In this article, we will look at the different types of medicine interview. This article is a shortened excerpt from module 2 of our medicine interview book “The fundamentals” – a module which also looks at the specific attributes medical schools are looking for and how different question categories (e.g. ethics questions, work experience questions) are designed to assess if a candidate possesses these attributes or not.

Medicine Interview Type 1: Traditional Panel Interviews

This is the first type of medicine interview we will consider. Traditional panel interviews have now become far less common than the other main type of medicine interview – the MMI, discussed below. Panel interviews usually consist of at least two interviewers (to reduce interviewer bias). This type of medicine interview typically lasts between 20 minutes to an hour. The panel is usually comprised of a mix of doctors, teaching staff, admissions tutors & increasingly medical students, nurses, patients and other members of the public.

The vast majority of panel interviews are open interviews. This means that the panel will have your application details in front of them (e.g. you personal statement). This is usually not the case in most MMI stations. Closed interviews are rarer. Here the interviewers will not have any information about you apart from basic biographical details such as your name and school.

Compared to MMI’s, interviewers in panels usually have more background information about you and they will get to know you better as you will stay with the same panel. This gives the panel more time to ask you in-depth and follow-up questions in this type of medicine interview.

A tiny minority of American medical schools use group panel interviews. Here you still answer personal questions but in the presence of other students, who are also asked questions. Group discussion tasks are also common in this type of medicine interview.

Panel interviews are not as subjective as you might think as they are marked using strict criteria to reduce interviewer bias.

The problem from the medical school’s perspective is that candidates can easily be coached for this type of medicine interview. They can rehearse answers as questions tend to be predictable. Additionally, it involves a lot of “telling” & not “showing” by the candidate. For example, candidates can say that they have excellent teamwork, problem-solving & other skills without needing to demonstrate them. MMI interviews (discussed below) try to solve this problem as this type of medicine interview requires applicants to show their communication skills, negotiating abilities, empathy & so on.

Medicine Interview Type 2: Oxbridge Interviews

Let us consider the next type of medicine interview – the Oxbridge interview. While Oxbridge interviews are panel interviews, they are very different from most other medical school panel interviews. The questions are far more academic and problem-solving based as they are trying to see how you think. This contrasts to most other medical school interviews who either do not ask academically focused questions (unless something you say or your personal statement naturally brings the topic up) or only have a small amount of focus on academic aspects, e.g. one numeracy skills or data analysis MMI station/ interview panel question out of many other non-academic MMI stations/ interview panel questions. This is because these non-Oxbridge medical schools determine your academic suitability for medicine via your academic grades and admissions tests and use the interview to test other attributes e.g. your communication skills, motivation to study medicine etc.

Some examples of real Oxbridge questions are included below. The interview is a discussion, and these questions will lead to followup questions.

  • WHY DOES YOUR HEART RATE INCREASE WHEN YOU EXERCISE? YOU MENTIONED THE INCREASED OXYGEN DEMAND – SO WHY DO YOUR MUSCLES NEED MORE OXYGEN WHEN YOU EXCERCISE?
  • HOW DO BIRDS SURVIVE AT HIGH ALTITUDES?
  • HOW DO SODIUM IONS GET ACROSS THE PLASMA MEMBRANE? WHY CAN SOME IONS NOT SIMPLY PASS VIA PASSIVE DIFFUSION
  • WHY DO WE HAVE RED BLOOD CELLS? WHAT ADAPTATIONS DO THESE CELLS HAVE TO DO THEIR JOB EFFICIENTLY?
  • WHY DO HUMANS HAVE TWO EARS ON EITHER SIDE OF THEIR HEAD INSTEAD OF ONE BIG EAR IN THE MIDDLE?
  • WHAT IS A DISEASE?
  • CAN YOU IDENTIFY THIS BONE? [A BONE IS PRESENTED TO THE APPLICANT]
  • WHY ARE MANHOLES ROUND?
  • ‘YOU ARE INSIDE A BOAT ON A LAKE. YOU HAVE A BOWLING BALL, WHICH YOU DROP INTO THE WATER. DOES THE LEVEL OF WATER IN THE LAKE GO UP OR DOWN?’
  • CAN YOU IDENTIFY THE PARTS OF THIS CELL (PICTURE OF A UNUSUAL CELL SHOWN)?
  • IN WHAT WAYS IS A CELL LIKE A CITY?
  • SKETCH A BASIC DIAGRAM OF THE BRAIN & TALK US THROUGH WHAT THE MAIN AREAS DO

Generally, Oxbridge interviews start off with simple academic questions which get progressively harder so by the end of the process even a very strong candidate will not be able to answer some of the questions. The aim of the questions is to see your thought process & your ability to come to conclusions from the information presented to you. They are also very interested to see how you handle questions that you do not immediately know the answer to and how you adapt your answers based on the discussion (e.g. if the examiner reveals the answer to you or presents you with additional information). This means it is very important that you do not just say that you do not know an answer as this shuts down the discussion and implies that you cannot solve problems. Also, instead of just stating answers, you should think out loud & tell the examiner your thought process as you go along. This will also allow examiners to help you by providing hints along the way and tell you if you are on the right track or not.

