You have probably vaguely heard of what OSCEs are. You may have heard that it’s a practical exam. Perhaps you’ve heard that MMIs are meant to somewhat resemble the OSCEs in the sense that MMIs are done and marked in separate stations in relation to one another just like OSCEs.
In this guide, a UCL medical student will be taking you through all things OSCE so you have a good understanding of what to expect when you get into med school!
What is an OSCE?
OSCE stands for Objective Structured Clinical Assessment, and it is essentially a practical examination (meaning it will not be done on paper) where you have to perform a certain examination, speak to an actor or answer some questions based on the prompt and information you’ve been provided beforehand.
OSCE stations can include anything such as performing a motor examination on a patient’s legs, getting the genetic history off of a patient, doing a urine dipstick test, correctly washing your hands, consultation skills and prescriptions.
So as you can tell, quite a broad range of skills will be assessed that would be difficult to test via a written exam such as communication, empathy and manual skills.
OSCEs are now compulsory at all of the medical schools in the UK and you have to do them as part of your end-of-year exams at some point. The year when you will start doing your OSCEs will depend on the university you’re attending, as some schools will have OSCEs from first years and some will have them during the clinical years.
For example, at Barts (Queen Mary), you will be having OSCEs in the first year, whilst at UCL you will be doing OSCEs in the second year onwards (although at UCL they are called CPSAs).
How many stations are in an OSCE?
The number of stations will depend entirely on the medical school you’re at. For example, at UCL, there are 10 stations spread over two days.
CPSAs vs OSCEs?
I mentioned before that some universities refer to OSCEs as CPSAs, but what’s the difference between these two exams? CPSA stands for Clinical and Professional Skills Assessment. OSCEs are a form of CPSAs, and the two names are almost always used interchangeably, meaning there’s no significant difference between them.
Are OSCEs only used for medical examinations?
Not at all. Most other healthcare courses also assess their students using OSCEs (or equivalents) such as Pharmacy, Nursing and Optometry.
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How are OSCEs marked?
OSCEs aren’t linear exams like many other subjects will have, so they can’t be marked by simply counting the number of questions you got correct. They also aren’t essay-based, so the making for OSCEs is more unconventional than most other forms of marking in education.
During OSCEs, the examiner or the patient will be marking your responses on an iPad, whilst you are in the station. They will have a list of criteria relating to the station and, for each one, they would mark it as Pass, Borderline or Fail.
They will also be looking at and assessing how you present yourself, such as how you introduce yourself, wash your hands and confirm the patient’s details. These may seem like minor things, but all of these skills go a long way to making a good doctor.
What is the OSCE passing criteria?
This will depend on your medical school. For me in my second year at UCL, we had a pass mark of 6/10 stations (as each station will have an individual pass mark) as well as an overall pass mark of 59% for all 10 stations combined.
Some may be more or less lenient, so be sure to check with your faculty if you’re unsure.
Common OSCE Stations
As we’ve seen, there will be a variety of things being tested during an OSCE. There are too many potential stations to list them all, but these are the stations that I had in my end-of-second-year exams at UCL Medical School:
- Turner Syndrome
- Pharmacology and Pain
- Lower Limb Motor Examination with questions
- Speaking to a patient with schizophrenia
- Pseudohypoparathyroidism (PHP)
- Basic Life Support
- Alcohol Neurology Ataxia
- Genetics
- Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
- Ophthalmic Examination
Commonalities between all OSCE stations
While most stations are very different from one another, they do share a certain element. They will all assess your clinical knowledge and understanding, as all of your stations will be clinically oriented. While scientific/theoretical knowledge will still be important, the OCSEs are designed to specifically test you on the practical elements of medicine.
Preparing for your OSCEs
When preparing for your OSCE, I would say it is important to ensure you practice as much as you can with your colleagues. That way, you learn from being questioned but also from testing other students, as you will be picking up a lot of knowledge as well as ways and tricks to remember the information when you practice with others.
I would also strongly encourage you to ensure that you fully learn your lecture material, as that is essentially what will be tested for in your OSCEs – just with an emphasis on clinical applications. Find some study techniques that work for you, such as interleaving.
I found it particularly useful to collect as many mnemonics as I could, both for physical examinations and clinical presentations that we’d have to discuss, which I could note down during my one-minute reading time and refer back to in the station.
At the end of the day, there are only so many ways you can prepare for the OSCE and a lot of it comes down to keeping your cool and remembering all the small details when you’re actually performing the tasks at each station. Get practice in whenever you can but try not to overthink things, just aim to memorise each task step-by-step so you don’t forget anything.
OCSE Tips For On The Day
Here are some tips to help you stay calm and collected during the actual OCSE:
Breathe
It will be quite a stressful environment on the day, especially in the sense that you will have to move around every 5/10 minutes to change station
Trust your Knowledge
Some of the things you will be asked on the day will inevitably feel unknown, therefore it is important to to not panic and fully trust that you have learned this in some shape or form before, and try and connect those dots to problem solve.
Be Mindful Of Your Time
You will have 5 or 10 minutes per station, and it’s important that you are able to answer as many of the questions as you can, if you feel like you’re stuck on a particular question, ask the examiner to come back to it.
If it is one of those ones where you need an answer before you can progress to the next questions then the examiner will be telling you the answer (and obviously you will not be getting the mark for that question).
Go Back If Your Aren't Sure
This is specifically for stations that require you to answer questions. Even if you did give an answer, at the end of each station you should hopefully have a couple of minutes to spare. Tell the examiner that you’d like to change your answer to any particular questions you were unsure about, but only do this if you definitely think you got it wrong.
Whether you’re in medical school already or are applying to study now, understanding the OSCE is crucial so that you aren’t surprised by anything. These exams are tough, but they’re designed to let students who understand medicine well to flourish. Learn the content, practice the station and you should do fine!
OSCEs are challenging, but they aren’t the only challenge a med school student will have to face. Even before you’re admitted, you’ll have to contend with the Personal Statement, UCAT and Interviews, all of which present their own challenges.
If you’d like to learn more about how to beat each of these steps and get your offer to study medicine, check out our free guides or discover our Tutoring Bundles, including the Medicine Mastery Bundle, which combines everything you’ll need to earn your offer in one neat package! Discover our bundles today or book a free consultation to speak with our team.
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