PLAB 1

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ONLINE COACHING PROGRAMME

Why a Coaching Programme is Important

To pass the PLAB 1 exam, a combination of knowledge, MCQ technique and exam strategy (e.g. time management) as well as confidence is needed.

Doing MCQs on your own is fine but if you get a question wrong, while there may be a model answer to tell you what you got wrong, there is no way to identify WHY you got it wrong. There is no-one to look at your thought process and MCQ technique, to help you avoid the same mistakes in the real exam. That is where a coaching programme can make a big difference between passing and failing the exam.

Coaching enables a person to develop MCQ technique & exam strategy, as well as deepen their understanding of the subject matter (clearing any doubts by asking the teacher) and build up their confidence.

Talk to Us

If you have any questions, simply click on the Live Chat bubble on this page, or click here to talk to us on Telegram.

How the Coaching Programme Works

The Centre for Health Education offers ‘coaching’ not just ‘teaching’. This means that we reflect on the training needs of individual participants and decide how best to support their exam preparation to get the best possible outcome. This may mean a different approach to the standard preparation programme outlined below.

The standard preparation programme is spread over 3 months to allow sufficient time to absorb the learning between each session. The diagram below outlines how the coaching programme works:

Live Sessions
These are live 2-hour sessions with the lecturer, taking place between 6.00am – 8.00am UK Time (sessions generally finish at 8.00am, but at times topics may require extended sessions which finish a little later). For the Standard Programme they will consist of 3 parts:

  1. Theory – these are lectures delivered by experts in the field (i.e. typically they are Senior Consultants with over 20 years practice in the NHS). They cover the entire curriculum, focussing particularly on ‘hot topics’. For a particular batch, the lectures may be delivered live or be pre-recorded (accessible via the online learner dashboard), at the discretion of the Programme Medical Director. All lecture content is regularly reviewed and updated to reflect the latest NICE, SIGN and Royal College guidelines and best GMC practice.
  2. Practice – these are live high-yield MCQ sessions covering the whole curriculum on a subject-by-subject basis (e.g. ‘neurology’, ‘paediatrics’, ‘obstetrics and gynaecology’ etc.). Through individualised feedback, the senior lecturer will refine a candidates’ exam technique as well as fill in any gaps in their knowledge so that by the end of the session, the knowledge base for that subject is ‘complete’ and the candidate is ready to face that subject in the exam.
  3. Mock exams – these are run under strict exam conditions (3 hours, 180 MCQs, pre-scheduled start/finish time) to giving candidates a chance to use the exam strategies taught by the senior lecturer and help them obtain an appraisal of their likely performance in the real exam. No individualised feedback is given, as in the real exam. Only a final score is given.

The duration of the programme is variable, depending on the format of delivery. There are two formats of the programme that are delivered:

  1. Standard Programme (3 months)
  2. Intensive Programme (1 month, typically close to the exam) – running on Saturday and Sunday only (full days), for 4 weekends.

Please note: the Intensive MCQ sessions are blended coaching sessions, not simply MCQ practices alone. This means that the lecturer tailors the sessions to what they feel the candidates need. So although the lecturer does go through lots of MCQs with the candidates, if there are areas of deficiency in the candidates’ knowledge or topics that the lecturer feels need further clarification/solidification of understanding, they may switch to lecture mode to strengthen the candidates’ knowledge. The lecturer may then revert back to MCQ mode, to polish off the candidates’ exam technique and strategy. This whole teaching methodology has stood the test of time. To date, no-one has ever failed our PLAB 1 coaching programme. Even those who failed previously have passed in one go after this coaching programme. So, although we cannot guarantee the future, the programme does have an excellent track record.

Highlights of the Coaching Programme

Professional

  • Blended learning over 3 months, from senior UK consultants who have an excellent track record of helping candidates pass their exam on their first attempt (100% pass rate*, to date).
  • Flexible learning around your own work/personal commitments.
  • Personalised coaching via small groups ensuring more support from the lecturer.
  • Covers all the subjects in the PLAB curriculum
  • Covers latest UK clinical guidelines (NICE, RCUK, ALSG, Royal Colleges)
  • Deepens knowledge and understanding of clinical medicine
  • Teaches how to reason through questions and successfully apply knowledge to MCQ questions
  • Develops MCQ technique
  • Improves exam time management and exam strategy
  • Become a better doctor!

