(This post was originally published on 31st March 2015. It was added to my blog by taking permission from the writer. Thank you, Dr. Erujj Rizvee, for allowing me to add your post to this blog)
Salam and Hello to everyone who is reading this guide. It’s a little endeavor to help future aspirants to go through PLAB.
A little background about me.. I graduated in 2013 finished my internship in 2014 took ielts right after finishing my internship and by the grace of Almighty, got the required band in one go. Then, took PLab1 in March 2015 and declared successful in first attempt. I didnot take any tutions or courses and I am willing to Help others.
Time required to prepare for PLAB:
Time required to prepare for PLAB is 3-3.5 months at maximum. If you were a good student during your finals (unlike me :-)) and have done your internship correctly trust me you can pass PLAB1 with just a month preparation.
The Material:
The material you need is all in this group. Start gathering and organizing the mocks. It took me about 2 weeks just to organize the material.
Oxford Handbooks:
Previously people have said that oxford is a must read to pass PLAB so I followed them.. I read oxford cover to cover. It definitely helped me to achieve a high score but, scores don’t matter in PLAB so relax. You will be fine fine even without it. There were certain questions even oxford couldn’t answer so my advice to future plabbers is DONT study too much from oxford.. Use it strictly for reference purposes. I will mention the topics that can be done from OHCM and OHCS in the end.
Mocks:
The most important thing are MOCKS. Try to do as many and as often you can. You will be seeing most past plabbers emphasizing on doing MOCKS and they are 100% right. “Doing mocks” mean that you try to answer the question and understand the logic instead of blindly following the keys. Even if you do not find the answer of a particular question, by the time you have finished your hunt for the right answer, your entire topic would have been covered. I would recommend pass medicine for people who want to broaden the knowledge for other exams along PLAB but definitely not for PLAB. The exam has a similar pattern of MOCKS so your primary focus should be doing them.
Material Needed to Pass:
1700 questions qbank. Swammy mocks 2015, Samson mocks and Samson notes. (They all are available in the PLAB Facebook Group) Or you can PM me.
Time Needed to Pass:
40 days.
Material Needed to Ace:
Above plus OHCM and OHCS (important topics only) Oxford assess and progress. Make notes of the additional points from Oxford books on samson notes. Find your refrences from www.patient.co.uk and read the professional articles instead of reading the general leaflets and guidelines from the mentioned website. www.nice.org.uk can also be used for the same purpose. Never ever use Ncbi.nlm or other websites because they have researches and studies published on them and they will confuse you even more.
Time Needed to Ace:
90 days.
Discussions:
Take part in the discussions even if you don’t know the answer but if a fellow doctor comes with a reference and better explanation always thank him. Don’t try to prove your point like a stubborn if you are not sure ( I hated that thing Btw :-p) I took part in most discussions tried to explain as much as I could and learnt a lot. Remember no matter how brilliant you are, there is always a better doctor in this group. Try to make friends because I prefer that study environment more but you can tailor that according to your preference (some people keep it strictly professional).
I can guarantee 90% (I always leave 10% for luck) that if you follow this guide and others’ as well, you will succeed. Feel free to contact me if you need any help. I will try to answer whatever I know.
Regards Dr. Erujj Rizvi
Remember me in your prayers And wish me luck for PLAB 2 and MRCP.
Topics to be done From OHCM:
These are recommended (only if you have spare time or you are on the ace side 😉 in addition to the Samson notes. Otherwise samson notes are enough. I have added brackets to the topics which I feel are deficient in Samson notes.
Emergencies:- (must)
Cardiology: ACS, Complications OF MI, arrythmias Hypertension, RF, Mitrials and Aortic lesions.
Chest Medicine:Pneumonia and specific pneumonias Cystic Fibrosis,Asthma, Pulmonary embolism Weils score(very important).
Endocrinology: DM, Adrenals, DI, SIADH,Thyroid.
Gastroenterology: Dyspepsia and Peptic ulcer disease, Constipation, Jaundice, Upper Gi bleed, Cirrhosis, IBD Alcoholism(vimp).
Renal Medicine: UTI, GN, ARF, Transplantaion.
Neurology: Headaches, Trigeminal neuralgia, Migraine, Stroke TIA, Delirium, Demntia, Parkinsons, Bells palsy, MG.
Oncology and Palliative Care: Oncological emergencies, oncoligical genetics(table only), Palliative care (Vimp), Tumour markers.
Rheumatology: Back pain, OA, RA, Gout, Spondyloarthropathies, Polymyositis and dermatomyositis, Plasma autoab(table), Systemic conditions casuing EYE signs and Skin manefestaions of systemic disaeases (vimp).
Surgery: Diabetics undergoing Surgery, Consent, Prophylactic Antibiotics and Bowel prep, Pain control, Skin diagnosis not to be missed( i got a q wrong even after going through this :-/), Acute abdomen, Hernias, Obstruction, Renal stones(imp), Retention and BPH and Breast.
Hematology: Bleeding disorders.(table is vimp), spleen and the splenectomy, leukemias and lymphomas, Myeloma.
OBGYN: (Important) Ecclampsia, preeclampsia, HTN in preg, Anti D, APH and PPH, Contraception, PCOS, Menopause, Cervical CA.
Ophthalmology: Glaucoma, Cranial nerve palsies, Red Eye.
ENT: Otitis media and externa. Acoustic neuroma, Stridor, Epistaxis
Dermatology: Psoriasis, Eczema
Pediatrics: ADHD, Childhood jaundice( imp), Varicella, Childhood Asthma, developmental milestones.
Psychiatry: Depression, Schizophrenia.
