Exam fundamentals10 min read·25 July 2026

PLAB 1 Exam Dates 2027: Three Sittings, Four Centres Gone, and How to Plan Now

2027 dates aren't published yet — but the shape of the year is confirmed: three international sittings instead of four from February 2027, and no Dhaka, Alexandria, Accra or Chennai. How scheduling and booking actually work, the refund cut-offs to diarise, and how to plan backwards without a date grid.

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PLAB 1 dates for 2027 have not been published yet. What is confirmed is the shape of the year: from February 2027 the GMC is running three international sittings instead of four, and PLAB 1 will no longer be offered in Dhaka, Alexandria, Accra or Chennai. The stated reason is a sustained fall in bookings — down around 40% between 2023 and 2025.

That combination — fewer windows, fewer centres, no dates yet — means the usual advice of "book when the dates come out" isn't enough. You need a plan that survives a schedule you can't see.

This is the practical page: how PLAB 1 scheduling and booking actually work, what to do while 2027 dates are unpublished, the cancellation and refund structure most candidates only discover when they need it, and how your exam date decides which content map you're tested on.

What's confirmed for 2027
How PLAB 1 scheduling works
Planning without published dates
Booking: the mechanics
Cancelling, moving and refunds
Your date decides your content map
Why a missed sitting costs more from 2027
FAQ

1. What's confirmed for 2027

Three international sittings a year, down from four, for centres outside the UK and EEA, from February 2027.
Four centres closing: Dhaka, Alexandria, Accra and Chennai will no longer offer PLAB 1.
The GMC's stated reason: a sustained reduction in bookings, around 40% down from 2023 to 2025.
UK centres are not part of the international reduction. PLAB 1 in the UK is delivered at Pearson VUE test centres.

Not yet confirmed: the actual 2027 dates, when booking opens for them, and the final list of remaining international centres. Anyone publishing a confident 2027 date grid right now is extrapolating from the historical pattern, not reporting.

For the background on why the GMC made this change and what it means beyond logistics, see PLAB 1 in 2027.

2. How PLAB 1 scheduling works

Understanding the machinery lets you plan before the dates land.

The cadence. PLAB 1 has historically run four times a year, with sittings clustered in roughly February, May, August and November — some years shifting by a few weeks. From February 2027 the international cadence drops to three, so expect windows spread further apart.

Two different systems. UK sittings and international sittings are scheduled and released separately, with different deadlines. If you're flexible about location, that's two sets of windows to watch rather than one.

Eligibility gates booking. You cannot book until your GMC Online account is set up and your English language evidence has been accepted. This is the step that catches people out: candidates plan a date, then discover their IELTS or OET verification hasn't cleared and the window has closed. Get the eligibility done first, then think about dates.

Registration closes well before the exam. Reported deadlines are around six weeks ahead for overseas centres and shorter for UK centres. Treat the deadline, not the exam date, as your real cut-off.

Seats are finite and go quickly. In high-demand countries — India, Pakistan, the UAE, Nigeria — popular centres have historically filled fast once a window opens. Fewer centres from 2027 concentrates demand on those that remain, so assume speed matters more, not less, even with overall bookings falling.

Confirm all of this on the GMC's own PLAB 1 guide pages — "When and where can I take PLAB 1?" and "Information on booking a PLAB 1 place" — because the deadlines and the centre list are theirs to change and this page will age.

3. Planning without published dates

Don't wait for the grid. Work backwards from a target window.

Step 1 — pick a target quarter, not a date. "Early 2027" or "mid 2027". That's enough to plan from.

Step 2 — measure your baseline now. Sit a timed set of fresh questions cold and get your first-attempt accuracy per specialty. This is the number that tells you how much runway you need. Ten free questions, no account, or the free 50-question mock for a per-specialty breakdown.

Step 3 — size the runway from the gap. Roughly: 6–8 weeks part-time from a strong baseline, 10–12 from a middling one, 16–20 if you're starting well below. The full table is in how to pass PLAB 1.

Step 4 — count backwards and add a buffer. From your target quarter, subtract your runway, then subtract another two to three weeks. That's your real start date. The buffer isn't padding — it absorbs the illness, work crisis or visa delay that otherwise eats your final revision fortnight.

Step 5 — clear the eligibility gate during the runway, not at the end. English language evidence and GMC Online setup should be done and accepted well before booking opens.

Step 6 — set a reminder to check the GMC monthly. Dates and booking windows get announced without fanfare. A monthly check of the GMC PLAB pages is enough.

Step 7 — when your window opens, book immediately. Not when you feel ready. You can cancel for a full refund if you cancel early enough (section 5); you cannot conjure a seat that's gone.

That last point is the one candidates get wrong in both directions. Booking early and cancelling is cheap if you do it well ahead. Booking late and finding nothing is expensive.

4. Booking: the mechanics

Create a GMC Online account and complete your identity and qualification details.
Submit English language evidence — IELTS, OET or an accepted alternative — and wait for it to be accepted.
The booking service unlocks once eligibility is confirmed.
Choose your window and centre from what's available to you.
Pay the fee to confirm the seat. Fees change and third-party sites quote conflicting figures, so take the current amount from the GMC directly rather than from any guide, including this one.
Keep the confirmation, and check the centre address and reporting time as your date approaches.

Book through your own GMC Online account. Not through an agent, not through anyone offering to secure a seat for you, and never by sharing your login. Handing over GMC credentials is a probity risk you don't need on your record before you're even registered.

