PLAB 1

PLAB 1 is the written exam on the GMC's registration route for most doctors who qualified outside the UK. International medical graduate seeking GMC registration: GMC: the PLAB test is the main route to registration with a licence to practise for doctors who qualified outside the UK, EEA and Switzerland. Foundation Year 2 or Trust-grade doctor (post-PLAB entry): GMC: passing PLAB 1 and PLAB 2 leads to full registration, the point at which doctors take up their first UK posts.

Yes — PLAB 1 practice on PassNova is 100% free. There's no paywall and no sign-up needed to start. A free account is optional and only saves your progress and badges.

No. You can start practising PLAB 1 instantly with no account, no email and no card. 104 courses are fully free; every Premium question bank has a free 15-question taster.

PassNova has 128 exam-style PLAB 1 questions and 5 timed 25-question practice tests, each with a clear explanation, plus topic-by-topic study mode.

PLAB is the General Medical Council's route to registration for most doctors who qualified outside the UK, EEA and Switzerland. PLAB 1 is the written part: 180 single-best-answer questions in three hours, sat at test centres in the UK and overseas, with content based on the Medical Licensing Assessment content map that UK graduates are also examined on — the conditions, presentations and professional standards a doctor starting the second year of Foundation training must know. A pass in PLAB 1 is needed before booking PLAB 2, the practical OSCE. Fees, booking windows and the limit on the number of attempts are set by the GMC and change from time to time; check them on the GMC's PLAB pages rather than relying on third-party summaries (checked September 2026). PassNova's practice uses the same single-best-answer format with clinical content kept to established NICE, Resuscitation Council UK and GMC guidance, weighted across the areas of practice the content map covers, with professional values included because PLAB examines Good Medical Practice as well as medicine. At the time of checking the GMC allows four attempts at PLAB 1, with a fifth and final attempt only by application after at least 12 months of further learning and development, and from 2027 it is running fewer international sittings (no international venues in February 2027; Dhaka, Alexandria, Accra and Chennai are dropped), so overseas candidates should check venue availability early. Every question was checked against NICE, Resuscitation Council UK, MHRA and GMC guidance in September 2026, but the bank has not been reviewed by a UK-registered doctor: treat it as exam practice, not clinical guidance.