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This guide will help take you through the very basics of how to a set up a simple OSCE exam in Practique. This covers only the barest minimum tasks to set up an exam. It covers how to do things, but not why. For best practice, there are many additional things you may want to look into, such as dimensions or constraints, which are ways to categorise exams and questions. The guide will take you through the following steps:

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1. Click on the Items tab.
2. Click on Create new Item. 
   The next screen creates the outline of the item.
   
   The Case number is automatically generated. 
3. In Item Title enter a name for your question.
4. For Item Type choose ‘OSCE Station’.
5. Click on Create Item. 
   The next screen lets you enter information about the station useful for record keeping. You can enter details such as patient name and age and a summary of what the station involves e.g. History examination and blood results. We will not change any for now.
   

6. Click Save Item. 
   The next screen shows a new set of tabs:
   
   

   • Item Information: The information you just entered and versioning
   • Item resources: Add images, examiner info documents, actor briefings, student briefings, videos etc. to a station
   • Blueprinting: Add ‘dimensions’ for automatic generation of exams
   • Marksheet: Here you specify what questions the examiners should answer and how. You are creating the mark sheet.
   • Item overview: Summary of the station
   • Item Performance: Shows reports of how the station has performed in previous exams
     
     
7. Go to the Item resources tab.
   Here you can upload any images or information packs you want to be visible on the ipad.
8. Click Add a resource. 
9. In Resource Type, choose Examiner Notes.
   

10. Click Choose File and select a PDF of examiner notes.

    New fields (Dim not for items, Archived bp dimension, ...) appears.  For now ignore them

    Warning
    Please note that once you have selected a file, a range of dimensions and categories will appear if your local administrator has created blueprint maps which allow you to tag Examiner Notes. If they do appear, for now, just ignore these additional tagging options.

    
    

11. Click Add Resource. 
    
12. Click  on the Marksheet tab. 

13. Click on Add new criteria.

    (In fact there are two buttns with same text Add new criteria - use the first one.)
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    You should get a popup allowing you to enter the

    
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    Warning
    If the Marksheet does not contain any criteria yet, you would see two Add new criteria buttons close to each other. You can click on either of them to add a new criteria.

    
    
    

14. You should get a popup allowing you to enter the question information. 

    This tutorial presumes that your local administrator has set up the system so that it contains a Section called "Marks". If a Section has not been set, please follow the instructions on how to set up Sections in the blue box.

    
    

    Warning
    To set up a Marksheet Section: 1. Settings > Manage Sections > Provide a section name e.g. "Marks" > Add Section

    
    

    

    
    

15. In Section, choose ‘Marks’ – the section is the heading it will appear under.
16. In Text, type the question to be answered. For example: “How well did the candidate perform?”
17. The Type selection shows the ways in which the question can be answered, the ones you are likely to use are:
    
    
    • Discrete: Select from a choice of values, e.g. 1, 2, 3 or good, ok, poor.
    • Free text: A box in which to type whatever you like.
      
      
18. For now, choose ‘Free Text’
19. In Weight, type 0
    
    Weight indicates how much a question is worth relatively for automatic marking. 0 means the result has no bearing. 1 Would be a normal marking, 2 would be worth double etc. Having mandatory unchecked means the examiner does not have to fill in the question.
    
    
20. Make sure Mandatory is not ticked.
21. Leave Feedback visible to candidate not ticked.
22. Click Save.
    
    However, what if we wanted a ‘Pass’, ‘Borderline’, ‘Fail’ option for the question?
    
    
23. At the top bar, click on the Settings tab, then Manage Schemas
    
    The schema page allows you to make custom mark types for questions.
    
    
24. Type a name (i.e. Good/Average/Bad) into the ‘Add a new schema’ box and click Add. 
25. Find the name you typed in the above list and click Edit Answer. 
    
    
    
    
    Now you can see the list of answers you can select for this question.
    
