Free practice questions for the Glasgow medicine interview, with the interview format taken from the university's own admissions pages.
Glasgow does not run an MMI circuit. For 2027 entry the interview is online and lasts 30 minutes in two parts. Panel A covers your motivation to become a doctor and teamwork. Panel B covers communication and includes discussion of an ethical scenario. Two interviewers cover both parts and the interview is conversational, with no writing at any stage. Interviews run from late November 2026 to March 2027.
Original MedicHut practice questions. Real interviews may differ.
Panel A opens by exploring your motivation for medicine.
1. In one or two sentences, what is your core reason for applying?
2. What specific experience most strongly shaped this reason?
3. How would you respond if a panel member said your reason sounded like many other applicants?
Follow-up panel question:
"If you were offered a place on a related health science course instead this year, what would you do?"
Training as a doctor involves many years of study followed by further postgraduate training before independent practice.
1. What keeps you motivated for a goal this far away?
2. How would you check, partway through, that your motivation is still genuine?
3. What might make you reconsider your choice of career?
Follow-up panel question:
"Suppose after two years you found the academic material far harder than expected. What would you do?"
Many applicants describe wanting to 'help people' as their reason for applying to medicine.
1. What makes your own motivation more specific than this general statement?
2. What evidence from your experience supports it?
3. How would you explain your motivation to someone who has never met you?
Follow-up panel question:
"A panel member asks whether you have considered a caring profession other than medicine. How would you answer?"
Reflect on a moment that made you seriously consider medicine as a career, rather than simply being interested in science.
1. Describe the moment and why it mattered to you.
2. How did you test whether this interest was genuine, rather than a passing reaction?
3. What have you done since to confirm your decision?
Follow-up panel question:
"If that specific moment had never happened, do you think you would still be applying to medicine?"
Medicine demands sustained motivation even during routine or repetitive parts of training and practice.
1. How do you expect to stay motivated during less exciting parts of your course?
2. Describe a time you kept going with something unglamorous because you understood its purpose.
3. What would you do if your motivation dipped significantly during your course?
Follow-up panel question:
"If you found the first two years of pre-clinical study far less engaging than you expected, how would you respond?"
You have chosen to apply to Glasgow specifically.
1. What have you found out about how the Glasgow course is structured and taught?
2. Why does this appeal to you compared with other medical courses you could apply to?
3. What would you still want to find out before starting?
Follow-up panel question:
"If you found that a major part of the Glasgow course did not suit how you prefer to learn, how would you adapt?"
Glasgow is a large city with a range of healthcare settings, from major teaching hospitals to community practices.
1. What do you think are the benefits of training across this kind of mixed healthcare environment?
2. What challenges might come with moving between very different settings during training?
3. How would you prepare yourself to adapt quickly between settings?
Follow-up panel question:
"If your placement allocation meant mostly community-based settings rather than hospital ones, how would you feel?"
Many universities, including Glasgow, run widening access schemes to support applicants from underrepresented backgrounds.
1. Why do you think widening access schemes matter for medical schools?
2. What would you personally bring to a cohort of students from a wide range of backgrounds?
3. How might training alongside a diverse group of students shape the way you practise medicine later?
Follow-up panel question:
"A fellow student assumes you had an easier path into medicine than they did. How would you respond?"
Glasgow's interview process itself, an online panel rather than an in-person circuit, is a specific feature of its selection.
1. What do you think are the advantages of an online panel format for applicants?
2. What might be harder to convey in an online interview compared with meeting in person?
3. How have you prepared specifically for communicating well over video call?
Follow-up panel question:
"If your internet connection failed partway through this interview, what would you do?"
Think about a period of work experience, paid work, or volunteering you have completed.
1. Describe a specific moment where you saw a healthcare professional, or someone in another caring role, demonstrate good practice.
2. What made this a good example, in your own words?
3. How has this shaped your expectations of medical training?
Follow-up panel question:
"What would you have done if you had observed the opposite, a moment of poor practice?"
Many applicants to Glasgow will have carried out virtual or in-person work experience.
1. What was the most useful thing you learned that you could not have learned from reading alone?
2. How did this experience change your understanding of teamwork in a caring environment?
3. What are the limitations of work experience in preparing you for medical school?
Follow-up panel question:
"If your planned work experience was cancelled at short notice, what steps would you take instead?"
Reflect on a time you observed a multidisciplinary team working together, such as on a hospital ward, in a care home, or in a GP practice.
1. Describe one example of effective collaboration you observed.
2. What roles were involved, and how did they depend on each other?
3. What did you learn about the limits of any one person's role within that team?
Follow-up panel question:
"If you saw two team members disagree in front of a patient or service user, what would you expect good practice to look like?"
