Free practice questions for the Greater Manchester medicine interview, with the interview format taken from the university's own admissions pages.
The University of Greater Manchester School of Medicine interviews by Multiple Mini Interview, conducted in English, with eight stations in its published selection policy. Stations assess communication, problem solving, personal qualities and values, motivation and suitability, empathy and compassion, organisational ability, numeracy and teamwork. Recent international intakes were interviewed online and the school reserves the right to change the format. Interview timing is published for each cycle on the School of Medicine website. Check your invitation for current timings.
Original MedicHut practice questions. Real interviews may differ.
Medicine involves a long training pathway and a lifelong commitment to learning.
1. What first drew you to medicine as a career?
2. How have you tested this motivation against the reality of the job?
3. What would make you reconsider this path partway through training?
Follow-up: If you had to explain your motivation in one sentence to someone who has never met you, what would you say?
Many applicants apply to medical schools that recruit internationally as well as from the UK.
1. What appeals to you about studying medicine in a school with an international outlook?
2. What challenges might come with training in an environment with a strong international focus?
3. How would you prepare for those challenges?
Follow-up: How would you respond to a coursemate who struggles to adjust to studying in a new country?
Reflect on a moment that confirmed, rather than first created, your interest in medicine.
1. Describe the moment.
2. Why did it confirm your interest rather than put you off?
3. What did it teach you about the kind of doctor you want to become?
Follow-up: What moment, if any, has made you doubt this path, and how did you work through it?
Greater Manchester Medical School uses an online MMI rather than an in-person interview day.
1. What do you think is an advantage of an online assessment format for applicants?
2. What do you think is a disadvantage?
3. How will you prepare differently for an online MMI compared with a face-to-face one?
Follow-up: If your internet connection failed partway through a station, what would you do?
This medical school structures its MMI stations around named attributes such as compassion, integrity and teamwork.
1. Why might it help applicants to know in advance which attributes are being assessed?
2. Which of the six attributes listed do you feel most confident about, and why?
3. Which do you think you will need to work hardest to demonstrate?
Follow-up: How would you demonstrate 'limits of competency' in a short recorded or live answer, without simply saying the words?
Studying medicine somewhere that recruits across international borders can expose you to a wide range of peers and perspectives.
1. What do you think you could learn from studying alongside students from many different countries?
2. What could you personally bring to a diverse cohort of students?
3. What would you do to make sure you built friendships across cultural differences, not just within your own background?
Follow-up: A new coursemate from another country tells you they feel isolated. What would you do?
Think of a time you observed a healthcare worker being honest with a patient about something difficult.
1. Describe what happened.
2. Why was honesty, rather than reassurance, the right choice in that moment?
3. What did it teach you about integrity in clinical practice?
Follow-up: How would your view change if being completely honest risked causing the patient serious distress?
Reflect on an experience where you had to admit the limits of your own knowledge or skill.
1. What was the situation?
2. How did you communicate this limit to others involved?
3. What did you learn about when to ask for help rather than attempt something yourself?
Follow-up: Why do you think recognising your own limits is especially important in medicine?
During work experience, paid work or volunteering, think of a time you saw a team work well together under pressure.
1. What made the teamwork effective?
2. What was your own role, if any?
3. What would you take from this into your own approach to working in a team?
Follow-up: What would you do if you noticed one team member was not contributing fairly to a shared task?
Reflect on an occasion where you had to communicate something complicated to someone with far less background knowledge than you.
1. What was the situation?
2. How did you adapt your communication?
3. How did you know whether you had succeeded?
Follow-up: How would your approach change if the person you were talking to was anxious as well as unfamiliar with the topic?
Honesty and integrity are among the attributes this medical school assesses directly.
1. Describe a time you were honest even though it was not the easiest option.
2. What made honesty difficult in that moment?
3. What would you do if being honest meant disappointing someone you respected?
Follow-up: Would your answer change if the honesty concerned a mistake that had already caused harm? Explain your reasoning.
Compassion and empathy are also named attributes in this medical school's assessment.
1. What is the difference, in your view, between sympathy and empathy?
2. Describe a time you tried to understand a situation from someone else's point of view, even though you disagreed with them.
