GMC, PLAB and OET: The Real IMG Timeline

Sources: all facts below were read directly from live gmc-uk.org pages on 10 August 2026. Two changes are worth re-checking if you’re reading this more than a few months later — GMC PLAB 1 locations from February 2027, and Ahpra’s OET minimums for Australia, which have moved twice in 18 months.

Most IMGs picture the UK pathway as a straight line: pass OET, pass PLAB, register. The steps are right. The sequencing rules between them are where people actually lose months — because they assumed a step could run in parallel, or that a passing result was safe to leave alone.

What the GMC actually requires

Grade B in all four sub-tests — Listening, Reading, Writing, Speaking — on the Medicine version of OET (paper, computer, or OET@Home are all accepted). There is no lower Writing allowance for the UK, unlike some other regulators.

The rule that catches people: most recent sitting

Two conditions apply together, and the second one is the one nobody expects:

1. All four grades must come from the same sitting — you cannot combine your best Writing score from one attempt with your best Speaking score from another.
2. The GMC uses your most recent sitting.

That second rule means: if you already hold four Bs and sit again hoping to lift one score further, a weaker result on the new attempt replaces the passing one. The GMC does not let you keep your best. If you’ve already passed, think carefully before re-sitting.

English comes before PLAB 1 — not alongside it

The PLAB 1 booking service does not unlock until your English evidence is verified. Submitting your OET number for verification takes up to two working days — plan for that gap, and make sure you’ve added the General Medical Council as a recognising organisation inside your myOET portal, or verification cannot proceed.

The validity clocks

Your OET certificate is valid for two years, and two separate moments matter:

• It must be valid on the day you sit PLAB 1.
• For registration, it must be valid when the GMC approves your application — not when you submit it.

Two further two-year windows chain onward: you must pass PLAB 2 within two years of passing PLAB 1 (measured from your test date, not your results date), and your registration application must be approved — again, approved, not merely received — within two years of passing PLAB 2.

PLAB 1 and PLAB 2, briefly

• PLAB 1: 180 single-best-answer questions, 3 hours. Runs four times a year (February, May, August, November) at UK and overseas venues.
• PLAB 2: an OSCE of 16 scenarios, 8 minutes each. Runs only in Manchester, throughout the year.
• Attempts: four at each part; a fifth requires a separate application, and a fifth failure ends that route permanently.

Coming in 2027: fewer overseas centres

Announced by the GMC on 20 May 2026: from February 2027, PLAB 1 stops running in Alexandria, Dhaka, Accra and Chennai, and sittings outside the UK/EEA drop from four a year to three. The GMC cites a 40% fall in overseas bookings between 2023 and 2025. If one of those four cities was your plan, confirm your nearest current venue before building a timeline around it.

Skipping PLAB does not skip English

Postgraduate-qualification routes (MRCP, MRCS and others) and GMC-approved sponsorship both exempt you from PLAB — neither exempts you from the English requirement. On the sponsorship route specifically, the GMC will not extend an expired certificate: it must be under two years old, full stop.

Common misconceptions, corrected

1. “C+ in Writing is fine now.” — That was an Australian regulator change, not a GMC one. For the GMC it has always been, and still is, Grade B in all four.
2. “I can combine my best scores across sittings.” — No; same test, most recent sitting.
3. “Re-sitting can only help.” — No; a weaker re-sit can replace a passing result.
4. “I’ll sort English out after booking PLAB 1.” — You can’t; the booking service requires verified English first.

What stays the same

The number that matters doesn’t change with any of this: Grade B, achieved cleanly, first time, protects you from every rule above. That’s the part an expert correction genuinely helps with — our OET writing correction service marks your letter against all six official criteria so a re-sit is a decision you’re never forced into.

For what changes in your actual writing as a doctor rather than a nurse, see OET for Doctors.