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Hello all! I have been looking into the MMI interview format and question types. While reading and watching many tips and strategies, he amount of recommended detail and opinion to convey during each question within the 8 minutes seems dauntingly high. I am hoping to get some insight from people who have been a part of the MMI format and successfully been offered a place in a medical program. How much information did you find was necessary to answer the questions and how would you rate the level of perfection needed to be successful in the MMI?
Also if anyone has some tips for the JMP MMI that would be fantastic
Thank you so much for your hardwork and the kindness you have shown in sharing the information!Hi Everybody,
I have trawled through the interview questions prep threads and grabbed the all the practice questions I can find and put them into a document. Sometimes the threads can get a little messy so I thought since I had gone through the effort you may as well reap the benefits. It starts off with your usual "why do you want to study at this school" kind of questions and finishes with ethical dilemmas and the like.
Here is the link: Medstudents online .docx
Feel free to use this new thread to discuss the questions and anything else related.
So just a quick a question, is medical work experience a necessity to have before the interview?
Nope, lots of people have gotten into medicine without any medical work related work experience (myself included).
People have gotten a place without significant volunteer experience, as well- it's all to do with how well you can draw from your existing life experiences, not a case of doing a whole bunch of medical-related things without understanding what you learned from the experience.
EtA: Please don't take it to mean that you shouldn't volunteer or try to get some medical related work experience! Just make sure to do it because you genuinely enjoy it and/or want to learn something from it, not just so it will "help you get into med if I mention it in my interview".
Yep thanks a lot, you're right but from experience, how I went reflected in the offers I received or didn't. That's how I found I'm more comfortable doing panel interviews than MMIs.I'd imagine your offer letter would've stated when you needed to enrol by if it was part of your conditions - LMG! will confirm.
Broad question. Why do you think you've gone wrong in MMIs? Offers for most universities that run MMIs are yet to come out yet, aren't they?
The universities have a history from past admissions cycles of making offers and then having a significant number of declines - they have data from enough years now to know roughly how many candidates are going to decline based off what has historically happened. Yes, the government dictates how many CSP places a university is allowed to offer. Recently there have been a few occurrences where universities have over-offered and they've had a higher number of acceptances than anticipated - each time the response from the university has been sending out an email to see if students will defer their offer to the following year +/- offering an incentive (usually a financial contribution towards the applicants' HECS) to do so.
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Yep thanks a lot, you're right but from experience, how I went reflected in the offers I received or didn't. That's how I found I'm more comfortable doing panel interviews than MMIs.
Sorry I understand it's a broad question but I have no idea what I'm doing wrong in MMIs. Apart from doing more MMIs and asking unis for feedback/ scores which they might not give, what would you suggest?
I've only done one MMI myself so I'm really no expert. It's hard to know what you're doing wrong as you say, particularly without feedback from the universities. Mana and pi are interviewers themselves and may have some general advice to offer (or anyone else that is reading this, please weigh in if you can - LMG!?).Yep thanks a lot, you're right but from experience, how I went reflected in the offers I received or didn't. That's how I found I'm more comfortable doing panel interviews than MMIs.
Sorry I understand it's a broad question but I have no idea what I'm doing wrong in MMIs. Apart from doing more MMIs and asking unis for feedback/ scores which they might not give, what would you suggest?
I think the best way to improve is to practice with a friend.
What you do is give a good friend of yours a bank of mmi questions (you can find some on pagingdr in the past interview experience forum area and I think somewhere on here - can someone link this for me?). You do this a night earlier & ask them to take as much time as they need to formulate a great answer. It could be dot points with smart & well thought out arguments or it could be things like what they think you shouldn’t say etc. so basically they have a “good” answer (hopefully). Then they should do an mmi sort of interview with you at a nearby library or at one of your houses & after each question, they should say the things you did well, the things that you probably shouldn’t have said & they should mention some things they think you should’ve said (from the earlier prep they did the night before). Then you discuss & merge both your answers together to come up with a great answer. Over time, u will become really good at saying more of the things you should mention & saying less of the things u shouldn’t mention to the point where it becomes almost as if u & ur friend are agreeing to most of the answers u are saying. Even if u don’t reach that then don’t worry because u are saying it verbally & on the spot whereas they’re thinking about it in a stress-free , untimed environment & jotting down some points on a paper.
Obviously you need a really good friend who’s willing to give up some time for u - I’m so lucky. U can ask family members too. If that doesn’t work then u can always do it with another student going into an mmi interview & do this process for each other.
I did this with my friend & I know I made a huge improvement - not stuttering, exploring situations in questions effectively, avoiding just giving my answer from the get go & actually exploring all options before saying what I think (this shows you consider the situation as a whole rather than be guided only by what u initially think) etc.
Idk if it’s good enough for a JMP offer but I sure as hell can say that I improved a heck of a lot from those practice sessions. I’m proud of the progress I made in the way I think & am able to say my answers & that’s good enough for me - even if I don’t get an offer
I practiced a lot with my friend who isn’t a doctor & st the end I had one session with my friend who is a med student now (like a final test almost to see what they think just before my interview). The med student also liked the way I spoke & articulated myself but at the end of the day it only matters what the interviewer thinks!Wish I could like this more than once, thanks a lot! Will definitely try this strategy for future interviews. Was your friend a medical school student anyone?
