How To Prepare For MMI Interview Questions?

The multiple mini interview (MMI) is an interview format commonly used by UK-based medical and dental schools. It involves multiple stations, typically lasting for 8-10 minutes each, focussing on various aspects of your candidature in an effort to see if you are the right fit for that specific institution.

The MMI can be extremely daunting with it’s far from stereotypical format. However, it’s been widely lauded as a more holistic and favorable interview option. This is primarily because it allows students the opportunity to present themselves as more than just their academic credibility. Additionally, most universities have different assessors for each station, giving candidates multiple opportunities to make a good first impression. MMIs also allow you to show off your soft skills. For example, your ability to strike conversation and answer questions echoes a strong and confident communication style. This can be difficult to otherwise show off in the other aspects of your uCAS application to medical or dental school.  

MMIs are typically composed of various stations that can be broadly organized into the following categories. 

  • Motivation for Medicine 
  • Personal Statement Discussions 
  • Work Experience 
  • Evidencing soft-skills
  • Evidencing tactile skills 
  • Role-playing 
  • Ethical scenarios 

The following post will highlight the various subsections of the MMI, including common mmi interview questions and how you can best prepare for your interview.

Motivation for Medicine 

It’s all in the name with these stations. A career in healthcare can be incredibly challenging for multiple reasons. Therefore, it’s important that healthcare professionals are passionate about their jobs and don’t only choose to go into it for arbitrary reasons. 

‘Motivation for Medicine’ stations aim to explore your key reasons for choosing to study medicine or dentistry. Questions can range from asking about your initial inspiration to exploring your goals and ideas about a career in healthcare.

For these stations, avoid cliches and focus on a chronological explanation of the events leading up to the interview. Regardless of how your interview phrases their question, focus on exploring the following concepts with them. 

  • What inspired you to consider a career in healthcare?
  • Once inspired, what did you do to learn more and solidify your interest in this field? 
  • What strengths do you have that will make for a good doctor (or other healthcare professional)?
  • What aspects of this career most excite you?
  • What are some of the realistic challenges to this career and why don’t they faze you? 
  • Are there any issues or inequalities in the healthcare realm that you hope to challenge? 

Your primary goal in these stations is to show your interviewer that your motivations to study medicine go deeper than financial gain and academic challenges. Show them that you have a tried and tested desire to engage with a career in healthcare and better the future of the NHS.

medicine MMI circuit
Medicine MMI Circuits
Experience real-life medicine MMIs, with individual feedback on each station to prefect your answers

Discussing your personal statement 

One of the harder parts of your medical school applications will be keeping to the word limit on your personal statement. It’s difficult to wrap up years of hard work and consistency into 4000 characters. So consider it a blessing that medical school interviewers will often want to delve deeper into your personal statement. This is your opportunity to do 2 major things! 

Goal #1: Give more information and thorough reflections on the activities you’ve already mentioned

Goal #2: Mention other activities and/or skills that you didn’t have the word count for in your statement

If you view these stations as an opportunity to achieve these 2 goals, you’re already halfway there to acing this particular talking point. 

A key piece of advice here is to focus on quality rather than quantity. Any medical school will favor a candidate who has reflected well on 2 key activities over someone who has won every accolade in the book but is unable to reflect on them. To reflect efficiently, focus on communicating using the well-known STARR format. Think about what went well, what didn’t go so well and what you learnt from the experience. 

A good way to do this in preparation for the interview is to list out your various achievements and roles and then focus on specific soft-skills you’ve gleaned from them, examples of when you put them to use and how they might be useful in a career in medicine. 

Work Experience

Discussing work experience in your interview looks very similar to discussing your personal statement. As we’ve already talked about, reflections are your best friends! 

In addition to a thorough reflection, also focus on communicating a learned awareness of the challenges of a career in the NHS. Medical schools want to know that their future students are realistic yet passionate. A good way to communicate this, is to focus on possible issues you noticed in the healthcare space and how they’ve inspired you to want to create change. Another way to do this is to focus on how your individual skill set is made to handle the challenges of the career. For example, the discipline you’ve learned from being an athlete might help you through the academic challenges of medical school. 

However you choose to discuss your work experience, ensure that there is a continued focus on exploring HOW your work experience has altered your view of the career as opposed to just listing various work experience placements. 

Download Free Medicine Interview Notes

    Evidencing Soft Skills

    Soft skills are skills that cannot be tangibly measured. These include, but are not limited to, communication, teamwork, leadership etc. These soft skills are integral to a career in medicine and can only be assessed during an interview. Consequently, it is vital that you are able to evidence these skills in your MMI. 

