The GMC UKMLA - What is the Medical Licensing Assessment?

So what is the UKMLA?

The MLA, also now being widely referred to as the UKMLA, is a new medical exam introduced by the General Medical Council (GMC) which every medical student graduating in the academic year 2024-2025 will have to pass. So it is a few years away but is definitely in the pipeline. Whether this is a positive or negative step is the subject of another blog.

The GMC has indicated that the MLA will allow graduates from each medical school in the UK to demonstrate a common consistent threshold for safe practice. It will be part of the medical degree – so if you don’t pass the MLA you don’t graduate. It is not sure whether it will replace ‘finals’ at medical school.

Please note the information on this blog is up to date at the time of writing. Please always check with the GMC website for updates as no doubt there will be new developments on this exam over the next few years.

What does the assessment involve?

The GMC has indicated there are two parts to the assessment and both must be passed to graduate. For UK students both exams will be sat at your own medical school on dates chosen by the medical school.

The Applied Knowledge Test (AKT)

The GMC has said this is planned to be an onscreen exam based on an MCQ type format. Results of the AKT will be released through the medical school for UK candidates.

The clinical and professional skills assessment (CPSA)

This is a practical exam which assesses your clinical skills and professionalism. Each medical school can call the CPSA type exams something different, such as an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) or Objective Structured Long Examination Record (OSLER).

This way the GMC can also assess your communication skills, as well as your clinical examination skills and how you come to a diagnosis. At the time of writing, it is not clear whether the exam will use real patients or actors or whether it will be the same in every medical school.

What about fees and resit exams?

In the UK the medical school should cover the cost (but not necessarily the cost of a resit). There will be a maximum number of attempts at the exam allowed and some sort of appeals process.

What will happen with my results?

The GMC has indicated it will share information to improve medical education and training. The GMC has said that it will won’t release students' individual scores but appears to hint that some data will be made public. From the current wording on the GMC website it appears it will be possible to rank medical schools based on students’ performance and create league tables.

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