My OSCE nightmare

I'm just gonna post the emails and let you guys read it. I'm sorry for those who already heard this story for a million times... I'm just so angry with the way I was treated, just because I am a Chinese girl!!!!!

'Dear Janet,

I am really upset today about the unnecessary disruption that occured to me during my OSCEs. I was in group A during the third session of OSCEs (starting at 1:30pm) starting a station 10. I went from station 10, to 11, then to 1 and all the way to 6. When I came out of station 6, intending to enter station 7; I was interrupted by one of the ushers who told me that 'I was going the wrong way' and should stop what I was doing, not to enter my next station and go speak to Elaine.

At this point I was very distressed but still certain that I didn't miss or jump any stations, therefore I assured the usher that I was at the right station and I should enter it. However, the usher was very insistent that I leave the cubicles and speak to Elaine. Upon speaking to Elaine, I was told that it was perfectly alright to go the wrong way and that I just needed to tell her which station I missed so it could be fitted in at the end of the OSCE. Once again, explained that it was not possible for me to miss a station because I started at station 10 and had entered every station correctly until I was denied entrance to station 7. After informing her of the stations that I have successfully completed, it was made very clear that they have 'intercepted' the wrong student because there was another girl who shares my surname of Ng called Jessica who was also in the same circuit as I.

The usher later explained rather nonchalantly that Jessica "looked very similar to me".

I was even more distressed at this point. This incident has greatly disrupted my concentration towards my remaining stations that I have yet to face.

I was also very disappointed about the fact that even when Jessica and I were not immediately next to each other (she was at least 2 stations ahead of me) in the circuit, it was still possible to mix the two of us up just because we are both of the same race and sex Let me assure you that Jessica and I look very much different in terms of hair length, hair style, physique and facial structures. I was rather distraught by this and felt quite discriminated by this incident and I hope it won't happen to anyone else in the future. Being told that the other girl looked similar to me is hardly an acceptable explanation. And the lack of an apology for making what can be a simple mistake was simply appalling!

I was rather distraught by this and felt quite discriminated by this incident and I hope it won't happen to anyone else in the future. Being told that the other girl looked similar to me is hardly an acceptable explanation. And the lack of an apology for making what can be a simple mistake was simply appalling! '

And just read this reply... I nearly exploded!!

'Dear Jessica,

I am sorry that you felt that the response to the temporary confusion over stations in your OSCE yesterday was inappropriate. As you know I arrived back in the cubicle lobby while it was being dealt with and can assure you that I consider the exam staff to have handled the problem completely professionally and in a way that was intended to minimise any distress. If it appeared "nonchalent" this simply reflects the fact that staff are accustomed to hiccups of this kind and deal with them swiftly and efficiently.

As you appreciate with 12 students moving at the same time it may not be immediately obvious who is at fault when there is a disruption to the sequence. We are not concerned in any case with allocating blame, only in rectifying the situation in the simplest way possible. Elaine succeeded in enabling both you and your collegue to complete all the stations within only an extra five minutes, which I think is excellent.

When we were able to work out what had happened it was indeed your colleague who initially entered the wrong station. The examiner however not unreasonably assumed he had the right student as he had the right name and then when you tried to enter a station which was already occupied we had to pull you out. Once a station has been started it is not fair on a candidate to cut them short. Neither he nor the ushers would be aware that there are two of you with the same name and none of us - including me I'm afraid - are able to identify all students by name. There is nothing racial as you imply about mixing up two people who have the same name. We all have constantproblems with the two James Jacksons!

I am afraid that if one student in an OSCE circuit does make a mistake it inevitably impacts on one or more others in the circuit. I hope you will forgive your colleague a genuine mistake that is easily made in the stress of an exam.

We will check the marks for the later stations for both of you to ensure that neither of you were disadvantaged.

Janet'

I must have read this email about 10 times to make sure I read the name right... arrrrhhhh I'm so so so so so so MAD!!!!!!!!

I have just sent an email to my tutor saying:

'I am very very upset by how Janet replied.

Firstly, my name is Chi-Yan not Jessica - which appears on my email address as well as the fact that I signed myself off as Yannie (Chi-Yan) Ng.

Secondly, the station I was entering before being asked to leave was not occupied, because I was suppose to go into station 7, and after the problem I was advise to go into station 8. Therefore I was interrupted unnecessarily - not because there was a student in my cubicle but because of the ushers inability to identify students correctly.

Thirdly, I am very certain that Elaine did do a very good job in rectifying the mistake that Jessica made. However, I did not make any mistakes. I was unreasonably interrupted because I 'looked the same' as Jessica. Janet is implying that there is nothing racial with two people with the same surname. But this is obviously not about surname, it was because we were both Chinese and we looked 'alike' that caused this 'mix-up' by the ushers. We didn't even have our surname on the stickers we had, only candidate numbers (which unless I'm mistaken are different for each person). There is just no other explanation to this except for us being of the same race and sex.

This complaint was never about changing my OSCE marks. Unpredictable events do happen during OSCEs (ie. fire alarm) and no one can prevent these things from happening. However, the event that happened to me could have been prevented, or would not have happened if I was not a Chinese girl who happened to be in the same group and circuit as Jessica.'

To be continued...