The exam consists of stations through which a group of students rotate at precisely timed intervals. Students must perform specific skills according to explicit objective criteria. They are evaluated through direct observation and may receive specific, immediate verbal feedback by trained raters. Written score reports for all stations are given to each student at a later date, which include evaluation of students' performance by station and by clinical skill. Feedback forms also include students' score on humanism as well as predictors of clinical performance.
Checklists provide the objective criteria by which to score each student.