Registered  members with 100+ posts do not see Ads

Med/Dent Interview Preparation

Medtrain

Member
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 :D
 

DrDrLMG!

Resident Medical Officer
Administrator
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 :D

BethMark25 (and others) has provided some insight into the process for JMP. If you click on her username you can access her previous posts, or look in the JMP and interview discussion threads.
 

drpkjr

Member
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.
Thank you so much for your hardwork and the kindness you have shown in sharing the information!
 
L

Logic

Guest
So just a quick a question, is medical work experience a necessity to have before the interview?

Here is a great answer that Ruffle wrote for me:
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".
 

Crow

Staff | Junior Doctor
Moderator
Practice panel-style interview questions
I've done a little digging and come across some questions I used for my own interview preparation - these are largely applicable to panel interviews, though I'm sure would be useful for some MMI preparation too. I wish I had found these earlier, but hopefully they will be helpful for those who still have interviews to come!

1. Why do you want to study medicine?
2. How will studying medicine change your life?
3. You are obviously a busy person. What do you do to relax?
4. How will you support yourself through medicine?
5. What will you do if you don’t get into medicine?
6. What are your hobbies? How will you deal not having enough time for them?
7. What kind of ethical dilemmas do you think you will come across in medicine?
8. What do you know about medicine as a career?
9. Why should the taxpayers fund your education here? How will you contribute to the community as a doctor?
10. Describe a time you were in a group and the group didn’t get along. How did you handle the situation? What could you have done better?
11. What is your decision making process? If things don’t turn out as well as you’d planned, what do you do? If things turn out better than you’d planned, what do you do?
12. Many doctors are very unhappy with their jobs and think that people considering medicine should study something else. What is your response to this?
13. Studying medicine and being a doctor is very stressful. How do you know when you are getting stressed?
14. What would you do if a patient refused treatment?
15. You’re aware that one quarter of the places at the school are rural-bonded places. What do you think of this?
16. Have you known someone with a serious illness?
17. How do you cope with a stressful situation?
18. What will be the hardest thing about starting to study medicine?
19. What are the benefits about working in a group?
20. What are the bad points about working in a group?
21. Describe a time when you needed support. What did you do to get support?
22. How do you handle it when someone doesn’t contribute in the group? What if someone talks over the top of everyone else?
23. How will you cope with the study load?
24. Are you an analytical decision maker? How do you make your decisions? Give us an example of how you go about making decisions.
25. What are your strengths? Would anyway who knows you recognise these strengths?
26. Your manner is very confident. You could be at risk of dominating a discussion. How would you recognise this and fix the problem?
27. Do you make decisions in a logical analytical fashion?
28. What reason would a doctor have to dissuade you from choosing medicine?
29. What would you find the most difficult aspect of practising medicine?
30. If you could travel anywhere in the world, who would you want to meet?
31. What do you think makes a good doctor? Why do you think you will be a good doctor?
32. What would be the hardest thing about being a doctor? How do you know this?
33. What is the most stressful thing that has happened to you? How have you dealt with it?
34. If there was a similar student with similar academic ability, how would you convince tax payers that you would make more of a contribution to the community?
35. Empathy. What does it mean to you? Give examples of when you have shown empathy.
36. Have you considered any other fields of work?
37. How do you balance your work/study life?
38. Describe how you would work with people from different backgrounds.
39. What do you think will entice people to work in a rural setting?
40. What are two things outside work you enjoy doing?
41. What is the most difficult decision you have had to make? How did you come to make this decision?
42. What do you think of the government’s idea of bonded medical school places to help rural shortages? What other solutions are there?
43. Name a situation where you have been treated unfairly or wrongly. What did you do?
44. When have you worked in a team environment towards a goal? How did you do this? What was the outcome?
45. Describe a time when you have helped someone or given someone support and the outcome could have been better? What would you have done differently?
46. Do you know many doctors? Have they influenced your decision to pursue medicine?
47. What are the positives/incentives about working in a rural setting?
48. Give an example of an ethical dilemma that you have experienced. (OR name a time when you’ve been presented with a moral choice. In hindsight, what would you have done differently?
49. What events in your life have brought attributes that would be helpful for medicine?
50. What are some of your faults?
51. You seem very social. Would your friends say you make decisions based on fact or with emotion?
52. Is there anything you wish to add? Do you have any more questions?
53. How many hours a day do you think you would spend studying if you got into medicine?
54. Do you agree or disagree that the leader of a health team should be a doctor. Why?
55. Why are you pursuing medicine instead of a nursing/physio/research career?
56. What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of PBL?
57. What is your stance on abortion/euthanasia?
58. Describe a time when you have helped someone or given someone support and the outcome could have been better? What would you have done differently?
59. What are the positives and incentives of being involved in rural health? What are some initiatives that could be taken to promote recruitment of healthcare workers to rural areas?
 

1234med

Regular Member
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.
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?
 

Registered  members with 100+ posts do not see Ads

Smelly Boy

I can be ur angle 😇 or ur devil 😈
Valued Member
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 :)
 

Crow

Staff | Junior Doctor
Moderator
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!?).

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!).
 

1234med

Regular Member
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 :)

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?
 

Smelly Boy

I can be ur angle 😇 or ur devil 😈
Valued Member
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?
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!
 

1234med

Regular Member
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 Crow, very helpful! I'll sign up for PagingDr and give group preparation and recording a go. Thanks again!

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!
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.
 

jelli

Member
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?
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!
 

Smelly Boy

I can be ur angle 😇 or ur devil 😈
Valued Member
"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.
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
 

1234med

Regular Member
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!

Thanks a lot jelli, I'm bookmarking this page! You tailored solutions to each of my problems haha it's perfect! I especially have to remember to pause, consider why the questions are being asked and adapt my communication to each interviewer. If I do an MMI again, I'll also have to remember to answer the question at the end, give some unique solutions (instead of my generic ones), make sure the anecdote fits properly,
get to the crux of the question so late (should've started off with the main issues) and breathe so that the questions which seem strange might actually make some sense.
 

Registered  members with 100+ posts do not see Ads

1234med

Regular Member
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
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!
 
Hi guys,
I would love some advice for assessment day at University of Sydney, they have a written component as well as a panel discussion. Any specific contacts or source to help for this particular uni process would be amazing.
What should I be expecting in a panel discussion? I've never sat one before, and don't know what would be the most effective way to prep for that.
I have a mere 3-4 days to prep, any advice or sources for interviews is very welcome!!!!! Pls help :)
 

Ceyda

Lurker
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).

If I've already set my set my back up plan in place by finishing my nursing degree and working at Emergency Department. Can I still say if I don't get into medicine than I will continue with my career as it's the closest it gets to with my passion as for me caring and helping individuals especially at their most vulnerable state provides me inner peace. Will it be considered short-sighted if I state receiving feedback from university and work on towards my weakness by researching and attending appropriate classes to increase my mark?
 

Registered  members with 100+ posts do not see Ads

Top