The new MRCS OSCE exam

By Hannah Brown in MRCS B OSCE on Monday, April 6, 2009 @ 14:11

We’ve just had another call from a candidate taking MRCS who has no idea what to expect from the new Part B exam.  We love it when candidates come to us for advice as it makes us feel wanted, but at the same time I get really frustrated that the information they need isn’t more widely available.  Don’t get me wrong, details on the exam format, the marking scheme and the setup of the OSCE aren’t hidden, but they are hard to find for the uninitiated.  I spend my days trawling http://www.rcseng.ac.uk/ for exam updates and information, so I know where I’m looking, but I’ve been doing this for years, and I know where to look.  I’m sure lots of candidates don’t arrive at an exam as prepared as they could be, because they couldn’t find the mark scheme or the syllabus.

This lack of communication from the Royal Colleges is even more apparent when there’s an exam change because it takes a while for information to get through.  Suddenly no one is an expert, not the friendly SpR who recommended books and online for your written exam, and certainly not the ageing consultant who gained his membership before the intercollegiate MRCS exam was even introduced. 

Saying that, don’t ignore the advice of your peers just because they didn’t do the OSCE exam.  The MRCS syllabus draws on elements of both the clinical and VIVA exams, so take any advice you’re given!  We know that a lot of our customers are still buying the Surgical Short Cases for MRCS by Catherine Parchment Smith and using it as preparation for the OSCE exam – they know that the book teaches generic skills that can be applied not just to the exam, but to their future surgical careers.  Sometimes it’s not about finding resources that are written with a specific exam in mind, but finding something that fits the gaps in your learning needs.  Ask senior colleagues what they used, chances are you’ll find a mine of information that you might not have considered before.

At the end of the day, forget about the format, and concentrate on core skills – presentation, technique and knowledge.  The marking scheme is key to your performance, but even things that might indicate a clear fail, like causing the patient discomfort during the examination can be nullified by apologising to the patient and promising to be more gentle – if you make a mistake, acknowledge it; it shows that you know you’ve done something wrong rather than carrying on regardless, and sometimes that can be the difference between a pass and a fail.