1. Dr. Hamed Salehi:
What makes Common Stations course so unique is that we are the only PLAB2 course which is run by the actual course leader, Dr. Hamed Salehi himself, who has a wealth of knowledge and experience in PLAB2 training, and not those who have passed their PLAB2 exam recently.
Teaching the subjects mainly by one person ensures the consistency of input, which is essential to maintaining quality.
It is worth mentioning that, in all other academies, the course leaders teach only a small proportion of the course.
Dr. Hamed has a unique teaching style, which adds more value to the course.
Since he runs the course by himself, he is able to structure the course in a way that students are not overburdened with scattered information. Dr. Hamed is so passionate about teaching. He has been teaching in different fields since he was 17 and he is still doing so today.
He has also contributed to BBC world on medical news, nutrition, and sports medicine.
As a rule, at Common Stations PLAB Academy, you are not going to deal with a “middleman”. Once you have sent your application form, Dr. Hamed will contact you personally to give you essential support and advice before you start your course. Not only he will take the course by himself, but also, he will answer all your queries and questions during and after the course and will support and guide you till your exam.
2. Non-Scripted Teaching Style:
Dr. Hamed’s unique way of teaching has made the course so special and has always been praised by thousands of his students. His classes are interactive and thought-provoking, which can prepare you in the best possible way for the exam ahead.
He knows all his students by name. Being with students daily for 10-12 hours, asking them questions and analyzing them, gives him a great deal of knowledge about their weaknesses and strengths. He tells them how to improve their weaknesses and build on their strengths to get the best possible result in the exam, which is crucial in passing PLAB2.
He teaches you how to deal with different patients and challenging situations in the exam. In this way, you will learn the right approach, structure, tools, and skills. This is as opposed to the wrong way of teaching PLAB2 exam which is making the candidates memorize the so-called scripts.
3. NHS Experience:
Dr. Hamed has NHS experience. The design of PLAB2 is based on standard criteria and what you will face in real life here in UK hospitals. Therefore, he strongly believes that having NHS experience is essential in obtaining the required clinical, medical and communication skills to teach PLAB2 successfully.
Dr. Hamed keeps himself up to date on the latest guidelines, protocols, and research projects.
4. 3 Courses with 1 Fee:
Those who have enrolled in our PLAB2 educational package will benefit from our recorded online course, interactive full online course as well as physical training with one fee.
5. The Most Efficient and Cost-effective Package:
Our candidates have the advantage of attending their online courses a few months prior to their physical training. Our online courses are very comprehensive and include recorded lectures as well as an interactive online course with Dr Hamed himself.
During the online course Dr Hamed teaches all the structure of data gathering, management and interpersonal skills as well as the right approach towards different type scenarios and situations. During the roleplays of the interactive online course, the candidates will be provided with feedback on their performance. This enables them to utilize their time while they are in their home countries efficiently by practicing the right way and improving their consultation skills before attending their physical training.
In this way, they can attend their physical training only a few weeks before their exam as they have already started their preparation by taking the online course, and they will only complete their preparation by attending the physical training.This will save them a lot of time and reduce their cost of staying in the UK unnecessarily.
6. Advanced Simulation SimManTraining:
SimMan is one of the most challenging stations of the PLAB2 exam.
During our online and physical training classes, Dr Hamed will teach the right approach to manage SimMan emergency cases. He will teach the ABCDE approach based on the UK guidelines thoroughly. He will then practice SimMan simulation cases with the candidates during the physical training.
Different SimMan simulators have got different features and are made for different training purposes. Moreover, since it is a dummy, things are different compared to a real human being. For example, the anatomical places of pulses vary in different SimMan simulators. Another example is that since heart and lung sounds are generated by speakers, they can sound different in different SimMan simulators. That is why it is crucial to get trained on the right SimMan.
Unfortunately, many candidates are unsuccessful in passing SimMan stations. Apart from not following the right approach towards these cases, one of the main reasons is that either they did not have access to any SimMan to be familiar with or they have been trained on a SimMan which is completely different from the one they will encounter in the real PLAB2 exam.
We are pleased to say that at Common Stations PLAB academy, we train you on a SimMan which is exactly the same as what you will see in your PLAB 2 exam.
Moreover, those who enrol in our educational package will benefit from our supervised SimMan sessions to get familiarised with this talking manikin.
7. 16-Station Mock Exams:
Unlike many other PLAB2 academies, we are pleased to say that at Common Stations PLAB academy, we conduct full mock exams, each consisting of 16 stations, with almost 10 minutes’ time (1.5 min to read instructions and 8 min performance time) for each station just like the actual GMC exam. Unfortunately, many other academies’ mocks either consist of 8-9 stations or they dedicate 6 minutes for each station to be performed.