    Common MMI interview questions that aim to evidence your soft skills will typically focus on asking for examples in which you have shown a certain skill. A good way to prepare for these questions is to make a list of all the soft skills commonly assessed for. Some popular ones are;

    • Communication skills
    • Empathy
    • Teamwork
    • Leadership
    • Problem solving 
    • Prioritisation 

    Once you’ve listed these skills, find situations wherein you’ve had to employ them and reflect on them thoroughly. Some medical schools do prefer the STARR format in these cases but it is not compulsory that you use this particle reflective template. 

    While it is impossible to guess what soft skill they may want to explore, having a list of examples that have challenged you in the last few years will give you some confidence as often, one example can be used to showcase multiple different skills. 

    Tactile Skills and Role-Playing

    A handful of universities have at least one station that tests for tactile skills, such as hand-eye coordination. Some will also employ role-playing. We won’t discuss this in too much detail as they aren’t very common and are slowly becoming obsolete with the onset of social distancing measures and online interviews. 

    However, if your university of choice does mention these style of stations, just remember that they will not ask you to employ skills that you shouldn’t normally have and use in your day to day life. As for role-playing, the assessor’s focus is typically on your communication skills as opposed to your acting abilities. Ensuring calm and effective communication is key in these stations.

    Ethical Scenarios 

    Ethical practice is a cornerstone of professionalism in the NHS. So it’s easy to see why medical (or dental) schools want to admit students who have a practiced understanding of common ethical principles. Some ethical principles, such as honesty, are transferable to various fields outside of medicine. Chances are that you have already had to show honesty or professionalism at some point in your academic journeys. However, there are some ethical principles that are more unique to medicine. 

    The 4 pillars of medical ethics – beneficence, non-maleficence, justice and autonomy – are key learning points for before your MMI. It is not uncommon to be asked about these either directly or indirectly via a staged scenario. Additionally, you should also have an understanding of patient confidentiality, patient safety and other medical ethical practices. The GMC guidelines for medical students is a great place to start in understanding these principles. 

    Aside from ethical principles, common MMI interview questions can also delve into your understanding of medical procedures that involve ethical debate, such as abortions, euthanasia or prescription cannabis. Reading up about these ethical debates, exploring both sides of said debate and familiarising yourself with current UK guidelines is vital. 

    Popular Sources of Interview Preparation Advice

    Tutoring services, like Medic Mind, aim to bring accessible yet informative preparation courses to students like yourself. There is a lot of benefit to learning from current medical students with the primary benefit being that our tutors have stood where you stand today and therefore have first-hand experience with the interview process. There is also a wealth of information available online on platforms such as Google, Youtube and Reddit. 

    Too much information, however, can be mind-numbing. Keeping in mind all the advice that we’ve thrown at you in this post, here is a quick step-by-step guide on how to begin preparing for your MMI. 

    1. Familiarize yourself with the MMI format 
    2. Gather as much information as you can on your specific university’s interview, including format, number of stations, timings and popular station types
    3. Read your personal statement 
    4. Re-read it 
    5. Ensure you are able to explore and reflect on your soft skill set 
    6. Practice common interview questions with friends and family to nail down your answers
    7. Take stock of your strengths and weaknesses in how you communicate and work on these 

    Finally, remember that your MMI is yet another chance for you to show your dream medical school that you are perfect for a career in medicine. As long as you can communicate true passion, your MMI will be an absolute breeze.

    Good luck! 

    Frequently Asked Question

    →What is an MMI interview?

    MMI (Multiple Mini Interview) is an interview format that is commonly used in the medical, dental, and veterinary schools. It is a series of short interview stations, each lasting between five to ten minutes. Each station has a different interviewer, and the questions are designed to assess the candidate’s communication, ethical decision-making, and critical thinking skills.

    →How do I prepare for an MMI interview?

    To prepare for an MMI interview, you should research the school’s website and learn about their mission, values, and the program’s curriculum. You should also practice your communication and critical thinking skills by answering sample MMI questions and practicing with a friend or a mentor.

    →What are some common MMI interview questions?

    Common MMI interview questions include ethical dilemmas, communication scenarios, and critical thinking questions. For example, you might be asked to discuss a controversial medical issue, or you might be given a scenario where you have to communicate with a patient who speaks a different language.

    →What should I wear for an MMI interview?

    You should dress professionally for an MMI interview, such as a suit or business attire. Make sure your clothes are clean, ironed, and fit well.

    →How important is body language during an MMI interview?

    Body language is essential during an MMI interview because it can convey confidence, empathy, and professionalism. You should maintain eye contact with your interviewer, sit up straight, and use appropriate gestures to convey your message.

    →How long does an MMI interview last?

    An MMI interview usually lasts between 60 to 90 minutes, depending on the number of stations and the school’s format.

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