Student Evaluations

OBGYN Clerkship Grading and Assessment

The OBGYN clerkship is graded as Pass/Fail. Pass/Fail grading encompasses a variety of assessments across four competency domains. Each domain includes competencies that map to the School’s 32 medical education program objectives (MEPOs):

• Patient Care
• Interpersonal & Communication Skills
• Service to Patients & Community (Professionalism)
• Medical Knowledge

To pass the clerkship, you must meet the passing standard for the Patient Care, Interpersonal & Communication Skills, and Service to Patients & Community (Professionalism) domains. Students who do not meet the passing standard in one or more of these domains will receive a Fail grade for the clerkship and will typically be required to repeat the clerkship per Student Progress Committee policy.

Students who do not meet the passing standard in the Medical Knowledge domain can pass the clerkship but will be required to retake and pass the exam before sitting for Step 2 CK.

More information about UWSOM’s COMPASS (Competency Mapping and Programmatic Assessment System) framework is available on the COMPASS webpage.

Grading Requirements

Domain	Assessment	Passing Threshold	Grade if Failed	Remediation for Fail
Patient Care	WBAs Clinical Performance Rating Items Mini-CEX	Level 2 or higher for all items At least 1 verified level 2 or higher for all required activities Pass	Fail	Repeat Clerkship
Interpersonal & Communication Skills	Clinical Performance Rating Items WBAs	Level 2 or higher for all items At least 1 verified level 2 or higher for all required activities	Fail	Repeat Clerkship
Professionalism	Clinical Performance Rating Items   Completion of all Clerkship Requirements   Eight Professional MEPOs	“Competent” or “Approaching Competency” on all items Completion of all required clinical encounters, at least 3 WBAs/week across all required activities, required mini-CEXs, any additional clerkship-specific assignments Must achieve “Approaching Competency” or higher for all 8 MEPOs	Fail	Repeat Clerkship
Medical Knowledge	NBME Subject Exam	6-Week Traditional Clerkship: 66/100 (5th percentile Nationally) WRITE: 63/100 (3rd percentile Nationally)	Pass	Retake and pass the exam before you are eligible to sit for Step 2-CK

Patient Care

To pass the Patient Care domain, you must:

• Receive a level 2 or higher on all Patient Care clinical performance rating items
• Obtain at least 1 verified level 2 (“I talked them through it”) or higher WBA for all required activities (1-7)
• Pass the required mini-CEX

Interpersonal & Communication Skills

To pass the Interpersonal & Communication Skills domain, you must:

• Receive a level 2 or higher on all Interpersonal & Communication Skills clinical performance rating items
• Obtain at least 1 verified level 2 (“I talked them through it”) or higher WBA for the communication activity (8)

Service to Patients & Community (Professionalism)

Professionalism expectations are aligned with the UWSOM medical education program objectives (MEPOs) for the Service to Patients & Community domain.

To pass the Service to Patients & Community domain, you must:

• Receive a rating of “Competent” or “Approaching Competency” on all Service to Patients & Community clinical performance rating items
• Complete all required clinical encounters, obtain at least 3 WBAs per week across all required activities, and complete ALL clerkship assignments within published deadlines

*Students who receive “Approaching Competency” on any item will be referred to their Clinical Competency Coach for additional support. Patterns across clerkships will be reviewed by a Clinical Competency Committee (CCC).

Medical Knowledge

To pass the Medical Knowledge domain, you must pass the NBME subject exam. The passing threshold is set at the 5th percentile (national), which for 2026-27 means that you must receive a final score of 66 or above. 

For WRITE students, the passing threshold is set at the 3rd percentile (national), which for 2026-27 means that you must receive a final score of 63 or above.

Failure to meet the passing threshold in this domain will not result in a Fail grade for the clerkship, but you will be required to retake and pass the exam before you are eligible to sit for Step 2-CK per the Step 2-CK Policy. The fail will also be noted in the MSPE. Per the Academic Requirements Policy, you must pass the NBME exam to meet clerkship and graduation requirements.

Assessment Elements

Clinical Performance Rating Items

Clinical performance during the clerkship is assessed using clinical rating items completed by faculty, residents, and other supervising clinicians who work with you in the clinical environment. These rating items assess your performance in each domain.

Evaluators provide ratings based on their direct observation of your work in the clinical setting. Because students work with multiple supervisors during a clerkship, assessments are typically submitted by a variety of assessors who may have different levels of contact with you.

The Clerkship Director or Site Director reviews all submitted evaluations and determines whether the required competency threshold has been met in each domain. This determination considers:

• The number and quality of observations from evaluators
• The amount of time each evaluator spent working with the student
• Narrative comments describing the student’s performance
• Patterns of performance across multiple clinical settings

Ratings are not calculated as a simple numerical average of individual evaluation items. Rather, the overall assessment reflects a holistic review of your clinical performance as a developing physician.

Workplace-Based Assessments (WBAs)

WBAs are brief, formative assessments completed by a preceptor after a clinical encounter that rate a student’s performance and provide feedback for that specific encounter. 

For 2026-27, you must submit at least 3 WBAs per week and at least 1 verified* assessment at an entrustment level of 2 or higher for each of the 8 required activities below. No more than 6 WBAs per week will count toward the weekly total.