3. What did you learn from that experience?
Follow-up: How would you show empathy to a patient whose choices you personally find hard to understand?
Critical thinking is a named attribute assessed by this medical school.
1. Describe a time you questioned a claim or piece of advice rather than accepting it immediately.
2. What steps did you take to check whether it was correct?
3. What did you do once you had reached a conclusion?
Follow-up: How would you apply the same approach if a friend shared a confident but questionable health claim with you?
Reflect on a time you had to recognise and accept the limits of your own competency.
1. What was the task or situation?
2. How did you decide that you had reached your limit?
3. What did you do next?
Follow-up: How do you think a culture that encourages admitting limits of competency helps keep patients safe?
You are part of a small group project where one member consistently takes credit for others' work.
1. How would you address this directly with the person involved?
2. What would you do if a direct conversation did not change their behaviour?
3. Why does this matter for teamwork in a clinical setting?
Follow-up: How would your approach change if you were the newest or most junior member of the group?
Imagine you are asked to lead a small group with a tight deadline, and the group is divided on which approach to take.
1. How would you bring the group to a decision?
2. What would you do if one member strongly disagreed with the final decision?
3. What makes a leader's approach different from simply imposing their own preference?
Follow-up: The disagreement resurfaces after the deadline has passed. How do you handle it then?
Reflect on a time you had to rely on someone else's expertise because it was outside your own competency.
1. What was the situation?
2. How did you communicate what you needed from them?
3. What did this teach you about trusting others in a team?
Follow-up: How might this experience help you work well with nurses and other healthcare professionals as a doctor?
You notice a quieter member of your team has a good idea but is not speaking up in group discussions.
1. What would you do to encourage their contribution?
2. What would you say to the rest of the group, if anything?
3. Why does this matter for good teamwork?
Follow-up: What would you do if, after your encouragement, the group still dismissed the idea too quickly?
Imagine you must explain, to someone with no medical background, why a routine health check is worth attending even when they feel completely well.
1. How would you explain this in plain language?
2. How would you respond if they said they were too busy to attend?
3. How would you check that your explanation had been understood?
Follow-up: How would your explanation change if the person told you they were frightened of what the check-up might find?
A friend messages you saying they are confused by conflicting health advice they have seen online.
1. How would you respond as a supportive friend, not a medical expert?
2. What would you encourage them to do next?
3. What would you avoid saying?
Follow-up: How would your response change if the advice they had seen was actively harmful?
You are asked to explain a simple first aid step, such as how to apply pressure to a cut, to someone over a phone call where you cannot see them.
1. Record clear step by step instructions.
2. How would you check they are following correctly without being able to see them?
3. Why does clear verbal communication matter in medicine generally?
Follow-up: How would your instructions change if the person on the phone was panicking?
Imagine explaining to a worried relative, by phone, why a loved one has been kept in hospital overnight for observation.
1. How would you acknowledge their worry?
2. How would you explain the situation honestly without causing unnecessary alarm?
3. What would you suggest as a next step?
Follow-up: How would your message change if the relative told you they already suspected something serious was being hidden from them?
A classmate asks you to help them understand a topic they are struggling with before an exam.
1. How would you adapt your explanation to their level of understanding?
2. How would you check whether your explanation had worked?
3. What would you do if they still did not understand after your first attempt?
Follow-up: How would this situation change if the classmate seemed embarrassed about needing help?
A patient tells a student observer something important that they have not yet told the treating doctor.
1. What is the student's responsibility in this situation?
2. What ethical principle is in tension here?
3. What would you say to the patient?
Follow-up: The patient asks the student specifically not to pass this on. How should the student respond?
A medical student witnesses a classmate being dishonest about completing a piece of coursework.
1. What are the ethical issues at stake?
2. What would influence your decision about whether to raise this?
3. What would you say to the classmate directly?
Follow-up: Your classmate says it is a one-off and will not happen again. Does this change how you respond?
Resources in any healthcare system are limited, and difficult choices have to be made about how to allocate them fairly.
1. What ethical principle should guide decisions about fair allocation?
2. Why might two people with equally urgent needs sometimes be treated differently?
3. What would you say to a patient who feels an allocation decision was unfair to them?
Follow-up: Should cost ever be a factor when deciding who receives a limited treatment? Explain your reasoning.
