The OSCE station bank
Every station is written the way you meet it in the exam: a brief on the door, a patient in the room, a clock running and a mark scheme behind it. All four categories are live — two medical, two pharmacy.
How a station works
The same order as a station in the exam hall, so none of it is new to you on the day.
- 1
Read the brief
The candidate instruction comes first, before anything is timed: who you are, who you are about to meet, and what you have been asked to do.
- 2
Consult with the AI patient
Speak out loud or type. The patient answers in role and gives you what you asked for, not much more — ask a closed question, get a one-word answer.
- 3
Get marked against the mark scheme
What you actually said is marked against that station’s scheme: the ground you covered, the decision you reached and how you closed.
- 4
Review, then run it again
The feedback names the points you hit and the points you missed. The second list is the useful one — take one item from it into the rerun.
Or run a whole circuit
Medical stations
12 stations across 2 categories, for UK medical students. Each hub explains how that kind of station is marked and lists everything in it.
History taking
Focused histories against the clock — build the picture, screen for red flags, explore ideas and concerns, and summarise back.
- Opening wide before you narrow down
- Screening for red flags systematically
- Summarising back and inviting correction
Counselling
Explaining a diagnosis, a medication or a procedure to a worried patient, and handling the questions that follow.
- Finding out what the patient already knows
- Chunking information and checking it landed
- Responding to emotion instead of talking on
For how these fit into a medical circuit, see medical OSCE practice.
Pharmacy stations
12 stations across 2 categories, split the way pharmacy OSCEs tend to split: someone arriving with a symptom, and someone leaving with a new medicine.
Responding to symptoms
Over-the-counter consultations where you gather the history, spot red flags, and decide whether to supply, refer or advise self-care.
- Gathering before you commit to anything
- Stating the supply, refer or self-care decision
- Safety-netting with a specific plan
Medicines counselling
Counselling a patient on a newly prescribed medicine or device — what it is for, how to take it, what to watch for, and checking understanding.
- Explaining what it is for and how to take it
- Prioritising instead of listing everything
- Checking understanding with a teach-back
For how these fit into a pharmacy circuit, see pharmacy OSCE practice.
What is in a station brief
- Who you are — your role, and where you are
- Who is in front of you — the patient, or the relative giving a collateral history
- What you have been asked to do — the task verb that decides where the marks sit
Read the task verb before anything else. “Take a history and advise them” is a different station from “counsel them on their new medicine”: the first is mostly about what you ask, the second is mostly about what you explain and how you check it landed.
Marks go missing when a candidate performs the station they revised instead of the station on the door. Notice the role you have been handed too — being told you are the doctor on call signals which decisions the examiner expects you to reach yourself rather than pass on.
Example brief
“You are the doctor on call. A patient has presented with chest pain. Please take a focused history. You will be asked to summarise.”
From Chest pain history — 8 minutes.
No spoilers, by design
Practising on your own
Solo revision fails predictably: you rehearse in your head, it goes well in your head, and the first time any of it leaves your mouth is in front of an examiner. Five habits that stop that happening.
- Run it cold — go in without a plan the first time, so you find out what you actually do under pressure
- Keep to the clock — start at the first word and stop when it stops, even mid-sentence
- Say it out loud — silent rehearsal hides every stumble; speak to the station rather than type at it where you can
- Repeat, changing one thing — write down the exact words you failed to say, then rerun the station days later with that one fix
- Sit a full circuit — four or five stations back to back teaches you how to reset after one that went badly
Stations you can explore here
24 stations written up in full, in one list with nothing behind pagination. Each page carries the brief, what the examiner is marking and where candidates usually drop marks. The rest of the bank is in the app.
History taking
Chest pain history
A patient presents with chest pain. Take a focused history, characterise the pain, and screen for the features that change urgency.
Headache history
A patient presents with headache. Establish the pattern and timeline, and screen carefully for features that need escalation.
Abdominal pain history
A patient presents with abdominal pain. Localise it, characterise it, and cover the systems review the site demands.
Breathlessness history
A patient presents with breathlessness. Establish onset and exercise tolerance, and separate cardiac from respiratory features.
Fatigue history
A patient presents with tiredness. A deliberately broad opening that rewards a structured, systematic approach.
Collapse history
A patient has collapsed. Reconstruct before, during and after, and establish what witnesses saw.
Diarrhoea history
A patient presents with a change in bowel habit. Establish the pattern and duration, and screen for systemic and alarm features.
Confusion: collateral history
A relative gives a collateral history about a confused patient. Establish the baseline and the time course.
Counselling
Explaining a new diagnosis
Explain a newly confirmed diagnosis to a patient, check what they already understand, and handle their reaction.
Counselling on a new medication
Counsel a patient starting a new medicine: what it is for, how to take it, what to expect, and what to do if something changes.
Lifestyle and behaviour change
Discuss a behaviour change with a patient who is ambivalent about it, without lecturing them.
Explaining a procedure
Explain an upcoming investigation or procedure, covering what happens, why, and what the alternatives are.
Responding to symptoms
Persistent cough in an adult
An adult asks for something for a cough that has not settled. Take a history, identify any red flags, and decide on supply or referral.
Heartburn and indigestion
A patient requests something for recurring indigestion. Establish the pattern, screen for alarm features, and make a supply decision.
Diarrhoea in an adult
An adult presents with diarrhoea and wants something to stop it. Assess duration, hydration and risk factors, then advise.
Sore throat
A patient with a sore throat asks whether they need antibiotics. Assess, manage expectations, and decide on supply or referral.
Emergency contraception request
A patient requests emergency contraception. Take a sensitive, structured history and handle a consultation with real time pressure.
Painful red eye
A patient presents with a red, uncomfortable eye. Distinguish self-limiting presentations from those needing urgent referral.
Medicines counselling
Methotrexate counselling
Counsel a patient starting weekly methotrexate. A high-risk medicine where dosing frequency and monitoring dominate the mark scheme.
Warfarin counselling
Counsel a patient starting warfarin: monitoring, the yellow book, interactions and what to do about a missed dose.
Inhaler technique counselling
Demonstrate and teach inhaler technique, then assess the patient performing it back. A skills station as much as a counselling one.
Insulin pen counselling
Counsel a patient on using an insulin pen device, covering injection technique, site rotation and hypoglycaemia awareness.
Adrenaline auto-injector counselling
Counsel a patient or carer on an adrenaline auto-injector — when to use it, how to use it, and what must happen afterwards.
Lithium counselling
Counsel a patient on lithium: monitoring, the narrow therapeutic range, and the situations that change their risk.
These pages describe how OSCE stations are assessed. They are revision aids for exam technique, not clinical guidance, and must not be used to inform patient care. Always follow current national guidance and your own institution’s teaching.
Practise a station, not a checklist
Pick any station in the bank, take it out loud against the clock, and find out what the mark scheme says you missed.