Section outline
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The Medical School has developed and designed an assessment system weighted towards educational impact that drives learning of all students. The assessment system does not just identify academic progress but drives deep, contextual and constructive learning that will last a lifetime.
The University of Buckingham Medical School is committed to ensuring that methods of assessment are effective in measuring student attainment of the intended learning outcomes and that assessment policy and practices are effective in monitoring the validity, equality and reliability of assessment.
The primary purpose of summative assessment at the University of Buckingham Medical School is to assure the Medical School, the individual student, future employers, the General Medical Council and the public that each student has achieved all of the 'outcomes for graduates' defined in 'Tomorrow's Doctors' (2009) by the end of the course and that students earlier in the course are making satisfactory progress towards those outcomes.
As most students will reach the outcomes through consistently satisfactory performance in assessments, however, the other main purpose of the assessment system is to drive the learning of all students, and the medical school has therefore chosen to place a high weight on educational impact in the design of the assessment system. The aim is to assess students in ways that will drive deep, contextual & constructive learning that will last into life-long practice, not just to identify those few students who are not reaching the outcomes.
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In Phase 1, there will be an End of Term Assessment (ETA) at the end of each term. In Phase 2, there will be an assessment at the end of each rotation. The Key Assessment dates are below. Results will be posted shortly after the exam board has met.
2024 / 2025 Academic Year
(All dates and venues are provisional and may be subject to change)
Year 1 MED25 Buckingham Crewe Date Day Exam Board META1 CRB GYM 11/03/2025 T n/a ETA1 CRB GYM 17/04/2025 TH 14/05/2025 ETA2A CRB GYM 21/07/2025 M 14/08/2025 ETA2B CRB GYM 22/07/2025 T 14/08/2025 MOSCE CRB WC 28/08/2025 TH n/a ETA3A CRB GYM 27/10/2025 M 19/11/2025 ETA3B CRB GYM 28/10/2025 T 19/11/2025 OSCE1A CRB WC 30/10/2025 TH 19/11/2025 OSCE1B CRB WC 31/10/2025 F 19/11/2025 Y1 QE A CRB GYM 15/12/2025 M 15/01/2026 Y1 QE B CRB GYM 16/12/2025 T 15/01/2026 Y1 QE OSCE CRB CRB 18/12/2025 TH 15/01/2026 Year 2 MED24 Buckingham Crewe Date Day Exam Board ETA4 CRB GYM 17/04/2025 TH 14/05/2025 ETA5 CRB GYM 23/07/2025 W 14/08/2025 ETA6A CRB GYM 27/10/2025 M 20/11/2025 ETA6B CRB GYM 28/10/2025 T 20/11/2025 OSCE2A CRB WC 04/11/2025 T 20/11/2025 OSCE2B CRB WC 05/11/2025 W 20/11/2025 Y2 QE A CRB GYM 15/12/2025 M 28/01/2026 Y2 QE B CRB GYM 16/12/2025 T 28/01/2026 Y2 QE OSCE CRB CRB 19/12/2025 F 28/01/2026 Year 3 MED22 Buckingham Crewe Date Day Exam Board Mock OSCE CRB WC 21/11/2024 TH n/a ARPP3 Sub D/L n/a n/a 16/02/2025 SU 17/03/2025 IPE A WH GYM 24/02/2025 M 17/03/2025 IPE B WH GYM 25/02/2025 T 17/03/2025 IPE C WH GYM 26/02/2025 W 17/03/2025 IPE OSCE 3A WH WC 27/02/2025 TH 17/03/2025 IPE OSCE 3B WH WC 28/02/2025 F 17/03/2025 ARPP3 Resub D/L n/a n/a 13/04/2025 SU 29/04/2025 Y3 QE A CRB CRB 07/04/2025 M 29/04/2025 Y3 QE B CRB CRB 08/04/2025 T 29/04/2025 Y3 QE C CRB CRB 09/04/2025 W 29/04/2025 Y3 QE OSCE A CRB CRB 10/04/2025 TH 29/04/2025 Y3 QE OSCE B CRB CRB 11/04/2025 F 29/04/2025 Year 4 MED21 Buckingham Crewe Date Day Exam Board Mock AKT UoB tbc 14/11/2024 TH n/a PSA1 UoB tbc 30/01/2025 TH n/a ARPP4 Sub D/L n/a n/a 02/03/2025 SU 03/04/2025 OSCE 4A WH WC 03/03/2025 M 03/04/2025 OSCE 4B WH WC 04/03/2025 T 03/04/2025 FPE A UoB GYM 05/03/2025 W 03/04/2025 FPE B UoB GYM 06/03/2025 TH 03/04/2025 PSA2 MKUH A/C tbc 20/03/2025 TH n/a PSA3 MKUH A/C tbc 01/05/2025 TH n/a Y4 QE OSCE A MKUH A/C MKUH A/C 21/05/2025 W 19/06/2025 Y4 QE OSCE B MKUH A/C MKUH A/C 22/05/2025 TH 19/06/2025 Y4 QE A MKUH A/C GYM 28/05/2025 W 19/06/2025 Y4 QE B MKUH A/C GYM 29/05/2025 TH 19/06/2025 PSA4 MKUH A/C tbc 05/06/2025 F n/a ARPP4 Resub D/L n/a n/a 08/06/2025 SU 19/06/2025 FPSO n/a n/a n/a TH 19/06/2025 CRB = Chandos Road Building
WH = Whittlebury Hall
WC = Wellness Centre (Crewe)
UoB = University of Buckingham
GYM = Hub Gym (Crewe)
MKUH A/C = Milton Keynes University Hospital Academic Centre
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Dates are indicative only and may be subject to change.
