Over the two days of examining 8 visitors attended the exam, unfortunately two who were scheduled to attend on day one, and three who were scheduled to attend on day two were unable to attend although day two coincided with major travel disruption in London, which could partially explain this. One of the visitors, Dr Mary Pinder was from Perth, Australia and is the Vice President of the College of Intensive Care Medicine of Australia and New Zealand. She took the opportunity afforded by a visit to the UK to attend the exam. This allowed much useful interaction and sharing of information.
It is helpful to have exam procedures scrutinized by external visitors. On this occasion they commented on the wide range of material the candidates were exposed to and how professional and fair the exam seemed to be. They were impressed with how approachable examiners were and made helpful suggestions about the layout of the examination room. All felt witnessing the exam would help them in guiding their trainees on the nature of material used and the depth of knowledge required.
During the two days of examining examiners were asked to trial a proposed new marking scheme for the SOE alongside the current system. This appeared to be well received. Data will be analysed and if the decision is taken to recommend a change to the system this will be discussed with the GMC. Any such changes will not affect the candidates experience of the exam but they will be given sufficient advanced warning via the website.
