Reflection on Mock OSPE Examination

I was surprised by my results in my mock OSPE examination, which I believe makes it all the more important to reflect on my experience in order to improve in time for the real exam. As usual, I will follow the Gibbs (1988) reflective cycle as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Gibbs Reflective Cycle (1988), as cited by McGregor and Cartwright (2011).

[endif]--Despite having far more equine experience than canine, I failed my equine OSPE and passed the canine portion. I actually thought that the equine part went much better, and indeed my feedback said that my practical was “very confident and well executed”, but I failed to remember to use hand sanitiser which automatically failed me. This important part of the practical completely slipped my mind. Indeed, cognitive anxiety is known to negatively impact performance (Cassady and Johnson, 2002) and I believe my exam anxiety caused me to make this mistake.

I passed the canine portion, although I did make a couple of mistakes which were highlighted in my feedback. I didn’t remove the dog’s collar from its neck before adjusting it, as I did not realise that was what was required. I also could have walked more slowly to achieve a better walk, as the dog used in my practical was very small. I mainly have experience of larger dogs so find it difficult to walk slowly enough to get a walk out of a small dog.

Overall I was disappointed at failing the equine portion as I know I am capable of passing, so it was a shame to fail it over something so easily avoidable. However, I recognise that it is a positive outcome as now I have made the mistake, I won’t do it again, giving me a better chance of success in the real exam. I was pleasantly surprised at passing the canine portion as I was far more nervous about it due to having less experience. Again, it was a shame to have made the mistakes I did but I believe that I can learn from them and am less likely to repeat them in the real exam. The mock OSPE gave me a chance to highlight my weaknesses, and I will practice walking smaller dogs before taking the real exam.