Interviews are often the most daunting aspect of admissions. After all, a portfolio can be refined countless times, while an interview hinges on that one-time performance to make it or break it. There’s also the element of unexpectedness, since no one can predict what questions will be thrown at you during the actual interview.
Nevertheless, smart preparation beforehand can boost your interview performance tremendously. Not only will it get you in the right frame of mind, but it will also equip you with the vital skills for interview success.
There is a tried-and-true method to prepare for any interview. On this page, every step is tailored to medical school interviews. We go deep into the details, including exactly which interview questions to prepare for, and what you should read up on.
Step 1: Gather Information
This is probably the most fun part, where you search up any information you can find on the interview that you’re going for. This includes not just what’s on the official admissions website, but also forums, blog posts and even YouTube videos that you may stumble across.
While there may be a paucity of information on local medical school interviews (all candidates must sign a Confidentiality Agreement), knowing the essential information is sufficient. No two medical school interviews are alike, anyway.
1. Interview format and flow
Generally, medical school interviews come in two forms: panel interview or multiple mini interviews (MMI). A panel interview is simply the traditional format of sitting down facing a panel two or more three interviewers, who will ask you questions. With MMI, you progress through a series of stations, each with different interviewer(s), who will either ask you question(s) or present you with a scenario.
As an example, Oxbridge uses the panel interview, NTU med uses MMI, and NUS is perhaps a mix of both. While NUS doesn’t refer to their interview as “MMI”, the concept is similar in that scenarios (and even role-playing in pre-Covid times) are given, on top of the usual questions.
The flow refers to the order of questions asked and how you’ll move about (if at all) during the session.
For instance, in Oxford medicine interviews, you stay in the same room and the same seat facing two to three interviewers. The general order of questions could begin from personal statement and motivations, and proceed on to science and application questions, concluding with medical ethics. In the NTU med MMI, you’ll move between eight separate interview rooms, with each round lasting five minutes.
2. Others’ experiences of the interview
You’ll find an abundance of information for UK med school interviews, while specific information is hard to come by for SG ones. Do not discount this step, however. Even a Reddit thread or seniors’ musings can give you some idea of how others once felt being in the same shoes as you are now.
3. Sample interview questions
Entire lists are available if you just google “uk medical school interview questions”. Once again, you will likely not find any recent examples for SG med.
However, I found the medical school interview questions (for UK, US etc) that surfaced from a simple Google search quite informative. There are tons of pages out there, but here are a few of the most comprehensive, top-ranked ones to get you started:
- Medical School Interview Questions — Royal College of Surgeons
- 50 Common Medical School Interview Questions | The Princeton Review
- Medicine Interview Questions – The Medic Portal
- Medical School Interview Questions – ISC Medical
- 110 Common Medical School Interview Questions in 2020 | BeMo®
- 50 Medical School Interview Questions – theMSAG
Of course, the above pages will have repeats, especially for the standard questions. (This also gives you a good idea of what are the questions that feature regularly i.e. you should probably prepare for.)
I spent a lot of time going through those lists, deleting the repeats and questions that are less likely to be asked. I eventually pared it all down to 25 questions, categorised, that I will prepare for (Step 2). These are what I call the “keystone questions”. They cover all the common themes that you must think about before stepping into the medical school interview. Even if the questions are not asked exactly, the ideas that you have generated from these prompts will help you to answer whatever the interviewer asks you on the actual day itself.
Step 2: Prepare Answers
Copy and paste the 25 questions into a new document (feel free to edit, delete, or add more as you please). Beneath each question, type out, in point form, what would be the key points of your answer. The wording need not be perfect; this is not an essay.
You can work through the document over a few days or a few weeks. Perhaps set yourself a goal of answering one to three questions a day (depending on how much time you have left before the interview).
You definitely will not be asked every question on the list. But just by going through this exercise, it helps to clarify your thoughts on the most pertinent issues that the interviewers want to know about. Most importantly, it captures your ideas succinctly.
During the high-stress interview, your mind simply cannot churn out eloquent, well-thought-out answers within seconds. This document is a rich bank of content with which you can weave your answer. It’s something you can fall back on anytime.
It must be emphasised that this is not meant to be a script. That’s why it should ideally be in point form. Tip: bold the key phrases that you want to remember and can easily use in your answers. These are the phrases that will come to mind when a related question is asked in the interview, helping you to craft your answer effortlessly. Remember, you want to appear effortless, not scripted.
Step 3: Read Up
You will notice that in the list of 25 questions, there is no section on medical ethics. This is because this part is better prepared for by reading up, rather than trying to target specific questions.
Why? Because you’ll end up with hundreds of questions. It’s insufficient to just cover the more general or standard questions (“Do you agree with abortion?”), and it’s not very likely they’ll be asked anyway. Medical ethics, if it does come out, is usually scenario-based.
