PLAB 2 practice data: where candidates actually lose marks
Every Plabity station is a spoken consultation marked criterion by criterion against a PLAB-style rubric. That produces something no textbook has: measured hit and miss rates for individual mark scheme items across real practice attempts. This page reports those numbers, updated nightly, with no hand-waving about methodology.
Miss rates by marking domain
Across 150 rubric-marked practice sessions, the share of criteria missed in each PLAB marking domain:
| Domain | Criteria assessed | Missed |
|---|---|---|
| Clinical management | 2199 | 54.8% |
| Data gathering | 3078 | 53.4% |
| Interpersonal skills | 1028 | 28.2% |
The most-missed criteria
Individual mark scheme items with the highest miss rates (minimum 10 attempts each):
| Criterion | Station | Miss rate | Attempts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mentioned repeat troponin at 6 hours and/or 12 hours after pain onset | Chest pain - Mr Daniel Cartwright, 47 | 100% | 21 |
| Asked if patient has been hospitalised before | Chest pain - Mr Daniel Cartwright, 47 | 100% | 21 |
| Mentioned referral to a cardiology / heart specialist | Chest pain - Mr Daniel Cartwright, 47 | 100% | 21 |
| Mentioned at least one alternative cause (e.g. musculoskeletal, GORD, costochondritis) | Chest pain - Mr Daniel Cartwright, 47 | 100% | 21 |
| Mentioned at least one of: beta-blocker, statin, ACE inhibitor for secondary prevention | Chest pain - Mr Daniel Cartwright, 47 | 100% | 21 |
| Counselled on physical activity | Chest pain - Mr Daniel Cartwright, 47 | 95% | 21 |
| Counselled on smoking cessation (referral to clinic or NRT) | Chest pain - Mr Daniel Cartwright, 47 | 95% | 21 |
| Counselled on diet | Chest pain - Mr Daniel Cartwright, 47 | 95% | 21 |
| Asked if patient has had any prior surgery | Chest pain - Mr Daniel Cartwright, 47 | 95% | 21 |
| Asked about lightheadedness or dizziness | Chest pain - Mr Daniel Cartwright, 47 | 95% | 21 |
| Asked about a stop-start pattern when passing urine | Request for a PSA test - Mr Robert Ingram, 57 | 93% | 14 |
| Offered written information or a leaflet about PSA testing | Request for a PSA test - Mr Robert Ingram, 57 | 93% | 14 |
| Asked about recent travel and/or recent surgery (to rule out PE) | Chest pain - Mr Daniel Cartwright, 47 | 90% | 21 |
| Asked about shortness of breath | Chest pain - Mr Daniel Cartwright, 47 | 90% | 21 |
| Asked about nausea or vomiting | Chest pain - Mr Daniel Cartwright, 47 | 90% | 21 |
Methodology
- Every data point comes from a real spoken practice session marked against the station's mark scheme, criterion by criterion.
- Criteria need at least 10 attempts to appear; aggregates rebuild nightly, so regrades and new sessions are always reflected.
- Aggregates are anonymous and station-level. No transcripts, names or identifiable details are ever published.
- Practice attempts are not exam attempts: absolute rates will differ from exam day, but the relative ordering of what gets missed is the actionable part.
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