The 16-station circuit
Every station is scored. Two rest stations break it up, and nothing else does.
A pass is 10 of the 16 stations and 120 of the 192 marks.
For IMGs sitting PLAB 2
Most practice stops at one station. The exam doesn't.
ClinicalVitals runs full PLAB 2 stations with a voice patient who answers in character, on the exam's own clock, and marks the transcript domain by domain. Then it runs 16 of them back to back, so you find out what your consultations sound like three hours in.
One full station free. Spoken patient, exam bells, full scorecard, and the top-mark walkthrough afterwards. No credit card.
Stations acrossMedicineSurgeryPaediatricsPsychiatryWomen's HealthGeneral Practice
The marking
What comes back when the time is up
3 / 7global ratingNot a pass
- Approach to the Patient
- 5 / 7Opened well and checked what the patient already understood.
- History Taking
- 4 / 7Pain characterised thoroughly. Family history never explored.
- Management Plan
- 2 / 7Reached for anticoagulation before excluding a dissection.
3 of 13 domains shown
Key misses
- Did not ask whether the pain tore through to the back.
- No safety-netting before the patient was sent home.
Critical. Failed to screen for aortic dissection before reaching for anticoagulation.
Scored against the domains the GMC actually marks: 0 to 4 across all three. Misses are named rather than summarised, and anything that could have harmed the patient is carried on its own line instead of being folded into the prose. Stations are marked to NICE, the BNF and current NHS practice.
Sitting a station also unlocks it performed at the top of every domain, spoken by a model candidate alongside the patient and examiner you just had. It appears under your result, so it never gives away a station you have yet to attempt.
The mock circuit
The whole exam, in one sitting
Anything can hold a conversation for eight minutes. The exam is three and a half hours long, and the consultation that decides it is rarely the first one.
No marks until it is over, and no way to skip a rest station, because the position in the circuit is read off the clock rather than advanced by a button. The report at the end reads your rapport and counselling scores over the first four marked stations against the last four, so a performance that falls away under fatigue arrives as a number instead of a feeling.
Circuits run on a pass, and spend sixteen stations of your fair-use allowance in an afternoon. The free station is a single station.
How a station runs
Built to the exam's own rules
The patient talks back, and interrupts
Full-duplex audio, so you can cut in and redirect the way you would in the room rather than waiting out a paragraph. Each station keeps the same patient voice every time you sit it.
The clock is the exam's, not yours
Ninety seconds reading, then eight minutes consulting, with a chime at one minute left. The countdown runs against a real deadline, so switching tabs buys you nothing.
An examiner is in the room
Ask for examination findings or investigations and the examiner answers aloud. There is no closing viva — the GMC format does not have one, and neither does a station here.
Your accent carries no marks
Marking assumes a transcription error before a candidate error. Grammar and accent score nothing either way, and what is assessed is the clinical reasoning underneath them.
Questions
Before you start
Is this affiliated with the GMC?
No. ClinicalVitals is independent educational software, not affiliated with or endorsed by the Australian Medical Council, the General Medical Council, or any other examining body. We name those exams only to say which ones this helps you practise for. Read the full disclaimer.
Is the free station really free?
Yes — one full station, no credit card. You need an account because a station is ten minutes of live voice audio that costs real money to run. Nothing about it is cut down: same patient, same bells, same scorecard and transcript.
What does it cost, and does it renew?
£99 for 3 months, or £35 for 14 days. Each is a single payment — nothing renews, nothing charges you again, and there is nothing to cancel. Passes stack rather than overwrite: buy a sprint while a longer pass is still live and its 14 days start when that one ends. See pricing.
What does “unlimited” actually mean?
Unlimited within a fair-use limit of 20 stations in any rolling 24 hours, one at a time. That is well past what anyone sits in a day of preparation — it exists so a single login cannot be shared around or scripted. Stated here rather than left for you to discover by hitting it.
Can a real person mark my station?
Yes, as an optional add-on: £25 for one station. You ask for it from your scorecard once you have sat that station, and a reviewer reads your whole transcript and marks it again against the same rubric, with written feedback on what to change. It usually arrives within 5 days. It is a one-off charge for that station, separate from any pass, and it adds nothing to your access — everything else here is marked by the AI examiner, instantly and at no extra cost.
Can I get a refund?
Yes. If the service is not what you expected, ask within 20 days of purchase and we will refund the pass. Use the contact button in the corner of any page.
What if my connection drops mid-station?
A station you have started stays resumable for 15 minutes, so a reload or a browser crash does not cost you the sitting. After that it frees up automatically and costs you nothing against your fair-use count.
Hear the patient before you decide anything.
One full station, free, with nothing cut out of it. Read your own scorecard and judge whether the marking is fair. Then £99 opens the whole catalogue and the mock circuit for 3 months.