you might be another mew who have 0 tolerance, if you do have tolerance use offline videos and save money. Straight disadvantage is – it’s too hard to remember, and yes no one expects u to remember word by word, but stupid subconscious become so pissed off in station 2 when you realise you missed some points in station 1 during stem reading time of station 2. Think yourself am I wrong.
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mo.- said many reasons, simply everything is available online, except simman, examination, procedure, teaching, prescription class- which plabforum provides you with alternative and good videos, don’t waste a big money, just do mocks – to have taste of exam, although that was similar, the pressure is different. Benefits of doing mock with mo.- there is a guy, dumb and useless mentor, who is -100 in acting during mock- you tell him you r gay, or have HIV, or your father is going to die, he will say hmm, no eye contact, with phone too much attitude, just working for money. Everyone who attended mo. or will attend mo. will know this guy.
3.aspire- generally too bad reviews, but I don’t know, but books are not up to the level, mo. is good with books- because he thefted from many other books, simply copy paste, mainly all days, shameless guy.
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ala – I don’t know about the course, but the notes, latest in plabforum drive is more than enough, this is just giving you an idea and not spoon feeding to pass, so that’s enough. Its about you and how you can manage and not how good you can byheart.
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some people while doing exam or simman couldn’t stop saying negative finding. Understand if you say- idk if you will know what you missed or screwed but examiner will know.
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somethings should happen very fluently, like a song, in a flow- to check y u r having this I would like to look, feel, tap and listen to various part of the body- this statement should take 1-2 seconds, no stuttering. All advice, consent, Socrates, these questions statements should be in a flow- so when ever you be a doctor and you use your brain to think and have some pause, it won’t seem like a lot of pauses
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do smile, be confident, and thank them – but will not make you pass, as everyone does that better than you. Yes, believe everyone does that better than you, and your chance with just these tricks is so slim, so you will work hard.
8.Pratrice with 6.5 mins timer at max, and try to complete everything, if you know you are out of timer, at least say the important words, if you dint say- you don’t know and you are done. do not sit with general advice or SafetyNet before saying the main word
9.pratice with 1 or 2 people max, so you don’t wait for turn for long time, and you can change these people once in a while. Yes, I hear you, listening to others mistakes and some ideas is beneficial but don’t pretend like you don’t chat or use your device, don’t cheat yourself.
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daily must practice 1 simman, 1 pescription,1 examination, 1, teaching, 1 procedure and 1 in counselling, lgbtq, angry patient, error, dermatology, psychiatry each- its daily, and see the difference. Don’t go to academy and pretend lie you cannot do simman without actually simman. Remember stuff is important and acting, speaking is important than to actually stand Infront of academy or waste time in walking or waiting for others to leave the mannikin.
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practice 24*7 and become scripted, JK don’t do that. Be a sensible doctor.
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AZT prescription is not good than mo., so skip it, save 10 pounds
How is exam- an ideal day have 5 of the clinical- simman, exam, prescription, teaching and procedure, around 8 counselling including bbn, lgbtq, error, etc., 3-4 history at max. yes you heard me right, 500 history stations you read for this 3-4, check recalls and see how many recalls are history. CAUTION- not everyday is ideal and there are days without simman, procedures- so will be replaced with prescription with patient or bbn or some history stations or another thing.
Always try to have your own style, don’t be embarrassed, talk how you did in your FY1, again don’t be embarrassed and act obnoxious. If you don’t have a style, it’s okay.
Its all about your ability to analyse, recollect, recall, reproduce with good rapport in proper time and language, which addressing all patient concern which needs knowledge, language, and some real talent.
So, all the above seems like an asshole failed in 1st attempt, now blaming academies because he was useless. A bit of academic background – during my undergraduate always in top 5, multiple gold medals, multiple distinctions, cleared plab 1, mrcs part a before plab both with around 85%, so you understand I’m not a moron without stuff and blaming academies.
So, what did I do in attempt 2, less than 25 days, doing attachment and read nothing – analysed knowledge is much more important, and did 0 practice. Yes, you heard me right, no practice, didn’t do. Like after 60 days of practice, (last day of practice was 1 day before my 1st attempt) and went to exam. And had my exam as practice, did some mistakes, brutal but passed – why, how- because I wasn’t scripted and I’m doctor.
some exam day tips- eat before night, don’t study, all usual stuff
eat morning, and have sandwich or something to eat just before you enter, eat biscuits no coffee please, logically that gives a temporally caffeine peak followed by sudden drop, eat something that can maintain your glucose level , I mean release glucose slowly.
Don’t chat with others, recollect and plan how you’re going to do it, time should not go fast, if it goes fast, you are drunk, you should control time, and realise how and where you are any given point of time. If you are lost somewhere, use structure and understand up to where you asked and continue from there.
MAIN thing – you will know the diagnosis, unless you are real super moron, you will know, they will spoon feed, so don’t cry, but the task is not the diagnosis but some hidden findings.
If you don’t know what are the cases possible in exam, even if the spoon feed you can get it. HEHEHE. So read the case topics, spoon feed is not they tell you the diagnosis, but would be super easy to find as you are FY2. Don’t think it was easy for me and not you, you will also know.
If you screwed a station, please leave it or be ready to FAIL.
Sorry I had to be bit harsh, to make everyone understand how not to waste money and do it in 1st go, at least don’t do the mistakes which I did.
its pretty easy, doable, but know how. Know how. – also, the WhatsApp group of plabforum or academy, have 15mins daily to eat during shitting or eating, so that you can learn from others doubts and mistakes.
HOW TO SECURE ATTACHMENT- works 100%, hard but works.
It needs 1 -2 days straight, with some key keyboard shortcuts, and preferably windows.
go to tracjobs, and select a place, alphabetically, and go inside each advert in a new tab, CTRL + tap on link – opens in new tab. Scroll down, check shortcut, use CTRL+TAB to move other tab, whole thing is- go to everyplace and every advert and collect everyone mail and mail them. You will get 1000+ consultant mail who is currently active and not on holidays, who is currently accepting requests.
Use BCC and not CC in mail, and you can send up to 500 people in 24 hours, I secure more than 20 and attended 1 as I had no police clearance certificate.
Some last word- ask for free sim in VFS.
Have some cash, some good 0% forex cards- Indians try scapia or niyoglobal, scapia is the best. HDFC forex card, IDFC first bank travel card also works. Easiest is MAKEMYTRIP’s book my forex card or currency which has the lowest possible price.
looking button.
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