Just got my OSCE results back and I passed all four stations, but it was closer than I'd hoped on the medicines management station — I got a borderline on one of the critical action points. Writing this up while it's still fresh because I found it really hard to find detailed accounts of what the stations actually feel like when I was preparing.
The communication station was fine — 12 minutes, simulated patient, I got a fairly standard post-operative scenario. The assessors are watching everything, including how you position yourself and whether you introduce yourself properly, so don't neglect the basics under stress. I'd practised with a colleague using the NMC's own competency criteria and that paid off.
Medicines management was 20 minutes and involved a medication administration scenario plus calculation questions. There were 6 calculation questions and you need all 6 correct — that's the part that nearly got me. I'd done maybe 200 practice calculations in the weeks before and still found two of them tricky under exam conditions. The time pressure is real.
The care and management station involved prioritisation of four patients and I had to justify my reasoning verbally. There's no single right answer but you need to demonstrate the correct clinical reasoning framework. Overall the whole exam felt fair but unforgiving — every critical action point matters equally regardless of how well you did elsewhere in the station.
The 6/6 on medicines calculations is what terrifies me. I keep reading that even one wrong means you fail the whole station. Did the calculations involve weight-based dosing or were they more standard unit conversions?
The prioritisation station is underrated in terms of preparation time. A lot of people spend everything on calculations and then underperform there. Understanding the ABCDE approach and being able to articulate it clearly under observation is its own skill that takes practice.
Really useful breakdown, thank you. I've got mine booked in 8 weeks and this is exactly the kind of specific detail that's hard to find. The borderline on medicines management despite passing — do you get feedback on which critical action points you nearly missed?
I failed my first OSCE attempt on the medicines management station — got 5/6 on calculations. The second attempt I drilled nothing but calculations for three weeks and passed comfortably. The rest of your prep sounds solid, the communication station really does reward practising with a real person rather than just reading about it.
Congrats on passing first time, it's genuinely hard.