The OSCE Revision Guide for Medical Students

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Always begin and end a station with washing your hands! Not only is it just good clinical practice, this gives you vital and easy marks. Once you finish your examination you may have some spare time; don’t let this go to waste. Look around to see if there’s any equipment in the room you’ve not used. We have also provided marking criteria for the relevant fields. Please note that this should only be used to supplement your education and learning.

Dress professionally and accordingly to NHS dress code. Looking neat might not give you extra marks, but it does help you make a good first impression. Remember to tie up long hair, roll sleeves up above the elbows and take off your wristwatch. These blueprints show how the relevant standards of proficiency and associated skills and procedures may be tested in either the CBT, OSCE or both parts. Don’t worry about making mistakes during the OSCE – you haven’t got time to panic. Stay calm, take a deep breath and continue as you were. Read the instructions carefully before you enter the station. It sounds silly, but people have been known to do the wrong examination in OSCEs (e.g. upper limb instead of lower limb neurological examination). If you don’t do what you’ve been asked, you just won’t get the marks. As part of our ongoing review and maintenance of the test, the following documents have been updated. Pease note the changes made are minor and should not impact on the preparation that candidates complete ahead of sitting their test. Candidates should continue to read the full exam instructions, and apply their skills and knowledge to the station or scenario that they are presented with.Grab a fellow medic/friend/flatmate and practice regularly until your examinations are fluent and confident. Exam nervousness can affect your performance, so it’s better to be a bit overprepared than under. If your medical school allows you to practice with their equipment, then take advantage of those opportunities. If not, things like reflex hammers, blood pressure cuffs and penlights can be bought off the internet for a decent price. Remember to practice with a timer too as the minutes fly by in the real thing. Always be polite, empathetic and honest to your patient. Listen to them carefully and let them speak. Thank them and the examiner at the end of the station. After all, they’ve given up their free time to help you. A significant amount of marks are often awarded just for demonstrating these generic communication skills, so don’t neglect them!

It can be easy to just wipe all memories of a bad OSCE out of your brain. However, if you write those errors down you can review them for your next exam and ensure you don’t make the same mistakes again. Talking to your coursemates about their experience can help too – no one said that you can only learn from your own mistakes.

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You may not be feeling very confident during your OSCE, but pretend you are! Stand up straight, smile when appropriate and speak loudly and clearly – being too apprehensive can give the impression you don’t really know what you’re doing and make the patient nervous too. Candidates will still sit a 10 station OSCE but these changes will mean that there will be a greater selection of skills that could be assessed which will make the assessment less predictable. We will continue to develop new stations covering different skills and scenarios, so it is important that candidates and those supporting them incorporate the NMC blueprint and standards into their preparation for the test.