UKMLA Content Map 2026: 430 Conditions Explained

Every UKMLA question — every SBA, every CPSA station, every marking-scheme item — traces back to a single public document: the UKMLA content map. If you haven't read it carefully, you're preparing for a moving target. If you have, you've already done more than most candidates.

This is the practical guide to the content map for the 2026 sitting — what it is, what's new, how to read it, and how to triage its 430 conditions and 212 presentations into an actual revision plan. It pairs with What is UKMLA? (cornerstone) and UKMLA exam structure (how the map is tested).

By the end you'll have a clear picture of which conditions matter most, which specialties need heavier investment, and how to turn a 100+ page GMC document into a workable revision schedule.

Table of contents

1. What the UKMLA content map actually is
2. The three overarching themes
3. The 24 clinical domains at a glance
4. Cardiovascular: the big one
5. Respiratory: highest-volume presentation bucket
6. Neurology: high-yield, pattern-heavy
7. Psychiatry: clinical + legal integration
8. Obstetrics & gynaecology: emergency-led
9. Renal & electrolytes: AKI + ABG territory
10. Acute & emergency medicine: the cross-specialty spine
11. Paediatrics, endocrine, MSK, infectious disease — future-post overview
12. Presentations vs conditions: how the two interlock
13. AKT coverage vs CPSA coverage
14. What's new in the 2026 content map vs 2024
15. Prioritisation framework: 50 highest-yield conditions
16. FAQ

1. What the UKMLA content map actually is

The UKMLA content map is the GMC's public blueprint for what every newly-registered UK doctor is expected to know and be able to do. It's maintained by the GMC's Assessment Development team with input from UK medical schools, royal colleges and clinicians across the NHS.

Structurally, the content map breaks down into three layers:

Layer 1 — Overarching themes. Three high-level professional capabilities every candidate must demonstrate: readiness for safe practice, managing uncertainty, and person-centred care.

Layer 2 — Clinical presentations. 212 common clinical presentations — the "front doors" patients come through. Chest pain. Breathlessness. Fatigue. Headache. Rash. These are what you see before you know the diagnosis.

Layer 3 — Conditions. 430 specific conditions — the diagnoses behind the presentations. ACS. Pulmonary embolism. Major depressive disorder. Diabetic ketoacidosis. These are what you're investigating, diagnosing, managing.

The two layers interlock. A single presentation (say, "breathlessness") maps to 10–20 possible underlying conditions. A single condition (say, "pulmonary embolism") shows up under 3–5 presentations. The content map makes both sides of this map explicit.

Why it matters for revision: every AKT question and every CPSA station is traceable to specific items on the map. If a topic isn't on the map, it shouldn't appear in your exam. If a topic is on the map, it can. Systematic coverage of the map is the only reliable preparation strategy — and most resources are now explicitly content-map-aligned.

The current version (2026 edition) is available as a PDF on the GMC website. Budget 60–90 minutes to read it through once. It's dense but legible.

2. The three overarching themes

Every question — clinical, professional, behavioural — maps to one of these three themes. They're the UKMLA equivalent of the GMC's "Good Medical Practice" framework, expressed as examinable capabilities.

Theme 1 — Readiness for safe practice. Can you act safely and effectively in clinical situations? This covers:

• Clinical knowledge across all specialties.
• Diagnostic reasoning — building a differential, choosing investigations, interpreting findings.
• Management decisions — prescribing, intervening, escalating.
• Basic and emergency procedural skills (in the scope of a newly-registered doctor).

This is where ~85–90% of AKT items live, plus most CPSA clinical stations.

Theme 2 — Managing uncertainty. Medicine rarely gives you complete information. Can you act sensibly when things are unclear?

• Recognising when a presentation is ambiguous.
• Deciding when to investigate further vs when to observe.
• Knowing when to escalate to a senior colleague.
• Calibrating confidence appropriately (neither over- nor under-confident).
• Handling time pressure in emergency contexts.

Roughly 5–10% of AKT items test this explicitly — often as "what would you do next?" questions where multiple answers are defensible and the best answer is the one that preserves safety under uncertainty.

Theme 3 — Person-centred care. Medicine is about people, not just conditions. Can you centre the patient in your decisions?

• Communication: explaining diagnoses, negotiating plans, breaking bad news.
• Consent and capacity: using UK legal frameworks appropriately.
• Ethics: confidentiality, safeguarding, end-of-life decisions.
• Professionalism: working in teams, escalating concerns, handling complaints.

