Afrobrit Episode 1 : The thought

As a medical doctor in a country with a failing health care system, job satisfaction and financial stability were things that were quite distant from my train of thoughts. I knew I wanted to save lives but definitely not with all I had experienced so far while in medical school and as a house officer. My desire to travel out to a different country to optimize my potential never began with plab. Although, I knew about it, it wasn’t initially my first choice.

My first choice was to do the MCCQE which was the Canadian medical exam to qualify for license registration. I had someone in the family who was also in that line and so it was easy for me to ask questions and find out what I needed to do and how to read and the likes. In the course of my research about the exam, I began to realise slowly that it wasn’t something I could easily do from Nigeria. Accessibility to all I needed was seeming difficult, so doubt began to set in. In this doubt, my uncle in the UK was already singing in my ear to write an international exam and not waste my time at all. Honestly, I wasn’t even sure I was going to write any exam anymore due to frustration. I had began asking about for materials to read for primaries in internal medicine (exam to start residency in Nigeria), so I could have a ‘second choice’ since my Canada plans weren’t working out.

On a certain day, I was taking a walk with my consultant towards the clinic amd he was asking what my plans were post-housemanship. I told him my plans about Canada and how it was seeming difficult and that I had also thought of Plab but not made any moves yet. He went on to tell me the advantages and disadvantages of which one I would want to do. After that day, I began considering Plab the more. The more I thought about it, the more I heard people around me discussing it. I had heard about my colleagues that had started IELTS, some were already getting ready to write Plab 1. I began to understad the simple fact that I would be able to access a lot from Plab and so I decided finally that it was time I took the big decision of starting my Plab journey.

I had no idea what I was about to face, I just kept telling myself that some people scaled through and so will I. I definitely wasn’t ready for what came next.