TL;DR — Verdict: “MRCEM Part C: 125 OSCE Stations” (Somani & Jain, 2nd ed., 2016, Jaypee, 496pp, ~£33 paperback) is still the most widely cited stand-alone OSCE textbook for UK candidates and the one most Reddit threads point to. It is excellent for breadth of stations, history-taking scaffolds, and procedural checklists, but the edition is now a decade old, predates the 2021 RCEM curriculum changes, and the cover still says “MRCEM Part C” — a name RCEM retired in 2016.
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Best use case: Read it cover to cover during the 4-6 weeks before sitting MRCEM OSCE, treat it as a station bank, and supplement with a live course (Bromley, RCEM, or similar) for current marking sheets and SimMan-era resus stations.
Skip it if: you have already done a strong UK ED rotation, attended a face-to-face OSCE course, and have access to up-to-date Royal College guidance (NICE, RCEM curriculum 2021) — at that point the marginal yield is low.
Disclosure: this review is written from a UK trainee perspective drawing on the published book detail, Amazon UK listings, the StEmlyns OSCE chapter, EM Gurus’ resource list, and verbatim Reddit threads from r/doctorsUK and r/JuniorDoctorsUK. The reviewer has not sat the current MRCEM OSCE format personally — every claim below is sourced or flagged as opinion.
What exactly is “125 OSCE Stations” and who wrote it?
The full title is MRCEM Part C: 125 OSCE Stations, Second Edition, by Nitin Jain and Kiran Somani (the latter then at University Hospital Southampton). It is published by Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers, ISBN 9781909836440, runs to 496 pages, and was released in 2016. There is also a Kindle edition on Amazon UK.
There is a sister volume — FRCEM Final: 125 OSCE Stations, Third Edition (ISBN 9781909836974), aimed at the old FRCEM Final OSCE. Make sure you are buying the MRCEM book if you are sitting Intermediate-level OSCE; the two are different products and the Final book leans more heavily on higher-stakes ED decisions.
Important naming point: RCEM retired the “MRCEM Part C” label in 2016 when the membership exams were restructured. The exam you are sitting is now simply the MRCEM OSCE (the practical clinical component after Primary and Intermediate SBA). The book’s content is broadly aligned, but the front cover and several chapter intros reference the old structure. That is a labelling issue, not a clinical one.
What is inside the book?
The book is built around 125 worked OSCE stations grouped into nine chapters. Page counts give you a sense of where the weight sits:
| Chapter | Pages | What you actually get |
|---|---|---|
| 1. History taking | 1–102 | Chest pain, syncope, headache, back pain, PV bleed, paediatric history — the bread-and-butter ED histories with worked answer scaffolds. |
| 2. Communication skills | 103–144 | Breaking bad news, angry relative, difficult referral, needlestick, consent, major incident, driving after seizure. |
| 3. Systems examination | 145–188 | Cardiovascular, respiratory, abdominal, cranial nerve, upper/lower limb neuro, peripheral vascular, eye, thyroid. |
| 4. Joint examination | 189–234 | Shoulder, elbow, hand, hip, knee, ankle/foot, back, neck — checklists in the order an examiner expects. |
| 5. Psychiatry | 235–258 | Depression, mania, schizophrenia, self-harm risk, mental capacity, MMSE, alcohol history. |
| 6. Practical skills & teaching | 259–392 | Biggest chapter — arterial line, central line, chest drain, IO, LP, NIV, RSI, surgical airway, FAST, slit lamp, sedation, catheter, suturing. |
| 7. Adult acute presentations | 393–432 | ALS shockable / non-shockable / special circumstances, post-ROSC, tachy/bradyarrhythmias, anaphylaxis, eclampsia, massive GI bleed. |
| 8. Paediatric acute presentations | 433–466 | Paeds anaphylaxis, asthma, CPR, choking, seizures, septic shock, stridor, SVT, neonatal duct-dependent circulation, newborn resus. |
| 9. Trauma presentations | 467–494 | Burns, tamponade and ED thoracotomy, haemorrhagic shock, head injury, trauma in pregnancy, airway problems. |
Each station follows the same pattern: candidate instructions, examiner notes, marking criteria mapped to the (then) curriculum codes, and a worked walk-through. That structure is the book’s main asset — it lets you simulate a station with a study partner in 8–10 minutes flat.
How does it actually read in 2026?
Holding the book against what RCEM publishes for the OSCE today (16 active stations, 8 minutes each, 1 minute reading time, plus two rest stations, total exam ~2h 42min), three things stand out.