Roughly 5–10% of AKT items are explicitly professional; most CPSA communication and ethics stations sit entirely in this theme.

For revision: you can't "study" themes the way you study a condition — themes are the lens through which every item is written. But you can rehearse the reasoning patterns: explicit uncertainty management, explicit person-centred reasoning, explicit safety prioritisation. Candidates who make this reasoning visible on exam day score better.

3. The 24 clinical domains at a glance

The content map organises clinical content into 24 specialty domains. Here's each one in a single line:

1. Acute and emergency medicine — cross-specialty emergencies, ABCDE, resuscitation.
2. Allergy and immunology — anaphylaxis, hypersensitivity, immunodeficiency.
3. Breast — breast cancer, mastalgia, benign lumps.
4. Cardiovascular — ACS, heart failure, arrhythmias, hypertension, valvular disease.
5. Clinical haematology — anaemia, thrombophilia, leukaemia, lymphoma.
6. Clinical imaging — CXR, CT, MRI, ultrasound interpretation essentials.
7. Dermatology — common skin conditions, dermatological emergencies.
8. Ear, nose and throat — ENT emergencies, common infections, dizziness.
9. Endocrine and metabolic — diabetes, thyroid, adrenal, calcium, pituitary.
10. Gastrointestinal (including hepatology) — IBD, hepatitis, GI bleed, upper and lower GI pathology.
11. General practice and primary care — continuity care, chronic disease management.
12. Infection — sepsis, pneumonia, UTIs, HIV, tropical infections, infection control.
13. Medicine of older adults — falls, delirium, dementia, frailty, polypharmacy.
14. Mental health — mood, anxiety, psychosis, substance misuse, eating disorders.
15. Musculoskeletal — arthritis, fractures, common MSK injuries.
16. Neurosciences — stroke, seizures, headache, movement disorders, dementia.
17. Obstetrics and gynaecology — pregnancy emergencies, menstruation, contraception.
18. Ophthalmology — red eye, visual loss, ocular emergencies.
19. Palliative and end-of-life care — symptom management, advance decisions.
20. Paediatrics — childhood presentations, developmental, safeguarding.
21. Perioperative medicine and anaesthesia — pre-op assessment, post-op complications.
22. Renal and urology — AKI, CKD, urological cancers, stones.
23. Respiratory — asthma, COPD, PE, pneumonia, breathlessness differential.
24. Surgery — general, acute abdomen, hernias, post-op care.

Not every domain gets equal AKT coverage. A useful rule of thumb: domains 4, 23, 16, 12, 14, 9, 10, 20, 17, 22 dominate. But no domain is safe to skip.

4. Cardiovascular: the big one

Cardiovascular is the single highest-yield specialty for AKT — typically 12–18% of exam items. Every candidate needs to own this domain cold.

Must-know conditions:

• ACS (STEMI, NSTEMI, unstable angina) — diagnosis, ECG patterns, immediate management, NICE-aligned antiplatelet and reperfusion strategy.
• Atrial fibrillation — rate vs rhythm control, CHA₂DS₂-VASc, HAS-BLED, anticoagulation decisions.
• Heart failure — acute pulmonary oedema management, chronic HF stepwise therapy, NYHA functional classes.
• Hypertension — NICE stepwise treatment ladder, target BP, end-organ screening.
• Valvular disease — aortic stenosis and regurgitation, mitral stenosis and regurgitation; when to refer for valve intervention.
• Arrhythmias — SVT, VT, bradyarrhythmias, long QT.
• Pericarditis and myocarditis — presentation, ECG, management.
• Hypertensive emergencies — BP management thresholds, drug choice.

ECG fluency is non-negotiable. Practise reading 10 ECGs a day for at least six weeks before AKT. Pattern recognition comes faster than you think.

High-yield presentations to lock down:

• Chest pain differential (ACS, PE, dissection, MSK, GORD, pericarditis).
• Palpitations differential (AF, SVT, anxiety, thyrotoxicosis).
• Syncope differential (cardiac, vasovagal, orthostatic, neurological).

The specialty-specific deep dive is at the UKMLA cardiology masterclass.

5. Respiratory: highest-volume presentation bucket

Respiratory is typically 10–14% of AKT items, partly because breathlessness is the single most commonly-tested presentation in the content map.

