Medicine is a practical discipline and it is essential that we ensure students are safe and competent. The Clinical Competency Assessment (CAA) is reliable, valid and fair because all students are asked to do the same activities across a wide range of skills and are seen by many different examiners. The results across different teaching hospitals are broadly equivalent. There is no evidence that students from one clinical education campus do better than others.

The first CCA of Year 3 is formative and therefore does not count towards progression. It provides valuable examiner feedback (verbal and written) on your performance at each station. Its content is based on the online cases, TCD sessions, secondary component teaching and your clinical skills examination pages. This CCA is shorter than other CCAs (8 stations) and is intended to prepare you for the summative CCA later in Years 3, 4 and 5. In addition to the immediate verbal feedback, you will later receive your overall score, examiner feedback and a breakdown of your marks station-by-station. Each station of the formative Y3 CCA is 10.5 minutes long (90 seconds preparation + 8 minutes in the station + 1 minute examiner feedback).

The second Year 3 CCA is summative and again, its content is based on a combination of the skills and clinical topics from your online cases, TCD sessions, secondary component teaching and your clinical skills examination pages. It consists of 16 stations, each lasting 9.5 minutes (90 seconds preparation + 8 minutes in the station). The stations are designed primarily to test skills, as opposed to knowledge, though knowledge is also needed. Skills include: history taking, sharing information, clinical examination, data interpretation and prescribing.

The CCA assessment pages on 1MedInfo provide more detailed information on the CCA including station types, marking domains and useful revision resources.

CCA Marking 

Each station is marked in 3 sections: [1] the sub-domain ratings, [2] your global judgement and [3] typed free-text feedback from the examiner.

The sub-domain rating scales are selected to match the station content and are intended to provide you with formative feedback. The full list of rating scales (and their respective elements) are available on 1MedInfo.

The global rating is the examiner’s expert judgement of your overall performance on the station. It reflects how skilfully and competently you performed the station overall – it allows examiners to take into account aspects of your performance not captured by the sub-domains, and how you integrated the various components. The global rating is judged using a competency rating scale with details of each descriptor available on 1MedInfo.

EXCELLENT DEMONSTRATION OF COMPETENCY GOOD DEMONSTRATION OF COMPETENCY SATISFACTORY DEMONSTRATION OF COMPETENCY FAILURE TO DEMONSTRATE COMPETENCY MAJOR FAILURE TO DEMONSTRATE COMPETENCY

CCA Outcomes

In order to pass the CCA, students must demonstrate competency in at least 12 stations out of the 16. Other grade outcomes are determined using combinations of stations passed and stations marked as Excellent as shown below:

If you have failed an individual station, even if you have passed the CCA overall, you are strongly recommended to see a member of your Hospital Dean’s team to discuss your feedback and explore additional support.

Year 3 students who fail will re-sit the CCA in July and will progress to Year 4 provided all other components have been completed satisfactorily. (See: Progression from Year 3 to Year 4)

Students who fail their re-sit opportunity are automatically excluded from the Programme unless acceptable mitigating circumstances are submitted for consideration and are approved by the Mitigating Circumstances Panel.

Conduct in the CCA

Due to differences in available space, each examining site is configured differently and you will be informed of the particular protocols to be followed at your examination site. However, there are a number of fundamental points, which relate to conduct in any CCA examination. Failure to adhere to these may result in your exclusion from the examination and your case will be considered at the MBChB Health and Conduct Committee. This may have a serious impact on your normal progression through the Programme.

These are:

• Before being allowed to enter the examination, you must present your University Library (ID) Card which shows your name, photograph and registration number. Hospital ID will not be accepted. If you fail to produce your library card, you may not be allowed to sit the examination.
• Do not take with you smart devices, mobile phones, pagers or any other form of electronic communication. Any student found with a smart device, mobile phone or pager etc. (whether switched on or not), either in the quarantine area or during the examination, will be excluded from the examination and receive a mark of zero. Leave them at home!
• Do not attempt to communicate with other students who may have undertaken the CCA at an earlier time in the day. Whilst every effort is made to ensure that students are not able to discuss the examination outside their quarantine area, it is your responsibility not to cheat. Students found in communication with others who have just taken the CCA face exclusion from the examination.
• Ensure that the invigilators are aware of your movements at all times. If you need to leave the quarantine area for any reason, seek permission from the relevant personnel first. Failure to do so may result in your exclusion from the examination.