A doctor realises they have made a mistake that did not harm the patient but should be disclosed as part of honest practice.
1. Why might a doctor be tempted not to disclose a mistake that caused no harm?
2. Why does honesty matter even when there is no harm done?
3. How should the mistake be disclosed, and to whom?
Follow-up: Would your answer change if disclosing the mistake could affect the doctor's professional reputation? Explain why or why not.
Health systems around the world, including the NHS, face growing pressure from an ageing population.
1. What challenges does this create for the way care is organised?
2. What role might doctors play differently in future because of this pressure?
3. What can an individual doctor do to help manage this pressure in daily practice?
Follow-up: Should more resources shift from hospital care to community and preventative care? Explain your view.
International recruitment and training of doctors is common across many health systems.
1. What are the benefits of medical schools recruiting students internationally?
2. What challenges can this create for health systems in training and retaining doctors?
3. What responsibility, if any, do you think wealthier countries have towards countries that train doctors who later emigrate?
Follow-up: How would you respond to someone who argues that international medical students take places away from local applicants?
Remote and online methods of assessment, including online interviews, have become more common in recruitment generally.
1. What are the advantages of online assessment for widening access to opportunities?
2. What are the risks or disadvantages of moving assessment online?
3. How can these risks be reduced?
Follow-up: If an online assessment format disadvantaged a particular group of applicants, what should an institution do about it?
Doctors are expected to maintain high standards of honesty and integrity throughout their career, as set out in professional guidance.
1. Why do you think a shared published standard matters for the profession?
2. Which part of it do you think is hardest to live up to in daily practice?
3. How might this guidance apply to you even as a student?
Follow-up: Should a doctor ever be allowed to bend one of these standards if they believe it serves the patient's best interest? Explain your reasoning.
Medical understanding changes constantly as new research is published and old assumptions are challenged.
1. How would you decide whether a new piece of health research is reliable enough to change practice?
2. What role does critical thinking play in evaluating new evidence?
3. How will you keep your knowledge current once qualified?
Follow-up: A patient shows you a social media claim that contradicts current medical guidance. How do you respond?
A preliminary study, not yet peer reviewed, makes a bold claim that becomes a major news story.
1. What does 'not yet peer reviewed' mean, and why does it matter?
2. What are the risks of people acting on this claim before it is properly checked?
3. What would you say to a relative who asks whether the claim is true?
Follow-up: The study later turns out to have a serious design flaw. Does this change how you would have acted earlier, knowing what you knew then?
Evidence-based medicine relies on combining research evidence, clinical experience, and patient preference.
1. Why might relying only on personal experience be risky for a doctor?
2. What are the limits of evidence-based medicine when there is little research on a rare condition?
3. How should these three elements be balanced in practice?
Follow-up: A senior colleague says that, in their experience, a different approach works better than published guidelines suggest. How would you think this through critically?
Illustrative figures. An online MMI system assesses 8 applicants per session across 8 stations, with each station lasting 10 minutes including reading time. Technical problems mean one applicant loses 15 minutes of a 90 minute session.
1. Using these figures, how much time does the applicant have left for the remaining stations?
2. What options could the school offer to deal with this fairly?
3. What would you consider to be the fairest outcome, and why?
Follow-up: If technical issues like this affected many applicants in one sitting, what systemic change should the school consider?
Illustrative figures. A medical school's online assessment system found that, of 500 international applicants who completed an online MMI, 420 completed all 8 stations without any technical issue, while 80 reported a problem with at least one station.
1. What does this data suggest about the reliability of the system?
2. What further information would help you judge whether the system is working fairly?
3. What would you recommend the school investigate first?
Follow-up: If the 80 affected applicants were more likely to be in a particular time zone, what would that suggest about the cause?
Illustrative figures. A screening test for a condition has a sensitivity of 85% and a specificity of 90%. In a population of 1,000 people, 50 actually have the condition.
1. Roughly how many people with the condition will the test correctly identify?
2. Roughly how many people without the condition will be incorrectly told they have it?
3. What problems could this create for patients and for a health service?
Follow-up: Why might a test with these figures still be considered useful, despite producing some incorrect results?
