PLAB Examination Format

PLAB exam format is as follows:

PLAB 1 Examiantion

The Plab 1 examination format consists of 200 questions in extending matching questions (EMQ) and single best answer (SBA) questions. Around 30% of the examination are SBA questions and the remainder are EMQs. Total of 3 hours are allowed to finish the examination.

Example of an Single Best Answer Question (SBA)

A young man has intractable epilepsy with various admissions to hospital with status despite good compliance with anti-convulsant treatment. He is being considered for a right temporal lobectomy.

Question: Which among the following visual field defect is he likely to develop following this surgical procedure:

Left homonymous superior quadrantanopia

Right homonymous superior quadrantanopia

Left homonymous inferior quadrantanopia

Right homonymous inferior quadrantanopia

Left homonymous hemianopia

Example of an ‘Extended Matching Question’ question (EMQ) Options:

  1. Aortic valve endocarditis

  2. Marantic endocarditis

  3. Tricuspid valve endocarditis

  4. Mitral valve endocarditis

  5. VSD endocarditis

  6. Libman-Sachs endocarditis

  7. Prosthetic valve endocarditis

From the list given above, select the most likely diagnosis for the patients which is described below:

A 27-year-old IV drug user with a 2 week history of fevers, cough and lung infiltrates and a systolic murmur

A 64-year-old man with a four month history of fevers, weight loss, breathlessness who has first degree heart block on the ECG

A 35-year-old man with a definite history of rheumatic fever and develops fever 2 weeks after dental treatment and pansystolic murmur

A 42-year-old woman with SLE who develops unexplained fever and murmur but no obvious vegetations on ECG

A 50-year-old man with a history of fever and breathlessness at one month from cardiac surgery

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