Book excerpt: Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) are commonly encountered at all levels of medical school including the final MBBS examination. OSCEs also play an important role at postgraduate level and are used to assess competency in the Foundation Years. One of the fundamental requirements of passing the OSCE is an understanding of the standard which is expected and an appreciation of how to demonstrate this. This book discusses 170 commonly encountered OSCE scenarios, with a step-by-step approach to maximise your chances of success in the examination. The scenarios are presented with sufficient background information to enable candidates to tackle variations. This comprehensive book, covering both surgery and medicine, overcomes any problems of a tick-box approach and insufficient detail faced by some alternative texts. The clear, straight-forward style and logical layout make this book perfect preparation for OSCE examinations.