Frequently asked questions.

The UK Medical Licensing Assessment, introduced by the GMC. From 2024/25, every doctor registering to practise in the UK must pass it. It has two components — the Applied Knowledge Test (AKT), a written multiple-choice paper, and the Clinical and Professional Skills Assessment (CPSA), an OSCE.

UK medical students sit the AKT as part of their final-year exams, on dates set by each medical school (typically spring or summer of final year). IMGs on the PLAB route sit PLAB 1 — the AKT-equivalent paper — at British Council and Pearson VUE test centres throughout the year.

Content-wise, yes. The AKT and PLAB 1 share the GMC's Medical Licensing Assessment blueprint. Delivery differs: medical schools write their own AKT papers from the national bank, whereas PLAB 1 is a single national paper run by the GMC on fixed sitting days.

The blueprint covers 13 clinical presentation groups and 25 knowledge areas — the full specialty map from cardiovascular to mental health to practical skills. See the breakdown at /curriculum.

It depends on your route. IMGs sit PLAB 1 — a single national paper of 180 SBAs over 3 hours. UK medical students sit the AKT through their own school, which sets the format from the national question bank. Either way it's single-best-answer with five options and no negative marking — blank and wrong score the same.

The GMC uses a modified Angoff standard-setting process to set the pass mark on each paper, so there is no fixed percentage cut-off. You get one mark per correct answer, zero for incorrect or blank.

Not today. MLA Prep is focused entirely on the written AKT / PLAB 1 — SBAs, flashcards and mock papers. A CPSA companion product is on the roadmap; we'd rather ship the AKT tooling well than OSCE tooling halfway.

Over 7,000 SBAs, covering every domain of the GMC blueprint. Every question has a worked explanation referenced to NICE, BNF or the relevant royal college guideline where applicable.

Every question is written to the GMC content map and reviewed before it enters the bank, with a worked explanation referenced to current NICE / BNF or royal college guidance — so you can verify any answer against its source.

Yes — keeping it current is a priority. Every question, flashcard and note is built on the GMC MLA content map, the blueprint the AKT and PLAB 1 are written from, and we update it as the map and the underlying guidelines change. That includes the GMC's latest content map — published October 2025 and applying to all MLA and PLAB exams from September 2026, with an expanded (now non-exhaustive) conditions list and the old mapping grid removed. Every explanation is also referenced to current NICE / BNF guidance, so the clinical detail stays current alongside the blueprint.

We use the SM-2 spaced-repetition algorithm. Cards you find easy resurface in weeks; cards you find hard come back within a day. The scheduler adapts to your actual recall — not a fixed review window.

Yes. Alongside the daily review queue and per-topic decks, you can tick any combination of topics — a few from one specialty or whole specialties at once — and review them together as a single shuffled deck. Your ratings still feed the same spaced-repetition schedule.

Every mock is a full 200-SBA paper under a 4-hour timer, with specialty weighting that mirrors the GMC blueprint — if anything a touch longer than the live paper, so exam-day pacing feels manageable. You get unlimited attempts on premium — no cap, no surcharge.

Yes. The UK-student and IMG pathways share the same question bank; the pathway toggle adjusts weighting, terminology and phrasing (UK-context vs IELTS-friendly). Your progress and scheduled flashcards carry over.

The web app needs an internet connection to sync progress between sessions. For fully offline study there's a separate MLA Prep iOS app — UKMLA & PLAB: Medical Finals — built for use with no signal. It's an independent product with its own Apple App Store subscription, separate from a website purchase.

The free tier unlocks 2 full topics — every SBA, flashcard and NICE-referenced note in them — plus a one-off 50-question diagnostic mock with a per-specialty breakdown, and basic analytics. The remaining topics, unlimited 200-question mocks and full per-specialty analytics live behind the paywall.

No — nothing auto-renews. MLA Prep is sold as one-off purchases (a 1-month pass or lifetime access), never a subscription. You pay once; we never charge you again.

No. The MLA Prep website (a one-off lifetime purchase) and the iOS app — UKMLA & PLAB: Medical Finals — are independent products with separate billing and access. Buying one doesn't unlock the other, and progress isn't shared. The website works in any browser, including on your phone; the app has its own Apple App Store subscription.

Lifetime app access comes with a 7-day money-back guarantee — email support@mlaprep.co.uk within 7 days of purchase and we'll refund you in full, no questions asked. The 1-month pass and digital book downloads (PDF + EPUB) are final sale and non-refundable — you consent to immediate access at checkout. See the refund policy for details.

Two one-off options — a 1-month pass or lifetime access — both unlocking the full 7,000+ SBA bank, all 11,118 flashcards, unlimited mock exams and per-specialty analytics. No subscription, no auto-renewal. See the pricing page for current prices.

UK prices shown are inclusive of VAT where applicable. Dodo Payments handles VAT collection and displays a VAT-compliant invoice in your account after checkout.

The latest two major versions of Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Edge, on desktop and mobile. Legacy browsers (IE, pre-Chromium Edge) are not supported.

Yes. The web app is fully responsive and works on iOS and Android browsers. There's also a separate native iOS app — UKMLA & PLAB: Medical Finals — built for offline study; it's an independent product with its own Apple App Store subscription, not unlocked by a website purchase.

Yes. Your progress, answers and payment data are encrypted in transit and at rest. We don't sell data, don't run third-party ad tracking, and don't share study data with medical schools or any third party without explicit consent. See /privacy for specifics.

Email support@mlaprep.co.uk and we'll reply within one working day.