You can see from example questions, how this type of medicine interview requires a candidate to know their curriculum exceptionally well. You will likely be asked things outside of your curriculum, but that can be answered if you apply your existing knowledge to new situations & information. If you passed exams by memorising knowledge instead of understanding concepts deeply, you will find answering Oxbridge questions extremely difficult. Prior to the interview, you are usually asked to fill in a form which asks about what kind of things you have done in your curriculum so questions are loosely based on topics you are familiar with.

Oxford and Cambridge medical schools are comprised of different colleges. The colleges have a common framework for applying selection criteria but there can be some small variations in how you are interviewed. Some Oxbridge colleges require applicants to have two interviews. One is academically focused and one is about your medical school application in general e.g. motivations to study medicine, work experience etc.

 Medicine Interview Type 3 – MMI Interviews (Multiple Mini Interviews):

The final type of medicine interview we will look has rapidly become the most common type. MMI interviews typically consist of 6-12 MMI stations, each lasting usually between 5-15 minutes. You will complete a station & then move on to the next station. Each MMI station is usually separately assessed meaning that your score at one station does not impact your score at the next station. Each station typically has completely different assessors, actors etc. Use this to your advantage by treating each station as a fresh start & a new opportunity to excel. Each station usually has a different focus, e.g. insight into medicine, communication skills, numerical skills, medical ethics etc.

MMI is merely the name of a type of medicine interview format consisting of multiple interview stations. It does not tell you the content of the MMI stations. A single MMI station could, for example, just be several standard interview questions. For example, here are two real MMI stations (out of a total of 8) which were used at Sheffield Medical School for interviews held in 2020. Each station lasted 8 minutes.

Sheffield MMI Station – Theme: Sheffield & the MBChB programme

Objectives: To explore interest in & knowledge of Sheffield as a city, the structure of the MBChB programme & the candidate’s determination to study medicine.

Questions:

  1. If you are successful in your application, you may be spending five years living & studying in Sheffield. What can you tell me about the City of Sheffield & the University of Sheffield?
  2. What do you know about the Sheffield MBChB curriculum?
  3. Medical schools around the world receive far more applications than there are places. This means that many excellent applicants will receive no offers. If this happens to you, what will you do? (Explore determination to study medicine)

 Sheffield MMI Station – Theme: Good Medical Practice

Objectives: To explore the candidate’s understanding of the importance of professional standards & values in Medicine.

Questions:

  1. What can you tell me about the General Medical Council’s code of conduct for doctors?
  2. Do you think it might ever be appropriate to breach a patient’s confidentiality? Can you give any examples?
  3. While working at your Saturday job in a shop, you find that one of your colleagues has arrived at work smelling of alcohol. They appear to be intoxicated, & you know that they drove to work. What actions would you take?

However, most MMI interviews do not consist of MMI stations that only ask traditional panel type interview stations. Instead, stations can involve you talking to a patient; taking part in a role-play (e.g. breaking some bad news to an actor playing a friend or reassuring a friend who is upset about their parent’s potential divorce); playing a game of 20 questions with an examiner; describing and analysing a graph or an article etc. For example, a complete MMI interview would typically consist of some stations like the two mentioned above as well as a few stations like the one listed below:

Example MMI Station – Theme: Communication Skills & breaking bad news

Objectives: To explore the applicant’s communication skills. In particular their ability to break bad news as well as their honesty.

Instructions to Candidate:

You borrowed a very expensive camera from your friend John to use on your holiday. You left your rucksack open by accident while walking the city and the camera was stolen. It could not be recovered, despite your best efforts. Now you are back from your holiday, explain to John what has happened.

We will cover exactly how to approach the wide range of MMI stations in our dedicated MMI module. One of the reasons for introducing MMI interviewers is because this type of medicine interview requires candidates to show they have skills (such as empathy in a breaking bad news station) rather than just claiming to possess these skills, as they can do in a traditional panel interview. Additionally, MMI stations tend to be more unpredictable than panel interviews. However, the criteria they are looking for & the skills needed to complete the station are very predictable. On the next page is an example of the real mark scheme that has been used in Edinburgh Medical School MMI interviews, which consisted of three MMI stations.

End of book excerpt

Summary:

In this online article, we have looked at the different types of medicine interview – Panel, Oxbridge, and MMI.

Traditional panel interviews are still used by a few medical schools, including Oxbridge. However, Oxbridge interviews are different from most types of traditional panel interview, as Oxbridge interviews are much more academically and problem-solving focused. Traditional panel interviews often allow the interviewers to get to know the candidate more and ask deeper questions.

MMI interviews have rapidly become the most common type of medicine interview used by UK medical schools. MMI is merely the name of an interview format, and it does not tell you the type of stations that the interview may consist of. For example, an MMI interview could consist of three stations which are mini panel interviews. However, for most medical schools, their MMI interviews consist of other stations also such as communication stations, data analysis, written tasks etc.