Reflect on an experience, inside or outside healthcare, where things did not go as planned.
1. What was the situation and what went wrong?
2. What specific insight into resilience or problem solving did you gain?
3. How did this experience inform the way you now plan for setbacks?
Follow-up panel question:
"If a similar setback happened again next month, what would you do differently?"
Self-awareness and honesty about limitations are valued qualities in medical training.
1. What do you consider your biggest area for improvement before starting medical school?
2. Give an example of when this has affected you.
3. What specific steps are you taking to address it?
Follow-up panel question:
"How would you feel if a tutor identified this same weakness publicly during a teaching session?"
Doctors are expected to maintain high standards even under time pressure.
1. Describe a time you kept high standards while under pressure.
2. What helped you maintain those standards?
3. What would you do if you found you could not maintain them?
Follow-up panel question:
"If a supervisor asked you to cut corners to save time, how would you respond?"
Reflect on a piece of feedback, positive or negative, that significantly changed how you approached a task.
1. What was the feedback and how did you receive it at the time?
2. What did you change as a result?
3. Why is being open to feedback important in medical training?
Follow-up panel question:
"How would you respond to feedback you believed was unfair?"
Reflect on a time you had to manage several competing demands on your time at once.
1. How did you decide what to prioritise?
2. What, if anything, did you have to let go of?
3. What did this teach you about managing time as a future medical student?
Follow-up panel question:
"If a new, urgent demand appeared partway through, how would you adjust your plan?"
Panel A also explores your experience of teamwork.
1. Describe a time you worked in a team towards a shared goal.
2. What was your specific contribution?
3. What did you learn about your own strengths and weaknesses as a team member?
Follow-up panel question:
"If you had to repeat that project with the same team, what would you do differently?"
You are part of a group project where one member keeps missing meetings.
1. What steps would you take to address this?
2. How would you balance fairness to the absent member with fairness to the rest of the group?
3. What does this situation teach you about managing teams in medicine?
Follow-up panel question:
"The member says they have been struggling with a personal issue. How does this change your approach?"
Imagine you are leading a small group project and two members strongly disagree about the best approach.
1. How would you facilitate a resolution?
2. What principles would guide your decision if no agreement is reached?
3. Why is this kind of mediation relevant to working in a clinical team?
Follow-up panel question:
"One member tells you privately that they think you favoured the other person. How would you respond?"
You are asked to represent your group in presenting its work, although you were not the strongest contributor to the content.
1. How would you prepare to represent the group fairly?
2. How would you make sure credit is shared appropriately?
3. What qualities make someone a good representative rather than just a confident speaker?
Follow-up panel question:
"After your presentation, someone praises you individually. How would you respond?"
During a group task, you realise the group is heading towards an answer you believe is wrong.
1. How would you raise your concern?
2. What would you do if the group disagreed with you after you raised it?
3. Why does this situation matter for working safely in a clinical team?
Follow-up panel question:
"If time ran out before the disagreement was resolved, what would you prioritise?"
You are coordinating a small team for a project and a key contributor lets you down close to the deadline.
1. What would your immediate priorities be?
2. How would you communicate the problem to your team?
3. What qualities help a leader stay effective under sudden pressure?
Follow-up panel question:
"A team member suggests abandoning the project rather than adapting it. How do you respond?"
Panel B asks you to choose one of a set of scenarios to discuss. Imagine the scenario asks you to explain, without medical jargon, what it means for a condition to be managed with regular medication rather than cured.
1. Give your explanation as you would to a newly diagnosed patient.
2. What questions might this patient reasonably ask next?
3. Why does plain language matter in this kind of conversation?
Follow-up panel question:
"The patient says, 'so I'll be on tablets forever?' How would you continue the conversation?"
Imagine a scenario where you must explain the difference between a virus and a bacterium to someone with no scientific background.
1. Give a clear, jargon-free explanation.
2. How would you check they had understood?
3. Why does this distinction matter for how illnesses are treated?
Follow-up panel question:
"The person says, 'so antibiotics should work on anything, right?' How would you respond?"
Imagine a scenario where a worried relative asks you why a hospital appointment has been delayed by several months.
1. How would you respond honestly but sensitively?
2. What wider pressures might you mention without overstating your own knowledge?
3. How would you reassure the relative that this delay does not mean the condition is being ignored?
Follow-up panel question:
"The relative asks if going private would be faster. How would you respond?"
Imagine a scenario where you must summarise complex health advice, such as managing a minor injury at home, in three short sentences for someone whose first language is not English.
