Practical clinical final exam (OSCE)

Starting from the 2025/2026 academic year, a practical clinical final exam will be required to complete the medicine program.

OSCE is a standardized assessment method used at the end of the sixth year of the University of Tartu Medical School curriculum. The exam aims to objectively and structurally assess a student's practical clinical skills and ability to demonstrate them in simulated clinical situations.

Why is OSCE necessary? Standardizing the assessment reduces its variability and ensures that the skills of all graduates of the curriculum are at the level necessary for clinical work. OSCE assesses whether a student knows something and whether he or she can apply this knowledge in practice. Until now, different supervisors have assessed practical skills in different practice bases, but in the case of OSCE, the assessment is uniform and comparable. The exam is assessed on a pass/fail basis.


What does the exam look like?

  • The exam has 10–15 stations. Each station has one task, which the student has 8 minutes to complete. The tasks are created based on realistic clinical situations.

  • The performance of each task is assessed by 1–2 instructors and marked against standardised scoring rubrics.

  • After completing the task, the student has 2 minutes to move to the next station and familiarise themselves with the new task.

  • The exam is considered complete if the student completes the tasks of all stations.


What skills are assessed in the exam? OSCE assesses the skills marked as mandatory in the current list of practical skills.


When is the exam held? OSCE takes place at the end of the sixth year. The exact schedule will be announced during the academic year.

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OSKE

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