CCA/OSCE examiners

New examiners

Thank you for your interest in examining at St George's and we hope to work with you this coming academic year.

Please note that further dates in addition to the date below will be added shortly, so please be assured you will have the opportunity to complete the training if the time below is not convenient for you.

Please complete the form at the link below if you would like to attend the session:

Tuesday, 10th December 2024, 1400-1700

Wednesday, 15th January 2025, 1000-1300

Monday, 3rd February 2025, 1300-1600

New SGUL examiners are required to attend a CCA/OSCE examiner workshop. This interactive session includes both checklist and domain-based marking, and unconscious bias training. During this session you will learn how CCAs/OSCEs are designed to test clinical skills, best practice for examiners, how to avoid examiner problems and will have the opportunity to practice marking alongside other examiners. You will also develop an understanding of the importance of the role of the examiner in regards to exam reliability and providing feedback to students.

Please note that a certificate of attendance can be requested only after the examiner undergoes the training and examines for at least one exam session.

Returning examiners

All examiners are required to attend a refresher training session every three years. If it has been more than a year since you last examined, it is highly recommended to attend the live online training session or watch the training recording.

For access to the refresher training session, please contact Exams Team.

Clinical Sciences (MBBS5 Year 2 & MBBS4 Year 1)

In order to examine this cohort, you must:

• be a non-medical staff member involved in MBBS teaching/assessment or
• be a medical doctor who has successfully completed F1 year training or equivalent** and
• have completed the in-house checklist and domain-based examiner training within the last three years, including unconscious bias training.

Transition Year (MBBS5 Year 3 & MBBS4 Year 2) 

In order to examine this cohort, you must:

• be a non-medical staff member involved in MBBS teaching/assessment or
• be a medical doctor who has successfully completed F1 year training or equivalent** and
• have completed the in-house checklist and domain-based examiner training within the last three years, including unconscious bias training.

Penultimate Year (MBBS5 Year 4 & MBBS4 Year 3)

In order to examine this cohort, you must:

• be a non-medical staff member with three years examining experience at Clinical Sciences and/or Transition year or
• be a medical doctor who has successfully completed F1 year training or equivalent ** and
• have completed the in-house checklist and domain-based examiner training within the last three years, including unconscious bias training.

Final Year (MBBS5 Year 5 & MBBS4 Year 4)

In order to examine this cohort, you must:

• be a non-medical staff member with three years examining experience at Penultimate year or
• be a medical doctor who has successfully completed F2 year training or equivalent** and
• have completed the in-house checklist and domain-based examiner training within the last three years, including unconscious bias training.

All examiners in all years will be required to complete unconscious bias training (which is included in the new examiner training and refresher training) within the last three years. This is a GMC requirement.

** Medical doctors who qualified within the last three years must declare a conflict of interest if they know students at a personal level in the index year. They will either be placed away from them on a different circuit or excluded from the exam.

Examiners who do not meet these criteria may still be permitted to examine at a certain CCA if for example they have written a station or have a proven record as a CCA examiner. This must be approved by the responsible examiner or Head of Assessment for the specific CCA.

Examiners who are non-medical staff and are not employed by SGUL to teach MBBS students regularly, will have their eligibility and level determined on a case by case basis. These requests will be considered by the Doctor as Practitioner domain lead or Head of Assessment.

Year 1 (checklist marking)

In order to examine this cohort, you must:

• be a physician associate or medical doctor who has completed two years post-graduation and
• have completed the in-house checklist and domain-based examiner training within the last three years, including unconscious bias training and
• have examined checklist-based OSCEs within the last three years.

Year 2 (domain marking)

In order to examine this cohort, you must:

• be a physician associate or medical doctor who has completed three years post-graduation and
• have completed the in-house checklist and domain-based examiner training within the last three years, including unconscious bias training and
• have examined domain-based OSCEs within the last three years.

All examiners for both years will be required to complete unconscious bias training (which is included in the new examiner training and refresher training) within the last three years.

PAs who qualified within the last three years must declare a conflict of interest if they know students at a personal level in the index year. They will either be placed away from them on a different circuit or excluded from the exam.

Examiners who do not meet these criteria may still be permitted to examine at a certain OSCE if for example they have written a station or have a proven record as an OSCE examiner. This must be approved by the chief or responsible OSCE examiner.

Examiners who are non-medical staff and are not employed by SGUL to teach PA students regularly, will have their eligibility and level determined on a case by case basis. These requests will be considered by the chief and responsible OSCE Examiner.

In general, availability will be collected from active examiners around 2-3 months before the exam date. 

Please note that in order to examine, you must undertake the training before the date of the exam and provide all the necessary documents for Payroll if eligible for payment (please see section below). The Exams Team reserves the right to cancel your availability or sign you up for the upcoming training session if there is no record of you attending one.

Before submitting your availability, please fill in the Personal Information and Qualifications Form which will help us to keep your examiner record as well as will be used to assign exam stations.

You will see the sessions that are open for booking below

Once you have submitted the availability, your CCA/OSCE sessions are confirmed, unless you receive an email from us thereafter stating otherwise.

The responsible examiners typically assign the stations to examiners two to three weeks ahead of the CCAs. Importantly, some examiners will be allocated to a ‘reserve’ list. Reserve examiners can leave once the CCA/OSCE session has started and we have confirmed they are no longer needed. This is an essential mechanism to deal with late cancellations and no-shows, which could otherwise delay the examination start for hundreds of anxious candidates. We try to assign reserve slots to SGUL employees in the first instance, however, this cannot always be guaranteed. If you have a particular desire to be allocated to a station rather than the reserve list, please let us know in advance.

Examiners will receive their CCA/OSCE session details at least two weeks in advance of the session.

Non-SGUL employees

From December 2022 onwards, examiners who are not employed by SGUL, or an NHS provider which has a tripartite agreement with HEE, are eligible to receive payment of £30 per hour for examining CCA/OSCE sessions.

Reserve examiners will receive payment for 2 hours if they are not needed for the CCA/OSCE session. Please note that if the examining session is less than 2 hours, you will be paid for the duration of the session.

To receive payment, send the completed New Starter Forms below along with a high-quality colour copy of your passport to the  Exams Team. Payment will then be made automatically one month in arrears on the 27th or the Friday before if it falls on a weekend.

New starter forms

Please complete an electronic version of the documents and send them back as attachments to the email.

• Personal Details Form (Word)
• Starter Checklist Form (Word)
• Equal Opportunity Monitoring Form (Word).

SGUL employees

If you are an SGUL employee and will be examining outside of your contracted hours, please inform  Exam Team in order for the payment to be arranged.

Please note parking is very limited, therefore we kindly request that you use public transport where possible. If this will be difficult, there are limited spaces in the Hunter Wing Car Park (directions below), on a ‘first come first serve’ basis.

How and when to book your parking space

If you wish to use the car park, please provide the following details to the Exams Team at least two weeks in advance:

1. Vehicle registration, make and model
2. Mobile number.

Directions to the Hunter Wing car park

1. Enter the Perimeter Road via Cranmer Terrace
2. Turn to your left on the one-way system, SGUL main entrance will be on your right-hand side
3. 60m on your right there is a gated car park
4. Drive up to the gates, and there is a red intercom box on the driver’s side
5. Press the intercom button and this will go through to security
6. Security will ask you to confirm your name and who you are visiting (mention you are examining for a CCA)
7. On confirmation, the barrier will be raised and you will be asked to drive into the first available space (excluding blue badge bays).