Pass Your CPSA Exam With Arora Medical
Exam Overview
For international medical graduates, the Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board (PLAB) exams will continue (PLAB 1 and PLAB 2).
However, from 2024 PLAB will align with the UKMLA requirements and content map. If you intend to practise medicine in the United Kingdom, it is critical to understand the conditions and presentations included in the MLA.
Replacing PLAB 2 in the UKMLA, the CPSA exam is the performance-based assessment of clinical and professional skills, knowledge and behaviours.
Passing UKMLA exams will be required for all UK medical students graduating in the academic year 2024-2025 onwards and will be implemented into medical degrees.
It is also a requirement for all international medical graduates applying to practise in the UK to pass the UKMLA exam.
The clinical and professional skills assessment (CPSA) is a performance-based assessment of clinical and professional skills, knowledge and behaviours.
It is taken after successful completion of the AKT exam (also known as the PLAB 1 exam). The CPSA exam needs to be cleared to enable a doctor to work in the UK.
Medical schools will run the CPSA and align their existing practical examinations (e.g. OSCEs or OSLERs) with GMC requirements.
As a result of aligning PLAB with the MLA requirements, patients and employers will have greater confidence in doctors new to the UK, regardless of where they were trained or educated.
Exam Format
FAQs
The UKMLA will be implemented for all UK medical students set to graduate in 2025. Initially, this was planned to be rolled out a year earlier, but the GMC delayed the schedule due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. For overseas doctors, the exam will be implemented in 2024 – The AKT will be introduced in August 2024 and the CPSA will be introduced in May 2024.
UK students will not need to pay anything extra than their tuition fees to take the UKMLA.
Those who have graduated from a medical school outside the UK will be required to pay a fee to sit their UKMLA. The GMC have not confirmed the fees as of yet, however it is believed it will not be more than the current PLAB fees, as they have mentioned there will be no changes.
The UK Medical Licensing Assessment will become an essential exam for all UK medical school graduates and Internal Medical Graduates who want to practice medicine in the UK.
For international doctors and international graduates, the UKMLA will replace the PLAB exams in May 2024, but will still be referred to as the PLAB exams for the time being.
IMG doctors can expect to sit their CPSA MLA exams from May 2024, although this will still be called PLAB 2 for the time being.
The MLA content map sets out the core knowledge, skills and behaviours needed for UK practice. You can find it here.
Yes. This also means that the Medical Schools Council will not be using the scores from the AKT or CPSA for national ranking purposes.
International medical graduates who want to practice in the UK – and who must currently take the GMC’s PLAB tests – will need to take an MLA that includes an AKT, but this will be a separate assessment designed and delivered by the GMC rather than medical schools.