    
26. In Title, type ‘Pass’ – This is the name that appears on the screen
27. In Value, type 2 – These are the points awarded to the candidate if the examiner chooses that answer.
28. Click Add. 
29. Repeat this process for ‘Borderline’ – 1 and ‘Fail’ – 0
    
    
    
    Now we can go back to our station.
    
    
30. Click the Items tab again
31. Find your earlier station and click View. 
32. Click on the Marksheet tab
33. Click on Edit next to the marking criteria you opted for previously. In Type, choose ‘Discrete’ instead of 'Free text'
    
    
    
    
34. A new ‘Schema’ box will appear. Choose the name you gave to your schema.
35. In Weight, type 1.
36. Tick Mandatory.
37. Leave Feedback visible to candidate not ticked.
38. Click Save. 
    
    
    
    Now we need to submit the station. We won’t be sending this question for review, we will approve it immediately:
    
    
    
    
39. Click Submit for Review. 
40. Leave the options as-is and click Submit.
41. Click Approve (Green button).
42. Click Approve (Blue button). 

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1. Click Create Exam. 
   
   
   
   
2. In ‘Number of Days’ enter 1 (if you had 3 days of exams you would enter 3 here)
3. In ‘Exam Blueprint’ select the exam you made earlier.
4. In ‘Exam Venue Capacity’ enter 2 (this is the number of students a circuit can take including rests)
5. In ‘Number of Blocks’ enter 1 –If you use a different set of questions in the AM and PM you would enter 2
6. In ‘Number of Sessions’ enter 1 – This is the number of sessions that happen in each block or day. For example, if there are three sessions before lunch and three after and you are using the same the questions all day (1 block) you would enter 6. If you had 2 blocks (different set of questions in the morning and afternoon, you would enter 3.
7. In ‘Number of Circuits’ enter 1 – this is the number of simultaneous exams (rotations) running, for example, if using two rooms of 10 stations each, with each candidate taking 10 stations you would enter 2.
8. Leave ‘Standard Setting Method’ as Angoff and ‘Randomize Questions’ as No
Click Create Exam.
Now the exam has been created you will be taken to a screen that shows an overview of what should be completed to fill in the detail.
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9. Under ‘Candidates’ click Specify exam dates. 
10. In ‘The first date in this exam will be’ select today’s date.
Click Save. 
Now the Candidates bar is half filled in, and an item set is available.

11. Click Pre-select Item Sets. 
12. The item set may have already been selected, if so, skip to number 17. If not, click Remove on any existing item sets.
13. Click Add Item Sets to this list.
14. Find your item set and click Add. 
Click Approve Item Set list. 
The item set bar is now complete.

15. Under item sets, click Lock changes. 
16. Click Lock changes.
17. Under Candidates, click Specify candidates.
    

    This screen will let you upload students. You can either assign them manually from students created previously or upload a whole allocation from excel, which we will do here. The excel book in this tutorial will be provided, but the format required is:

    • ID – The students university number
    • Last Name
    • First Name
    • Block – The full date, then a dash, then the block of the exam. E.g. “30 November 2016 – 1”
    • Session – The Session for the student, e.g. “Session 1”
    • Room – The station number the student starts at, e.g. “2”
    • Circuit – The number of the rotation the student has been allocated to e.g. “1”
    Click on Upload Candidate allocation2.
18. Leave ‘Standard Setting Method’ as Angoff and ‘Randomize Questions’ as No
19. Click Create Exam.
    
    Now the exam has been created you will be taken to a screen that shows an overview of the elements of the exam that needs to be completed. This is split into Candidates, Item Sets, Examiners and Role Players. Not all OSCE exams will require Role Players so you do not need to fill in the details if not applicable. 
    
    It will also give you a warning in orange to specify exam dates. This is normal. 
    
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20. Under ‘Candidates’ click Specify exam dates. 
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21. In ‘The first date in this exam will be’ select today’s date.
22. For now, ignore Exclusion Dates. 

23. Click Save. 
    
    Now the Candidates bar is half filled in, and an item set is available.
    
