PLAB 1 in 2027: centre closures, a UK-and-EU-only February and the dates to plan around

The GMC has announced the biggest change to PLAB 1 logistics in years: in 2027 the test centres in Dhaka, Alexandria, Accra, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata will close, and the February 2027 sitting will run in the UK and EU only. If you are planning your attempt from abroad, the 5 November 2026 sitting has just become the most important date in your calendar.

Update, 21 September 2026: the GMC’s Changes to PLAB 1 in 2027 page now names six closing centres, adding Hyderabad and Kolkata to the four in the May announcement. Our February 2027 post has the detail.

The money still matters, of course: sit each part once, pass each part first time, and the GMC will charge you £1,800 at the full registration fee (about £1,500 with the £184 fixed-term discount if you apply within five years of qualifying) — £283 for PLAB 1, £1,036 for PLAB 2 and £481 for the registration application, the fees in force since 1 April 2026. For the full end-to-end budget — English tests, EPIC, the Manchester trip and the cancellation rules — our companion piece The true cost of PLAB in 2026 prices the whole road. This page is the planning brief that sits alongside it: the dates, the eligibility rules, the attempt limits, and exactly who needs to act before November.

The exact GMC fees in 2026

The GMC reviews its fees each spring, so if you are reading this after April 2027, check the current fee schedule before you budget.

Then there is everything the GMC does not bill you for, which is where budgets actually go wrong. An IELTS or OET sitting is typically somewhere between £150 and £300 depending on the test and the country — and some candidates need more than one sitting to hit the required scores. PLAB 2 is sat only in Manchester, so an international candidate is buying flights, accommodation for the trip, and usually a visit visa. None of those figures are fixed, which is exactly why the right way to budget is the whole road, not the next fee — a point our complete PLAB guide makes at length.

One sitting left in 2026

PLAB 1 runs four times a year, in February, May, August and November. The May and August 2026 sittings have been and gone, which leaves one date this year:

Places are booked through your GMC Online account, and are released “in line with demand” rather than on a published schedule — so the practical advice is to have your account, qualification and English evidence verified and ready, then check regularly. PLAB 1 is currently offered in six UK cities plus Dublin and Madrid, and at centres in fourteen other countries.

The February 2027 sitting is on 11 February 2027 (UK and EU only), with results by 4pm on 25 March 2027; later 2027 dates were not yet published when this was checked. The months are confirmed — February, May, August and November — but the dates are not, so treat any specific 2027 date you see on a forum with suspicion and book on what the GMC says, not what a WhatsApp group says.

What changes in 2027 — and who needs to act this year

The GMC has announced two changes to PLAB 1 for 2027 that reshape planning for many international candidates:

• The test centres in Dhaka, Alexandria, Accra, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata will close.
• The February 2027 sitting will run in the UK and EU only — no international venues at all for that date. International candidates are directed to the May, August and November 2027 sittings.

Read that back slowly if one of those six centres is yours. The 5 November 2026 sitting is the last chance to sit PLAB 1 at those centres. After that, your options are another country’s centre or a trip to the UK or EU — either of which adds cost, visa admin and time to exactly the plan you were trying to keep lean.

There is one softener: if your English language evidence expires between 1 February and 31 May 2027 — caught, in other words, by the gap the February change creates — the GMC has said it may extend it, and asks you to email plab@gmc-uk.org by 19 March 2027 if you want to be considered for the May sitting. Do not rely on that discretion if you can avoid needing it.

The requirements before you can book anything

Two gates have to open before the booking system will let you near a PLAB 1 place.

Your medical degree. Your primary medical qualification must come from an institution listed in the World Directory of Medical Schools with verifiable contact details, from a programme of at least three years and at least 5,500 taught clock hours, the majority delivered in person.

Your English. The standard routes are IELTS Academic — at least 7.5 overall and 7.0 in each of the four areas, in a single sitting — or OET (Medicine) with at least grade B in all four sub-tests, in a single sitting. Both are valid for two years, and the certificate must still be in date on the day you sit PLAB 1, which catches people who did their English test early and revised slowly. For PLAB applicants the GMC accepts only IELTS, OET or a primary medical qualification taught and examined in English; the employer-reference and job-offer routes are not available to PLAB candidates, as set out in the GMC’s English evidence guidance.

The order matters: English first, verification second, booking third. It is the sequence that wastes no money, because every other clock starts from a booking you cannot make until the first two gates are open.

Attempts, clocks, and what a resit really costs

You get four attempts at each part. After a fourth unsuccessful attempt you can apply for one final, fifth attempt — but only after at least twelve months of additional learning, evidenced either by full-time clinical practice with structured reports from senior doctors or by a relevant postgraduate qualification. The GMC is explicit that nothing exists beyond the fifth attempt.

Two clocks run behind the exams. You must pass PLAB 2 within two years of passing PLAB 1 (counted from the day you sat it, not the day the result came), and your registration application must be approved within two years of passing PLAB 2. Miss the PLAB 2 window and you sit PLAB 1 again; miss the registration window and the GMC asks for additional evidence of your knowledge and skills before it will register you.

It is also worth being honest about the trend. The PLAB 1 pass rate was 70.5% in 2024 and 62.2% in 2025; PLAB 2 moved from 65.8% to 59.8% over the same period. The pass mark is set by a criterion method (Angoff, plus a standard error of measurement) — there is no quota, but the standard is real and it is not drifting easier. A single PLAB 1 resit costs £283 plus travel plus three months of waiting; a PLAB 2 resit costs £1,036 plus another trip to Manchester. The cheapest PLAB you will ever sit is the one you prepare for properly and pass once. That is the entire reason our PLAB Pass exists: 1,500 questions mapped to the MLA content map that PLAB 1 is now built on, timed mocks and a plan — with a free 20-question taster so you can judge it before paying anything.

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