It is crucial to assess your knowledge, skills, and abilities in managing different scenarios under pressure, within almost 10 minutes’ time for each station and for 16 consecutive stations.
This will give a better understanding of how the real exam will be as well as help you develop a proper and structured plan for your exam, identify your strengths and weaknesses, improve your time management skills, and know how to maintain your stamina throughout. This will reduce exam tension and stress and will boost your confidence.
You will also get detailed individual feedback for your mock test which will reflect all the aspects of your performance.
8. Unlimited Practice Facilities:
As you know practising with your colleagues after the course is one of the most important key factors in passing your PLAB2 exam. We are pleased to say that we have provided our colleagues with a spacious academy so they can study and practice comfortably at their convenience. Our academy is open on a daily basis from 09:00 am to 19:00 UK time including weekends and bank holidays.
Our candidates will have unlimited access to our practice facilities on manikin, examination, and roleplay as we as self-study.
9. High Score Results:
We are proud to say that our candidates score higher in PLAB2 exam compare to candidates of other academies.
Even though getting a high score in your PLAB2 exam may not seem to be an important factor since your PLAB2 score does not count when you are applying for GMC Registration or jobs, we prepare our candidates in a way that they achieve high scores, simply because:
1. We want our candidates to pass their PLAB2 exam comfortably and safely. Aiming for a high score enables our candidates to have less stress, have peace of mind and subsequently be more confident in their exam. If you don’t aim for a high score and only think about passing the exam with a borderline score, you are indeed putting yourself at risk of failing the exam altogether.
Historically those who fail the exam are those who aim for a borderline score.
2. The way we train our candidates not only helps them pass their PLAB2 exam but also trains them to deal with different OSCE exams in the future.
We are sure most of you are planning to apply for training posts in different specialties in the future and you will face OSCE exams and interviews when you apply for these posts.
We are proud to say that most of our candidates have been successful in their job interviews and other OSCE exams and achieved their desired career goals after attending our course.
10. PLAB2 Specialist Course:
We are the only PLAB2 specialist academy. We are the only major academy which does not offer a PLAB1 course as we believe that one does not need to attend a course to pass PLAB1.
Our focus is on PLAB2 solely and we put all our energy and efforts into PLAB2 to maintain and improve the quality of our courses. This is unlike other academies in which running PLAB1 courses will subsequently affect the quality of their PLAB2 courses.
Most of our colleagues are from countries with a lower currency rate compared to British Pounds so why should we put a heavy burden on their shoulders by encouraging them to take a PLAB1 course when it is not even necessary?
We believe that PLAB1 exam can be easily cleared with a high score without attending any courses.
11. Most Up-to-date PLAB2 Course:
We are the most up-to-date PLAB2 course.
Dr. Hamed is very up- to-date with the UK guidelines, protocols and the way things work in the NHS. Since the PLAB2 exam reflects real life, it is extremely crucial to be trained in the most up-to-date way.
12. Individual Support:
We are pleased to say that at Common Stations PLAB Academy, we provide individual support to our candidates as we believe this is an essential factor not only to pass PLAB2 but also to help our colleagues work in a new environment. This includes both educational and emotional support.
We understand that travelling to a foreign county, studying for PLAB2 and working in a new environment could be a stressful process for international medical graduates.
Each candidate is a different person with different characteristics who requires different ways of support. We aim to build a friendly relationship with our colleagues, so we can support them emotionally, work on their issues if there are any and boost their confidence.
We do everything in our power to provide a stress-free, calm and friendly environment for them to practise and study.
We assess each and every candidate during the course and focus on their weaknesses and strengths, and we support and guide them accordingly.
13. Guidance After the Exam:
At Common Stations PLAB Academy we will go through thick and thin with you to make your PLAB2 journey as smooth and easy as possible. However, this help and support does not stop there and goes beyond the PLAB2 exam.
Even after the exam, Dr. Hamed is available to you and can provide advice and guidance whether it is about GMC registration, job applications or interviews.
14. Most Recommended PLAB2 Course:
We are honored by our wonderful colleagues as the most recommended PLAB2 course. You may read your colleagues' reviews on our Testimonials Page.
We are also pleased to inform you that "Common Stations PLAB Academy" is the highest rated PLAB2 institute on Google maps. We invite you to check our Google maps page for testimonials by your colleagues.
Let us take you through our academy:
Common Stations PLAB Academy by Dr Hamed - Educational Package - YouTube