A common problem with clinical examination is that every doctor examines slightly differently and you are left guessing what your examiner wants you to do. There is, however, a traditional way of examining that seems to please the most number of examiners. This very formal technique is the one which most people use for their MRCP/MRCS exams (most examiners also examine for these as well).
On this website this traditional approach has been followed. The rationale is that your finals exam is not the time to express your beliefs concerning what is and isn't useful to do whilst examining. Instead it is the time to pick up the marks on a probably very rigid mark scheme.
Here are some tips on performing and learning the examinations.
These should be learnt back to front so that come finals you simply cannot get them wrong.
Surgery now has less emphasis in the undergraduate curriculum, but you should still be able to do these proficiently.
Other common OSCE cases.