Blueprint coverage for OSCE exams in StudyDrome

See what your circuit covers, cell by cell

StudyDrome Exam Manager blueprints an OSCE as a two-axis coverage grid. Set rows to one tag dimension and columns to another, or to your Clinical Skills library. Every cell lists the questions at that intersection, each with its facility to four decimal places and its administration count. Export the grid to colour-banded Excel.

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How do you build a blueprint matrix?

  1. 1
    Classify your questions first. A tag type is a named dimension — Topic, Clinical Domain, a competency framework — and its tags nest into a tree.
  2. 2
    Add Clinical Skills where you assess skill rather than knowledge. Skills are a per-account library, joined to questions alongside their tags.
  3. 3
    Open Tests, then OSCE Exams. Choose Blueprint on an exam row, or run the bank-wide blueprint from the list.
  4. 4
    In the Blueprint Options drawer, set the rows axis and the columns axis. Each offers None, any tag type by name, or Skills.
  5. 5
    Read the grid. Every cell names its questions and carries facility and administration history for each one.
  6. 6
    Export to Excel. Each cell keeps its facility-band colour, so the committee copy reads the same as the screen.

What does each blueprint cell tell you?

Each axis is set on its own. Rows can be one tag dimension and columns another, or columns can be your Clinical Skills library. Tags nest inside a dimension, so "Arrhythmia" sits under "Cardiology" and the grid reads as a hierarchy rather than a flat list.

In every cell

What it tells you

The questions at that intersection

Which items actually cover that pairing, by name

Facility per question

The observed mean across every past administration, to four decimal places

Administration count per question

How often that question has been used before

Facility for one administered station is the mean candidate score divided by the station maximum. Per question, StudyDrome takes the unweighted mean of those values across its administrations. That is the same convention the item analysis reports use.

Empty intersections are dropped. The grid stays sparse, so a large bank still fits on a screen. A summary line sits above it: "{n} questions · {m} with exam history".

New to the artefact itself? Start with what an exam blueprint is.

Where do you open the blueprint on screen?

The blueprint lives with the exams, not in a separate reporting tool. Two routes reach it, and both open the same grid.

  • From an exam: the "Blueprint" row action on an OSCE exam scopes the grid to that circuit.
  • From the list: the same action at list level scopes the grid to a question bank instead.
  • Blueprint Options: a drawer sets both axes. Each choice reads "None", a tag type by its own name, or "Skills".
  • Reading aids: show tag codes beside names, and trim long headings so wide grids stay legible.
  • Child banks: included by default, so a parent bank shows everything filed beneath it.
  • Your view, remembered: axis choices, colours and display options persist in your own browser between visits.

What do the colours in the Excel export mean?

Export the matrix and you get a real spreadsheet, not a screenshot. Each cell keeps the colour of the facility band its questions fall into, with a solid fill and a thin cell border. A coverage picture therefore survives being emailed to a committee.

Default band

Fill

What it marks

Facility up to 0.2

Amber

The hardest questions in the grid

Facility up to 0.8

Green

The working middle

Facility up to 1.0

Pink

The easiest questions

No exam history yet

White, by default

Items you have not yet administered

The bands are yours to edit. Add one, move a boundary, change a colour. Bands sort ascending, and a cell takes the first band whose upper bound reaches its facility. The "no history" colour is a setting of its own, so untested items stand out from easy ones at a glance.

What does the blueprint report, and what do you decide?

The blueprint is a coverage instrument. It shows you where the gaps are, and you decide what to add.

  • Two hierarchical axes at a time, competency against skill. Two axes read cleanly on a page and in a spreadsheet, and a committee can argue about them.
  • Axes are chosen per view. Swap them and the same bank re-frames in a second, so one grid answers several questions.
  • The grid scopes to a whole question bank or to one published circuit. Bank view plans the year; exam view defends a sitting.
  • Tags classify your questions. The blueprint reads that classification and reports what it finds, so your taxonomy stays the single source of truth.
  • Facility and administration counts come from real sittings. A cell full of untested items is visible before you build the circuit, not after.
  • The export is the evidence artefact. Colour bands, cell borders and a shaded header row make it a document a quality panel can file.

Who uses the blueprint matrix?

  • Assessment leads mapping a circuit to a competency framework before the station set is signed off.
  • OSCE coordinators checking that a skill is assessed more than once across the circuit.
  • Question bank owners deciding where to commission the next batch of stations.
  • Quality panels who want coverage stated as a document rather than a claim.

Frequently asked questions

What can the blueprint matrix use as its axes?

Each axis is set on its own to a tag dimension, to Clinical Skills, or to None. Tag dimensions are your own: Topic, Clinical Domain, a competency framework. Tags nest, so a parent groups its children in the grid. Skills are the per-account clinical library. A common setup runs competency down the rows and skill across the columns.

How does StudyDrome calculate the facility shown in each cell?

Facility for one administered station is the mean candidate score divided by the station maximum. For a question, StudyDrome then takes the unweighted mean of those values across every administration, reported to four decimal places. The cell also carries how many times each question has been administered, so you can weigh the figure by how much evidence sits behind it.

Can we blueprint a whole question bank rather than one exam?

Yes. The same grid runs in two scopes. Bank scope shows what your bank can currently cover, which is the view for planning next year. Exam scope shows what one published circuit actually assessed, which is the view for defending a sitting. Child banks are included by default, so a parent bank reports everything filed beneath it.

What does the Excel export look like?

A real spreadsheet with one cell per intersection. Each cell is filled with the colour of its facility band and outlined with a thin border, under a shaded header row. Three bands ship by default: amber to 0.2, green to 0.8, pink to 1.0. Items with no exam history take a colour of their own, white unless you change it.

How do we use the blueprint when planning the next sitting?

Read the grid for two things: thin cells and pale cells. A thin cell means a pairing that few questions cover, so commission stations there. A pale cell means questions with little exam history behind them. Export the grid, circulate it, and let the panel agree the additions. Rerun the blueprint once the new stations are tagged.

Book a pilot

Bring your tag dimensions and one station set. We will build the blueprint, run both axes, and hand you the colour-banded export.

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