How I Cleared my PLAB 2 exam with a non-scripted approach – Dr Anu Jacob

The first thing I did was to search the GMC website and try to understand what was really expected out of me in the PLAB 2 exam. I summarized it as the expectation for me was how to be a ‘safe FY2 doctor’. Keeping this information at the back of my mind I then went through the standard approach of joining an academy (not Arora Academy). Every individual can make their own judgment of whether an academy is useful or not but for me joining an academy was a general step in the right direction. I started practicing with multiple people in the academy and soon realised somewhere along the line that I had started to sound like a well-rehearsed parrot – not empathic – just really going with the scripts. This affects a lot of people in their PLAB 2 journey because you end up practicing with people who are doctors like you and not really actors, thereby causing a decline in your performance.

At this juncture, I had attended Dr. Aman Arora’s free session for PLAB 2 preparation and after hearing his talk that day, I went ahead and purchased the UKMLA PLAB 2 Gold Package. The first thing I did was to go through Dr. Arora’s UKMLA PLAB 2 audiobooks (part of Arora Gold and Academy Packages) – I must say they are a complete eye-opener. I kept them on repeat from the day I purchased them until a few hours before my exam! (and for anyone who has these I would highly recommend doing the same). They include short concise teaching sessions on key scenario types, as opposed to individual cases – important for me as I felt that my preparation had been very case-based. I was being told that ‘this is the approach for this case’ and ‘this is to approach this case’, and so on. The problem with this mode of preparation is the lack of understanding of the scenario type, which ultimately leads to a scripted approach.

I then moved on to the PLAB 2 online video courses where Dr Aman goes through individual systems and how to approach them – again a very helpful review of highlights that I needed to learn. by the end of the sessions I truly understood what GMC means by ‘safe doctor’. Dr. Arora goes through multiple role-play case types and you can see how a doctor working in the UK would approach different scenario types. The use of ‘safe doctor’ is very limited in the practice I have done so far; it is usually reserved for errors in clinical judgment or medication dosing, but in the PLAB 2 context there are multiple uses for that word – and you truly learn it from the best with the help of Dr. Aman.

I am not a confident person. I get nervous and often flustered in stressful situations. So I realised that I must do multiple mocks as I knew this was the best approach for me. I enrolled for multiple mocks. I attended 3 mocks with the Arora team. There are not enough words to thank this lovely team! The Arora tutors have this unique ability to give you incredibly useful feedback in the form of virtual hugs. They were kind and patient and went through extra scenarios with me when I asked doubts regarding scenarios. I was extremely nervous when I attended my last mock because it was so close to my exam. The tutor kept reassuring me that I was on the right track and then helped me modify certain aspects of my consultation. Their mocks are the most helpful thing you can do before the exam because the feedback is neither sugar-coated nor is it outright brutal – they really helped me to focus and boosted my morale.

Click here for more details and samples of the Arora UKMLA PLAB 2 Gold and Academy+ Package.