ABSTRACT
This concluding chapter considers the final part of the OSCE process: marking. Equitable and consistent marking of OSCE stations is essential to ensure parity of assessment for students. We believe it is helpful to draw a distinction between marking and scoring OSCEs. Scoring OSCE papers is a contemporaneous process undertaken by an OSCE examiner during an actual OSCE session, while OSCE marking is a post-OSCE session activity undertaken by the academic staff and their selected external examiner. In OSCE scoring the examiners fill in the marking criteria for an individual OSCE station, but they are not necessarily making a final judgment on the student’s performance. In contrast, in OSCE marking the academic team examines from an overall perspective a student’s OSCE performance, using the previously completed OSCE scoring to make a final judgement on that performance. This marking process can also be informed by comments from the examiner and patient received during a meeting held at the end of an OSCE session. Several different methods are available for scoring OSCEs and the subsequent marking. We first consider the scoring of OSCEs, followed by OSCE marking and the differences between using pass/refer marks and percentage marks. Finally, we discuss the use of more quantitatively orientated methods for OSCE scoring and marking.
