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Birmingham University Interview Questions
About Birmingham Medical School
Birmingham Medical School has a well-integrated course that combines traditional methods of content delivery (full cohort lectures) with clinical applications (GP placements) from the first year.
It caters towards different learning styles by offering small group teaching sessions, as well as independent learning opportunities.
Staff members are very approachable. There are plenty of additional resources readily available to students who may require them.
INTERVIEW
MMI or Panel?
MMI
Interview format
The Birmingham Medicine online interview will comprise of two 6-minute interview stations, one of which is a role play station. There will also be a separate online calculation station test which will take 10 minutes and will take place on a separate date from your interview
What to expect on interview day?
Each interview station will last for 6 minutes, plus 2 minutes preparation time during which you will be informed of the discussion topic and, where relevant, the primary questions you will need to answer. Each station will last about 10 minutes in total to allow extra time for joining and moving between stations, but the 2 minute/6 minute schedule described above will apply to all. This allows you to start afresh at each mini-interview station, and ensures that you will receive the allotted time for each station.
The interviews take place online via Zoom, and will last for no longer than 30 minutes per candidate.
Interview scoring system
At each station you will interact with one interviewer but a second interviewer will also be present. You will be scored independently by each.
The stations comprise of:
Dealing with personal and ethical challenges station
Role Play station
Calculation Station
The decision whether an offer is made is based on the interview performance data as well as a score derived from your SJT result from UCAT. A total score will be derived as follows:
Interview/role play station scores (x2) - 50%
Calculation station score - 25%
UCAT SJT result - 25%
Interview months
Interview months
They anticipate that all interviews will take place in January and February 2022.
Examiner review
Interviewers ask follow-up questions to build more conversation.
What to expect after the interview?
You will be informed of their decision as soon as possible. They aim to have all decisions on UCAS Track by mid-March, and these decisions are final.
Unsuccessful applicants will hear too, however the majority of these decisions are unlikely to be made until after they have filled all of our interview places.
Interview tips
You will need to handle data in the Birmingham medicine interview, and so an important aspect of your preparation should include practising questions as, according to the website, you will need to undertake ‘very simple calculations in your head.
Discuss and debate the latest issues in the news with friends and family as this is the perfect way of being able to improve your communication skills for any station.
Focus particularly on role play, medical ethics, and motivation. - Read over personal statements and prepare to expand on any aspect.
Read GMC’s guidelines for good medical practice.
Dress code is business formal.
Example interview questions
For 2022 entry
Personal and ethical challenges station
You will be provided with a scenario relating to potential challenges faced by students and/or doctors. You have the opportunity to demonstrate your understanding of the personal qualities important for coping in a demanding career and also provide an assessment of your own capabilities in dealing with challenges.
You may be asked to explain some of the issues underlying healthcare challenges and also to address your own qualities that relate to dealing with challenges. They will be interested in your reflections and what insights you gained from your experiences, especially from observation of healthcare professionals either in their place of work, or virtually, through online work experience platforms (such as Observe GP). Please note that this does not have to be doctors, nor does it have to be face-to-face observation.
Role play station
The role play station gives you a chance to show how comfortable and confident you are meeting a new person, and having a short conversation covering issues of substance. It will be important to give appropriate advice in managing the situation. In the role play, you will be interacting with someone who has been trained in role play. You'll be provided with a brief paragraph to explain the context of the conversation. You will be expected to take an active role but how it runs depends also on how you respond to the role player.
Calculation station
This has not been defined in detail as yet and will take place on a separate date from your online interview as explained above.
You will have 20 minutes to complete two separate tasks, and all applicants will complete these tasks at the same time via a virtual software platform off camera. You will be asked to undertake simple mathematical calculations involving data that has clinical relevance.
The mathematical skills that are being tested are at GCSE level and below. The sophistication of each task is to recognise which piece or pieces of data need to be manipulated at a particular stage and to determine the precise mathematical approach that needs to be applied.
There will be a number of stages in the calculations and to establish the order in which these are performed is important too.