PLABable for PAs is a knowledge-layer question bank for PARA candidates: a large set of single-best-answer items written and reviewed by physician associates and NHS specialists, with explanations and timed practice. For a candidate who wants affordable, PA-specific SBA volume to build and test knowledge, it is a strong option and its question style transfers well to the KBA. Its principal limitation is scope: it is a written-component bank, so it does nothing for the OSCE, and — like any bank — its value decays as items become familiar and completion quietly turns into recognition. This audit separates what transfers from what does not.
This is a narrow child article; for the full coverage framework see the PARA content-gap checklist, and for comparisons the iatroX comparison hub.
Current-state box (vendor-reported, last checked 20 July 2026)
All figures are vendor-reported from plabableforpa.com on the date shown; verify current numbers and pricing on the product page.
| Attribute | Vendor-reported detail |
|---|---|
| Question bank | "More than 4,300" questions with explanations and revision guides, written/reviewed by PAs and NHS specialists |
| PARA components supported | Written/KBA (single-best-answer) only — no OSCE |
| Interpretation content | Vendor describes images, ECGs and X-rays in scope — verify depth |
| Timed mocks | Vendor-reported timed mock functionality — verify |
| Price | £20 for 3 months; £25 for 5 months (vendor-reported) |
| Attempts | Subscription includes attempts on the bank with reset/extend for a fee (pages vary between "one" and "two attempts" — verify current terms) |
| AI/adaptive | None advertised — verify |
| Access | iOS/Android apps; question comments; PARA WhatsApp study groups; free trial |
The honest headline: this is a competent, low-cost, PA-specific knowledge bank. It covers the layer it claims and does not pretend to cover the OSCE.
Exam anchor
PARA (RCP for the GMC; PA regulation began 13 December 2024) is a KBA of 200 single-best-answer questions (four one-hour papers of 50) plus a 16-station OSCE (14 scored + 2 rest; 8 minutes/station + 2 minutes reading; pass the standard and ≥9 stations), both mapped to the GMC PARA content map (four domains; 18 clinical areas). PLABable for PAs targets the first of these two. The official requirement is defined by the GMC/RCP; a vendor's "high-yield" framing is a claim to check against the blueprint, not the blueprint itself.
Live count, by blueprint domain
The vendor headline is "more than 4,300" items — ample volume for the KBA. The number that actually matters, though, is the distribution across the 18 content-map areas, and vendors rarely publish a per-domain breakdown; PLABable does not surface one publicly (verify). So do not trust the headline as evidence of coverage. Build your own count: as you work, tag each item to its content-map area and populate a coverage table. The likely pattern, as with most banks, is generous coverage of high-volume systems and thinner coverage of ophthalmology, ENT, haematology and palliative care — the exact low-volume areas the content-gap checklist flags. A 4,300-item bank can still leave a domain under-served; only your own per-domain tally proves otherwise.
Question style: what transfers
Sample stems across several domains and score them on five style dimensions that determine transfer to the real KBA:
- Recall vs application. PARA rewards application — a stem you must reason through, not a fact you either know or do not. Check that PLABable items lean applied, not trivia.
- Stem length and structure. Real KBA stems present a clinical vignette. Items that match that length and structure build the right reading stamina; one-line factoids do not.
- Option plausibility. Good SBA items have distractors that are plausible, forcing discrimination. Implausible options train pattern-spotting, not reasoning.
- Image and data interpretation. The KBA includes images, ECGs and radiographs. Verify PLABable's interpretation items are present and realistic, not decorative.
- Management sequencing. Many PARA items ask for the next best step. Check the bank tests sequencing and prioritisation, not just diagnosis.
Where PLABable's PA-written items match these, they transfer well; where any dimension is weak, supplement it. This is a per-sample judgement — do not take it or leave it on the headline count.
Jurisdiction and recency
PARA is a UK exam, so verify a stratified sample of items against current UK guidance (NICE, CKS, SIGN, the SmPC/eMC for medicines, NHS clinical content) and record the date you checked. Pull a handful from guidance-sensitive topics — diabetes, hypertension, anticoagulation, sepsis, contraception — and confirm the "correct" answer still matches current UK practice and the right jurisdiction (England vs devolved nations can differ). PA-written banks are usually UK-appropriate, but recency drift is universal; a bank last comprehensively reviewed a year ago may carry a superseded answer. Log your review date so you know how current your evidence is.
Format gap
State it plainly: a standard MCQ bank — PLABable included — cannot prepare you for the OSCE or clinical skills, and it does not verify blueprint currency for you. The OSCE is half the exam and is trained only by observed, timed station practice against the RCP domains. Nothing in an SBA bank substitutes. If PLABable is your main resource, the OSCE is an entirely separate build you must plan for, not a lighter version of your reading. This is the audit's most important single sentence.
Duplication and contamination
The failure mode specific to a bank you use heavily is recognition creep: after two or three passes, a rising percentage measures memory of the item, not knowledge of the topic. Watch for repeated concepts under near-duplicate stems, which inflate your score without adding coverage. Two defences: track first-attempt accuracy separately from re-review accuracy, and once most items are seen, measure on a different, unseen bank so your readiness signal is not contaminated by familiarity. Bank completion is not coverage — the distinction is set out in why completion is not coverage.
Best-fit matrix
| Use case | Fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Foundation building | Strong | Large, cheap, PA-specific SBA volume with explanations |
| First-pass bank | Strong | Good breadth to work through domain by domain |
| Second (unseen) bank | Moderate | Works if it is unseen relative to your first bank |
| Retake | Moderate | Useful for targeted gaps; risk of prior exposure lowering signal value |
| Final unseen simulation | Weak once seen | A bank you have completed cannot measure unseen readiness — use a fresh source |
Worked example: a seven-day plan
One job for PLABable (build and drill knowledge), one for iatroX (unseen measurement). No proprietary-algorithm claims.