Thanks a lot Crow, very helpful! I'll sign up for PagingDr and give group preparation and recording a go. Thanks again!I've only done one MMI myself so I'm really no expert. It's hard to know what you're doing wrong as you say, particularly without feedback from the universities. Mana and pi are interviewers themselves and may have some general advice to offer (or anyone else that is reading this, please weigh in if you can - LMG!?).
I definitely agree with Smelly Boy re: practising with a friend/group. I found group preparation to be excellent for MMIs, as everyone offers a range of different perspectives that you hadn't previously considered on different topics. I also found filming/recording myself and watching/listening back for errors both in the content/communication of my responses helped me a lot to cut down on time and fix problems like fidgeting, repeating the same thing over and over, umm-ing and ahh-ing etc.
You should sign up for PagingDr and read some interview threads on there - there is endless advice regarding interview preparation for MMIs that you'll no doubt find very useful (I did!).
Thanks a lot Smelly Boy. Yes I agree since the interviewers don't have to be doctors/ med students but sometimes they are. Good luck for offers, I sincerely hope you get JMP.I practiced a lot with my friend who isn’t a doctor & st the end I had one session with my friend who is a med student now (like a final test almost to see what they think just before my interview). The med student also liked the way I spoke & articulated myself but at the end of the day it only matters what the interviewer thinks!
It looks like you've already gotten heaps of amazing advice, but I'll add a few small things as I've been lucky(?) enough to do a few MMIs at different universities. I didn't really have much support preparing because I didn't know anyone who wanted to do med/did med to practice with, but you mentioned a few things in particular:Yep thanks a lot, you're right but from experience, how I went reflected in the offers I received or didn't. That's how I found I'm more comfortable doing panel interviews than MMIs.
Sorry I understand it's a broad question but I have no idea what I'm doing wrong in MMIs. Apart from doing more MMIs and asking unis for feedback/ scores which they might not give, what would you suggest?
Just to add to this... it’s important to realise that in the real world (especially as a doctor), u aren’t always going to be given any indication of whether or not what you’re doing is awesome or not. You could effectively speak with a patient through all their concerns & they might not even say thank you (probably because they’re so stressed) & just leave!"Interviews who look incredibly bored": Part of communication is picking up cues from the people you're talking to, and these make it much easier to feel confident/suit what you're saying to your audience. BUT interviewers can be tired (they have to talk to sooo many med hopefuls!) or they may be doing this to throw you off. Even if this isn't the case, pretend it is and continue doing you're best Moral of the story: the boredom probably isn't because of you.
It looks like you've already gotten heaps of amazing advice, but I'll add a few small things as I've been lucky(?) enough to do a few MMIs at different universities. I didn't really have much support preparing because I didn't know anyone who wanted to do med/did med to practice with, but you mentioned a few things in particular:
"Lack of structure": there's no one size fits all approach for this, but I would recommend that, whenever you get a question/scenario/activity to pause for a moment. Consider the question, why they're asking it, and your intuitive response/answer. Then
"Poor content": Will probably improve as you encounter new situations. Although I didn't directly practice for the MMI scenarios, I tried to talk through various cases with family members in the weeks before the interview and gradually became better at forming more ideas independently from what I learnt
"Nerves": are completely unavoidable and are definitely something I (and many many people) struggle with! Try not to think about being nervous, or actively try and hide your nerves. They show that you care, so embrace them and channel them into the task at hand. The advantage of the MMI is that each station is a clean slate- another opportunity to impress your potential university!
"Interviews who look incredibly bored": Part of communication is picking up cues from the people you're talking to, and these make it much easier to feel confident/suit what you're saying to your audience. BUT interviewers can be tired (they have to talk to sooo many med hopefuls!) or they may be doing this to throw you off. Even if this isn't the case, pretend it is and continue doing you're best Moral of the story: the boredom probably isn't because of you.
Don't know if these will help but they certainly worked for me!
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I've never thought of it that way, thanks a lot! As you can tell from the list of what I did wrong, I obviously don't trust in my ability very much! Haha! I guess with my job interviews, it was never as high stakes, so I didn't mind waiting a week or a few to hear back. Anyhow, I hope I'll have more opportunities to practise MMIs and improve on what I struggle with. Thanks so much again!Just to add to this... it’s important to realise that in the real world (especially as a doctor), u aren’t always going to be given any indication of whether or not what you’re doing is awesome or not. You could effectively speak with a patient through all their concerns & they might not even say thank you (probably because they’re so stressed) & just leave!
I think it’s a wonderful skill to learn how to trust In Your ability. Trusting that what you’ve said/what course of action you’ve taken Was the right thing to do. The way you will know that is if you put genuine thought into what you do/say, have confidence in your ability & do things with conviction. You need be to strong & be able to gauge how good you are at doing things (e.g. how well you answer an MMI scenario or if you’ve said something that can help a patient who is in an abusive relationship) independently of What others say because sometimes you won’t get that as a doctor.
I think they do this purposefully because they don’t want to make you feel a certain way (good or bad) about what you’ve just answered in your interview so that you don’t feel hopeful/hopeless at the end. Also it’s probably because of what I wrote above
As an interviewer, I highly encourage all applicants to medicine to have a well thought out backup plan for the eventuality that you don't get in.
It shows that you have good insight into the system and does not diminish your passion for it one iota. I guarantee that having a good backup plan can score highly even if the backup is not medically related. It's much better to state this backup than to say you are going to just keep trying (this is unrealistic) or go do something for the purposes of getting higher scores to get in (this is short-sighted).
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