Passed PLAB 2; and here is my experience. I’m a little late with this; but hey, better late than never.
Lemme begin by saying that this is not a review about academies. My experience was rather different, and I wanted to share what I think worked in my case.
I joined the academy after having missed nearly 10 days of the course. And I only had 11 days after the end of the course. I work full time, so i didn’t have the opportunity to read up beforehand either. I only had the chance to read the scripts once after the course, and a selected second read of a few. We had quite a few new stations, time wasn’t in my favour to revise those. I would start at 10 or 11 in the morning, reading the scripts by myself; and I practiced examinations with those who had the exam on the same day as mine at the end of each day, for about an hour or two.
I felt pretty calm on the day of the exam. People at GMC are extremely nice and friendly and help you feel calm. They give you a pep talk on the day of the exam, and one thing they said stayed with me. They told us that they don’t expect anything extraordinary, they wanted us to treat each case the way we would in our everyday clinic. And they said that in our clinic we have our good days and the bad. We have the good patients and the difficult. That this will be the same. That was reassuring.
My first station was new and it went extremely well. It was a good boost of confidence. The next one was counselling and went terribly; I felt as though I couldn’t get through to her at all, I was convinced that I had failed. And I carried that with me to the next few stations. And I passed that station, with a 3 for interpersonal skills. So you really don’t have a clue about how you’re marked.
I greeted the examiners with a warm smile and a good morning when I entered each cubicle while showing them my ID, and that was the last time I looked at them. I didn’t do it consciously, but it worked in my favour. A lot of my friends were thrown by how bored or irritated the examiner seemed. I don’t think they really express how they feel. At some stations they dozed off completely, that I had to turn around and ask for examination findings or investigation values. Their seeming disinterest didn’t reflect on my scores.
As for how I approached each patient, it was simple. I was calm, confident and careful. In certain stations I was actually having a conversation with them and trying to figure out what was going on, that I forgot I was in an exam. That reflected well in those stations in the scorecard. Carrying out a conversation rather than an interview helped me build a rapport which took me a long way. Using their name to address them every now and then, helps build this rapport. If they joke, laugh, gently. Respond if you feel it’s appropriate. The more comfortable the patient is, the more you score in all 3 sections. In one station the examiner actually gave me values and treatment guidelines I didn’t even ask for. I avoided words that I thought would provoke a reaction because I didn’t want to spend the little time I had trying to defuse a sack of emotions. For example, I used very serious instead of critical; I always followed up the statement that cancer was a possibility, with I don’t want you to worry about it now unnecessarily, we will cross that bridge when we get to it. I reassured them that we would do everything we could to help them if it were the case. Before they could react to the word cancer…
I think your tone and facial expressions matter a lot. Be soft spoken. Sympathy and empathy are important, but I avoided using stock phrases. Sometimes you can sympathize as much with a gentle smile. Even if the patient is rude and arrogant, still try to think of ways to help them
And for those to whom it matters I passed 18 stations and scored 164.
Please note that this may not work for everyone. You have to know your strengths and play to it. If you think you need to work on your basic knowledge or that you need to practice on your interpersonal skills take the time, don’t rush it. It’s a costly exam, it’s best to be prepared.
I hope this helps. Good luck.