Free practice questions for the Keele medicine interview, with the interview format taken from the university's own admissions pages.
Keele's interview is not an MMI. It is two separate 15-minute interviews, usually held about two hours apart on the same day, run by trained staff, healthcare professionals and members of the local community. One interview covers professionalism, using GMC guidance sent in advance. The other uses a short case sent with your invitation. You get the reading material one to two days beforehand so you do not need to read it during the interview itself. Interviews run online through Microsoft Teams from December 2026 to April 2027.
Original MedicHut practice questions. Real interviews may differ.
Tell me about a time you saw healthcare being delivered - in a hospital, GP surgery, care home, or as a patient yourself. What made you want to do this job, and what did you see that gave you pause?
Follow-up if they stall: What specifically did the staff you observed do well? Would you have done anything differently?
What have you done to find out what being a doctor is actually like day to day, beyond what you'd see on a TV drama or social media?
Follow-up: What was the most surprising or least expected thing you learned?
A career in medicine brings many rewards. It also involves significant demands and pressures. Tell me about what worries you most about becoming a doctor. Why are you still choosing to pursue this path?
- What specific aspects of the career cause you concern?
- How have you prepared yourself to face these challenges?
- Why do the positives outweigh these worries for you?
Follow-up:
"Does this worry stem from something specific you have observed during your work experience? Or is it from something you have read or been told?"
The daily life of a doctor involves a wide variety of tasks. Some of these tasks are less glamorous than others. Tell me about the parts of a doctor's routine that you think you will find least enjoyable.
- What specific tasks or responsibilities do you think will be frustrating or tedious?
- Why do you believe these tasks are still necessary for patient care?
- How do you plan to stay motivated when dealing with the less enjoyable parts of the job?
Follow-up:
"If a colleague complains to you that they are tired of doing administrative paperwork, how would you respond?"
Keele's course is built around small-group, problem-based learning (PBL) rather than lots of lectures. Why does that way of learning suit you, and what will you bring to your PBL group?
Follow-up: PBL only works if everyone contributes. What would you do if someone in your group consistently didn't prepare?
Keele lets you intercalate and teaches anatomy through prosection and dissection rather than only diagrams and models. What draws you to that, specifically?
Follow-up: What would you want to research if you did intercalate?
Keele trains doctors partly for Staffordshire and the surrounding region, an area with its own particular health needs. Why does training in a setting like that appeal to you?
Follow-up: What do you think you'd need to learn or adjust to, working in a community different from the one you grew up in?
Beyond the course itself, what will you actually bring to Keele's community, and why does that matter for a future doctor?
Follow-up: How do you think that side of you might change over five years of medical school?
Scenario: A GP has a personal moral objection to abortion. A patient attends asking for a referral for a termination.
How should the GP handle this? What matters most in their decision?
Follow-up: The GP is the only doctor on duty that day at a small rural practice, so there's no one else to see the patient immediately. Does that change your answer?
Scenario: An 82-year-old woman has just been diagnosed with early-stage dementia. Her adult children ask the doctor not to tell her the diagnosis directly, saying it will only frighten and upset her.
How should the doctor respond? What matters most here?
Follow-up: The patient has capacity to understand her diagnosis today, even though this may decline. Does that change what the doctor should do?
Scenario: You're on a hospital placement and see a fellow medical student speak dismissively to a healthcare assistant, telling them "that's not really your job to worry about."
What, if anything, do you do?
Follow-up: The student is a friend of yours and gets defensive when you raise it. What now?
Scenario: A hospital has one remaining intensive care bed. Two patients need it at the same time: one is 84 with several long-term health conditions, the other is 45 and previously fit and well.
How should the team decide who gets the bed? What matters most in that decision?
Follow-up: Would it be fair to simply choose the younger patient because they're more likely to have more years of life ahead of them?
Scenario: A competent adult is brought into A&E after a serious road traffic accident and needs an urgent blood transfusion to survive. She is a Jehovah's Witness and, while conscious and clearly lucid, refuses the transfusion on religious grounds.
What should the medical team do? What matters most in this decision?
Follow-up: Her family, who are in the waiting room, are begging the team to give the transfusion anyway to save her life. Does that change anything?
Scenario: A friend tags you in a photo from a night out on social media. It's not illegal or against any rule, but it could look unprofessional if a future colleague or patient saw it.
What do you do, if anything?
