United Kingdom Medical Licensing Assessment (UKMLA)

 
 

The United Kingdom Medical Licensing Assessment (UKMLA) will be a requirement for both UK graduates as well as international graduates to practise medicine in the UK. It is scheduled to replace the PLAB in 2024.

What Cambridge Professional Trainers does for you

The UKMLA is an exam in English, rather than a test of English, and as such requires detailed knowledge of a wide range of subject matter in English, rapid and accurate processing skills, and excellent communicative competency.

Building on our experience both with the PLAB and the USMLE, we will provide detailed, tailored language support, taking into account a candidate’s needs, deadlines and study regimes.

  • The UKMLA tests the knowledge and skills of all candidate medical practitioners in the UK.

    International (non-UK) medical students will need to complete their medical school before taking the UKMLA.

    NOTE: the General Medical Council (GMC), the body which regulates eligibility to practise medicine in the UK, will require applicants for the UKMLA to show proficiency in the English Language, by means either of an IELTS test (overall 7.5 grade, with no lower than 7.0 in each part of the test, equivalent to the C1 CEFR band) taken within two years of starting the course, or by means of an unpaid 30-day attachment to a participating hospital.

  • Part 1: Applied Knowledge Test (AKT)

    The Applied Knowledge Test will be a computer-based, multiple-choice format exam. Like the PLAB 1, it will test a candidate’s ability to apply their knowledge to the care of patients. Questions will relate to current best practice in the UK, and equipment routinely available in UK hospitals, and will cover the common, important or acute conditions (those common in emergency departments) seen by trainees entering the second year of their foundation programme (F2), and the management of long-term conditions seen in primary care.

    PART 2: Clinical and Professional Skills Assessment (CPSA)

    Like the PLAB 2, the Clinical and Professional Skills Assessment will be an objective structured clinical exam (OSCE) made up of a number of clinical scenario designed to reflect real life settings. After reading the instructions and patient information outside each room, candidates will enter the exam cubicle and complete the task outlined.