200+ Medical Interview Questions
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* Please note all questions with a * are questions which our tutors have had come up (or very similar) for students they tutor in the 2023-2024 application cycle
NHS Hot Topics:
Which inequalities are there in the application process to study medicine?
Which inequalities are there in the access to medicine throughout the UK?
Do you agree with the doctor's strikes?
Tell me about the proposed 7-day NHS. Do you think this would have a more positive or negative impact?
What does the term ‘postcode lottery’ mean?*
Why are the doctors striking currently in the UK?*
Can you tell me about the Charlie Guard case?
Can you tell me about the Alfie Evans case?
What are the benefits and concerns of an ageing population?*
Do you think the post-COVID-19 move to having GP consultants online has had an overall beneficial or negative impact?
How did the Covid-19 pandemic affect the NHS? Were there any positive impacts?
Would healthcare be better provided if the NHS was privatised?
What are the longer-term effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the NHS and the UK population?
Did the short-term or long-term effects of Covid have more impact on the NHS?
Are there differences in the quality of healthcare throughout the year provided by the NHS?
What were the concerns with Brexit affecting healthcare in the NHS?
What area of the NHS currently has the most innovation?
Why is the NHS struggling to retain healthcare staff and how would you address this?*
What current medical breakthroughs are most exciting to you?
What are the core values of the NHS?
Tell me about the role of the GMC?*
How does Good Medical Practice help medical students to develop their professionalism?*
One of the core values of the NHS is working together for patients, why is this important and how have you shown this through your own work experience?
One of the core values of the NHS is respect and dignity, why is this important and how have you shown this through your own work experience?
One of the core values of the NHS is commitment to quality of care, why is this important and how have you shown this through your own work experience?
One of the core values of the NHS is compassion, why is this important and how have you shown this through your own work experience?
Why did you apply for this course rather than the new medical apprenticeship programme?
What do you think about the rise of AI and its possibilities in medicine? What are the risks associated with the use of AI in medicine?*
Should doctors be held legally responsible for medical errors?
Is patient-led care beneficial to the NHS?
Is there a culture of defensive medicine in the UK and if so is this a good or a bad thing for the NHS?
Should patients or doctors make the final decision about the medical care provided?
Should doctors be held individually responsible for medical mistakes?
Is the distribution of wages within the NHS fair e.g. a nursing assistant earns £11/hour compared to a consultant earning £50/hour?
Tell me about the most exciting area of medical advancement you have read about recently.
How important is the carbon footprint of the NHS? Would this come at the expense of patient care?
Is climate change more important than the continued development of medicine and treatments within the NHS?
Is sexism still an issue within the NHS? Use examples to illustrate your answer.
If you had resources how could you combat racism within the NHS?
Should medical influencers be allowed? Do they fulfil an important role and if so what is this role?
Is it good or bad that most healthcare notes are now online, rather than physically written down?
What is more important; maintaining patient confidentiality or ease of access to medical notes for many different multidisciplinary teams?
What would be the long-term effects of improving public health?
If you were the prime minister how would you change the NHS and improve healthcare?*
What are the current UK guidelines on organ donation? Would you change these if you could?
What did we do right and wrong in the management of public health during the pandemic?
Role Play: for you and a friend to practice together
Click on the actor instructions and mark scheme to download them.
1) Scenario: You are on your work experience in a GP practice. Chat with one of the receptionists while you are on your break.
Actor instructions and Mark Scheme
2) Scenario: You are playing in the garden and you hear a loud crash. You realise you have accidentally hit, and squashed some of your neighbour's prized roses. Speak to your neighbour about the situation
Actor instructions and Mark Scheme
3) Scenario: You are in your second year of medical school. You know your friend has been struggling recently. Have a conversation with your friend about how they are doing.
Actor instructions and Mark Scheme
4) Scenario: You are on placement in a GP practice. The GP has just left the room and the patient mentions to you that they have been taking some recreational drugs (cocaine) and that they are afraid to tell the doctor.
Actor instructions and Mark Scheme
5) Scenario: You are working on a group project for your medical school. You have all been allocated a role in the team and you are the team leader. You feel that Sara has not been putting enough effort into her work and you have had to redo several of her pieces of work. Have a conversation with her about your concerns.