Must-know conditions:

• Asthma — acute exacerbation severity assessment, stepwise therapy, NICE and BTS/GINA alignment.
• COPD — staging, acute exacerbation (NIV indications), long-term oxygen therapy criteria.
• Pulmonary embolism — Wells score, D-dimer, CTPA pathway, management.
• Pneumonia — CAP vs HAP, CURB-65, empirical antibiotic choice.
• Pneumothorax — tension vs simple, management, BTS thresholds for aspiration vs chest drain.
• Pulmonary oedema — acute management, volume status assessment.
• Pleural effusion — Light's criteria, exudate vs transudate, commonest causes.
• Interstitial lung disease — basic patterns, red flags.

Key procedural and data-interpretation skills:

• ABG interpretation (pH, respiratory vs metabolic, compensation).
• CXR interpretation (systematic approach, common pathology).
• Spirometry patterns (obstructive vs restrictive).

The respiratory masterclass will drill the breathlessness differential.

6. Neurology: high-yield, pattern-heavy

Neurology often intimidates candidates, but the UKMLA content here rewards pattern recognition. Typically 6–9% of AKT items, but high CPSA presence via communication stations (breaking bad news, cognitive assessment).

Must-know conditions:

• Acute stroke — FAST, ischaemic vs haemorrhagic, thrombolysis window, MDT pathway.
• TIA — ABCD₂ score (historical but still referenced), urgent TIA clinic pathway.
• Epilepsy — first-fit workup, status epilepticus management, drug choice.
• Headache — red flags, tension vs migraine vs cluster, giant cell arteritis.
• Subarachnoid haemorrhage — thunderclap headache, CT pathway, LP timing.
• Parkinson's disease — motor and non-motor symptoms, treatment progression.
• Dementia — Alzheimer's vs vascular vs Lewy body vs frontotemporal; reversible causes.
• Multiple sclerosis — relapse management, disease-modifying therapy overview.
• Cognitive screening — MMSE, MoCA, GPCOG.

Key data-interpretation skills:

• Cranial nerve examination pattern recognition.
• CT brain interpretation essentials (bleed, infarct, mass effect, midline shift).

The neurology essentials deep dive covers each pattern.

7. Psychiatry: clinical + legal integration

Mental health is roughly 6–9% of AKT items, with disproportionate CPSA presence given the weight on communication and ethics.

Must-know conditions:

• Depression — severity stratification, NICE stepwise treatment, suicide risk assessment.
• Anxiety disorders — GAD, panic, OCD, phobia; pharmacological vs psychological first-line.
• Bipolar disorder — manic vs depressive episode management.
• Schizophrenia — acute management, antipsychotic choice and monitoring.
• Substance misuse — alcohol withdrawal (CIWA-Ar), opioid dependence, smoking cessation.
• Eating disorders — anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, medical risk stratification.
• Delirium — causes, assessment, management, differentiation from dementia.
• Personality disorders — cluster A/B/C overview.

Legal frameworks to own:

• Mental Health Act 1983 — sections 2, 3, 4, 5(2), 5(4), 136; differences between voluntary and compulsory admission.
• Mental Capacity Act 2005 — four-stage test, best interests, lasting power of attorney, IMCA.
• Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DOLS) and the Liberty Protection Safeguards update.
• Safeguarding triggers — when and how to escalate.

These integrate with clinical content in a way that's unique to UK medicine; our psychiatry + MHA deep dive covers the full framework.

8. Obstetrics & gynaecology: emergency-led

O&G usually clocks in around 6–9% of AKT. UKMLA emphasises pregnancy emergencies and their immediate management.

Must-know pregnancy emergencies:

• Pre-eclampsia and eclampsia — BP management, magnesium sulfate protocol, HELLP.
• Ectopic pregnancy — β-hCG trends, early pregnancy unit referral, surgical vs medical management.
• Miscarriage — complete, incomplete, missed, threatened; RhD prophylaxis decisions.
• Antepartum haemorrhage — placenta praevia vs abruption.
• Postpartum haemorrhage — four stages, uterotonics, massive transfusion.
• Cord prolapse — immediate management.
• Sepsis in pregnancy — red flags, treatment thresholds.