Illustrative figures. A clinic record shows that patients who received a clear written explanation of their treatment plan were readmitted within 30 days in 8% of cases, compared with 22% of patients who received only a verbal explanation.
1. What does this data suggest about the value of clear communication?
2. What other factors might explain the difference in readmission rates?
3. What practical change might a clinic consider based on this data?
Follow-up: How would you design a fair way to test whether written explanations really cause the lower readmission rate?
Reflect on a time you had to admit you were wrong after new information came to light.
1. What was your original view?
2. What changed your mind?
3. How did it feel to admit you had been wrong?
Follow-up: How might this experience help you respond well when a senior colleague corrects your reasoning in future?
Reflect on a time your honesty was tested by a situation where lying would have been easier.
1. Describe the situation.
2. What did you decide to do, and why?
3. What was the outcome?
Follow-up: Would you make the same choice again if the consequences had been more serious for you personally?
Reflect on a time you showed compassion to someone you found difficult to like or understand.
1. Describe the situation.
2. What helped you respond with compassion despite the difficulty?
3. What did you learn from it?
Follow-up: How will you draw on this when caring for patients whose views or behaviour you personally disagree with?
Reflect on a time you worked as part of a team made up of people from very different backgrounds to your own.
1. Describe the situation.
2. What did you find challenging about working across these differences?
3. What did you learn from the experience?
Follow-up: How will this experience help you work in a diverse NHS or international healthcare workforce?
Reflect on a piece of critical feedback you received that was hard to hear.
1. What was the feedback and who gave it to you?
2. How did you respond in the moment?
3. What did you do with that feedback afterwards?
Follow-up: Why is it important for a doctor to be able to accept feedback from people more junior than themselves?
Reflect on a time you recognised you needed to ask for help rather than continue alone.
1. What was the situation?
2. What made it difficult to ask?
3. What happened once you did?
Follow-up: Why might some medical students or doctors be reluctant to ask for help, and what effect can that have on patient safety?
Reflect on an experience, whether in work, study or daily life, that changed an assumption you held about a group of people.
1. What was the assumption, and where did it come from?
2. What specifically changed your view?
3. How might this shape how you treat patients from different backgrounds to your own?
Follow-up: How will you stay open to having your assumptions challenged again once you are a qualified doctor?
Reflect on a time you had to make a quick decision without all the information you would have liked.
1. Describe the situation.
2. How did you decide what to do?
3. What would you do differently if faced with the same situation again?
Follow-up: How do you think you will manage similar uncertainty as a doctor making clinical decisions?
Reflect on a time you disagreed with someone in a position of authority over you.
1. What was the disagreement about?
2. How did you raise it?
3. What was the outcome?
Follow-up: How would you handle a similar disagreement with a senior doctor once you are a junior doctor yourself?
Reflect on a time you had to balance honesty with kindness when giving someone difficult feedback.
1. Describe the situation.
2. How did you decide what to say and how to say it?
3. What was the outcome?
Follow-up: How might this balance be even harder, and even more important, when speaking with a worried patient?
Reflect on a time you worked effectively within a team despite not being the most knowledgeable person in the room.
1. Describe the situation.
2. What value did you bring despite this?
3. What did you learn about contributing to a team in different ways?
Follow-up: Why is it important for every member of a healthcare team, not just the most senior, to feel able to contribute?
Reflect on an occasion when you had to think critically about advice you were given, rather than simply following it.
1. Describe the advice and the situation.
2. How did you evaluate whether to follow it?
3. What did you decide, and what was the outcome?
Follow-up: How will critical thinking help you balance following clinical guidelines with using your own judgement as a doctor?
Greater Manchester uses this format for medicine: MMI circuit. There are 8 stations. Interviews are held online.
Interview timing for Greater Manchester: Published for each cycle on the School of Medicine website and confirmed in your invitation. Always check the university's own admissions pages for this year's dates.
Greater Manchester assesses: Communication, Problem solving, Personal qualities and values, Motivation and suitability, Empathy and compassion, Organisational ability, Numeracy, Teamwork.
No. They are 50 original MedicHut practice questions, written to match Greater Manchester'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.
Greater Manchester medical school guide: entry requirements and interview advice
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