OSPEs (organized structured practical examination) are common in clinical education. In recent years they have been adopted into honours Medical Science and Sport Science teaching at the University of Aberdeen (Scott 2017) and have proven useful to develop skills linked to time management and interaction with volunteers. Student perceive this type of examination as challenging though they admit that it develops these skills. In particular the “role play” component of some examinations involving human subjects such as phlebotomy or ECG produces anxieties and insecurity in students. Interaction with volunteers is particularly important in Sport Science, because it is an integral part of laboratory-based honours projects and of future careers. A simplified version of an OSPE component to measure volunteer’s blood pressures has been introduced in third year Sport Science teaching to give students more and earlier exposure to this type of examinations. Students get an introduction tutorial to blood pressure measurements and are given links to resources of the British and Irish Hypertension Society for self-study. Students are informed about the assessment and its role-play nature. At the practical students get an hour to practice taking blood pressure. After this familiarisation, students are assessed taking blood pressure on each other utilising a simple tick-box scoring system. Proper technique, interaction with the “volunteer” and professionalism are the main scoring criteria. Students still find the “role-play” component daunting at first at first, but normally lose anxieties quickly during the procedure. One aspect reducing the intensity of the exercise is that there are no time constraints applied, that are normal in an OSPE. Student feedback from SCEF course feedback questionnaires shows that the mini OSPE is effective in developing student’s skills (effectiveness of teaching and development of skill assessed on a 5-point agreement scale, 75% of ratings in 5: “totally agree” or 4: “Agree”, n=26 over 2 years). Student comments also illustrate that despite initial concerns and anxieties, the exercise is perceived as useful and helps to build confidence interacting with people. Some students (Class rep feedback at staff student liaison committee meeting) asked to incorporate more exercises like that into the curriculum. Sport & Exercise Science Honours students who participated in the BP pressure mini OSPE before doing the full Medical Science OSPE in fourth year reported that it was a useful preparation and made them feel less anxious and more confident about it (direct communication with author “Was the 3rd year mini OSPE beneficial for doing the OSPEs in year 4”, n=11). In conclusion, the “mini OSPE” is a useful teaching tool to build students confidence to interact with human subjects and improve communication skills.