Gynaecological essentials:

• Ovarian torsion — pain and imaging.
• Ruptured ovarian cyst — haemorrhage vs pain management.
• Pelvic inflammatory disease — STI testing, empirical antibiotics.
• Abnormal uterine bleeding — ovulatory vs anovulatory, menorrhagia management.
• Contraception — combined vs progestogen-only, emergency contraception, long-acting reversible.
• Cervical screening — NHS pathway, HPV triage.

The O&G emergencies pillar has the decision trees.

9. Renal & electrolytes: AKI + ABG territory

Renal is typically 5–8% of AKT items but punches above its weight because acute kidney injury and electrolyte emergencies are cross-specialty staples.

Must-know conditions:

• AKI — pre-renal, renal, post-renal; RIFLE/KDIGO staging; fluid management; contrast nephropathy.
• CKD — staging, complications (anaemia, bone disease, cardiovascular risk), referral thresholds.
• Hyperkalaemia — ECG changes, calcium gluconate, insulin-dextrose, salbutamol nebuliser, dialysis thresholds.
• Hyponatraemia — hypo-, eu-, hypervolaemic classification; SIADH; treatment rate (risk of central pontine myelinolysis).
• Hypocalcaemia and hypercalcaemia — ECG, neurological features, acute management.
• Metabolic acidosis — anion gap, common causes (DKA, lactic, uraemic, toxic).
• Metabolic alkalosis — volume-sensitive vs resistant.
• Urinary tract infection — uncomplicated vs complicated, pyelonephritis.
• Urological cancers — renal cell, bladder, prostate.

Key data-interpretation skills:

• ABG interpretation algorithm.
• Fluid-status assessment (JVP, oedema, CXR, urine output).
• Dipstick vs MSU vs culture decisions.

The renal & electrolytes pillar covers each emergency.

10. Acute & emergency medicine: the cross-specialty spine

Acute medicine is not a specialty so much as the lens through which multiple specialties get tested. Expect ~10% of AKT items to be overtly emergency-themed.

The 10 emergencies every candidate must master:

1. Chest pain (ACS, PE, aortic dissection, pneumothorax).
2. Breathlessness (pulmonary oedema, PE, pneumothorax, anaphylaxis, severe asthma).
3. Sepsis (qSOFA, sepsis 6 / 1-hour bundle).
4. Diabetic emergencies (DKA, HHS, hypoglycaemia).
5. Acute stroke (FAST, thrombolysis, immediate pathway).
6. Altered consciousness (GCS, differential — toxic, metabolic, structural, infective).
7. Anaphylaxis (adrenaline, ABCDE, refractory management).
8. Major haemorrhage (blood products, tranexamic acid, massive transfusion protocol).
9. Acute abdomen (rigid abdomen red flags, investigation pathway, referral).
10. Cardiac arrest (ALS algorithm, reversible causes — 4Hs and 4Ts).

The ABCDE framework ties all of these together — if you can ABCDE any emergency fluently, you've half-prepared. The emergency presentations pillar has the full scenario bank.

11. Paediatrics, endocrine, MSK, infectious disease — future-post overview

These four domains each carry 6–8% of AKT weight and will get their own pillar posts. Brief high-yield highlights:

Paediatrics.

• Safeguarding, non-accidental injury triggers.
• Common presentations: fever, rash, cough, diarrhoea, seizure in children.
• Growth and development milestones.
• Childhood immunisation schedule.
• Meningitis, bronchiolitis, croup, asthma (paediatric doses and thresholds differ from adult).
• Genetic and chromosomal conditions (Down, cystic fibrosis, sickle cell).

Endocrine and metabolic.

• Type 2 diabetes stepwise NICE therapy.
• DKA and HHS management.
• Thyroid disease (hypo, hyper, thyroid storm, myxoedema).
• Adrenal insufficiency, Cushing's, phaeo.
• Pituitary disease essentials.
• Calcium and vitamin D metabolism.

Musculoskeletal and rheumatology.

• Rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, SLE, psoriatic arthritis.
• Crystal arthropathies (gout, pseudogout).
• Fractures — common patterns, management principles.
• Compartment syndrome, acute limb ischaemia.
• Spinal cord compression red flags.
• Septic arthritis and osteomyelitis.

Infectious disease.

• Sepsis pathways and antibiotic stewardship.
• Bacterial pneumonia, meningitis, UTI, cellulitis.
• TB (UK population screening, treatment initiation, side-effect monitoring).
• HIV (testing indications, opportunistic infections, PEP/PrEP).
• Travel and tropical (malaria, typhoid, dengue basics).
• Blood-borne viruses (hepatitis B, C).