Follow-up: Your friend thinks you're overreacting and doesn't want to take it down. Now what?
Scenario: A patient with a terminal diagnosis and only weeks to live asks their doctor to help them end their life, saying they've seen a recent news story about assisted dying and want the same option.
How should the doctor respond? What matters most in this conversation?
Follow-up: The patient says their main reason is that their pain isn't being well controlled. Does that change how you'd respond?
Scenario: A close friend on your course is struggling with their mental health, and it's starting to affect their studies.
What would you do?
Follow-up: They ask you to keep it completely private and not tell any tutor or staff member. What now?
Scenario: A patient with a long-term condition regularly misses appointments, which affects their treatment. Their GP is frustrated and considering removing them from the practice list.
What matters most in deciding how to handle this? Probe: Does it change your view if the patient has caring responsibilities that make attending difficult?
Scenario: A junior doctor notices a senior colleague making the same small documentation error repeatedly, which has not yet caused harm.
What should the junior doctor do? Probe: What if raising it risks damaging their working relationship?
Material (practice figures):
In one town, 30% of adults in the poorest area smoke, compared with 8% in the richest area. Lung cancer rates in the poorest area are three times higher.
What does this data tell us, what can't you conclude from it, and what would you want to know before deciding what should be done about it?
Scenario: A patient in hospital tells the nurse they're "feeling fine" and asks to go home today. The nursing chart shows their temperature and heart rate have both been slowly rising over the last 8 hours, though neither is yet outside the normal range.
How would you think this through? What matters most in working out what to do next?
Follow-up: The patient is frustrated and says the numbers are "probably nothing" since they still feel fine. How would you respond?
Material (practice figures):
Over five years, the share of new NHS nurses leaving within two years of starting has risen from 1 in 10 to 1 in 5. Over the same time, the number of nursing vacancies has doubled.
What does this tell us about the pressures on the NHS workforce, and what would you want to know before deciding what should be done about it?
Material (practice figures):
In a study of 10,000 adults followed for ten years, people who owned a dog were 20% less likely to have a heart attack than people who did not.
What does this data show, what can't you conclude from it, and what does it mean for how doctors should think about their patients?
Tell me about a time you led a group of people towards a shared goal. What was your role, and what happened?
Follow-up if the answer is thin: Talk me through a specific moment in that - what did you actually say or do, and what was the outcome?
Scenario: You are volunteering as a first aider at a sports event. A spectator slips and hits their head. They are conscious but confused. Another first aider believes they should be moved to the medical tent immediately. You think they should not be moved until a senior paramedic assesses them. You only have a few minutes to decide before the next race starts right where the patient is sitting.
1. How would you communicate your concerns to the other first aider?
2. What steps would you take to reach a safe decision quickly?
3. Why is clear communication vital in time-critical situations?
Follow-up:
"The other first aider ignores you and starts trying to lift the patient. What do you do?"
Scenario: You are working a weekend shift at a busy cafe. A new colleague frequently leaves their station, forcing you to manage long queues alone. When they are present, they speak rudely to customers. The manager is away for the day.
1. How would you approach your colleague about their behaviour?
2. What underlying reasons might be causing them to act this way?
3. Why is it important to address this issue rather than waiting for the manager to return?
Follow-up:
"The colleague tells you they have not had proper training and feel overwhelmed by the busy environment. How would you support them for the rest of the shift?"
Scenario: You are part of a volunteer team organising a local charity event. The designated team leader does not assign tasks clearly. They change their mind constantly and refuse to listen to suggestions from the rest of the group. The event is becoming disorganised and several volunteers are frustrated.
1. How would you handle this situation as a team member?
2. What qualities make an effective leader in a team environment?
3. How can a team support a leader who is struggling?
Follow-up:
"You gently suggest a different way to organise the tasks, but the leader tells you to mind your own business. What is your next step?"
Tell me about a time you supported someone who was struggling - a friend, family member, or someone you cared for through volunteering or work. What did you do?
Follow-up: How did you know it actually helped? What would you have done if they didn't want your help?
Scenario: You are working on a group presentation at university. One of your group members has done very little work. The work they have submitted is of poor quality. The deadline is in two days. The rest of the group has asked you to speak to them about it.
1. How would you start this conversation?
2. What factors would you consider to ensure your feedback is constructive?
3. Why is it important to deal with this situation quickly?
Follow-up:
"The group member becomes defensive and says you are picking on them. What would you do next?"