1. Give your three-sentence summary.
2. What is the risk of oversimplifying medical advice?
3. How would you make sure the person knew when to seek further help?
Follow-up panel question:
"The person says, 'so I definitely don't need to see anyone?' How would you clarify your answer?"
Imagine a scenario where a school pupil visiting an open day asks you why doctors sometimes seem rushed with patients.
1. How would you answer honestly but sensitively?
2. What wider pressures on the NHS might you mention?
3. How would you reassure the pupil this would not stop you caring about patients?
Follow-up panel question:
"The pupil asks if this makes you want to choose a different career. How would you answer?"
Imagine a scenario where you must explain to a worried parent, in plain language, what it means for their child to be referred for further tests after a routine check-up.
1. Give your explanation.
2. What is the parent likely to be most anxious about, beyond the facts themselves?
3. How would you check they felt reassured as far as possible, without giving false certainty?
Follow-up panel question:
"The parent asks you directly whether you think it is serious. How would you respond?"
Panel B also explores ethical reasoning, sometimes through one of the chosen scenarios. Imagine a medical student overhears two doctors discussing a patient's case in a public corridor, using the patient's full name.
1. What is the ethical concern here?
2. What should the student do, if anything?
3. Why does confidentiality matter even in small, informal moments?
Follow-up panel question:
"One of the doctors is someone the student needs a reference from. Does this change what the student should do?"
An adult patient with full mental capacity refuses a treatment that doctors believe would clearly benefit them.
1. What ethical principle protects the patient's right to refuse?
2. What should the healthcare team do if they strongly disagree with the decision?
3. Are there any circumstances in which a competent adult's refusal could be overridden?
Follow-up panel question:
"The patient's family asks the team to persuade the patient to change their mind. How should the team respond?"
The NHS has a fixed budget and must decide whether to fund a very expensive treatment that helps very few patients, or several cheaper treatments that help many.
1. What are the competing ethical principles in this decision?
2. Who should be involved in making such decisions?
3. Is it ever ethically straightforward to make this kind of choice?
Follow-up panel question:
"A media campaign puts pressure on the NHS to fund the expensive treatment. How should this affect the decision?"
A 16-year-old wants a medical procedure that their parents strongly oppose, though the procedure is otherwise permitted for their age group.
1. What are the key ethical and legal issues to consider?
2. How would a doctor assess whether the 16-year-old can make this decision themselves?
3. What should happen if the young person and their parents cannot agree?
Follow-up panel question:
"The parents threaten to complain about any doctor who proceeds without their consent. How should this be handled?"
A medical student makes a small error while shadowing, which has no effect on patient care, and no one else noticed.
1. Should the student mention it to anyone, and why?
2. What ethical principle is most relevant here?
3. How might this situation differ if the error had been more serious?
Follow-up panel question:
"A fellow student advises them just to let it go since no harm was done. How should they respond to this advice?"
The NHS frequently reports long waiting times for both emergency and routine care.
1. What do you understand to be some of the causes of these waiting times?
2. What trade-offs might be involved in trying to reduce them?
3. How might this affect a newly qualified doctor's daily work?
Follow-up panel question:
"A patient tells you they went private because of the wait. How would you feel hearing this as a future NHS doctor?"
Health inequalities between more and less deprived areas remain a significant issue across the UK.
1. Why do you think these inequalities exist?
2. What role, if any, can an individual doctor play in addressing them?
3. What are the limits of what a doctor working alone can achieve on this issue?
Follow-up panel question:
"A patient says their health problems are 'just bad luck', not linked to where they live. How would you respond?"
Social care and the NHS are closely linked, especially for older patients.
1. Why do pressures in social care affect hospitals?
2. What impact might this have on a ward you are working on?
3. What is the role of a doctor in a situation partly caused by problems outside the health service?
Follow-up panel question:
"A patient is medically fit to leave hospital but has nowhere safe to go. What would you want to happen next for them?"
Staff retention and wellbeing within the NHS workforce are frequently discussed topics.
1. Why do you think staff wellbeing affects patient care?
2. What could be done to support new doctors in their first years of practice?
3. What personal strategies might help you look after your own wellbeing in a demanding career?
Follow-up panel question:
"If you noticed a colleague showing signs of burnout, what would you do?"
The following is an illustrative figure. A study finds that out of 160 patients given a new treatment, 112 showed improvement, compared with 64 out of 160 given a placebo.
1. Calculate the percentage improvement rate in each group.
2. What does this difference suggest, and what further information would you want before drawing conclusions?
3. Why is a placebo-controlled design useful in this kind of study?
Follow-up panel question:
"If the study only included 16 patients in each group, would you trust the result as much? Why or why not?"
