Free practice questions for the Leeds medicine interview, with the interview format taken from the university's own admissions pages.
Leeds interviews by Multiple Mini Interview. Its published guidance describes eight stations, each six minutes with one interviewer, plus two minutes of reading time outside every station to prepare and make notes. Leeds asks you to be familiar with your application and what you have done to prepare, so expect questions drawn from your own experiences. For 2027 entry Home applicants interview face to face on 4, 5 and 6 January 2027 and overseas applicants interview online. After interview, offers depend on interview performance. Check your invitation for current timings.
Original MedicHut practice questions. Real interviews may differ.
You are a first-year medical student doing your weekly food shop. You enter an aisle and find an elderly man who looks confused. He is asking for help but the people near him do not seem to care. You are in a rush and need to meet a friend soon.
What would you do in this situation?
Follow-up: What do you need to take into consideration?
Follow-up: How would you change your approach if it was a young child instead of an elderly man?
You are a medical student shadowing a GP on placement. One of your mum’s friends comes into the GP but does not recognise you.
What are the ethical considerations in this scenario, and what would you do?
Follow-up: Can you tell me about any documents which inform how doctors practice?
Follow-up: Should doctors show a good example to patients?
A 17-year-old patient tells a doctor something highly personal and asks them not to tell their parents. What ethical issues should the doctor consider?
Follow-up: Would the patient's age automatically mean that their parents should be informed?
Follow-up: Under what circumstances might confidentiality need to be breached?
A hospital has one remaining appointment for a specialist service. Three patients could benefit. How should the team decide who receives it?
Follow-up: Should age ever be considered?
Follow-up: What is the difficulty with trying to make healthcare allocation completely "fair"?
A 15-year-old patient tells you that an adult they live with sometimes becomes violent towards them. They ask you not to tell anyone. What factors would you consider before deciding what to do?
Follow-up: Why might confidentiality have limits in this situation?
A doctor discovers that a colleague has made a minor documentation error. It has not caused harm to the patient.
What should the doctor do?
Follow-up: What if the colleague says, "Everyone makes mistakes. Don't make a big deal out of it."?
Follow-up: Why is openness about mistakes important in healthcare?
A community healthcare organisation receives funding for one of the following: A service reducing hospital admissions among older adults. A mental-health support service for young people. A programme tackling smoking. Additional diagnostic equipment.
How would you decide which should receive the funding?
Follow-up: What information would you need before making the decision?
Follow-up: Why might the option producing the largest numerical health benefit not necessarily be the only factor considered?
What characteristics do you possess that suit you to study medicine at Leeds?
Follow-up: Medical school can be challenging. How are you going to balance the busy schedule of medical school?
Follow-up: Tell me about something you saw in your work experience that changed how you approach your schoolwork.
Why have you chosen to apply to the University of Leeds for Medicine?
Follow-up: Which aspect of the Leeds MBChB particularly interests you?
Follow-up: How would you contribute to the Leeds medical student community?
What have you done to find out about studying medicine at Leeds, and what stood out to you?
Follow-up: How do you think you would fit into life in Leeds outside the course?
Follow-up: What would you hope to give back to the medical school while you are a student?
“In 2025 there were three separate resident doctor strikes organised by the BMA.” Can you tell me any of the reasons why they were striking, and some of the possible implications on the NHS that these strikes could incur?
Follow-up: If in a few years you are a resident doctor, would you strike?
Follow-up: Police officers in the United Kingdom are legally banned from taking strike action, why do you think doctors are allowed to strike, but police officers are not?
The UK's 10 Year Health Plan for England identifies three broad shifts:
- Hospital to community
- Analogue to digital
- Sickness to prevention
The plan proposes increasing healthcare delivered closer to people's homes and communities, expanding digital access and placing greater emphasis on prevention.
Why might moving healthcare from hospitals into communities be beneficial?
Follow-up: What problems could arise from increasing the use of digital healthcare?
Follow-up: How could policymakers determine whether these changes have actually improved healthcare?
A hospital proposes using an AI system to identify patients at risk of deterioration before clinicians notice obvious signs. What potential benefits could this have?
Follow-up: What risks would you want the hospital to consider?
Follow-up: Would you introduce the system immediately if an early trial showed promising results?
What role should doctors play in preventing ill health rather than simply treating illness?
Follow-up: Can doctors be expected to influence every factor that affects someone's health?