5. Cancelling, moving and refunds

The part nobody reads until they need it, at which point it's usually too late.

There is no reschedule. The GMC's system doesn't move a booking from one date to another. If you need a different sitting, you cancel and rebook — and rebooking depends on a seat being available in the window you want. With three international sittings from 2027, "cancel and rebook" may mean waiting months rather than weeks.

Refunds are tiered by how early you cancel. Reported thresholds are a full refund if you cancel around 83 or more days before the exam, roughly 50% between about 83 and 57 days, and nothing inside about 57 days. Those specific numbers come from third-party guides — the GMC publishes the authoritative version on its "cancelling or amending your booking" pages, and you should read it there before relying on any figure.

The practical implication is a decision deadline. Work out your full-refund cut-off the day you book and put it in your calendar. Around twelve weeks out you should ask honestly whether you'll be ready — while cancelling is still free. That's a much better decision point than three weeks out, when you've lost the fee either way and are choosing between sitting unprepared and losing the money.

Exceptional circumstances are considered separately. The GMC will consider a full refund where something outside your control prevents you attending — visa refusal, travel restrictions, ill health, bereavement. The process is to cancel your place first, then email evidence for consideration. Don't simply not turn up.

6. Your date decides your content map

This is the highest-stakes consequence of your date and it's easy to miss.

An updated GMC MLA content map applies to all MLA exams and assessments taken from September 2026 onwards. Papers sat up to and including August 2026 use the previous version. Every PLAB 1 paper since 8 August 2024 has been built on the MLA content map, to the same standard as the UKMLA AKT that UK finalists sit.

So if you're sitting in 2027, you're on the updated map — the one with the wider condition list, no mapping grid, and the list framed as indicative and non-exhaustive. That has three consequences for how you prepare:

Any condition can be tested in any clinical context, since the grid that used to constrain that is gone.
There's no closed list to complete, so coverage and reasoning beat box-ticking.
Check what your question bank is built on. Material written for the pre-2024 PLAB blueprint is preparing you for a retired exam.

See what changed, build a tracker from the map, and which banks say what about map alignment.

7. Why a missed sitting costs more from 2027

Two constraints that interact badly, and most candidates only model one of them.

Attempts are finite. You may sit PLAB 1 until you have four failed attempts. After a fourth fail you must apply for a fifth and final attempt, and the GMC requires at least 12 months of additional learning and development after that fourth fail before considering the application. After five failed attempts you're no longer eligible.

Sittings are getting scarcer. Three international windows a year instead of four, and four fewer centres.

Together: a failed or missed attempt now costs more calendar time than it used to. If you're also modelling a visa, a job application round, or a UKFP or specialty recruitment deadline, a slipped sitting can cascade into missing an entire annual cycle.

The conclusion isn't to rush — it's the opposite. Sit when you're ready, and use the free-refund window to make that call honestly. A deferred attempt you pass beats a kept date you fail, and the arithmetic on that got more one-sided in 2027.

If your target is UK training rather than registration alone, read is PLAB still worth it in 2026 before you commit to a timeline — the specialty recruitment picture changed substantially in 2026 and it affects how much urgency is rational.

8. FAQ

When will PLAB 1 2027 dates be published? Not announced at the time of writing. The GMC publishes dates and booking windows on its PLAB pages without much notice, so check monthly rather than waiting to be told.

How many PLAB 1 sittings are there in 2027? Three internationally, down from four, from February 2027. UK sittings aren't part of that international reduction.

Which PLAB 1 centres are closing? Dhaka, Alexandria, Accra and Chennai, from February 2027.

Why is the GMC cutting sittings and centres? It attributes the change to declining demand — bookings down around 40% between 2023 and 2025.

Can I change my PLAB 1 date? Not directly. There's no reschedule function: you cancel and rebook, subject to seat availability. With three international windows from 2027, that can mean a long wait.

Will I get a refund if I cancel? Partly, depending on timing — reported thresholds give a full refund at roughly 83+ days, about 50% between roughly 83 and 57 days, and nothing inside about 57 days. Confirm on the GMC's cancellation page. Exceptional circumstances such as visa refusal or ill health are considered separately, with evidence, after you cancel.

How far ahead does booking close? Reported at around six weeks before the exam for overseas centres, and shorter for UK centres. Plan against the registration deadline, not the exam date.

Do I need my English test before booking? Yes — the booking service unlocks only after your English language evidence has been accepted. Start that early; it's the commonest reason people miss a window.

Should I book before I feel ready? Generally yes, if a seat is available in your target window, because you can cancel for a full refund if you do it early enough. Diarise your full-refund cut-off the day you book and make an honest decision then.

Which content map will my 2027 paper use? The updated one, which applies to all MLA exams from September 2026 onwards.

Can I sit in the UK instead of an international centre? UK sittings are delivered at Pearson VUE test centres and are scheduled separately from international ones. Whether that's practical depends on your visa and travel costs, but it's a second set of windows worth checking if your local centre closed.

The dates aren't published, but your baseline is available today. Sit the free 50-question mock — map-aligned, NICE/BNF-referenced answers, per-specialty breakdown — and you'll know how much runway you need the moment the 2027 windows appear. No card. Or ten questions with no account.

The summary: three international sittings from February 2027, four centres gone, dates not yet out. Plan backwards from a target quarter rather than waiting for a grid, clear your English-language eligibility early, book the moment your window opens, and diarise your full-refund cut-off as the day you decide honestly whether to sit.

With fewer windows and a hard cap on attempts, the cheapest date is the one you're actually ready for.