A new over-the-counter medicine is approved after passing through several stages of testing.
1. What do you understand about why medicines go through multiple testing phases before approval?
2. Why might a treatment that works well in a trial behave differently in everyday use?
3. What role might doctors play in reporting problems with medicines after approval?
Follow-up panel question:
"A patient tells you they do not trust 'newly approved' medicines. How would you respond?"
Science taught at school is often presented as settled fact, but scientific understanding frequently changes.
1. Can you think of an example where scientific understanding has changed over time?
2. Why is it important for a doctor to accept that medical knowledge can change?
3. How would you keep your own knowledge up to date throughout a career?
Follow-up panel question:
"How would you explain to a patient that medical advice they received years ago has since changed?"
You read that a type of cell in the human body divides roughly every 22 hours under normal conditions.
1. What basic process allows one cell to become two?
2. Why might uncontrolled versions of this process be relevant to disease?
3. Why is understanding basic cell biology useful background for a future doctor, even if you will not do research?
Follow-up panel question:
"How would you explain cell division to a school pupil with no biology background?"
The following is an illustrative figure. A clinic sees 36 patients a day. Records show 9 wait under 15 minutes, 15 wait between 15 and 30 minutes, and 12 wait over 30 minutes.
1. What percentage of patients wait over 30 minutes?
2. What further information would help you judge whether this waiting pattern is a problem?
3. Suggest one practical change the clinic could test to reduce long waits.
Follow-up panel question:
"If the clinic could only change one thing, what would you recommend and why?"
The following is an illustrative figure. Over five years, a hospital's emergency department attendances rose from 50,000 to 64,000 per year, while nursing staff numbers rose from 250 to 265.
1. Calculate the percentage increase in attendances and in staff numbers over the five years.
2. What might this mismatch mean for staff and patients?
3. What other data would help explain the reasons behind the rise in attendances?
Follow-up panel question:
"If attendances for minor injuries made up most of the rise, what might this suggest about possible solutions?"
You are given a logical puzzle: three patients are waiting to be seen, and you are told only that patient A must be seen before patient B, and patient C must be seen first.
1. List the possible orders in which the patients could be seen.
2. Explain your reasoning process.
3. Why might the ability to reason through constraints like this be useful in medicine?
Follow-up panel question:
"A fourth patient arrives who must be seen last. How does this change the possible orders?"
The following is an illustrative figure. A screening test correctly identifies 90 out of 100 people who have a condition, but also incorrectly flags 15 out of 100 people who do not have it.
1. In a group of 1,000 people where 60 actually have the condition, roughly how many would you expect the test to flag in total?
2. What problem does this illustrate about screening tests in a low-prevalence population?
3. Why is this relevant to decisions about offering a test widely?
Follow-up panel question:
"How would you explain this result to a worried person who has just tested positive?"
Think of a time you changed your opinion about something significant after new information or an experience.
1. What was your original view and what changed it?
2. How did you handle the process of changing your mind?
3. Why is this kind of flexibility useful for a doctor?
Follow-up panel question:
"How would you respond if changing your mind meant admitting you had previously given someone incorrect advice?"
Reflect on the process of preparing your UCAS application and getting ready for this panel interview.
1. What has this process taught you about your own strengths?
2. What has it taught you about areas you still need to develop?
3. How will you continue this kind of reflection once you are a medical student?
Follow-up panel question:
"If you were not offered a place this year, what would you take forward from this experience?"
Consider a time you received disappointing results or an outcome that did not match your effort.
1. How did you respond at the time?
2. What did you learn about managing disappointment?
3. How might this learning help you cope with setbacks during medical training?
Follow-up panel question:
"How would you distinguish between a setback you should push through and one that signals you need to change your approach?"
Reflect on how you prepared to communicate clearly in an online interview format rather than in person.
1. What specific steps did you take to prepare for this?
2. What did you find hardest about communicating over video call compared with face to face?
3. What did this preparation teach you about adapting your communication style to different situations?
Follow-up panel question:
"If this interview had instead been in person with an in-person panel, what would you have done differently?"
Glasgow uses this format for medicine: Two part panel interview. Interviews are held online.
Interview timing for Glasgow: Late November 2026 to March 2027. Always check the university's own admissions pages for this year's dates.
Glasgow assesses: Motivation for medicine, Teamwork, Communication, Ethical reasoning.
No. They are 50 original MedicHut practice questions, written to match Glasgow's published interview format. Universities do not share their real questions, so your interview may differ.
Yes. Every question is free to practise, with no sign-up needed. You can make a free account to save your notes.
Glasgow medical school guide: entry requirements and interview advice
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