*WBAs are considered verified if they are either:

1. Submitted directly by the preceptor, or
2. Submitted by a student and confirmed by the preceptor.

Required activities:

1. Gather a history
2. Perform a physical examination
3. Prioritize a differential diagnosis following a clinical encounter
4. Recommend diagnostic or screening plans for common situations
5. Interpret diagnostic or screening information for common situations
6. Provide an oral presentation of a clinical encounter
7. Document a clinical encounter
8. Communicate with patients and/or families

An OR specific activity - Prepare Effectively for Operative Cases - is available during this rotation. Completion of the activity counts towards the weekly WBA total but does not count as a required activity.

WBAs are submitted though a Qualtrics survey. Each student has a unique form link and QR code that can be used by either the student or a preceptor to submit a WBA. Preceptors will receive copies of the WBAs they have submitted so that comments can be reused when filling out eValue forms.

Mini-CEX

Mini-clinical evaluation exercises (mini-CEX) are structured assessments in which a supervising clinician directly observes a student performing a specific clinical task and provides immediate feedback.

• Pelvic CEX (Required)
• One of the following:
  • Breast CEX 
  • OB Fundal Height and Fetal Heart Tones CEX
  • OB Ultrasound Fetal Presentation CEX
  • Pick a Procedure (1) CEX (Endometrial Biopsy, Vulvar Biopsy, Suture During Procedure/Surgery, or Insert/Remove IUD)

You are responsible for obtaining the required number of mini-CEX assessments during the rotation. Mini-CEX assessments may be completed by faculty or other supervising clinicians who directly observe the clinical encounter.

NBME Exam

Students will take the NBME subject exam on the last Friday of the clerkship. The NBME subject exam webpage provides specific information about testing logistics. Testing information will be sent by the UWSOM Testing Service during the first week of each rotation. If you have any questions about testing logistics, please email somtests@uw.edu.

Students who need to delay a clerkship exam (in the event of a personal or family illness, emergency, or death) must complete an attestation form. Please see the Exam Reschedule Policy for details. 

Feedback

You will receive structured feedback throughout the rotation to support learning and improvement.

Feedback typically includes:

• Real-time feedback during clinical work
• Feedback from WBAs and mini-CEX assessments
• Mid-clerkship feedback summarizing early performance
• Written comments in the final evaluation

We encourage you to actively seek feedback from faculty and residents.

Written Examination

The final written examination, consisting of approximately 110 (100 scored, 10 are being tested by the NBME) questions over an allotted time of 2 hours and 45 minutes. is a standardized subject test from the National Board of Examiners (NBME). The minimal passing score is fixed and non-negotiable.

The NBME determines the time allotted. If you have a learning disability documented by the School of Medicine, please let us know no later than the first week of the clerkship to arrange extra time.

The NBME subject test is developed and reviewed by expert question writers and provides the opportunity for students to experience the types of questions used on NBME board exams. Use of this test also allows us to evaluate our clerkship with others across the nation. Reading the required materials is essential in order to perform well on the examination.

Breakdown of Questions

General Principles	1-5%
Gynecology: Promoting health and health maintenance	15-20%
Gynecology: Understanding mechanisms of disease	15-20%
Gynecology: Establishing a diagnosis	15-20%
Gynecology: Applying principles of management	5-10%
Obstetrics: Promoting health and health maintenance	15-20%
Obstetrics: Understanding mechanisms of disease	15-20%
Obstetrics: Establishing a diagnosis	15-20%
Obstetrics: Applying principles of management	5-10%

 

The NBME provides sample items designed to the format of the examination. Please click here for a sample 50 question examination (with answers). 

The NBME Exam is scheduled by a central office in the UW SOM. Please visit their website for more information regarding locations, exam scheduling, etc. 

Students must get a 62/100 (3% tile) in order to PASS the NBME exam. If a student fails they need to do a repeat exam and PASS prior to graduation. Students may still be able to pass the rotation if they did well clinically.

How to Prepare for NBME Exam

Recommendations to prepare for the NBME Obstetrics and Gynecology Subject Exam are as follows (taken from a student who scored a 99 on the exam):

1. Blue Prints - read through early in rotation
2. Test questions bank:
   1. uWise
   2. Q-bank questions
   3. U World
3. First Aid for Step 2
4. Complete the uWise 100-point timed test to prepare for real world testing environment and actually time yourself
5. On-Line cases and videos from APGO: Objectives, Videos and Teaching Cases
6. The NBME also provides a comprehensive self-assessment service for a fee, please click here for more information.
7. Procedure Ready: OB/GYN: https://procedureready.com/series/obgyn/
8. CREOGs over Coffee: https://creogsovercoffee.com/
9. Amboss: https://www.amboss.com/us

If you have any other general questions about exam logistics, please visit NBME Subject Exams.

Grade petition

If you wish to dispute your final grade, the Grade Petition form must be completed and received by our office within 4 weeks after your grade was posted.   

Circumstances in which a challenge is appropriate include:

• An apparent mathematical error in computing your final grade.
• A technical problem with the evaluation process.

Circumstances in which a challenge will not be entertained include:

• Performance on the exam or the weight of exam.
• Disagreement with our grading process (e.g. how the clinical GPA is calculated and weighted).
• Disagreement with an evaluator’s assessment of your performance.
• Discrepancy between the feedback you received and the evaluation that was submitted.
• Disagreement with final comments vs. final grade.

​​Please review the UWSOM Grade Review, Petition, and Appeal Process.

Learn How Feedback Relates to Final Grading

If you have any questions, please contact the Clerkship Administrator, RaQuel Harwick, for more information.

Repeating Clerkship

If you fail your Obstetrics and Gynecology clerkship you will be required to repeat the clerkship at a site determined by the Clerkship director. Retaking the clerkship includes all aspects of the clerkship, including the final NBME Subject Exam.