Pregnancy, Gynaecology and Sexual Health: What PLAB 1 Tests

Scope and time budget

About sixteen questions is about sixteen minutes. The domain pairs high-stakes emergencies (ectopic pregnancy, pre-eclampsia, haemorrhage) with everyday primary-care topics (contraception, menstrual problems, infections). An F2 doctor in the UK meets both, often on the same shift, and the exam reflects that mix. Candidates who trained in a different system should watch the details of UK antenatal schedules, contraception eligibility and screening ages.

What is tested

• Antenatal care. The antenatal schedule and screening tests, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy including pre-eclampsia and eclampsia, gestational diabetes and diabetes in pregnancy, hyperemesis, rhesus disease and anti-D prophylaxis, and prescribing in pregnancy and breastfeeding.
• Early pregnancy. Miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy and molar pregnancy.
• Bleeding and labour. Placenta praevia and abruption, labour stages, induction and CTG interpretation, preterm labour and prelabour rupture of membranes, postpartum haemorrhage, shoulder dystocia and cord prolapse, and the puerperium including puerperal sepsis.
• Gynaecology. Heavy menstrual bleeding, amenorrhoea and PCOS, endometriosis, fibroids and adenomyosis, menopause and hormone replacement, cervical screening, colposcopy and gynaecological cancers, pelvic inflammatory disease, discharge and pelvic pain, infertility.
• Contraception and sexual health. Contraceptive methods and UKMEC, emergency contraception, sexually transmitted infections (chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis, HIV, herpes), termination of pregnancy law and care after sexual assault.

UK points to anchor your answers

• Cervical screening: ages 25 to 64, every 5 years (interval change recorded by UKHSA in July 2025).
• Antenatal screening: infections, Down's, Edwards' and Patau's syndromes, sickle cell and thalassaemia, and the 20-week scan.
• Newborn screening: physical examination, hearing test and blood spot test.
• Vaccines in pregnancy: flu in season, whooping cough around 20 weeks and RSV from 28 weeks.
• HPV vaccination: offered at 12 to 13 years.
• Young people: the GMC 0-18 years guidance covers the care of under-16s who ask for contraception, abortion or STI care without parental knowledge or consent. Read it to learn how confidentiality and capacity are applied.

NICE, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists guidance, the UKMEC and the BNF set the clinical detail. We could not read those sources for this page, so we give no numeric thresholds. The legal framework for termination of pregnancy is examinable; learn it from the primary legislation and GMC guidance.

How the questions are framed

Obstetric stems state the gestation, parity, the presentation and the observations. The task is usually the diagnosis or the next step. Gestation changes everything: bleeding at eight weeks and at thirty-four weeks have different causes and actions. Gynaecology stems give age, menstrual history and symptoms, and ask for a test, a diagnosis or a treatment. Sexual health stems ask what to test for, how to treat and how to manage partners and confidentiality.

Prescribing items are common, and the key question is often safety: is this drug safe in pregnancy or breastfeeding, and does it interact with contraception? Read for pregnancy status, breastfeeding and any contraceptive in the stem before you read the options.

What examiners ask about each group

• Hypertension in pregnancy. Recognise pre-eclampsia, give the first-line drugs and magnesium where indicated, and decide when to deliver or refer.
• Early pregnancy. Identify an ectopic pregnancy, decide between expectant, medical and surgical management and arrange follow-up.
• Haemorrhage. Resuscitate, find the cause and call for help. For postpartum haemorrhage, remember the four causes and the stepwise measures.
• Labour. Read a CTG in outline and know when intervention is needed.
• Contraception. Match method to patient, using eligibility criteria and drug interactions, and give emergency contraception advice.
• Infections. Choose the test, treatment and partner notification for common STIs, and know HIV testing principles.

Time and exam technique

Women's health items reward a fixed first step: confirm pregnancy status, establish gestation, assess the mother's stability and only then choose the investigation or drug. If you build that habit, most stems become easier because the safe option is clear. Where a question involves a young person, a sexual assault or a possible safeguarding issue, shift your attention to consent, confidentiality and the support pathway as well as the clinical task. The professional domain covers the framework.

Because obstetric emergencies are tested through short stems, practise recognising them in one read. A pregnant woman with headache, visual disturbance and raised blood pressure, a woman with sudden severe abdominal pain and shock in early pregnancy, and a woman bleeding heavily after delivery each need a different immediate response, and all three are better answered from a rehearsed card than from first principles.

Three typical traps

1. Ignoring gestation. The same symptom has different causes at different weeks. Always anchor on gestation before the options.
2. Prescribing a drug that is unsafe in pregnancy or breastfeeding. Read the stem for pregnancy status and check the BNF category in your revision.
3. Breaching confidentiality with a young patient. The GMC 0-18 guidance sets out how to respect the confidentiality of a young person seeking contraception or STI care, and when you must act to protect them. Choose the answer that follows it.

How to revise it

1. Build a gestation timeline from first trimester to the puerperium, with screening, vaccines and the main complications at each stage.
2. Write emergency cards for ectopic pregnancy, eclampsia, antepartum and postpartum haemorrhage, shoulder dystocia and cord prolapse.
3. Make a contraception table with eligibility, adverse effects and interactions.
4. Practise CTG reading with baseline, variability, accelerations and decelerations.
5. Add the UK screening and vaccine facts to flashcards.
6. Use 20-question timed blocks and review the stems you misread.

This domain connects to mental health (perinatal illness), endocrine (diabetes in pregnancy) and the professional domain for consent and confidentiality.