Scenario: You are volunteering at a care home and a resident becomes distressed and repeatedly asks for a family member who is not able to visit. How do you support them in the moment?
Follow-up: What would you do afterwards to make sure this is properly followed up?
Scenario: A friend tells you they have been putting off seeing a doctor about a symptom that worries them because they are scared of what they might be told. What do you say?
Follow-up: How would your approach change if the friend became angry with you for pushing them?
Scenario given verbally: Mr Osei is 68 and has type 2 diabetes. He's missed his last three GP appointments. His blood glucose readings, when he does attend, have been getting worse. His wife died last year and he now lives alone. His notes mention he no longer drives.
What's going on for Mr Osei, beyond the blood glucose numbers, and how would you approach this consultation?
Tell me about a time something went wrong that was, at least partly, your responsibility. What did you do about it?
Follow-up if the answer avoids ownership: What part of that was specifically down to you, rather than the situation or other people?
Tell me about a time you had to keep a promise or commitment to someone, even though it became genuinely difficult or inconvenient to do so. What happened?
Follow-up: What would it actually take for you to decide that breaking that commitment was the right call?
How do you currently decide what to prioritise when you have competing demands , study, work or volunteering, family? Give me a real example.
Follow-up: What would you do if two of those became urgent at exactly the same time?
Scenario: You are attending a medical student conference. Everyone is asked to present a recent development in healthcare or medicine. You must choose a topic that you find particularly significant.
1. Which recent development or news story would you choose to present?
2. Why is this topic important for the future of healthcare?
3. How might this development impact the daily work of doctors in the NHS?
Follow-up:
"What is the strongest argument against the development you have chosen? What is its biggest limitation?"
Which value in the NHS Constitution do you think matters most for a doctor to hold onto, and why?
Follow-up: Tell me about a situation , real or hypothetical , where holding onto that value would actually be difficult.
Scenario: A ward in a local hospital is frequently understaffed. A patient's family member complains to the ward manager that their relative has not been washed today and their call bell was ignored for twenty minutes. The nurses are visibly rushing between patients.
1. What impact does chronic understaffing have on the quality and safety of patient care?
2. How might this environment affect the wellbeing and retention of the healthcare staff?
3. What short-term strategies could a hospital use to manage acute staff shortages safely?
Follow-up:
"The ward manager brings in temporary agency staff to cover the gaps. What are the potential advantages and disadvantages of relying on agency staff?"
Scenario: An elderly patient is medically fit to be discharged from the hospital after a fall. However, they live alone and require daily visits from a carer to help them wash and eat. The local council social care team says no carers are currently available, meaning the patient must remain in their hospital bed for another week.
1. How does the separation of the NHS and social care impact patients and the wider healthcare system in this scenario?
2. What would be the potential benefits of integrating social care and the NHS into a single system?
3. What practical challenges might arise when trying to combine these two different systems?
Follow-up:
"A politician suggests that social care should remain separate but receive more funding. Would this solve the problem of delayed hospital discharges? Why or why not?"
Medicine and medical school involve long hours, high-pressure situations, and setbacks you can't always prepare for in advance. What have you actually done to build up your resilience so far, and where do you think your biggest gap still is?
Follow-up: Tell me about a specific setback and what you actually did in the days afterward, not just how it felt at the time.
Medical school involves continuous learning and personal development. Think about your current abilities. Tell me about one specific skill you feel you need to develop further before working with patients directly.
- What is this skill and why is it important in a clinical setting?
- How did you identify that this is an area you need to improve?
- What practical steps can you take to develop this skill during your first year of medical school?
Follow-up:
"If a patient becomes frustrated because they feel you lack this skill, how would you handle the situation?"
Reflect on how you look after your own wellbeing when you are under pressure.
- Can you describe a specific recent example of a high-pressure situation you faced?
- What practical steps did you take to manage your stress in that situation?
- How do you know when your stress levels are becoming unmanageable?
Follow-up:
"If you noticed that your usual coping strategies were no longer working, who would you approach for support?"
Think about a piece of constructive feedback you have received that required you to change your approach.
1. What was the situation, and what feedback were you given?
2. How did you process and act on that feedback?
3. What was the result of the changes you made?
Follow-up:
"If you felt a piece of feedback was unfair or inaccurate, how would you handle it?"
