My Journey

As a former PLAB 2 candidate, during my preparations for the exam I often found myself frustrated that I couldn’t get hold of materials that adequately covered the latest topics needed for PLAB 2.

Have you experienced the same problem?

And where there was somewhat adequate coverage provided, you could only access them if you purchased their entire course for several hundreds of pounds. For many people, this is simply not affordable, or just not feasible due to location or because you had already paid for and joined other courses.

You would then find yourself at a disadvantage to other candidates who had access to all the latest topics enabling them to enter the exam with confidence while you are left behind twiddling your thumbs wondering how on earth you are going to approach these cases in the exam. 

What’s worse is that these new topics are continuing to be introduced as the transition from PLAB to UKMLA is being rolled out.

These new topics are consistently where the biggest variation in candidates marks can be found because many people just don’t have these cases covered adequately like they do with the older materials.

Hearing from other candidates about the kinds of things being assessed and focused on, it became clear that up to 50% of the exam is based on these new topics not covered in the conventional course materials.

Simply put, doing well in these new topics was what made the difference between passing and failing for many people.

Frustrated by not being able to find these materials, I decided to create them myself in an online platform dedicated specifically to covering the brand new topics (referenced as “(NEW)” in the Smart Revision planner) as and when they are introduced.

I have since also added other materials to the platform to include more detailed coverage in certain topics, particularly in Women’s Health, Sexual Health, Psychiatry, Breaking Bad News, Medical Errors and Medical Ethics - as these are the topics that are often not taught well abroad. See the Curriculum for the list of classes included.

Similar to many PLAB 1 resources, this online tool allows for comments, questions and discussion of individual topics. There are also short quizzes to test your understanding after completing classes.

These are far more than just notes, it’s a learning environment that provides highly researched solved cases in a convenient format to give yourself the best chance of success – prepared by someone who has recently been in your shoes, experienced all the obstacles and difficulties along the way and come out the other side to excel in the exam with a high score.

This resource is designed to be used alongside the Smart Revision Planner (what I call the ‘lifesaver’) to give you full coverage for all topics covered for the exam - all at an affordable price.

The Smart Revision Planner provides a structured step-by-step “path of least resistance” guide to preparing for PLAB 2 in the most effective way. It’s ideal for those who have just started preparing for PLAB 2 and need some structured guidance, or for those who need a well-structured clear overview of what they have studied to give themselves the bigger picture and clarity of the content in their mind before the exam. Poor clarity of mind is what leads to hesitation, doubt, indecision and poor performance in your PLAB 2 exam. It is often the most knowledgeable who fall victim to this.

Similarly, with the (NEW) Smart Revision Notes, whether you plan to sit the exam without an academy, or need something more up-to-date and thorough to supplement what you already have with your academy, this is ideal.

It was an awful lot of work to get this done to my usual high standards but it’s ready now and there is no question that this is a complete game-changer in the PLAB 2 sphere.

It may not be popular amongst the big academies because it gives consumers a more affordable choice whilst maintaining the highest quality. But that’s one of the beautiful things about a free market. It benefits the consumers.

I would ordinarily price an online course like this in the region of several hundreds of pounds and I would have no qualms about doing this because of the time and effort put into researching and solving these cases to a meticulous level of detail.

These notes are my own unique work and they have been prepared strictly in line with the most up-to-date guidance literature and from my own experiences working in the NHS seeing first-hand how the NHS system works.

I also come from a big family of NHS doctors. Just my first-degree relatives alone include a GP, two medical registrars and a consultant surgeon. This is not including the vast network of NHS doctors I have as colleagues, in my friendship groups and extended family. I have found all of their input invaluable in preparing this content to make sure it is as relevant and practical as possible. It would not have been possible without them.

Simply put, you will not find higher quality content than this anywhere. I am certain of that. See my free previews (in the curriculum above) for reference.

As I alluded to earlier, personally, I would be happy to pay £200-300 for something like this to give myself the best chance to pass an exam that I paid a lot of money to book - not to mention the other expenses like travel, accommodation and other expenses required to sit it.

However...

I wanted to make sure this resource was as affordable as possible as I do understand how difficult it can be to survive financially when you have already had to make so many financial sacrifices to both prepare for and sit the exam in the first place.

In addition, my own personal beliefs about providing equal opportunities to people from all backgrounds made it easier for me to accept setting such a low price so that honest, hardworking people can get a fair chance to study the content without having to fork out several hundreds of pounds for it.

Hence, I have priced the (NEW) Smart Revision Notes as a one-time fee of £47. This covers you until the date of your exam (evidence of booked exam dates is required before gaining access so do make sure the exam date you provide at booking is accurate).

There is no doubt that this resource does give you a massive edge for this exam, but I will not compromise on making products that are affordable and accessible to all.

May 2024 Update

As well as the step-by-step approach to NEW cases, All-In-One Approaches, for all "consultation types" encountered in PLAB 2 have now been added to Smart Revision Notes (with minor differences between cases outlined). This allows you study much smarter by studying the approach to several cases in-one-go, making the workload more manageable, saving you much needed time and protecting against the dreaded information overload and freezing during your consultations.

Since the launch of the upgraded Smart Revision Planner 2.0, Smart Revision Notes is now seamlessly integrated with the Smart Revision Planner 2.0 with links for instant access to cases to ensure you have everything-PLAB2 accessible from within one-place in a complete A-Z system.

Preparing for PLAB 2 just got so much more simple.