Actor instructions and Mark Scheme
6) Scenario: You are working on a group project for your medical school. You have all been allocated a role in the team and you are the team leader. Mark has told you he is struggling to keep up with all the tests you have coming up but you have seen on social media he has been clubbing every night this week. Have a conversation with him about your concerns.
Actor instructions and Mark Scheme
7) Scenario: You are a medical student on placement in a paediatric ward. You have been trained how to take blood from an adult but never from a child. A nurse comes up to you and asks you to take blood from 7-year-old Mary because he is struggling.
Actor instructions and Mark Scheme
8) Scenario: You are a medical student placed in GP. The GP has allowed you to speak to one of the parents of a child who is due for her vaccinations. The parents say that they are not willing to vaccinate their child because they are worried about the chance of their child developing autism. Speak to the parents about this situation.
Actor instructions and Mark Scheme
9) Scenario: You are working in a cafe which is very busy. It is time for your shift to finish and the manager comes over to ask you to stay for an extra two hours this evening. You know you have an important Chemistry test tomorrow and you had planned to revise for this test this evening.
Actor instructions and Mark Scheme
10) Scenario: You are working at a very fancy restaurant when a family comes up to you. They mention that it is their father/grandfather’s 70th birthday. You realise that you forgot to book in their table when they called and there are no more tables available for this evening.
Actor instructions and Mark Scheme
11) Scenario: You are a medical student on the respiratory ward and you are doing a ward round with the consultant. The consultant was very harsh on your friend Alfie, the other medical student on the ward with you as he didn't know the answer to a lot of questions that he was asked. Alfie is now very upset after the ward round, speak with him.
Actor instructions and Mark Scheme
12) Scenario: You are catching up with your friend who is a medical student over a coffee. When you ask them how they are doing they break down in tears and tell you that they have just been diagnosed with HIV. Comfort your friend and discuss their concerns.
Actor instructions and Mark Scheme
13) Scenario: You are speaking to a patient in the GP surgery. They mention that they have been having sexual relations with someone other than their wife. They are also concerned because they have developed some symptoms and have been recently diagnosed with Chlamydia. They are feeling conflicted about if they should tell their wife about the affair. Speak to the patient.
Actor instructions and Mark Scheme
14) Scenario: You are a medical student. You call your father who you know had a doctor's appointment today due to a recent seizure. He tells you he has just been diagnosed with epilepsy. You know that because of this diagnosis, he is not allowed to drive because of the guidelines from the DVLA. Discuss this with your father.
Actor instructions and Mark Scheme
15) Scenario: You have been working on a group project as a part of your medical school. You have created a group project where you have each contributed some work to create a research paper. You were working on this late at night. In the morning you wake up and realise somehow you have accidentally deleted the paper and you can’t get it back. It is the latest draft of the paper and although there is another saved version is it missing many hours of work. Speak to your team leader about the situation.
Personal Attributes:
How have you shown teamwork in your personal life?*
When have you shown good teamwork abilities?
When have you shown good commitment to an activity in your daily life?
When have you shown initiative in your daily life?
How do you deal with emotional difficulties in your daily life?*
When have you been curious? How do you continue to develop your curiosity?
When have you organised something and what did you learn from this?*
What would be the biggest challenges for you for being a doctor?
When have you shown good non-verbal communication?
When have you made a mistake? How did you learn from this?*
What is your biggest weakness?
When was a time when you didn’t treat someone with the respect they deserved and how has this changed your ideas about respect?
When have you shown great communication?
When have you shown empathy?*
What extra-curricular activities have you taken part in?
Do you deal well with stress? What have you found works and doesn’t work for you?*
When have you had to prioritise different tasks in your daily life? Which techniques have you found useful for this?
What social activities have you taken part in? How have these made you a well-rounded individual?
What has been the most interesting thing which you have learnt in your A-Levels?
What positions of responsibility have you held?
How have you developed your professionalism through your work experience? Why is it important for healthcare professionals to remain professional? *
When have you shown good personal organisation?
How have you developed your problem-solving abilities?
How would you deal with uncertainty in the medical field? Why is dealing with uncertainty a key aspect of practising medicine?
Describe a time when you have dealt with uncertainty? What did you learn from this situation?
When has someone disagreed with you and how did you approach this situation?
Why are you better than the other candidates applying for medicine this year?*
What are the ways you physically show empathy to a patient? Give an example.