12. Presentations vs conditions: how the two interlock

Understanding the bi-directional relationship between presentations and conditions is the single most practical insight for UKMLA prep.

A presentation-first workflow. Pick a presentation (say, "breathlessness"). List every condition from the content map that could cause it. For each condition, note:

• Distinguishing history features.
• Distinguishing examination findings.
• Key investigations.
• First-line management.

This is how AKT questions are written — the scenario gives you a presentation, your job is to work through the differential to the best answer.

A condition-first workflow. Pick a condition (say, "pulmonary embolism"). List every presentation it can appear under. For PE specifically: chest pain, breathlessness, syncope, sudden collapse, post-operative unexpected deterioration. For each presentation, know how PE would fit the picture.

This is how CPSA stations are structured — the station gives you a condition (implicitly or explicitly) and tests whether you can recognise its presentation in a live consultation.

Practical revision protocol:

1. Study a condition systematically (pathophysiology, diagnosis, management).
2. Map the condition back to its possible presentations.
3. For each presentation, rehearse the 2–3 clinical pearls that distinguish this condition from look-alikes.
4. Practise SBAs on that presentation to reinforce discrimination.

The content map enables this because it explicitly publishes both presentation and condition lists.

13. AKT coverage vs CPSA coverage

Both AKT and CPSA are blueprinted against the same map, but the emphasis differs.

AKT emphasis:

• Broad across all 24 domains.
• Skews toward medical specialties (cardio, resp, neuro, endocrine, GI).
• Heavy on diagnostic reasoning, investigation choice, and first-line management.
• Explicit prescribing questions (NICE / BNF alignment).
• Professional and ethical items distributed throughout, ~5–10% of items.

CPSA emphasis:

• Broad across all 24 domains but sampled via stations — 18 stations can't cover everything.
• Skews toward communication-heavy specialties (psychiatry, palliative, primary care) and emergency-competent specialties (acute medicine, resp, cardio).
• Heavy on enactment — can you take the history, examine the patient, explain the diagnosis?
• Explicit ethics and legal stations (capacity, consent, safeguarding).
• Data-interpretation stations prominent (ECG, ABG, CXR).

Preparation implication: you can over-prepare AKT with enough Q-bank practice. CPSA rewards practised enactment — you can't read your way into CPSA success. Allocate time to peer-practised history-taking, focused examinations and communication scenarios. Our CPSA strategy guide has a full mock schedule.

14. What's new in the 2026 content map vs 2024

The 2026 edition is broadly stable but refines a handful of areas. The most notable updates:

New and expanded topics:

• Climate and sustainability in healthcare — explicit professionalism-theme items expected.
• Health inequalities and cultural competency — integrated into person-centred care theme.
• Digital health literacy — telehealth, remote monitoring, electronic prescribing.
• Medication safety — post-yellow-card reporting expectations, polypharmacy red flags.

Updated guidelines and thresholds:

• Hypertension NICE ladder — periodically updated; always verify current thresholds.
• T2DM pharmacological pathway — GLP-1 and SGLT2 inhibitor positioning refined.
• Mental health emergency pathways — updated safeguarding and Mental Health Act considerations.
• Cancer screening thresholds — FIT for colorectal, NHS screening programme updates.

Shifts in emphasis:

• Pre-hospital and community emergency care — increasing weight on GP-setting emergency recognition.
• Frailty and multi-morbidity — explicit older-adult reasoning required.
• Antimicrobial stewardship — first-line narrow-spectrum choices emphasised.

The core content — 430 conditions, 212 presentations — remains substantially the same between 2024 and 2026. If you've been studying from 2024 materials, you're 90% aligned; the updates are refinements, not overhauls. Our UKMLA vs PLAB comparison tracks the bigger structural changes since the pre-UKMLA PLAB.

15. Prioritisation framework: 50 highest-yield conditions

You can't give every condition equal time. Here's a working prioritisation, grouped by specialty, representing the 50 conditions most commonly tested in UKMLA-aligned resources and most clinically load-bearing.

Cardiovascular (8): ACS (STEMI/NSTEMI), heart failure, AF, hypertension, aortic stenosis, pulmonary embolism, arrhythmias (SVT/VT/brady), hypertensive emergency.

Respiratory (7): asthma, COPD, pneumonia, PE (cross-listed), pneumothorax, pleural effusion, pulmonary oedema.