Describe a time during work experience or volunteering when you saw a member of staff go beyond what was expected of them.
Follow-up: What effect do you think that had on the patient or the wider team?
Reflecting on your work experience or volunteering, tell me about a time you reconsidered an assumption you had about healthcare.
- What was the original assumption you held?
- What exactly did you observe that challenged this belief?
- How has this new understanding changed your view of the medical profession?
Follow-up:
"How have you applied this new perspective to your preparation for medical school?"
Drawing on your work experience or observations, tell me about the role of healthcare assistants in a clinical setting.
- What specific tasks or responsibilities did you see them handling?
- How did they work with doctors and nurses to provide care?
- Why is this multidisciplinary teamwork important for patient care?
Follow-up:
"If a ward was short on healthcare assistants for a shift, how might that affect the rest of the medical team?"
Reflecting on your work experience or volunteering, tell me about what you learned regarding patient consent.
- What steps did you see healthcare professionals take to ensure a patient fully understood their options?
- Was there anything about the consent process that surprised you or that you had not considered before?
- Why is it important that consent is treated as an ongoing conversation rather than just a signed piece of paper?
Follow-up:
"If a patient agrees to a procedure but clearly looks very anxious and unsure, what should the doctor do next?"
Scenario: A fully qualified doctor has been working in the same clinic for fifteen years. They are highly respected by their patients. However, during an annual appraisal, a senior colleague notes that the doctor is still prescribing a medication that was recently shown in clinical trials to be less effective than a newer alternative.
1. Why is it important for doctors to continuously update their knowledge throughout their careers?
2. What barriers might a busy doctor face when trying to keep up with new medical research?
3. How can healthcare professionals ensure that the research they are reading is reliable and applicable to their patients?
Follow-up:
"The doctor argues that they have years of clinical experience and their patients are happy, so they do not need to change their prescribing habits. How would you respond to this?"
Scenario: A university research team has published a paper showing that a new chemical compound effectively kills a specific type of cancer cell in laboratory mice. A local newspaper runs a headline saying a cure for cancer has been found and will be available in hospitals next month.
1. What are the steps required to take this discovery from a laboratory finding to a safe, approved treatment for humans?
2. What challenges might the researchers face during this process?
3. How should the scientific community handle misleading media coverage of early stage research?
Follow-up:
"If early human trials show the drug is effective but causes severe side effects, what factors would regulators need to balance when deciding whether to approve it?"
Scenario: A GP is treating a patient for chronic back pain. The GP has always recommended a specific type of stretching exercise, as they have seen it work well for patients over the last twenty years. However, new national clinical guidelines have just been published stating that this exercise is ineffective and recommending a different physical therapy approach.
1. How should the GP respond to these new guidelines?
2. What is meant by evidence-based medicine in this context?
3. Why is it important for the NHS to have standardised guidelines rather than relying entirely on individual doctors' experiences?
Follow-up:
"The patient tries the new approach but says their back pain is getting worse. They ask to go back to the old stretches. What should the doctor do?"
Scenario: A patient brings a printed article to their GP appointment. The article is from a popular lifestyle website and claims that a new herbal supplement can completely reverse type 2 diabetes in weeks. The patient wants to stop taking their prescribed diabetes medication and try the supplement instead.
1. How should the doctor approach this conversation with the patient?
2. What steps should the doctor take to evaluate the reliability of the claims made in the article?
3. What markers indicate that a piece of scientific or medical information is trustworthy?
Follow-up:
"The patient says they do not trust the scientific studies the doctor mentions because they believe pharmaceutical companies pay for the research. How would you handle this?"
Keele uses this format for medicine: Two structured panel interviews. There are 2 stations, each about 15 minutes. Interviews are held online.
Interview timing for Keele: December 2026 to April 2027. Always check the university's own admissions pages for this year's dates.
Keele assesses: NHS Constitution values, Professionalism, Communication, Motivation, Ethical and social issues in healthcare.
No. They are 50 original MedicHut practice questions, written to match Keele's published interview format. Universities do not share their real questions, so your interview may differ.
No. Every question is free with no sign-up. A free account just lets you save your notes and progress across devices.
Keele medical school guide: entry requirements and interview advice
Book a Keele mock interview for £69 with a trained MedicHut interviewer, or a live MMI circuit for £89. Both include detailed feedback on every answer.
University mock interviews · Live MMI circuits · Full medicine interview question bank