Clinical Medicine: Assessment

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Clinical Study

The assessment structure of the clinical course is kept under review and this page is due to be updated with new assessment information with effect from 2021-22.

Assessment comprises both summative and formative elements.  Formative assessments allow students to measure their progress.  Summative assessments must be passed in order to progress through the course; these include formal written (including computer-based) examinations, and clinical (i.e. practical) examinations; students also complete course work such as poster presentations, essays, log-books of clinical experience etc. Student performance during clinical rotations is also assessed and must be deemed satisfactory in order to progress with the course.

The curriculum, supplemented by course handbooks, ensures that students understand what they will be expected to know for each assessment.  Successful completion of each year of the course leads to the degrees of BM BCh (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery).

Year 4 

There is a formative assessment of clinical examination skills early in the first term.

There is a summative written assessment of the Laboratory Medicine course at the end of the first term, and summative assessments of both written knowledge and of clinical skills via an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (ie a practical assessment) at the end of the third term in Combined Medicine and Surgery.

Students also complete course work such as poster presentations as part of special study modules.

YeaR 5 (Specialty Rotations)

Students are required to have satisfactorily attended all courses and fulfilled all individual course requirements, including completing all relevant formative assessments throughout the year.  At the end of the academic year students sit the Integrated Summative Assessment.  The Integrated Summative Assessment consists of two assessment units, the written examination and the clinical examination which assess knowledge and skills in the Year 5 subjects.

Year 6

The Year 6 curriculum concerns General Clinical Studies and Vocational Skills. In the second term of the final year, students are summatively assessed in medicine and surgery (General Clinical Studies) by written (including computer-based) and clinical examinations. Vocational Studies focus on preparing for practice as a doctor.  Students are required to have completed work to a satisfactory standard through review of a course work portfolio of evidence.