Personal

  • Build up self-confidence
  • Study in a focussed way if you are short of time (e.g. as a busy mum)
  • Personalised tips given on how to maximise scores in the exam
  • Update your knowledge if you have been out of clinical practice

Other

  • Priority placement on the PLAB 2 coaching programme*

* For those who attend the full PLAB 1 coaching programme

Mock Exams Day
This is run separately, after each batch complete their preparation programme. Mock Exams are only available to be booked by those who have done the full coaching programme. There are two mock exams per Mock Exams Day.


Sample Programme

The following is for illustration only. The actual programme may be modified at the discretion of the teaching consultant.

Day 1 ECGs
Day 2 Cardiology
Day 3 Respiratory Medicine
Day 4 Blood Gases, PFTs and CXRs
Day 5 Neurology I
Day 6 Neurology II
Day 7 Neurology III
Day 8 Psychiatry
Day 9 Endocrinology & Metabolic Medicine I
Day 10 Endocrinology & Metabolic Medicine II
Day 11 Gastroenterology
Day 12 General & GI Surgery
Day 13 Renal Medicine & Urology
Day 14 Haematology, Oncology & Palliative Care I
Day 15 Haematology, Oncology & Palliative Care II
Day 16 Infectious Diseases & Immunology
Day 17 Paediatrics & Genetics
Day 18 Obstetrics & Gynaecology I
Day 19 Obstetrics & Gynaecology II
Day 20 Ethics & Epidemiology I
Day 21 Ethics & Epidemiology II
Day 22 Vascular Surgery & Dermatology
Day 23 Opthamology & ENT Surgery
Day 24 Orthopaedics & Rheumatology

Cost

STANDARD PROGRAMME: £80 per month x 5 monthly instalments (total £400 per person)

  • In-person lecture coaching from a Senior Lecturer / Consultant
  • In-person Intensive MCQ Practice (practice of thousands of MCQs under consultant supervision)
  • Lecture slides material, written by UK senior consultants/specialists

Please note: access to the lecture slides will only be granted once payment has cleared.

INTENSIVE PROGRAMME ONLY: £200 per person

  • In-person coaching from a Senior Lecturer / Consultant (including practice of thousands of MCQs under consultant supervision)

MOCK EXAMS DAY: £100 per person

  • Access to the Centre for Health Education Mock Exams (under proper test conditions to replicate the real GMC exam) is reserved for programme participants only. Booking is done via the CHE learner dashboard.

Please note

  1. Number of delegates accepted per batch is strictly limited. This is because, if there are too many people, it is not possible to give personalised support to individual delegates.
  2. No refunds are given if a delegate should withdraw, cancel or change their mind after booking. This is because, once booked, the seat is protected for the delegate and other delegates are denied a placement as a result.
  3. If a person joins part-way through the programme, there is no partial refund. We do not record lectures but we do release the lecture slides which they will be given access to for the sessions that they have missed.

How to book

Please click the ‘book now’ button on this web page. We will review your application and, if we are unable to offer you a placement (as seats per live coaching programme are strictly restricted in number to preserve quality of learning), we will refund you 100% of the booking fee.

Once we offer you a placement, your booking is confirmed and becomes non-refundable from that point onwards (even if you only attend part of the programme and then exit; or choose not to attend at all).

Course dates

Live Coaching Programme (Online)

Number of candidates accepted onto the programme, per batch, is restricted as outlined above.

  • Coaching for May 2022 Exam: Booking is closed. No further applications are being accepted.
  • Coaching for August 2022 Exam: Standard Programme Closed. Intensive Programme will run in July 2022: seats are not yet available for booking.
  • Coaching for November 2022 Exam: Seats are now available for booking. If you wish to apply, please send a screenshot evidence of your exam seat confirmation so that we may send you the booking link
  • Coaching for February 2023 Exam: Not open yet for bookings

Mock Exams Day (Online)

This is only for those who have completed the full coaching programme. Booking is therefore only possible via the dashboard after successfully completing the PLAB 1 coaching programme.Talk to us live via Telegram: https://t.me/C4HEAdmin

QUALITY ASSURANCE POLICY

Centre for Health Education recognises that every delegate’s training needs are different. Some styles of teaching or learning suit some people and not others. Faculty must therefore have confidence that they are able to meet the training needs of each delegate. The teaching faculty reserve the right to deselect a delegate at any stage of the programme if they feel they are no longer able to meet the training needs of the delegate. In such an event, the delegate shall be refunded pro rata for the remainder of the programme.

Please note: by embarking on the coaching programme, delegates agree to respect the decisions of the faculty as final (in regards to being permitted to continue with the programme or not). If a delegate withdraws from the coaching programme of their own volition, the standard cancellation policy shall take effect (i.e. no refunds shall be given).