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    Warning
    Please do not be alarmed by the orange warnings. These are there to guide you.

    
    

24. Click Pre-select Item Sets. 
25. The item set may have already been automatically pre-selected. If yes, click Remove on any existing item sets so you can add your own Item Set. If not, proceed to the next step. 
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26. Click Add Item Sets to add an Item Set or multiple Item Sets to the list.
    
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27. Find your item set and click Add. 
    
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28. Click Approve Item Set list. 
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    The item set bar is now complete.
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29. Under item sets, click Lock changes. 

30. You will be asked to confirm that you want to lock the changes. 

31. Click Lock changes.
    
    

    Warning
    If you need to make any changes to the Item Sets, all you need to do is to unlock the changes by clicking the Unlock changes button.

    Now move on to indicating which candidates
    
    

32. Under Candidates, click Specify candidates.
    
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    This screen will let you upload students. You can either assign them manually from students created previously or upload a whole allocation from excel, which we will do here. A sample CSV is provided within the system and the format required is:

    • ID – The students university number or other identifiers (required)
    • Last Name (optional)
    • First Name (optional) 
    • Block – The full date, then a dash, then the block of the exam. E.g. “30 November 2016 – 1” (optional)
    • Session – The Session for the student, e.g. “Session 1” (optional)
    • Room – The station number the student starts at, e.g. “2” (optional)
    • Circuit – The number of the rotation the student has been allocated to e.g. “1” (optional)
    
    
33. Click on Upload Candidate allocation. 
    
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34. Click on Example CSV file to download a sample excel file. 
35. Populate the CSV file with the details of the exact number of students as the number of stations in your exam. For now, we assume that there are no rest stations. Fill in the ID, First Name and Last Name. For now, leave the column of Block, Session name, Room number and Circuit name blank as these are optional. Save the File. 
36. Under ‘Upload CSV/XLS file’ click choose file.
37. Select the provided excel book ‘Candidates Upload format’
38. Click Upload
39. Under Candidates, click Lock changes.
40. Click Lock changes. sample CSV file which you have saved. 
41. Click Upload.
42. Under Candidates, click Lock changes.

43. You will be asked to confirm that you want to lock the changes. Click Lock Changes. 
    
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    Warning
    If you need to make any changes to the Item Sets, all you need to do is to unlock the changes by clicking the Unlock changes button.

    
    
    Now we will input the examiners, marshals (invigilators) and who they are marking.
    
    

44. Under ‘Examiners’ click Allocate examiners. 
    
    

    Like the students, we could do this manually, but here we will use the excel upload. The book will be provided for the tutorial, but the format required is:

    • ID – an identifier for the examiner. You could use their GMC number or whatever you decide, but each examiner should keep the same ID between exams so it is worth agreeing a format beforehand
    • First Name
    • Surname
    • Block – The full date, then a dash, then the block of the exam. E.g. “30 November 2016 – 1”
    • Session – The Session for the examiner, e.g. “Session 1”
    • Room – The station the examiner occupies, e.g. 3 (should be blank for marshals)
    • Circuit – The number of the rotation the examiner is on e.g. “1”
    • Role – Examiner or Marshall, should be “E” or “M”
    
    
    
45. Click Upload Examiner allocation
46. Under ‘Upload CSV/XLS file’ click Choose file
47. Select the provided excel book “Examiner Upload Format”
48. Click Upload.
49. Click Allocate Examiners. 
    
    Now we confirm the allocation looks OK.
    
    
50. Click Close allocation
51. Under Examiners, click Lock changes
52. Click Lock changes
    
    You could also allocate role players for our OSCE if you maintain a list of them, but you don’t need to, so we’ll skip that step.
    
    
53. Under Role Players, click Lock changes.
54. Click Lock changes. 

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Your exam is now complete! Results are available in the ‘Exams’ section, by clicking Set Standard. Olda notes and additions are marked by color (orange).  At least English should be checked.