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Written exams may be in the morning or afternoon.
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Times and location will be confirmed two weeks before the exam by email.
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Results are usually released within two working days of the Exam Board meeting.
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Results of assessment maybe withheld if a student has outstanding tuition fees.
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Students need to be available for the whole day for OSCEs.
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Students who do not meet the requirements to progress automatically, can take the qualifying exam (QE).
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Further detail regarding assessment arrangements are described in the Assessment Code Of Practice.
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For information on Mitigating Circumstances, please click here
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This version of the Code of Practice will apply to students entering the course in 2023 from the beginning of their course (subject to any changes made subsequently), and to students who entered the course in 2022, from January 2023. It will also apply to students who entered the course in 2019, starting from the beginning of their Phase 2 in February 2021, and will apply to students who entered the course in 2020, from April 2023.
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This version of the Code of Practice will apply to students entering the course in 2024 from the beginning of their course (subject to any changes made subsequently), and to students who entered the course in 2023, from the beginning of their Phase 2 in February 2025. It will also apply to students who entered the course in 2022, starting from the beginning of their Phase 2 in February 2024, and will apply to students who entered the course in 2021, from April 2024.
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A summary of information about medical school examinations
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UBMS uses a list of presentations to ensure that students are exposed to all the presentations that a doctor will experience multiple times in their course both in teaching and assessment. Summative assessments are planned, so that students will revisit these presentations multiple times.
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The medical school bases its procedures on those of the University of Buckingham. All students sitting examinations need to be familiar with them.
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Message to students from the University regarding the use of AI in assessments
AI is a potentially powerful tool, however care must be taken in its use in an educational context. Your educators will be looking for opportunities to incorporate the use of AI into your programme of study for appropriate tasks.
As students you should adopt the default position that AI is allowed only when specifically stated. It is very unlikely that AI generated content is permitted in a summative assessment. If in any doubt, it is your responsibility to clarify the situation before you use AI.
When tasks are set it should become routinely stated whether and how the use of AI is allowed.
When you use AI, you must state that you have done so and how, referencing the source. Failure to do so will be regarded as Academic Misconduct.
During the course, students will be taught the benefits and potential issues with AI generated material and how to reference AI material properly.
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This is a webinar from the MSCAA about the AKT which will form part of the finals for all medical students from now on.
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This is the presentation from the briefing about the process for submitting your files to your NM, eportfolio or SSC Lead / Library Project Supervisor.
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Examsoft is a system that enables you to take exams on various devices. The simple set up process is outlined below.
When you are registered as an examtaker in Examsoft, you will get an automated email asking you to download the Examsoft app (called Examplify) from the app store. Ignore any references to paying a fee and system requirements.
Only update to a new operating system when Examsoft announce that they have completed their compatibility checks on it.This link is to the Minimum System Requirements to run Examplify on your device.
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This presentation explains how to prepare your device to take a digital exam.
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This linked page provides a video demonstrating Examplify. It shows: how to login, download an exam, enter an exam, navigate the app, the different types of question used, and how to exit and upload an exam. It is demonstrated first on a personal computer (laptop) and then on on an iPad (from about 8 minutes).
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In Year 3 of the course students rotate around 6 Blocks (Junior Rotation). This guidance describes how to prepare for the examinations at the end of the year.
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You need to bear in mind infection control and patient safety. Even if your exam is not in a clinical area, the people you are in contact with will be going into clinical areas. For these reasons the MKUH Staff Health and Wellbeing Department provides the following guidance, based on the information in the MKUH document "Precautions for Specific Infections":
Diarrhoea (with an unknown cause): do not attend until asymptomatic for 48 hours if stools are watery (see the Bristol Stool Chart)
Vomitting (with an unknown cause): do not attend until asymptomatic for 48 hours.
Diarrhoea and/or vomitting (with known cause that is not infectious, e.g. IBS or motion sickness): you may attend if you feel well enough.
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The UK Medical Licensing Assessment (UK MLA) will be a demonstration that those UK graduates who obtain registration with a licence to practise medicine in the UK meet a common threshold for safe practice. It will go live for students graduating in the academic year 2024-25 or beyond.
The UK MLA will consist of two parts:
- The Medical Schools Applied Knowledge Test (MS AKT): a written assessment of applied clinical knowledge which will be taken by all students at UK medical schools as part of the final set of exams leading to graduation.
- The Clinical and Professional Skills Assessment (CPSA): the clinical examination run by medical schools for students in the final stage of their medical degree.
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A link to the resources about the MLA on the Medical School Council (MSC) website
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A student guide is now available on the MSC website. The guide is designed to provide a general overview of the processes relating to the MS AKT. The guide will be updated yearly.