Regardless, it is still worthwhile to look through what are examples of medical ethics questions that can be asked. This is particularly important for MMI. Some websites also give helpful sample responses. A quick list (some links in the previous section include medical ethics questions as well):
- Ethics Questions – The Medic Portal
- 100 Medical School MMI Interview Ethical Questions & Scenarios – BlackStone Tutors
- Medical Ethics Questions You Can Expect In Your Interview – Medical School HQ
(Note that scenarios may or may not be based on medical ethics. They may not even involve any medical-related issues. These usually test candidates’ communication, teamwork, leadership, problem-solving, critical thinking skills etc.)
The first three items in the list are covered in the 25 questions. Therefore, this step is done concurrently with the preceding one. You can also choose to create content documents for (2) and (3), but answering the questions and reading up a bit more should suffice.
1. Your own personal statement
Know your personal statement inside-out. You do not want to skip this step, this being the one thing every medical school interviewer will likely touch on, even if just briefly. Moreover, it’s something you can confidently prepare for.
Besides reading and rereading your personal statement, relive the experiences you wrote about. What are the main insights that you gained from each pursuit? What do you want the interviewers to know that you didn’t have the word count to expound on in your essay?
2. Current issues in medicine and healthcare
You are not expected to have any medical knowledge. (Exception: UK/Oxbridge) So read up on the big issues. It’s a good idea to cover both global health and the Singapore context. Focus on current trends and future challenges:
- COVID-19 and pandemic preparedness
- Health inequality
- Technology and health
- Climate change and health
- Communicable vs noncommunicable diseases
These are just some very broad ideas you can look into. Idea: Just read up on Covid—the issues we’ve seen in this pandemic cover almost every aspect of medicine and healthcare, including health inequality, technology and health etc, plus a whole lot of ethical quandaries.
If you just focus your efforts on reading into different aspects of Covid, you will: (1) seem very up-to-date, (2) be able to tackle any medical-related question (more or less), and (3) save loads of time.
Parting thought: Depending on the interview, this part may not feature prominently. You do not really need in-depth knowledge here.
3. Singapore’s (or the country’s) healthcare system
This is quite self-explanatory and probably important. It also ties in with reading up about the major health issues and challenges in Singapore. (This primer on Singapore’s Healthcare System might help.)
If you’re attending a UK medical school interview, read up about the NHS (National Health Service). It is a common topic at their medical school interviews. Compare their system to ours—the interviewers may be very interested to hear your thoughts on this.
4. Medical ethics
Know the four main principles of medical ethics: autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and justice. More importantly, understand how they can be applied in ethical dilemmas. This is best achieved by reading sample MMI responses or actual case studies. (This primer on Medical Ethics might be a useful resource.)
Common medical ethics topics include:
- Abortion
- Euthanasia
- End-of-life issues and withdrawing life support
- Organ transplantation
- Informed consent
- Patient confidentiality
- Medical malpractice and negligence
5. Books on medical topics or by healthcare workers (for interest)
I would say that this is not a requirement. Namedropping the books you’ve read won’t garner you any bonus points. If you bring in trenchant ideas relevant to the question posed—coupled with your personal insights—then yes, it could potentially show your depth of thought and interest in the medical field.
If you’re not an avid reader, simply reading one or two choice books (and really internalising the content) will be great. In fact, if you want to “prepare” in this aspect, just prepare one book to talk about and quote from.
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi is wildly popular, and one of the best books ever written. If you want a different one, check out this reading list for must-reads, or this one for fresh doses of inspiration.
Step 4: Practise & Review
Unless there are specific skills you wish to brush up on, you can usually leave this till the week of your interview. Always record yourself. I simply used the Voice Memos app on my iPad. Alternatively, you can also video yourself, which would give additional feedback on your facial expression and body language.
I’m the type of person who would rather not trouble others, so all I did was practise on my own. However, if you can find someone, especially if you have a close friend who’s also applying to medicine, you guys can “spar” and even give each other feedback.
This is where you can practise answering the 25 questions, and also bring in the medical ethics questions. One thing I did was to read up on medical ethics, but deliberately avoid looking at some of the medical ethics questions that I had compiled. This was to simulate an actual interview, where I would be hearing (seeing) the question for the first time.
For those questions I had prepared answers to, I would take a quick glance through the bullet points in the document right after I’ve practised responding to that particular question verbally. There is definitely no need to stick exactly to that pre-written structure, but it just reminds me if I’ve missed out any good points that I could have mentioned.
It’s also in this step that you can refine or add on to some of the points in your interview prep document. Continue to bold the key phrases. And of course, with each practice, refine your verbal and non-verbal expression.
Step 5: Build Confidence
This seems like an obvious step. It is, however, often overlooked and arguably the most important. Always walk into the interview room feeling like you’re the best candidate in the world (don’t say this out loud, of course, but tell yourself this and believe in it). Believe that you’re 100% going to succeed.
Repetition is the key to self-confidence, and that’s why it’s so important not to go into the interview without at least a little preparation.
What You Can Prepare For
Interviews are, ultimately, huge unknowns until you’re in the midst of it yourself. This whole article is focused, therefore, on what you can prepare for. This includes both content (Prepare Answers + Read Up) and skills (Practise & Review + Build Confidence). In this vein, TL;DR: