UKMLA (UK Medical Licensing Assessment)

The Medical Licensing Assessment (MLA), often called the UKMLA, was introduced by the General Medical Council (GMC) so that every doctor joining the UK register meets one common threshold for safe practice, wherever they trained. The GMC announced that the assessment would be fully in place for students graduating from UK medical schools from the academic year 2024/25.

It has two parts:

• Applied knowledge test (AKT): for UK students this is the Medical School AKT (MS AKT), made up of two 100-item single best answer papers sat on consecutive days, each with a standard time of two hours. It is not negatively marked.
• Clinical and professional skills assessment (CPSA): a practical assessment run by each medical school against GMC requirements.

Both parts are built on the GMC's MLA content map, which is underpinned by three themes: readiness for safe practice, managing uncertainty and delivering person-centred care. The MLA is pass or fail, and the Medical Schools Council says MS AKT scores are not used for national ranking.

The GMC describes two candidate groups:

• UK medical students must pass the MLA as part of their degree before joining the medical register. The Medical Schools Council says there is no cost to them for the AKT or CPSA.
• International medical graduates continue to take PLAB. PLAB 1 meets the requirements for the MLA AKT and PLAB 2 meets the requirements for the MLA CPSA.

So if you qualified outside the UK, you do not sit the UK medical school version of the UKMLA. You sit PLAB, which tests the same content map. The GMC says PLAB eligibility, English requirements, resit rules and validity periods did not change because of MLA compliance, and that it plans to rename the test at a later date.

Doctors with a relevant European qualification do not need to take PLAB under current legislation, and other routes such as sponsorship or an acceptable postgraduate qualification remain open.

1. Check your primary medical qualification and English evidence are acceptable to the GMC.
2. Use the MLA content map to guide revision, since PLAB questions and stations are now based on it.
3. Pass PLAB 1 (the AKT equivalent) and then PLAB 2 (the CPSA equivalent, an OSCE).
4. Apply for registration with a licence to practise.

Our PLAB guide covers fees, attempts and time limits in detail.

• "I need to book the UKMLA." International doctors cannot book the medical school AKT. Your route is PLAB, or another GMC route.
• "The UKMLA replaced PLAB." It did not. PLAB continues and is compliant with the MLA requirements.
• Scores and jobs. For UK students, the Medical Schools Council says MLA scores do not form part of the Foundation Programme application.

Timing also varies. The Medical Schools Council says each medical school chooses when its students sit the MS AKT, normally in the final year, or in the summer of the penultimate year for schools with written finals at that point.