The clinical content holds up. Joint examinations, focused histories, breaking bad news scripts, and procedural skills checklists do not date. A backslab is still a backslab; the SOCRATES framework for chest pain has not changed. Reddit user feedback is consistent on this — “it’s old but still en pointe, read it and you’re covered” (r/doctorsUK, Nov 2024). Another candidate who passed in 2022 wrote “125 OSCE Stations: Third Edition → read it fully. Duration: 1 month of weekends + free time studying. Took 2 days off prior” (r/JuniorDoctorsUK, Aug 2022, post whrjc9) — though note that quote refers to the FRCEM Final version, not the MRCEM book.
The resuscitation chapters are where age starts to show. ALS guidance moved to the 2021 ERC/Resuscitation Council UK update (and the 2025 refresh is now bedded in). Specifics like the dose timing for amiodarone in shockable arrests, the move away from atropine in PEA, and current paediatric APLS targets are best cross-checked against the live Resus Council UK algorithms, not memorised from the book. The general structure of the resus stations is still useful for practising the choreography.
NICE-driven stations need a sanity check. Head injury, sepsis, asthma, and trauma stations all map to NICE guidance that has been updated since 2016 (NG232 head injury, NG143 sepsis, NG244 asthma in adults, NG39 major trauma). The book’s principles are sound but specific thresholds (e.g. CT head within 1 hour criteria, sepsis lactate cut-offs) should be checked against the current NICE summary before exam day.
Pros and cons at a glance
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
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How does it compare to the alternatives?
The OSCE prep market for UK EM is small. Realistically you are choosing between three books and one or two courses. See also our guide to our wider best MRCEM OSCE practice book guide. See also our guide to the MRCEM OSCE practice timeline before the exam.
| Resource | Format | Approx. cost (UK, May 2026) | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 125 OSCE Stations (Somani/Jain, 2016) | Paperback / Kindle | ~£33 | Volume of practice stations, structured checklists, partner study. |
| OSCE Revision for the MRCEM (Goss, OUP, 2024) | Paperback (Oxford Specialty Training) | ~£40 | Newer, OUP-edited, ~100 topics, written against the current curriculum. |
| Mastering Emergency Medicine (Trivedy et al.) | Paperback | ~£35–45 used | Older but still recommended on EM Gurus’ list as a knowledge re-anchor; less station-focused. |
| Bromley MRCEM OSCE course | Live 2-day course (also runs online) | ~£500–700 | Examiner-style feedback, current marking schemes, simulated stations. |
| RCEM OSCE practice events | In-person, half/full day | Variable — check RCEM site | Closest to the real format; limited availability. |
The honest answer most UK trainees end up at: buy 125 OSCE Stations as the station bank, then book one live course for the marking-sheet realism and timing pressure. If you can only afford one resource, the live course wins on diminishing-returns grounds; if you can only afford books, this is the one to start with — possibly paired with the newer OUP Goss volume if you want a current-curriculum cross-check. See also our guide to the Oxford OSCE revision book for FRCEM Final.
Is there a video walk-through worth watching?
Free YouTube content on the MRCEM OSCE is patchy but exists. The MRCEM & FRCEM OSCE channel (cited on EM Gurus’ resources page) has demo stations that map roughly to chapters 1–4 of the book and is a useful sanity check on whether your partner-driven practice is on the right lines. Don’t expect production polish — these are doctor-made and short. Plan to watch a handful, not binge them.
How should you actually study with this book?
Strategy that comes up repeatedly on r/doctorsUK and from passed candidates:
- Weeks -8 to -6: Skim the contents page, mark unfamiliar stations, read chapters 1–4 (histories, communication, system exams, joint exams). Do not try to do stations under timed conditions yet.
- Weeks -6 to -3: Pair up with a study partner (in person if possible, video call works). Run 2–4 stations per session, swap candidate/examiner roles, use the book’s marking criteria. Cover chapter 6 (procedural skills) here.
- Weeks -3 to -1: Run timed circuits of 6–8 stations back-to-back. Focus on chapters 7–9 (adult resus, paediatric resus, trauma). Cross-check resus algorithms against current Resus Council UK and APLS material.
- Final week: Re-read communication stations (cheap marks, easy to forget), the breaking bad news script, conflict resolution, and the major incident station. Two days off pre-exam matches the Reddit post that passed first time.
A note on the Reddit data: the most-quoted “read it fully, 1 month of weekends + free time, 2 days off” study plan is from a candidate sitting the FRCEM Final OSCE, not the MRCEM. For the MRCEM Intermediate-level OSCE the same approach probably works but you may need less time on the resus algorithms and more on the joint examinations.
