This is the implementation companion to our PassMedicine PLAB 1 analytics audit — read that for what the dashboard measures; read this for the week-by-week routine. The job is narrow: stop a self-directed feed from starving the parts of the GMC content map an international graduate finds least comfortable, and switch to timed simulation on objective criteria rather than when a percentage looks reassuring.
What you are working with
As of 19 July 2026, PassMedicine offers low-cost fixed-term PLAB 1 access with a large single-best-answer bank, timed and revision modes, textbook notes and peer-comparison analytics; no AI tutor is advertised, so you configure the loop. Verify current counts and price on the product page (its MRCP product lists 5,100+ questions at £35 for four months for calibration). The exam is 180 single-best-answer questions in three hours (GMC), aligned to the Medical Licensing Assessment content map.
The one-page plan
| Phase | Timing | Focus | Exit trigger |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baseline | Week 1 | Unseen map-stratified sample | ~100 items logged across areas |
| First pass | Weeks 2–6 | Map-floored revision + UK-context | Every area above floor |
| Consolidation | Weeks 7–8 | Timed mixed blocks + jurisdiction fixes | First-attempt accuracy stable |
| Simulation | Weeks 9–10 | Full timed mixed mocks | Pacing on target; go/no-go |
Baseline before personalising
Spend week one on a map-stratified unseen sample — a spread across the content map's areas of clinical practice, answered honestly before filtered revision biases the picture. Because the MLA content universe is published, coverage is a checkable fact from day one, which is exactly what makes the audit below possible.
Map-aligned floors, including UK-context content
Set a minimum question count per map area proportional to the blueprint, and enforce it against a rising overall average. Then set explicit floors for the content a self-directed clinical feed starves: professional and ethical content (consent, capacity, safeguarding), prescribing safety, and the low-volume specialties. For an IMG these are doubly important, because they are both under-practised and UK-specific — precisely where home-country training gives least help.
Error taxonomy with a jurisdiction category
Sort each miss into the six standard types, and add the seventh that matters most for PLAB: jurisdiction. When a management answer surprises you, the question is whether you applied the UK convention, not whether you knew the medicine. Route those misses to a UK-context fix and a citation-first check; default otherwise to transfer questions over immediate repeats, so you prove the concept rather than memorise the item.
The mixed-block switch and exit criteria
Move from filtered practice to timed random blocks when every map-area floor (including UK-context content) is met, first-attempt accuracy on unseen material has held for two weeks, and pace is within the paper's one-minute budget. Then invert to mostly-mixed. Exit when coverage, stability, pacing and a settled jurisdiction log all hold — not when the bank is complete.
A worked dashboard example
Eight weeks from PLAB 1, suppose PassMedicine shows: overall 67%; medicine and surgery strong and heavily practised; psychiatry 55% over 70 attempts; obstetrics and gynaecology 58% over 80; ethics and consent 15 attempts; prescribing safety thin; pace 78 seconds per item. The plan writes itself as quotas: psychiatry and O&G take the largest share; ethics, consent and prescribing safety get scheduled sessions rather than incidental exposure; three timed blocks bring pace toward the budget; and a jurisdiction category is opened for the management misses that were home-country defaults. No pass prediction appears — map-aligned quotas are the output.
A seven-day pattern for international graduates
Monday: 50 PassMedicine questions across two flagged weak areas. Tuesday: 30 questions plus UK-convention review — NICE-shaped sequences, prescribing safety, safeguarding. Wednesday: a timed, unseen 50-question mixed block in iatroX's free PLAB 1 bank, whose adaptive selection probes related weaknesses across the map. Thursday: light error review; jurisdiction log updated. Friday: 40 PassMedicine questions on professional and low-volume content, timed. Saturday: a full timed simulation, alternating source weekly; same-day review by error type. Sunday: rest. PassMedicine does volume and explanations; iatroX does unseen adaptive measurement and cited UK-context verification.
Continue, supplement, switch or stop
Continue while unseen mixed performance climbs and the map audit levels out. Supplement when bank numbers rise but unseen performance stalls — recognition, not learning. Switch only for a named, measurable gap (our PLAB 1 comparison helps). Stop accumulating volume in the final fortnight once coverage, stability and pacing hold.
