My National Assessment Collaboration (NAC) Examination Experience

Today, I will write about my NAC OSCE exam experience in short. NAC OSCE is the clinical exam for Canadian licensing system. I took my NAC exam in September, 2021. Due to COVID 19, the exam was uncertain. But in July, MCC decided to take this exam in September with little modifications. This modifications were first tested on us!!! I always feel nervous during any clinical exam. I have performance anxiety so, I was extremely worried about my exam performance. However, I was not worried about my clinical knowledge. But, this exam actually totally different because it not only tests about clinical knowledge, but also tests on multiple other things such as personality, communication, attitude, body languages, Canadian ethics etc.

In this new exam system, we did not need to perform physical examination on patients as there was physical distancing rule. We needed to tell to the examiner about physical examination steps and what findings we were looking for. Also, we always needed to wear a surgical mask. Another new change was about pass marks. Before there was marking system but from our exam time it was pass, fail or pass with superior performance.

My journey in short:

Preparation time : 1.5 months (as I had MCCQE1 in July,2021)

Preparatory Course : I did not attend any preparatory course as I had no time.

Practice Course : I practice cases with a Private instructor . We were 3 in group and he gave us total 20 hours (2 hours per session/ twice in a week) for online practice session. We 3 got equal opportunity to practice different cases.

Mock : I attended one online mock which was okay, not great. (Not value for the money)

Personal practice: Initially I got one online partner who took a preparatory course before so she gave me a total idea about NAC exam during our practice time. Later, I got another online partner in mid August who already appeared NAC before. She wanted to practice like mock exams. So, we took each other mocks, 10 cases at a time. This mocks practice helped me a lot.

Exam day : Real exam experience was totally different. I would say it was a tough exam and I was not fully satisfied with my performance. However, I am lucky that by the grace of Almighty, I passed with superior performance. 

Note that I followed: OSCE guide (only)

Recommendation: Practice.. Practice..  Practice..

Find a partner or a mentor who can judge you properly. Try to improve everyday until your exam day. You cannot know everything but you can try to know many things. Try to take as much as mock exams if possible. Prepare very well.

How could I took exam in 1.5 months preparation?

1. I had residency training in Internal medicine back home so I knew how to take history effectively to get the diagnosis.

2. I got very supportive partners.

3. I did not waste my time in large group for listening to others, I only focused on my performance in front of a teacher or my partners.

4. I worked really hard, did not take any breaks.

Thanks for reading this. If you have any further question please feel free to comment below.