Is the book worth £33 in 2026?
Honest answer: yes, just. The unit economics are reasonable — £33 for 125 worked stations is about 26 pence per station, and you would not get that station count anywhere else in print. You are buying a structure to drill against, not a current-curriculum textbook. If you treat it that way the spend pays off.
What you should not do is treat it as your only source of clinical fact. Use it for the choreography (history flow, examination order, communication scripts, procedural sequence) and cross-check the medicine against current NICE / Resus Council / RCEM SAQs.
FAQ
Is “125 OSCE Stations” the same book as “MRCEM Part C”?
Yes — the full title is “MRCEM Part C: 125 OSCE Stations, Second Edition”. RCEM retired the “Part C” label in 2016 but the book’s title was never updated. The content is the MRCEM OSCE prep book most UK trainees mean when they say “125 stations”.
Is there a newer edition than the 2016 second edition?
Not for the MRCEM book. There is a separate FRCEM Final: 125 OSCE Stations (Third Edition, 2017+), which is a different exam. As of May 2026 no third edition of the MRCEM Part C book has been published — make sure you are buying the correct one for the exam you are sitting.
Does the book cover the current 16-station MRCEM OSCE format?
No — it predates the current format and curriculum. The format is published on the RCEM website: 16 active 8-minute stations, 1 minute reading time, plus two rest stations. The book gives you 125 stations to drill against; you’ll need to recreate the timing structure yourself or get it via a live course.
Should I buy it if I have already done a UK ED rotation?
Marginal yield is lower, but most trainees still find value in the communication, ethics, and procedural chapters. If you are confident on all of those, you can probably skip the book and go straight to a live course plus the Resus Council UK / APLS algorithms.
Is it useful for IMG candidates new to the UK system?
Yes — and this is where it earns its reputation. Amazon UK reviews skew heavily IMG and the structured marking criteria, communication scripts (consent, breaking bad news, conflict resolution) and the UK-specific framing of stations like driving after a seizure are genuinely useful when you have not trained inside the NHS. Most r/doctorsUK threads recommending it are oriented at IMG candidates.
Kindle or paperback?
Paperback wins for this book. You will want to flip between candidate instructions, examiner instructions and marking criteria during partner practice; the Kindle layout makes that flow awkward. Buy the paperback, scribble in margins, leave it on the desk.
How does it compare to OSCE Revision for the MRCEM (Goss, OUP)?
The Goss volume is newer, OUP-edited, written against the current curriculum, and covers ~100 topics with a more textbook-style feel. It is a better fit if you want a “single most current book” and you are happy reading rather than drilling. 125 OSCE Stations is better if you want raw station volume and a structured rehearsal format. Some candidates buy both.
Will reading the book alone get me through the exam?
Possibly, if you have strong NHS ED experience and a study partner to run stations with. Most passed candidates also did a live course (Bromley, RCEM, or hospital-run mock OSCE). The book is the foundation; the course is the dress rehearsal.
Is there a free PDF floating around?
Not legitimately. The book is published by Jaypee Brothers and is available on JaypeeDigital for institutional subscribers, plus paperback and Kindle on Amazon UK. Hospital libraries often hold a copy — Reddit candidates regularly mention borrowing from their library rather than buying.
What is the price in May 2026?
Approximately £33 paperback on Amazon UK (price varies slightly between listings; second-hand copies on AbeBooks/eBay drop below £20 if you are not fussed about condition). Always check current price at point of purchase.
Does it cover ophthalmology and ENT stations adequately?
Reasonably — slit lamp, ophthalmoscopy, otoscopy, and anterior nasal packing all have dedicated stations in chapter 6. Coverage is competent rather than deep. If ophthalmology / ENT come up as your weakest area, supplement with a focused refresher rather than relying on the book alone.
Where should I go after finishing the book?
Pair it with a live mock OSCE (Bromley or hospital-run), the current Resus Council UK ALS / APLS algorithms, and a quick read of any RCEM SAQs published since 2024. Then time yourself running 16 stations back-to-back as a final dress rehearsal.
Bottom line
If you are sitting the MRCEM OSCE in the next 6–8 weeks, buy this book. It is dated on the cover, the resus chapters need cross-checking, and you will absolutely also need a live course or partner-driven mock circuit — but as a single structured station bank it is still the best £33 you will spend on this exam. Set expectations accordingly: it is a rehearsal scaffold, not a current-curriculum textbook.
Facts last verified . Prices and edition details checked against Amazon UK, JaypeeDigital, AbeBooks, and the RCEM exam pages. Reddit quotes are verbatim from the threads cited.
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