- Mon: PLABable — a timed gastrointestinal block; review every miss and read the explanation fully.
- Tue: iatroX — an unseen timed GI block on the PARA bank; compare first-attempt accuracy against Monday.
- Wed: PLABable — endocrine block plus its image/ECG items to train interpretation.
- Thu: iatroX — unseen mixed block (GI + endocrine) at exam pace; log high-confidence errors.
- Fri: PLABable — targeted low-volume area (e.g. haematology) to fill a coverage-table gap.
- Sat: iatroX — unseen block across two neglected areas to expose blind spots.
- Sun: Review — update the coverage table; set next week's quotas from measured gaps. (OSCE practice runs on a separate track all week — a bank does not cover it.)
Decision checklist
- Continue PLABable while it is still filling coverage-table gaps and your first-attempt (not review) accuracy is climbing.
- Supplement with an unseen bank once most items are seen, so your readiness signal is not recognition; add dedicated OSCE practice regardless.
- Switch only for a measurable, persistent gap (a domain the bank under-covers, or recency drift you have documented) — not novelty or sunk cost.
- Stop adding new items when unseen first-attempt accuracy is stable across the blueprint; move to mixed mocks and consolidation.
Three mistakes this audit is designed to stop
Trusting the headline count as coverage. "More than 4,300" is volume, not distribution; a bank can be large and still thin in ophthalmology, ENT or haematology. Only your own per-domain tally, built as you work, proves coverage — the headline never does.
Reading a second- or third-pass percentage as readiness. Once you have seen most items, a rising score measures recognition of the item, not knowledge of the topic. Track first-attempt accuracy as a separate number and take your readiness signal from unseen material, not from a bank you have already completed.
Treating the bank as if it prepares you for the whole exam. It prepares you for the KBA. The OSCE — half of PARA, marked across four live domains — sits entirely outside an SBA bank, and a strong bank score can quietly lull a candidate into neglecting the station practice that actually determines the OSCE result.
Assuming PA-written means never out of date. PA-specific authorship helps with relevance, but UK guidance still moves; a stratified recency check with a logged date is the only way to know your "correct" answers are still correct against current NICE, CKS, SIGN and SmPC/eMC sources.
FAQ
Is PLABable for PAs enough for Physician Associate Registration Assessment on its own? No single question bank is enough for the whole exam, because PLABable trains only the KBA and PARA also examines a 16-station OSCE that no bank reproduces. For the knowledge component alone it can carry a large share of the work given its PA-specific volume and explanations, but even there it becomes a recognition exercise once completed, so an unseen measurement bank is worth adding. Treat it as a strong knowledge workhorse, with the OSCE and unseen measurement handled separately.
Which Physician Associate Registration Assessment component does PLABable for PAs not reproduce well? The OSCE — entirely. PLABable is a written single-best-answer bank and offers no station practice, examination, communication or procedural rehearsal, so the OSCE, which is half of PARA and marked across four live domains, is completely outside its scope. It also does not verify blueprint currency for you. For the OSCE you need an observed, timed clinical-skills course; no amount of SBA practice substitutes.
How many PLABable for PAs questions should I complete per day for Physician Associate Registration Assessment? Anchor to function, not a headline count: roughly 40–60 items a day done as genuine first-attempt retrieval — timed, then fully reviewed with misses logged — beats a larger number rushed to move a completion bar. The right daily number falls out of your coverage table: more in weak, under-sampled domains and fewer in mastered ones. Guard first-attempt accuracy as your real metric; a big daily count with no review is motion without measurement. Prices and access periods are vendor-reported (£20/3 months, £25/5 months — verify).
When should I stop using PLABable for PAs and move to mixed mocks? Move to mixed, timed mocks once your single-topic accuracy is solid but you have not proven you can sustain it across a full four-paper block — that integration-under-time skill is not trained by topic-by-topic practice. You need not abandon PLABable; keep it for targeted gap-filling while your primary measurement shifts to mixed unseen blocks. The trigger is stable per-domain first-attempt accuracy plus an untested ability to hold up across a whole paper.
How should I combine PLABable for PAs with iatroX without duplicating practice? Give each a separate role: PLABable to build and drill knowledge domain by domain, iatroX to measure whether it transferred, on unseen items via the PARA bank. Never repeat the same questions across both — the value of the second bank is that its items are unseen, so alternate "drill on PLABable, measure on iatroX" by topic. That keeps the two non-overlapping, prevents recognition from inflating your readiness signal, and follows the two-Q-bank rule.
Editorial notes and references
Written by Dr Kolawole Tytler, NHS GP and founder of iatroX. Last checked 20 July 2026. Question counts, prices, attempt terms and features are vendor-reported from plabableforpa.com on the date shown and can change; verify the live count, current price and access terms on the product page. Disclosure: iatroX operates a UK PARA question bank that competes with PLABable on the knowledge layer; this audit confines iatroX's role to unseen transfer measurement and spaced retrieval — jobs a completed first bank cannot do for itself — and iatroX does not reproduce the OSCE. Corrections are welcome via the feedback route on iatrox.com.
References: plabableforpa.com (product, FAQ and PA-exam pages, vendor-reported); RCP PARA information and OSCE blueprint (rcp.ac.uk); GMC PARA content map (gmc-uk.org); PARA content-gap checklist; why completion is not coverage; Your Q-Bank Percentage Is Not Your Exam Score; iatroX comparison hub.