What happens in the APIE evaluation station?

You are shown how the patient has responded since your intervention and asked to judge whether the care met the goals you set. You say what was met and what was not, on the evidence, and what should happen to the plan as a result.

What if my care did not work?

Then say so. The station is testing whether you can evaluate honestly and act on the answer, not whether the patient improved. A candidate who recognises that a goal was not met and escalates appropriately is doing the thing being marked.

How is evaluation different from assessment?

Assessment establishes where the patient is at the start and is open-ended. Evaluation measures against something specific you already committed to, which is why it depends on the goals in your plan being measurable.

Can I practise the evaluation station here?

Yes, and it is worth doing as part of a full sitting rather than on its own, because evaluation only means anything against a plan you actually wrote. The simulator runs the four APIE stages in sequence for that reason. Simulator attempts come with every access plan, 4 of them with the 99 days plan, which is a full APIE sitting, and in larger packs on their own. Our simulator covers assessment-style stations from the 10: you hold the conversation with a simulated patient by typing, and are marked against criteria we wrote ourselves. The four clinical skills stations are performed on manikins and equipment and are not simulated here. The result is a simulated verdict, not a prediction of how an NMC assessor would mark you.

The APIE evaluation station

Written and checked against the NMC’s published sources by The NMCMATE editorial team.Last checked 1 September 2026.

Evaluation is the station candidates get least practice at, because in most training you are taught to give care rather than to judge it afterwards. You are shown what has happened to the patient since your intervention and asked whether the care worked. The answer is measured against the goals you set in the planning station, which is why a plan with vague goals costs marks twice.

What evaluating actually means here

Comparing where the patient is now against the goals you set, not against how the patient feels in general.
Saying plainly whether each goal was met, partly met or not met, rather than describing what happened and leaving the judgement unmade.
Using the evidence in front of you, the observations and the record, rather than an impression.
Deciding what changes: what continues, what stops, what is escalated, and what the plan becomes next.
Recognising when the care has not worked and saying so, which is marked rather than penalised.
Documenting the evaluation so the next person can see the reasoning as well as the conclusion.

Where candidates come unstuck

Describing instead of evaluating. Recounting what happened is not a judgement, and this is the single most common way to lose this station.
Marking your own homework. If the numbers say the goal was not met, saying so is the correct answer and claiming otherwise is the wrong one.
Evaluating against goals you never set, because the plan was vague. The two stations are linked, and this is where a weak plan is paid for.
Stopping at the judgement. What happens next is part of the station: continue, change, escalate or stop.
Forgetting the patient's own view of whether things are better.

Common questions

What happens in the APIE evaluation station?: You are shown how the patient has responded since your intervention and asked to judge whether the care met the goals you set. You say what was met and what was not, on the evidence, and what should happen to the plan as a result.
What if my care did not work?: Then say so. The station is testing whether you can evaluate honestly and act on the answer, not whether the patient improved. A candidate who recognises that a goal was not met and escalates appropriately is doing the thing being marked.
How is evaluation different from assessment?: Assessment establishes where the patient is at the start and is open-ended. Evaluation measures against something specific you already committed to, which is why it depends on the goals in your plan being measurable.
Can I practise the evaluation station here?: Yes, and it is worth doing as part of a full sitting rather than on its own, because evaluation only means anything against a plan you actually wrote. The simulator runs the four APIE stages in sequence for that reason. Simulator attempts come with every access plan, 4 of them with the 99 days plan, which is a full APIE sitting, and in larger packs on their own. Our simulator covers assessment-style stations from the 10: you hold the conversation with a simulated patient by typing, and are marked against criteria we wrote ourselves. The four clinical skills stations are performed on manikins and equipment and are not simulated here. The result is a simulated verdict, not a prediction of how an NMC assessor would mark you.

Practise an assessment station

Talk to a simulated patient and get a marked report against the station criteria.

Simulator attempts come with every access plan, 4 of them with the 99 days plan, which is a full APIE sitting, and in larger packs on their own.

Stations are added and rewritten as the exam guidance changes, and every attempt runs against the current version, so a revision reaches your next station rather than a later edition of something you bought.

Watch a marked station See pricing

This page is one part of the exam. Work through the whole thing with the NMC OSCE pages.