StudyDuo
A PLAB 2 study partner is another doctor preparing for the GMC's clinical exam who plays your patient and keeps the eight-minute clock. Afterwards, they give feedback on the three domains the examiners mark, then you swap roles. Look for someone with an exam date close to yours: people you prepared for PLAB 1 with, a course, or StudyDuo's Find Partners.
What the GMC sets: 16 stations, 8 minutes each
PLAB 2 is an objective structured clinical exam at the GMC's two sites in Manchester. You work through 16 scenarios of eight minutes each, built to look like real settings such as a consultation or an acute ward (GMC, what is the PLAB 2 exam). Before each one you get 1 minute 30 seconds to move rooms and read the instructions. Some stations use manikins or equipment; in the rest, an actor plays the patient. With at least two rest stations, the circuit takes about three hours.
An examiner watches each station, in the room, by phone or by remote camera, and rarely steps in. Every station is marked on three domains with equal maximum marks (how you'll be tested):
| Domain | What the GMC includes | What your partner notes |
|---|---|---|
| Data gathering, technical and assessment skills | History, examination, practical procedures, investigations | Questions you never asked; steps of an examination you skipped |
| Clinical management | A working diagnosis, explaining it, the plan | Whether the patient could repeat your plan back |
| Interpersonal skills | Rapport, open and closed questions, involving the patient, professional and ethical awareness | Whether the patient's worry came up, and what you did with it |
To pass, your total must reach the sum of the stations' cut scores plus one standard error of measurement. You must also pass a minimum number of stations (understanding your results). Cut scores are set after the exam by borderline regression, and the GMC doesn't publish the station count. No station is safe to give up on.
The calendar is tight too. You have two years from the day you sat PLAB 1 to pass PLAB 2, and four attempts. A fifth needs an application and at least 12 months of further learning (additional attempts). Since 2024, PLAB 2 has been the GMC's version of the Medical Licensing Assessment's clinical part, built on the MLA content map (PLAB and the MLA). A revised content map applies to sittings from September 2026, so check that your partner's notes follow it.
How a PLAB 2 study partner runs a station
Start with the GMC's sample station: a telephone consultation in general practice with a 45-year-old man who has a headache. After that, write stations for each other from the MLA content map. Each brief has two parts: the candidate's instructions, and the patient's script with the facts to give only when asked and one worry to raise.
| Minutes | The doctor | The patient |
|---|---|---|
| 0:00 to 1:30 | Reads the instructions only | Rereads the script |
| 1:30 to 9:30 | Runs the station; the clock stops it, finished or not | Answers what's asked, raises the worry once |
| 9:30 to 14:30 | Listens and takes notes | Gives feedback: as the patient first, then one point per domain |
| 15:00 | Swaps chairs | Swaps chairs |
That's four stations an hour, two each. Feedback from inside the role is the part learners value most. In Geneva, 158 second-year students sat an online practice OSCE with senior students giving the feedback (Sader and colleagues, BMC Medical Education, 2022). Of the 106 who rated it, the item they scored highest was hearing the simulated patient's feedback: 4.97 out of 5. Scored by researchers on a feedback scale, the seniors' feedback reached 3.73 out of 5. The seniors said their hardest jobs were staying objective and saying what went wrong. So agree before the first station that every round names one thing to change.
Actors or a partner?
If you're weighing a paid course with trained actors, the research favours them on one count: confidence. Xiao and Fu pooled 10 studies of 721 students that compared standardised patients with role play (Frontiers in Medicine, 2025). Actors raised students' self-confidence more (an effect size of 0.415). On the other outcomes, the two methods came out similar.
One trial shows what the partner version looks like. In South Korea, 113 final-year medical students were split at random between smoking-cessation training with actors and with classmates (Park and colleagues, BMC Medical Education, 2019). The role-play group ran a ten-minute consultation, a student doctor with a student patient, then five minutes of feedback from an observer with a checklist. OSCE scores rose in both groups (d = 0.87 with actors, 0.77 with peers), with no difference between them. Confidence was higher after the actors. One counselling task isn't a full PLAB circuit, but the format is close to a station: the skills come from repetition with feedback, and a partner can supply both.
What works on video, and what needs a room
Consultations, explanations and telephone calls work well on video: the GMC's own sample is a phone call. A third person, if you have one, sits silent with the camera off, as an examiner would. Physical examinations and procedures are another matter. Online, you can rehearse the commentary, what you'd say to the patient at each step. The hands-on sequence needs a person or a manikin in the same room, and the GMC's resources page lists the practical procedures to rehearse (preparation resources).
On StudyDuo, the 1:1 sessions are the ones with sound. Post one for right away or for later in the week, from 30 to 120 minutes long; both people need a verified photo. The free plan's video allowance is an hour a day: the four-station hour above. PLAB is one of the interests in Find Partners, so you can look for a PLAB 2 study partner by country and city and message them before you meet.
Pairing up before the exam
- People from your PLAB 1 preparation. If they sat PLAB 1 when you did, their two-year window closes when yours does.
- A course cohort. If you take a course, ask who in the group has a date near yours, and keep practising with them after it ends.
- Messaging groups. In a WhatsApp or Telegram group of candidates, post your exam month, time zone and free hours. Don't post your phone number publicly, and never share your GMC Online login.
- StudyDuo. Filter Find Partners by PLAB, then country or city.
Match on three things: the month of your exam, the hours you're both awake, and whether you'll be in Manchester early enough to practise examinations in person. What to say in the first message to someone you don't know is covered in How to Find a Study Partner.
What you can't share
Practise on stations you write, never on stations you sat. The GMC's misconduct case study describes a candidate who posted exam material on a public forum to start a discussion. It was ruled misconduct whatever the intent: the result was annulled, and the attempt still counted. Sanctions run from written advice to a ban on booking and referral to the registrar. Someone who has already sat the exam can still play your patient and mark you, but shouldn't tell you what came up.
Six in ten sittings passed in 2025
The GMC publishes a pass rate for each year. In 2025, 59.8% of PLAB 2 sittings passed, about six points below 2024, according to its recent pass rates page and its annual reports. The figures count sittings, resits included. With four attempts and a two-year window, each failed sitting costs a quarter of your tries and months of your time.
A full circuit before Manchester
In the last fortnight, run a mock: 16 stations and two rests at the real pace, with three or four candidates taking turns as patients. A mock run by students has some support. At the University of São Paulo, 28 third-year medical students designed, examined and sat a peer-led mock OSCE. Another 39 formed the control group (Lima and colleagues, PLOS ONE, 2026). Asked right after the last station of the real OSCE, the mock group reported less anxiety: 54.8 against 63.6 on a standard scale (d = 0.69). Their scores were a little higher too, 8.60 against 8.30 out of 10, but that difference fell just short of significance.
Mark the mock with the three domains, not a single number, since your results will show each domain's mark for every station. If one domain is low across the circuit, that's what you and your PLAB 2 study partner practise next week. For giving feedback a partner can use, see How to Be a Good Study Partner. The threes format medical students use for history taking is in our medical school study group guide.
FAQ
Can a final-year UK medical student practise with me?
Yes, with one caution. UK medical schools run their own Clinical and Professional Skills Assessment for their students, and the number and length of stations differ from school to school. All of them are built on the same MLA content map as PLAB 2, so the cases overlap.
Does the examiner talk to me during a station?
Rarely. The GMC's sample station says examiners seldom step in, wherever they watch from. A third person in your practice should stay just as quiet.
Should my partner see the patient script before the station?
Only the one playing the patient. In the exam you read the instructions outside the room and meet the rest of the story in the consultation, so keep it that way in practice.
