After completing core clerkships, NYU Grossman School of Medicine MD students take our comprehensive clinical skills exam, in which patient encounters are used to assess your skills in communication, taking patient histories, performing physical exams, and clinical reasoning.

The exam also assesses the success of changes and innovations to the medical school curriculum and solicits student recommendations regarding future improvements.

The comprehensive clinical skills exam consists of 6 mock patient encounters, each approximately 15 minutes in duration. Cases are developed to reflect clinical concepts and skills you learn across the core clerkships. Standardized patients are trained evaluators, who use behavioral checklists to assess your performance.

After each patient encounter, you are given 15 minutes to write a patient note that summarizes your findings and lists your top 3 possible diagnoses in your differential diagnosis, with supporting evidence for each. Other exam components include interpreting clinical test results, proposing initial management plans, and placing a consult call. Post-encounter notes are assessed by trained raters.

An executive committee reviews exam results from standardized patient and note assessments and scores each student either pass or fail. Feedback is provided in an Entrustable Professional Activity (EPA) framework, to gauge your exam performance and identify areas for continued growth.

Remediation services are available as required, after which students may retake the exam.