UKMLA Results Explained: When They Arrive and What They Tell You

The short version: if you sat PLAB 1, the GMC publishes your result six weeks after the exam, by email pointing you to the 'My Tests' section of GMC Online — the 5 November 2026 sitting reports on 17 December 2026 by 4pm. You get three numbers, not one: your total score, the score needed to pass that paper, and the average score across all candidates. If you're a UK student, your result comes from your medical school with your finals, on your school's timetable.

Everything below is taken from the GMC's own PLAB 1 guide, checked on 18 August 2026. Where a figure is set by your medical school rather than the GMC, this page says so rather than inventing a national one.

When results come out

The GMC's wording is unambiguous: "Your results will be published six weeks after you take the exam." If anything delays that, they say they'll contact you directly.

They publish the result dates alongside the exam dates, and they carry a time as well as a date:

You'll get an email telling you how to view the result in GMC Online → My Tests. Two practical notes from the GMC's page: results stay available in GMC Online for candidates who go on to gain registration, and they can't give results by telephone or at reception — so there's no point ringing on the day.

If you're a UK medical student, none of the above applies to you. The AKT is delivered through your medical school, and your result reaches you through your school's own results process, usually alongside your finals. There is no national results date to look up, and any site quoting you one for UK students is guessing. Ask your medical school — they publish their assessment calendar.

What's actually in your result

More than pass or fail, and this is the part people don't expect.

Three headline numbers. The GMC tells you your total score, the score required to pass that exam, and the average score for all candidates who sat it. Scoring is simple: one mark per correct answer, and your score is the number you got right.

That second number matters. The pass mark is set per paper, so "I got 118" means nothing until you see the threshold for your sitting next to it. And the third number gives you something rare in exams — a sense of where the cohort landed, though it is emphatically not a curve. The GMC states plainly that "there is no expected pass rate or average score".

Feedback across ten areas. The GMC groups the questions into ten areas of clinical practice, based on the MLA content map, and reports the percentage you got right in each — plus the average percentage all candidates got right in each. The ten are:

• Reproductive health
• Renal and urology
• Neurosciences and senses (including skins)
• Musculoskeletal
• Mental health
• Gastrointestinal
• Endocrine, metabolic and clinical haematology
• Child and adolescent health
• Cardiorespiratory
• Ethics and other

Note what this gives you that a raw score doesn't: your percentage next to the cohort's percentage, area by area. That is a genuinely useful diagnostic, and it's the closest thing you'll get to being told what to fix.

How to read your area feedback

Don't read the ten areas as a league table of your weaknesses. Read each one against the cohort average sitting next to it.

• You low, cohort low — a hard area on that paper. Says less about you than it looks.
• You low, cohort high — the real gap. This is the finding worth acting on.
• You high, cohort low — a genuine strength, and one worth not over-revising next time.
• A big spread across areas — the pattern that usually means uneven revision rather than uneven ability.

If you passed, the honest use of this feedback is F1 preparation, not celebration: the areas where you sat below the cohort are the ones you'll meet on the wards without a distractor list to help you.

If you failed, this is your revision plan, handed to you. Start with the areas where you were furthest below the cohort average, weighted by how much of the paper each one carries — the readiness framework covers how to weight that.

How the pass mark was set

The GMC sets it "using the internationally recognised Angoff method and include[s] one standard error of measurement" — meaning the standard is judged in advance by expert panel, then given an allowance so that measurement noise doesn't fail a borderline candidate.

Two things follow from that, both worth internalising before you compare your score with a friend's from a different sitting:

1. The pass mark legitimately differs between papers. It has to, because the items differ. Holding the standard constant means moving the number. The full mechanism is here.
2. The standard is F2 entry. The GMC says the mark "reflects what we expect of a doctor entering their second year of Foundation Programme training" — not the day you first register. That's a higher bar than most candidates assume they're being held to.

The GMC also notes that after each test, a team of experts reviews the paper in light of how candidates performed to check the questions and answers are fair — and that it may change its standard-setting procedures from time to time without notice.

If you passed

You can apply for PLAB 2 immediately using GMC Online — the available dates appear there once your results are issued, and you can't apply before that.

The deadline people miss: you must pass PLAB 2 within two years of passing PLAB 1. Not three, whatever you may have read. And the GMC is specific about which date starts the clock: "your pass date is the date you took the test, and not the date your results were issued." So the two years began on exam day, six weeks before you found out.

If you failed

You can book again as long as you still meet the requirements, and you can keep attempting until you have failed four times. After a fourth fail you may apply for one final, fifth attempt — but only after completing at least 12 months of additional learning and development, with an application to the GMC. The GMC's stated reasoning is that four failures indicate the candidate's knowledge isn't currently at the level expected of a doctor seeking UK registration, and the 12 months exist to fix that before a final attempt.

One thing that no longer exists: result checking. The GMC has withdrawn it — "this is a service we no longer offer" — on the basis that its marking is robust and a manual check wouldn't change the result. You can still appeal.

If you're on the PLAB route, the resit decision has a calendar trap in it — the gap between results day and the next sitting is five to seven weeks, not three months.

Before booking the next sitting, the single most useful thing you can do is sit a fresh timed paper and compare it against your area feedback, to find out whether the gap is knowledge, timing or technique. Our free 50-question mock is unseen and gives a per-specialty breakdown, and the resit guide covers rebuilding the plan.

Frequently asked questions

When do PLAB 1 results come out? Six weeks after the exam, per the GMC. Results for the 5 November 2026 sitting are due 17 December 2026 by 4pm. You'll get an email pointing you to GMC Online → My Tests.

What do UKMLA AKT results tell you? For PLAB 1: your total score, the pass mark for that paper, the average score across all candidates, and your percentage correct in each of ten areas of clinical practice alongside the cohort's percentage in each. UK students receive results through their medical school.

Can I get my PLAB 1 result checked or re-marked? No — the GMC withdrew result checking, saying its marking is robust and a manual check wouldn't change the outcome. Appealing is still possible.

How long is a PLAB 1 pass valid? You must pass PLAB 2 within two years, and the clock starts on the date you sat PLAB 1 — not the date the result was issued.

How many times can I sit PLAB 1? Four attempts. A fifth is possible only by application, after at least 12 months of additional learning and development.

Is there a fixed pass rate? No. The GMC states there is no expected pass rate or average score — the mark is set against a standard, not a quota.

Further reading

• How the UKMLA pass mark is set, and what it's been
• UKMLA pass rates: first-attempt figures for UK grads and IMGs
• Am I ready for the AKT? The five-signal readiness check
• The UKMLA resit guide: rebuilding after a fail
• PLAB 1 exam dates and booking windows
• PLAB 1 pass rate and pass mark: what the numbers mean