# What Is the UKMLA? Tips From a Doctor Who Was in the First Cohort

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**Author:** Diandra Bretfelean  
**Published:** 2026-11-01  
**Reading time:** 3 min  

Discover what the UKMLA involves and how to prepare, with practical revision tips from Dr Diandra, a doctor from the first national UKMLA cohort.

*By Dr Diandra | MedExcellence*

I graduated from medical school in **2025** and was part of the **first national UKMLA cohort**. If you’re preparing for it now, I want to help you understand what the assessment involves and how to approach your revision with a clear focus.

My biggest advice is this: **keep connecting what you learn to the decisions you would make when looking after a patient.**

## What is the UKMLA?

The **UK Medical Licensing Assessment**, commonly called the **UKMLA** and officially abbreviated to **MLA**, assesses the knowledge, skills and behaviours needed to practise safely as a doctor in the UK.

For UK medical students, it forms part of their medical degree. The requirement was introduced nationally for students graduating in the **2024–25 academic year**, which included my cohort.

The assessment has **two components**:

- **Applied Knowledge Test (AKT):** the written component, assessing the application of medical knowledge.
- **Clinical and Professional Skills Assessment (CPSA):** the practical component, assessing clinical and professional skills.

Your medical school administers the assessment and provides the arrangements for your sittings.

The GMC’s framework centres on **safe practice**, **managing uncertainty** and **person-centred care**. These themes are useful guides when deciding what to focus on during revision and clinical practice.

## My advice for preparing for the UKMLA


### Give your revision a structure

Use the **GMC MLA content map** alongside your medical school’s guidance to organise your revision. The content map provides the framework for both components of the assessment. Make sure you use the version applicable to your exam date.

Turn it into a manageable checklist. For each topic, ask yourself:

- Can I recognise the typical presentation?
- Can I identify red flags?
- Can I choose appropriate investigations?
- Can I explain the initial management?
- Do I know when to seek senior support?

**A clear plan makes it easier to spot gaps** and stops revision becoming an endless search for what to study next.

### Learn through clinical presentations

Try connecting conditions to the symptoms patients actually present with.

For example, when revising **breathlessness**, practise comparing possible causes. What features help you distinguish them? What would make the situation urgent? What information would change your next step?

You can apply the same approach to presentations such as:

- Chest pain
- Abdominal pain
- Headache
- Dizziness
- Confusion
- Vaginal bleeding

This approach helps you build **clinical reasoning alongside factual knowledge**.

### Make every practice question useful

My advice is to spend time reviewing questions, including those you answered correctly through guessing.

After each question, ask yourself:

- **Why is this the best answer?**
- What made the other options less appropriate?
- Did I miss a clinical clue or misunderstand the question?
- What would need to change for another option to become correct?

Keep a short record of recurring mistakes. A useful entry might be one sentence explaining the distinction you missed.

**Revisit those points regularly.** Use your mistakes to decide what to study next.

### Practise deciding what happens next

Recognising a diagnosis is only part of clinical reasoning.

As you revise, ask:

- Is this patient stable?
- What needs to happen immediately?
- Which investigation would help?
- What is the most appropriate next step?
- When should I ask for senior support?

Keep returning to **patient safety, prioritisation and appropriate escalation**.

For each condition, try to understand how the approach changes depending on the patient’s presentation, severity and clinical context.

### Prepare for clinical assessments out loud

For the **CPSA**, practise speaking to another person.

Reading a communication framework feels very different from explaining an investigation clearly, responding to a concern or summarising a management plan.

Practise with a colleague and ask for specific feedback:

- Was your explanation understandable?
- Did you listen and respond to the patient’s concerns?
- Did you avoid unnecessary medical jargon?
- Did you check the patient’s understanding?
- Did you explain the next steps clearly?

**Practise the interaction as well as the clinical content.** Give yourself opportunities to take a history, explain your reasoning and respond to questions without reading from notes.

### Build a routine you can sustain

You do not need an elaborate timetable. You need a plan that fits around placements and leaves time to review what you have learned.

A focused revision session could include:

1. Reviewing one topic.
2. Completing a set of practice questions.
3. Reading the explanations.
4. Recording the main gaps in your knowledge.
5. Revisiting mistakes from earlier sessions.

Set realistic goals and leave room for **rest, exercise and unexpected demands**.

Try to judge your progress by what you understand and can apply, rather than simply how many hours you have spent at your desk.

## A final word from someone who sat it

Being in the **first national UKMLA cohort** is part of my own medical school experience. My advice to students preparing now is to use the official guidance, practise actively and keep your revision connected to patient care.

You do not need to feel confident about every topic before you begin practising. Start with what you know, identify the gaps and work through them one step at a time.

At **MedExcellence**, we aim to help make that preparation more structured and approachable, with medical education informed by the experience of going through the UKMLA ourselves.

**Explore our courses and learning resources at [MedExcellence](https://medexcellence.co.uk).**


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