Practising the NAC OSCE out loud

Most of what the examination marks only exists out loud. Which question you asked, the sequence of your questions, and whether you explained a diagnosis in words a worried person could follow are all spoken. Reading a case rehearses none of that.

What speaking practice has to do

A useful rehearsal asks you to speak the whole encounter: an opening, a history, questions you did not plan for, and a plan you say aloud at the end. It also has to answer back, so you can hear how your questions land.

How a spoken turn works on NACMATE

Hold the microphone button and say your turn. The recording goes once to our model provider, which transcribes it, and the transcription comes back to you on the screen. You can read it, but you cannot edit it.

If the transcription is wrong, the composer offers one retake. After that you send the turn you have.

The clock does not run while your recording is transcribed or while the patient is answering, so a slow connection does not cost you time. Reading a reply aloud does count, because the reply is on screen while it is read.

What is kept

NACMATE does not store audio: not the recording, not a copy, and no log line holds it. What is kept is the text of your turn, and a few measurements of how it arrived, held against your account. Those measurements are not given to the model that writes your report.

What you hear back

Replies are read aloud by your browser's own speech synthesis, in an English Canadian voice where your device has one. Where it has none, the reply appears as text only. You can mute the replies, and replay any line.

Start small

Practise one presentation spoken from start to finish before you try a second. NACMATE does not keep your audio, so if you want to hear yourself back, record the session on your own device.

What speaking practice does not do

It does not show you how an examiner would mark you, and it does not predict a result. The report lists which criteria your session reached, with quotations from your transcript. Read it as a list of things to try again, not as a grade.

Sources

More guides are on the guides page, and the exam overview has the examination's structure on one page.