Work Experience:
What is the key thing you have learnt from your work experience?*
What have you learnt from the reading you have done about medical school?
What attributes of doctors did you notice during your work experience?
What books have you read in preparation to study medicine?
What negatives of practising medicine did you notice from your work experience?*
Which team members make up a multi-disciplinary team?
If you were to go onto a hospital ward which members of staff might you see there?
Tell me about your work experience and volunteering.
How did you develop skills of empathy through your work experience?*
How did you develop skills of communication through your work experience?*
Tell me about a time when you were frustrated during your work experience. What did this teach you?*
Do you want to go into the speciality you did your work experience in? Why/why not?
Which weaknesses did you identify in yourself through your work experience and how would you aim to improve these throughout medical school?
What was the best and worst moment of your work experience?
Discuss the use of plastic in the NHS you saw during your work experience. Is this ethical?
When did you see someone struggle with uncertainty during your work experience? What did this teach you?
What additional work experience would you have liked to get and why?
Were there any negative aspects of your work experience? Why did you still apply despite these?
What did you further research from your work experience? Tell me about what you discovered.
Motivation for medicine:
Why do you want to study medicine?*
Why do you want to study medicine and not nursing?*
Why do you want to be a doctor in comparison with all of the other healthcare professions?*
Why do you want to study medicine and not dentistry?
Why do you want to study medicine and not pharmacy?
What is the role of a physician’s associate?
Why do you want to be a doctor rather than a physician's associate?
Why did you consider not applying for medicine?
Why did you apply to study medicine in the UK?
What have you done to explore if medicine is the subject for you to study?*
How did your work experience affect your decision to apply for medicine?
How has studying your A-Levels affected your decision to apply for medicine?
What would you do if you did not get accepted to medicine this year?
Why did you/did you not choose to take a gap year?
What is the difference between you and the other candidates who have applied to this university?
How do you plan to continue to stay updated with medical advancements once you start studying medicine?
How would the job of a primary care doctor compare to the job of a secondary care doctor?*
From your work experience, what will you struggle with most when you become a doctor?*
Which will you find most difficult to deal with; the long working hours of a doctor or the emotional difficulty when a patient of yours dies?
What you would be if you could not be a doctor?
Which speciality would you like to go into and why? Please use your work experience to expand your answer.
Medical Ethics:
What do you think about euthanasia?
What’s your opinion on abortion?
Are armed forces doctors breaking the Hippocratic oath?
Should doctors be allowed to perform abortions? Does this not go against the Hippocratic oath?
Should doctors be allowed to strike?
Should DNACPR be allowed? Is this ethical?
Should we allow 16-year-olds to vote?
Should we allow genetic modification during IVF?
What is your opinion of science experiments on embryos?
What is your opinion on IVF?
Should doctors be allowed to ask for a pay rise?
A 14-year-old comes into your GP practice and asks for contraception. How would you address this situation?
Would it ever be appropriate to break patient autonomy?
When can confidentiality be broken?*
You hear your friend discussing a patient's private information in a lift in the hospital. How would you approach this scenario?
You accidentally take home a handover sheet with private medical information after a long day on the ward. How would you approach this scenario?
You are a GP and a patient presents with an HIV infection. He tells you that he has not yet told his wife as he is afraid of how she will react. How would you approach this scenario?*
Is it appropriate for a patient to contact you through social media?
If a patient asks you out on a date over social media what ethical considerations would you have to take into account?
A Jehovah’s Witness decides they don’t want a life-saving blood transfusion for their child. How would you approach this scenario?
What are the limits of patient-doctor confidentiality? What is the cost of breaching this?*
A parent decides they don’t want vaccinations for their child. How would you approach this scenario?
Can you be a doctor if you have HIV as a medical condition?
A regular patient at your GP practice gives you a gift of a bouquet of flowers. How would you approach this scenario?
A regular patient to your GP practice leaves you her house in her will. How would you approach this scenario?
How can social media be used for medical education?*
Should medical students be able to have a social media presence?
Discuss a time during your work experience when you had to consider the four pillars of medical ethics.*
You have £50 million to spend in the NHS. Which area of medicine would you spend it in and why?*
You have £500,000 to spend in the NHS. You can either spend this on 15 knee replacements or on one heart transplant. What would you do?*
Should newspapers be able to publish negative reports or stories against hospitals and doctors if they are not being taken to court?
