How do I start preparing for medical school interviews?
There are two main elements that you will need to master to be successful in medical school interviews.
Knowledge and Skills 📚
Medical school interviews require you to have a basic grasp of some key medical concepts, such as consent, confidentiality, medical ethics, duties of a doctor and the General Medical Council good medical practice guidance.
Interview Technique 🎙
You must appear confident in your answers, which must be well thought out, balanced and structured. You will also need to do this under time pressure
Both these domains can be taught. Medical school applicants are academically some of the brightest students in the country, so should be well adapted to acquiring knowledge.
However, you are likely to have been accustomed to having a timetable and being taught in a classroom for your A-level subjects by a teacher.
There are usually no lessons for medical school interviews, unless perhaps, you school has asked us to provide such lessons. Most students initially start preparation by reading a textbook or searching out medical topics online. However, be careful to ensure that any resources that you use are up to date ⚠️
Your sixth form may have a medical society, but this is usually more effective if there is a teacher who is familiar with the process helping you.
Students that are applying to medicine, and their parents, are reluctant to cooperate with each other, perhaps over a fear of competition and trying to gain a perceived advantage over each other. Be aware of students who tell you their interviews were awful and then end up with four offers.
We would say it is beneficial for students to work with other. You are in competition with each other, but this pales in comparison with the competition from the whole of the UK and indeed the world ⚠️
Our Medical School Interview Course is taught in person by Dr Mannan in small classrooms such as this. Gain the knowledge, skills and interview techniques that you need to master your medical school interviews and gain offers.
Start by looking at the topics covered in medical school interviews. We have indicated a list of topics that we cover on our Medical School Interview Course page, so this may be a good place to start. Dr Abdul Mannan, who teaches on our courses, has recorded some medical school interview topics on his you tube channel. Have a look at these below, like and subscribe to our channel.
If you are using books, make sure these are up to date. The current thinking around some ethical topics, such as euthanasia, is changing as time passes.
Whilst the medical schools will not expect you to cite the specific cases that led to certain laws relating to medical ethics, it may be useful looking at the reasoning behind them.
There are always new ‘hot topics’ every year and you need to keep yourself up to date. Keep an eye on the healthcare sections of news websites such as the BBC. With the cost-of-living crisis and increasing inequity in the UK, the effects of this on healthcare may some up in your interviews.
Topics relating to COVID19 are also popular, as well as remote medicine. Medical schools are less likely to ask you direct factual questions, such as ‘What is COVID19’ but are more likely to give you a scenario where you must apply the knowledge that you have learnt.
Good luck in your upcoming medical school interviews 😀
