Is Passmedicine Enough for the UKMLA? Yes for Learning, No for Measuring
The bank is bigger than almost anyone completes, so coverage isn't the problem. What one bank structurally can't give you is an unseen timed paper — and once you've worked through it, its own mock mode is drawing on questions you've already seen. Why that matters most in the final month, and the free ways to fix it before paying for anything.
The short version: yes for learning, no for measuring. Passmedicine's bank is larger than almost anyone completes, and as a place to build and drill knowledge it is genuinely sufficient on its own. What one bank structurally cannot give you is an unseen timed paper — and that's the one thing you need most in the final month, precisely when you've worked through enough of it that nothing is unseen any more.
So the honest answer isn't "switch". It's that "enough" has three components, and a single subscription covers two of them.
Breaking "enough" into its parts
| Component | Does one bank cover it? |
|---|---|
| Coverage — enough questions across the whole blueprint | Yes. Comfortably. |
| Explanation quality — understanding why the answer is the answer | Yes, and this is the part worth paying for. |
| Measurement — a fair reading of where you stand | No, not once you've worked it. |
That third row is the entire argument, and it's structural rather than a criticism of any platform. It would be equally true of us.
Why coverage isn't the problem
Passmedicine publishes over 11,000 SBA questions for medical finals and the UKMLA, alongside a high-yield textbook and OSCE and PSA material. It has been the default UK finals resource for over a decade.
Almost nobody finishes 11,000 questions. If your worry is "will I run out of material", you won't — and if you did, that's a different problem with a different answer.
Volume is also not what separates candidates. Most people pass on a few thousand questions worked properly; the limiting factor is the review loop, not the bank size. How many questions you actually need.
Why measurement breaks
Here's the mechanism, and it's worth understanding rather than taking on trust.
Your running percentage in any bank blends two things: questions you've never seen, and questions you're seeing again. Early on it's mostly the first, so the number roughly tracks your knowledge. As you work through, the mix shifts — and a second pass measures memory of that bank, not knowledge of medicine.
Two consequences follow:
- Your percentage rises without you improving. People gain ten to fifteen points on a second pass and read it as progress. Some of it is; a lot of it is recognition.
- You lose the ability to sit a fair mock. A mock is only diagnostic on questions you haven't met. Once you've been through most of a bank, its "mock" mode is drawing from material you've already seen, and the score it returns is inflated by an unknown amount.
That second one is the problem, because the final month is exactly when you need an honest reading — and it's exactly when your primary bank has stopped being able to give you one. What a fair readiness signal looks like.
What "enough" therefore requires
One bank, worked properly, plus a source of unseen questions for measurement. Not a second full subscription — a source of fresh papers.
In rough order of cost:
- The Medical Schools Council's official AKT practice material is free and comes from the same authoring tradition as your paper. Start here; almost nobody does. Where to find it and the other free options.
- Free mocks from other banks — several publish a full free paper. Unseen by definition, and they cost nothing.
- A second bank, only if you've genuinely exhausted the first. This is the expensive answer and the last resort, not the first move.
Deliberately not on that list: recalled or "past paper" material. It's inaccurate, and the GMC lists gaining information about exam questions in advance among examples of misconduct. Why past papers don't exist.
The other thing to check: which content map
One question worth asking of any resource you're relying on, ours included — which version of the content map were these questions written against?
The GMC published an updated map in October 2025 that applies to MLA and PLAB exams from September 2026; papers up to and including August 2026 sit on the previous version. A bank that has been the default for a decade has a large back catalogue, and back catalogues are exactly what lags a blueprint change. If you're sitting after September 2026, ask for a date rather than a reassurance. What changed.
Where we come in, plainly
We sell a competing question bank, so here is the position without dressing it up: we are not suggesting you cancel Passmedicine. For most UK students that would be a bad trade — they have more volume than us, a peer histogram, and a decade of institutional familiarity.
What we're useful for is the gap above. Our bank is unseen to you, every answer explanation cites its UK source (NICE, NICE CKS or the BNF), and mocks are unlimited full-length 200-question papers rather than a fixed allocation — so you can take an honest reading every week of the final month instead of rationing them. It's a one-off purchase, so it doesn't renew if your date moves.
Test that rather than believing it: the free 50-question mock is unseen, timed, needs no account, and returns a per-specialty breakdown you can hold against whatever Passmedicine is telling you. If the two agree, you've lost nothing and gained confidence. If they don't, you've found something out with a month to spare.
Frequently asked questions
Is Passmedicine enough to pass the UKMLA? For most UK students, yes as a primary resource — the bank is larger than almost anyone completes and the explanations are solid. What it can't do, once you've worked through it, is give you an unseen timed paper, which is what the final month needs.
Do I need a second question bank? Usually not a second subscription. You need unseen questions for mocks, and the free official practice material plus other banks' free papers often covers that.
Will my Passmedicine percentage predict my AKT score? No. No bank's percentage is calibrated against the AKT, and yours is inflated to an unknown degree by repeats. Treat it as a trend within one bank, not a forecast.
Should I do Passmedicine twice? A second pass is useful for consolidation but useless for measurement — you'll be recognising questions. Do it if you want the revision; don't read the higher score as improvement.
Is Passmedicine aligned to the 2026 content map? Ask them directly, and ask for a date. Any bank with a long back catalogue faces the same question after the September 2026 change.