Should parents have the right to decide on medical treatment for their children?
Should people who have known risk of genetic conditions be allowed to have children?
How would you deal with discrimination if you came across it on a hospital ward? Would the way you approach this change if it is the patient discriminating against the doctor/nurse rather than the doctor discriminating?
Should pharmaceutical companies exist? Are they unethical to charge large amounts for medications?
Does the government have a moral duty to improve public health?
Should the Covid-19 vaccine be mandatory?*
Can humans ever ethically be used for drug testing?
Is prenatal testing for genetic conditions ethical?
Are the effects of plastic surgeons more positive or negative overall?
In private healthcare, is it ethical to give all the scans and tests a patient requests to a patient who has no current medical conditions?
Should the NHS prioritise the health of the healthcare workers or the patients?
If a patient has had brain stem death is it ethical to shut off life support?
Should cannabis be legalised?
Is it ethical for patients with severe eating disorders to be physically restrained?
Should patients be allowed to have home births or only hospital births?
A 14-year-old patient who has suffered from leukaemia for 5 years has requested to stop his chemotherapy. What considerations would need to be taken into account?
Your cousin shows you her hand where there appears to be a concerning skin lesion. She asks you for medical advice. What would you say?
Other science/explanation questions:
Explain to a 5-year-old child what a bacteria is.
Explain the periodic table to a 10-year-old child.
Choose a hobby of yours and explain the basics of this to a 5-year-old child.
Explain to a child what a MMI exam is.
Give clear directions to the examiner about how to get out the maze, imagining that they are walking through it:
Describe this photo to someone who cannot see it:
Describe this photo to someone who cannot see it:
Describe this photo to someone who cannot see it:
Medical School specific:
Why do you want to study at this medical school?*
Do you believe dissection or prosection is more beneficial in a medical school?
What is your opinion on anatomage tables?
Why do you think this medical school has decided to offer anatomage tables rather than traditional dissection?
What is the best way to study anatomy in your opinion?
Which section of the course are you most excited about studying?
What do you think is important to consider when looking at which medical schools to apply to?
Talk to a final-year medical student from XXX medical school and ask them any questions you have? Role-play style scenario
What would you be most excited to get involved in once you start medical school?
Which specific health problems exist in London compared to other areas?
What are the biggest problems facing the NHS within Wales?*
This university is in a very diverse area. What does diversity mean to you and how do you feel this will improve your medical education?*
Role of a doctor:
What is the role of a nurse?
What does a doctor do as a part of their job role?
What would a typical day of a doctor consist of?
Is it better to make quick or slow decisions as a doctor?
How would a day as a GP compare to a day as a junior doctor?
What is the difference between a registrar and a consultant?
What attributes would be better for a surgeon and which attributes would be better for a A&E doctor?
Can a doctor do everything a nurse can do?
Is teamwork or leadership more important for a doctor?
What is the career path of a doctor after they graduate?
Why is communication important in medicine?*
Why is ‘teacher’ an important role of a doctor?
Why is it important to take part in research as a doctor? When would it not be important?
Do you think AI could replicate the roles of a doctor in the future?*
Is good communication or intellect more important in a doctor?
Who are the people who make up a multidisciplinary team? Ensure you include non-hospital-based members of staff
Why is empathy an important skill for being a doctor?*
Why is leadership an important skill for being a doctor?*
Why is teamwork an important skill for being a doctor?*
To what extent do you agree with the statement ‘a patient is the expert in their own condition’?
Should we prioritise a long life as the most important consideration in medicine?
Is it more important for a doctor to be empathetic or intelligent?
Is a medical diagnosis always bad news?
What attributes make a good doctor?
Is curiosity always a good skill for a doctor?
What is the training pathway if a medical student decides to specialise in surgery?
How important is the public perception of the NHS and the job roles of doctors and nurses? Give examples to illustrate your points.
How important is the public perception of a hospital? Give examples to illustrate your points.
Why is being decisive important as a doctor? How have you developed your own ability to be decisive?
Which actions would lead to a doctor being unable to practice medicine in the UK?
What is the role of a plastic surgeon?
What are the worst parts of being a doctor?
Can doctors learn from their patients?
Why do doctors have to work night shifts? Are there any circumstances where they should not have to?
Should pharmacists be able to prescribe? Do you know any non-doctors who are currently allowed to prescribe medication?
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