A worked dashboard example
Eight weeks from PLAB 1, suppose PassMedicine shows: overall 67%; medicine and surgery strong and heavily practised; psychiatry 55% over 70 attempts; obstetrics and gynaecology 58% over 80; ethics and consent 15 attempts; prescribing safety thin; pace 78 seconds per item. A candidate reading "67% and rising" keeps drilling the comfortable systems. The workflow reads it as four concrete jobs. Psychiatry and obstetrics take next week's largest quotas, floors set. Ethics, consent and prescribing safety — the professional content an MLA-aligned paper samples and a clinical feed starves — get scheduled sessions rather than incidental exposure. Three timed blocks bring pace toward the one-minute budget. And a jurisdiction-review category opens for the management misses that turn out to be home-country defaults. No overall pass prediction appears, because the 67% was concealing the professional-content and jurisdiction liabilities most likely to decide a borderline result.
Three mistakes this workflow is designed to stop
First, letting the overall percentage stand in for coverage. The MLA publishes its content universe, so coverage is a checkable fact, and a rising average over a narrow slice of the map is the commonest false comfort in PLAB preparation. Second, starving the professional and prescribing-safety content, which a clinically-driven feed drops first and which the MLA-aligned paper genuinely samples; a non-zero weekly floor fixes it. Third — for IMGs especially — never making jurisdiction an explicit review category. The answer that feels right may be a home-country default, and the only way to catch it is to ask, on every management miss, "did I apply the UK convention?" rather than "did I know the medicine?" A candidate who treats those three as standing rules rarely meets an unpleasant surprise on the map's neglected corners.
Frequently asked questions
Is PassMedicine enough for PLAB 1 on its own? It can supply the bulk of practice volume affordably, but it cannot measure coverage against the GMC content map or performance on unseen timed material, so pair it with a map audit, a jurisdiction-review habit and an independent unseen source.
Which PLAB 1 component does PassMedicine not reproduce well? The map's enforced breadth — professional, ethical and prescribing-safety content and low-volume areas — and the exam's unseen, timed, UK-contextual delivery.
How many PassMedicine questions should I complete per day for PLAB 1? 40–60 map-directed questions on study days, with two timed unseen blocks weekly and a standing UK-context review category for IMGs.
When should I stop using PassMedicine and move to mixed mocks? When every map area is above its floor, first-attempt accuracy has held for two weeks and pacing fits the budget — the final two to three weeks, given to timed simulation.
How should I combine PassMedicine with iatroX without duplicating practice? PassMedicine for chosen-area drilling; iatroX (free for PLAB 1) for unseen adaptive measurement and cited UK-guideline verification of the jurisdiction gaps IMGs most need to close.
The bottom line for international graduates
The honest one-line verdict on PassMedicine for PLAB 1: an inexpensive, high-volume core bank whose dashboard measures your practice, not your readiness — with an IMG-specific twist that decides more results than volume ever will. The twist is jurisdiction. The MLA-aligned paper rewards the UK way of doing things, and a self-directed feed will happily let you drill the medicine you already know while leaving the UK-context and professional content thin. So the two overrides that matter most are a content-map audit — because coverage is a checkable fact, not a feeling — and a standing jurisdiction-review category for the management misses that turn out to be home-country defaults. Neither shows up on the dashboard; both are where borderline PLAB results are decided. Buy PassMedicine for its volume and price, read its numbers as practice data, and let an unseen source and a citation-first UK reference carry the two jobs the dashboard cannot: measuring transfer and calibrating jurisdiction.
Editorial notes and references
Written by Dr Kolawole Tytler, NHS GP and founder of iatroX. Last checked 19 July 2026; PassMedicine details are vendor-published — verify PLAB 1 counts and price before purchase. PLAB 1 format and MLA alignment are per the GMC. Disclosure: iatroX operates a free competing PLAB 1 bank. Corrections via the feedback route on iatrox.com. References: GMC guide to the PLAB test and MLA content map (gmc-uk.org); PassMedicine product pages; related reading: the PassMedicine PLAB 1 analytics audit and why your Q-bank percentage is not your exam score.