PLAB 2 has 16 stations, 8 minutes each, scored against a fixed GMC rubric. We coach IMGs through the PLAB 2 OSCE year-round. Here are the eight station archetypes where IMGs consistently lose marks — and what recovered them in our sessions. The GMC does not publish station-level rubrics or point values, so everything below is a pattern from our own coaching, not a marking scheme.
1. Breaking bad news
The hidden trap: candidates over-rotate on "empathy phrases" and skip checking the patient's understanding before continuing, which the GMC names in its published domains. In our sessions, one teach-back per minute is the habit that fixes it.
2. Consent for a procedure
Give material risks as a number ("about 1 in 100") rather than an adjective ("rare") — this follows the GMC's own consent guidance, which frames risk in terms a patient can act on. Candidates who stopped at adjectives scored consistently worse in our mocks.
3. Telephone handover
Keep to SBAR order. In our mocks, candidates who delivered the same content out of sequence scored below those who structured it — the information was right, the handover was not.
4. Drug error disclosure
Apologise and offer concrete redress. The duty of candour asks for both; in our sessions an apology on its own was the single most common reason an otherwise strong candidate did not clear this station.
5. Mental Capacity Act assessment
The four-stage test (understand / retain / weigh / communicate) must be named explicitly. Implicit demonstration is not enough.
6. Safeguarding referral
Name the pathway — Children's Social Care, MARAC. "Refer to the right team" reads, in our mocks, as not knowing which team; candidates who named it were marked as having made the referral, and candidates who did not usually were not.
7. Death certification
Use the 1a / 1b / 1c / 2 structure exactly. In our experience the format carries this station: candidates with sound medical reasoning still lost marks when the sequence was wrong.
8. Counselling for warfarin
The classic 8-minute trap. INR target, dietary interactions, signs of bleeding, when to seek help, follow-up frequency. Candidates who covered three of those five rarely cleared the station in our mocks; five in eight minutes is the drill.
Run each station 8+ times under timer with a peer playing the patient. The pattern recognition matters more than the medicine.
About this article. RxApply is an independent education provider. It is not affiliated with, approved, endorsed by, or connected to GMC.
