28 October 2025
The General Medical Council (GMC) has approved a change to the passing criteria for the resuscitation (resus) stations in the FRCEM OSCE.
From the November 2025 examination diet, the Borderline Regression (BR) method will be used to determine pass/fail decisions for resus stations. This will replace the current use of examiner-assigned global grades for these stations and brings the resus stations in line with the methodology used across the rest of the OSCE.
Â
Candidates will continue to be required to:
- Achieve the overall examination pass mark; and
- Pass at least one of the three resus stations.
Â
Importantly:
- This change does not affect the marking of stations and training of examiners, nor does it require candidates to prepare differently for the exam.
- Our analysis has shown that the application of the BR method is fairer and more objective, improving the consistency and reliability of pass/fail decisions.
- The change does not negatively impact candidates, including those who have already begun their exam preparation.
Â
For any questions, please contact exams@rcem.ac.uk