What happens on the day of the Australian RN OSCE?
Quick answer
You arrive no more than 30 minutes before registration opens, show your passport and hand in your belongings1. You then move through 10 stations. Each lasts 10 minutes: 2 minutes of reading and 8 minutes of performance, run strictly to time1.
On this page
- What do you need to sort out before exam day?
- What happens step by step on the day?
- How does each 10-minute station run?
- What is assessed in the stations?
- How do you write documentation in the stations?
- What should you wear and bring?
- What happens after the exam?
- How current is this guide?
- Frequently asked questions
What do you need to sort out before exam day?
You can sit the RN OSCE once you have passed the NCLEX-RN MCQ exam2. It is an in-person exam held in Australia only, so you must travel there23. It is delivered at 2 locations: Adelaide Health Simulation in Adelaide, and the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in Melbourne2.
You get a confirmation letter by email 4 to 8 weeks before the exam period, with your date, time and location3. Do not enter or contact the exam centre before your exam day1.
What happens step by step on the day?
- Arrive no more than 30 minutes before the registration period in your letter starts.1
- Go to the bathroom first. Once registered you cannot leave the registration area, and the bathroom is open only at scheduled breaks.1
- At the registration desk, show your photographic ID, sign in on the candidate register and hand your belongings to an Ahpra invigilator.1 Phones, smartwatches and tablets are inspected, and you cannot use them again until you are released.1
- You receive a candidate ID card, used to sign in to each station, and a card showing which station you start at.1
- An invigilator takes the group to the waiting room for a short presentation, then you get a bathroom break before the exam circuit.1
- Outside each station you receive notepaper, write your full name and candidate ID on it, and read the candidate instructions.1
- After the announcement you enter and run the station.1
- After the 10 stations you hand in your pen, ID card and notepaper, hear a briefing of about 5 minutes, and may wait in quarantine until every candidate for the day has registered.1
How does each 10-minute station run?
Each station is a 10-minute slot1. This is our clock of one slot, built from the handbook.
Each station is 10 minutes, with 2 minutes of reading and 8 minutes of performance, and the exam is run strictly to time.1
| Moment | What the handbook says |
|---|---|
| Reading time | Sit outside the door and stay seated for the entire 2 minutes, even if you have finished reading.1 |
| Start | The door stays closed during reading time. After the announcement you stand, open the door and start.1 |
| During the station | An examiner observes and marks you, and does not prompt you unless the instructions say so.1 A bell rings at the 6-minute mark in the station, to show 2 minutes are left.1 |
| Finishing early | The handbook recommends that you stay in the room until the time-up announcement.1 |
| Time up | Hand your notes to the examiner, leave and sit outside your next station. You get no extra time and cannot re-enter a room.1 |
What is assessed in the stations?
Each station assesses a specific clinical skill and how you manage the care of the patient as a whole. You must perform the skills, not just talk about them1. Skills that may be tested include physiological observations, calculating drug dosages, medication administration, wound care and hand hygiene1.
Communication is assessed in all the nursing stations. Be familiar with the ISBAR approach for handing over patient information1. The patient is a simulated patient (an actor) or a manikin, and you should interact with them as you would with a real patient1. Each station is marked by a qualified, currently registered RN examiner, using evidence-based criteria matched to the station1.
How do you write documentation in the stations?
Write clinical documentation in the blue patient record folder inside the station. Documentation written on the notepaper is not marked1. When you write a date, use the Australian day/month/year format, for example 1/10 or 1/10/20261.
What should you wear and bring?
- Bring a passport with a current expiry date, in the same name you gave at the portfolio stage. It is the only acceptable photographic ID.1
- You need no equipment. Pens and stethoscopes are supplied.1
- Wear enclosed shoes such as sneakers or runners, keep your arms bare from the elbow down, tie long hair back, and wear no jewellery apart from stud or sleeper earrings and no nail polish or false nails.1
What happens after the exam?
Results are released within 8 weeks. The email gives your overall result and, for each station, its pass mark, your mark and the standard achieved1. After a pass the next step is to apply for registration. After a fail the next step is to pay another OSCE fee to start the process again1.
How current is this guide?
When we last checked (the date is in the sources list below), we read the Ahpra handbook, which is dated 7 July 20261, and the NMBA OSCE and registered nurse pages. Rooms and routines can change, so your confirmation letter comes first. The Board and Ahpra do not endorse any external OSCE preparation programs, and point to the handbook and the Board's standards for practice3. Our Australian OSCE course is private training. It is our own material, not Ahpra questions. To compare with the UK, see CBT or OSCE first and the CBT numeracy pass mark.
Frequently asked questions
Can I take a bag or phone into the exam?
You can bring a bag, but you hand your belongings to an invigilator at registration for storage during the exam1. Electronic devices are inspected at registration and you cannot use them again until you are released1.
Can I take a break during the exam?
There are no scheduled breaks. You can raise your hand to ask for a bathroom break, but the exam continues while you are away1.
What if I cannot attend my exam date?
Email the IQNM Exams Team at least 5 full business days before your allocated exam date and time3.
Sources
Each number in the text links to the document the fact comes from. We keep a dated copy of every source with its SHA-256 fingerprint, so we can show what it said on the day we checked it.
- Source 1: Ahpra and the National Boards: Registered Nurse OSCE Candidate Handbook, 7 July 2026. Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) and the NMBA, checked 2 November 2026.
https://www.ahpra.gov.au/documents/default.aspx?record=WD20%2f30349%5bv12%5d&dbid=AP&chksum=krcq6pDijKrhj6TZEQUMIsw0wcbCCWMzB4vo8GYPtPc%3d - Source 2: NMBA: Information for registered nurses (internationally qualified nurses, examinations). Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) / Ahpra, checked 2 November 2026.
https://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/Accreditation/IQNM/Examination/Registered-nurses - Source 3: NMBA: Objective Structured Clinical Exam (OSCE) page. Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) / Ahpra, checked 2 November 2026.
https://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/Accreditation/IQNM/Examination/Objective-structured-clinical-exam
Aptia Skills is a private training company. It is not connected with the NMC, Pearson VUE, Ahpra, the NMBA or any government, and this guide does not replace what the regulator or the test centre tells you.