Getting Started

Getting Started with PathologyLabTraining

Welcome. PathologyLabTraining is an NHS-focused interview preparation and laboratory training platform for Biomedical Scientists and laboratory support staff. This article walks you through your first session.

Creating an account

Click Register from the homepage. You can sign up with an email address and password, or use Continue with Google. A free account gives you a sample of the question bank and every career and training article. Premium unlocks the full platform, and you can try it free for 24 hours (see Premium features, pricing and how to upgrade).

If your hospital, NHS Trust or university has an organisation subscription, you do not need to pay yourself. Accept the invitation your administrator sends, or sign in through your institution (below). See Joining or managing an organisation.

Signing in through your institution

If your university or NHS organisation is part of the UK Access Management Federation, you can sign in with your institutional login:

1. On the login page, look for the Institutional access section.
2. Click Continue with UK Federation.
3. Search for your university or organisation and select it.
4. Sign in with your usual institutional credentials. You are returned to PathologyLabTraining already signed in.

Institutional sign-in only works once your organisation has been set up with us. See SAML single sign-on setup.

Your home page once signed in

After signing in, the home page becomes your learner home:

• Welcome back shows your name and when you last trained.
• Continue picks up where you left off: your last practice test, your last training module, and your CPD log.
• Your tools lists every area of the platform. Tools that need Premium show a lock icon until you upgrade.
• Specialties shows each of the 12 specialties with the number of questions in the bank and your own attempt count and average score once you have taken tests.
• Premium members also see NHS interview study notes, a shared notes area.

For the detailed view, open My training → Dashboard in the navigation bar. It breaks your progress down by specialty and over time.

The 12 specialties

Haematology, Biochemistry, Microbiology, Histology (Cellular Pathology), Blood Transfusion, Coagulation, Immunology, Virology, Genomics, Andrology, General Biomedical Science, and Quality Management.

Each specialty has its own page (for example /haematology-interviews) with guides, simulators and case studies, and a link into the Interview Explorer, where the question bank lives. Questions in the explorer are organised by Band 2 to Band 8.

Free vs Premium

• Free: every career, training and interview article; a small sample of questions in the Interview Explorer (5 per band for Bands 4 to 6 in General Biomedical Science, and 4 per band for Bands 5 and 6 in each other specialty); the CPD log; the public interview guides.
• Premium: the full question bank, Practice Tests, all Virtual Laboratory and LIMS simulations, the AI Interview Coach, NHS Application Support, the IBMS portfolio assistant, and the specialist simulators.

Getting help

• Use the Ask PathologyLabTraining chat in the bottom-right corner. It answers from these help articles and tells you when a question needs a person.
• Browse all help articles at /help.
• Email [email protected].