Neurology (6): acute stroke, TIA, epilepsy / status, migraine, SAH, Parkinson's.

Gastrointestinal (5): GI bleed, IBD, pancreatitis, liver failure, bowel obstruction.

Renal & urology (4): AKI, CKD, hyperkalaemia, UTI / pyelonephritis.

Endocrine (4): DKA, HHS, hypoglycaemia, thyroid storm.

Infection (3): sepsis, meningitis, HIV (including opportunistic).

Mental health (3): depression / suicide risk, psychosis, alcohol withdrawal.

O&G (3): pre-eclampsia / eclampsia, ectopic, postpartum haemorrhage.

Paediatrics (3): meningitis, bronchiolitis, non-accidental injury.

MSK & rheum (2): cauda equina, septic arthritis.

Emergency (2): cardiac arrest (ALS), anaphylaxis.

Master these 50 conditions to a flashcard-confident level and you'll confidently handle 60–70% of your AKT items. The remaining 30–40% draw from the longer tail of conditions — you still need broad exposure, but your depth investment should concentrate here.

Prioritisation workflow:

1. Print or list these 50 conditions.
2. Score yourself 0–5 on each (confidence to diagnose, investigate, manage and explain).
3. Target anything below 3/5 first. Study, practise SBAs, revisit.
4. Cycle through the full 50 every 2–3 weeks via spaced repetition.
5. Once all conditions are at 4/5 or above, broaden to the full content map.

Get the full 50-condition confidence tracker. MLA Prep's onboarding flow includes a one-click audit across all 50 high-yield conditions — you'll see your weakest three specialties in under 15 minutes. Start the diagnostic →

16. FAQ

Q. Where do I get the official UKMLA content map? From the GMC website — search for "UKMLA content map" on gmc-uk.org. It's a public PDF, free to download, updated periodically. The 2026 edition is current at time of writing.

Q. How long does it take to read the content map? Sixty to ninety minutes for the first read. Budget another 30 minutes for a second pass with annotations. Your Q-bank will reference it implicitly throughout — repeated exposure consolidates.

Q. Do I need to memorise the content map? No — but you need to be fluent with its structure. Know which specialties are in it. Know the high-yield conditions. Know which presentations map to which conditions. Don't recite it verbatim.

Q. What if I find a topic in my Q-bank that's not on the content map? It happens occasionally — Q-banks sometimes over-scope for defensive reasons. If the topic is genuinely outside the map, treat it as optional and prioritise mapped content.

Q. Can I use pre-UKMLA resources (old finals revision books)? Partially. Core clinical knowledge is stable — cardiology, respiratory, emergencies, prescribing — and older resources remain relevant. Where UKMLA has added explicit items (climate, digital health, updated NICE ladders), cross-check against current materials. Our UKMLA vs PLAB post flags the content additions.

Q. How do I map the content map to a 12-week study plan? Each week covers 2–3 specialty domains. Weeks 1–4 focus on your weakest specialties (content audit). Weeks 5–8 drill SBAs across all domains. Weeks 9–12 run full-length mocks with targeted revision. The 12-week UKMLA study plan has the full schedule.

Q. Is the content map the same for AKT and CPSA? Yes — both components are blueprinted against the same map, with different emphasis on enactment (CPSA) vs knowledge/reasoning (AKT). See AKT vs CPSA explained for the structural breakdown.

Q. Which Q-banks are most accurately content-map-aligned? Most UK-based Q-banks (MLA Prep, Passmedicine, Quesmed, Pastest) have re-tagged their content against the UKMLA map. Check explicit mapping claims on each platform. Our Q-bank showdown reviews each provider's alignment.

Q. Does the content map change annually? The GMC updates the map periodically — typically every 2–3 years rather than every year. Minor NICE guideline updates and specialty refinements happen continuously, but the overarching map structure and condition list are relatively stable.

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Turn the content map into a revision schedule. MLA Prep auto-tags every question to the 2026 content map, so you can see your coverage and weak-area performance at the specialty level. See pricing →

The UKMLA content map isn't a document to fear. It's the single best revision tool you have — a public blueprint that tells you exactly what's tested and exactly how to organise your study time.

Read it once, internalise its structure, and let it drive your schedule. The students who walk into the AKT calm are the ones who've already made the map their own.

Pick your first specialty. Open the Q-bank. Start.