Follow-up: What is the role of other professionals and organisations in improving population health?
What is the difference between equality and equity?
Follow-up: Why might giving everyone exactly the same healthcare service still result in unequal outcomes?
Follow-up: Give an example of how a healthcare service could be made more accessible.
What do you understand by the NHS's proposed shift towards more healthcare being delivered in the community?
Follow-up: What might be the advantages for patients?
Follow-up: What challenges could healthcare professionals face when implementing this change?
NHS England describes involving patients and communities in healthcare decision-making as important for understanding diverse health needs, improving services, addressing inequalities and using resources effectively.
Why should patients and communities have a role in designing healthcare services?
Follow-up: What problems could arise if healthcare organisations only consulted the people who regularly use their services?
Follow-up: How could an organisation make sure less-heard groups are represented?
Tell me about a time when a team you were working in didn’t work effectively, and the steps you took to improve this.
Follow-up: Can you name 3 characteristics that you look for most in a team member?
Follow-up: How can a deterioration of teamwork occur in a hospital?
You are working in a team where one member consistently dominates discussions. How would you handle this?
Follow-up: What is the difference between leadership and simply being the person in charge?
Follow-up: Can a good leader change their approach depending on the people they are working with?
During a group project, two members strongly disagree about how the project should be completed. Both believe the other person is being unreasonable. What would you do?
Follow-up: What if neither person is willing to compromise?
Follow-up: Tell us about a time when you disagreed with someone and what you learned from it.
You have 10 minutes before an important presentation. Your team discovers that one section contains a significant error.
What would you do?
Follow-up: One member wants to hide the error because they think there is not enough time to fix it. How would you respond?
Follow-up: What does this situation tell us about safety culture?
Tell us about a time you had to lead people who did not want to be led.
Follow-up: What did you do to get them on board?
Follow-up: When is it better to follow than to lead?
What is the difference between sympathy and empathy?
Follow-up: Which, between sympathy and empathy, do you think is a more important attribute for a doctor to have?
Follow-up: Depending on the characteristic you chose, tell me about a time when you showed it.
Can you tell me what integrity means to you?
Follow-up: What would you do if you noticed a fellow medical student cheating during an exam?
Follow-up: What are some of the factors you need to consider in this situation?
You notice a medical student repeatedly arriving late to placement. They ask you not to mention it because "nobody will care". What would you do?
Follow-up: What if the student told you they were experiencing significant personal difficulties?
Follow-up: Why does professionalism matter even when a student's behaviour does not appear to directly harm a patient?
What quality do you think is particularly important in a doctor?
Follow-up: Give an example of how you have demonstrated this quality.
Follow-up: What is one quality you still need to develop?
How do you look after your own wellbeing when you are under pressure?
Follow-up: How would you know if your stress was starting to affect your work?
Follow-up: Why does a doctor's wellbeing matter for patient safety?
Can you tell me about an interesting book or article you have read recently that changed your perspective on medicine.
Follow-up: Have you thought about the medical specialty that you would like to go into?
Follow-up: What would you do if you did not get a place in medical school this year?
What does "patient-centred care" mean to you?
Follow-up: Imagine you observed a healthcare professional who was technically excellent but communicated poorly with patients. How would you evaluate their performance?
Follow-up: Why might a patient's priorities differ from what a healthcare professional considers medically important?
Tell us about an interaction you have observed or experienced that changed your understanding of healthcare.
Follow-up: What did you learn from the healthcare professional involved?
Follow-up: How might your interpretation of that experience change once you become a medical student?
Describe a moment in your work experience or volunteering where you saw good teamwork between different staff.
Follow-up: What made it work well?
Follow-up: What might have happened if one person had not done their part?
Why have you chosen to study Medicine?
Follow-up: Tell us about an experience that made you realise that being a doctor involves more than scientific knowledge.
Follow-up: What aspect of being a doctor do you think you would find most challenging?
What do you think a doctor's working week actually looks like, and why does that appeal to you?
Follow-up: Which parts of the job do you think you would find hardest?
Follow-up: How have you checked that your idea of the job is realistic?
Many careers let you help people. Why medicine rather than nursing, physiotherapy or another healthcare role?
Follow-up: What would you do if you did not get a place this year?
Follow-up: How might your reasons for wanting to be a doctor change over the next ten years?
You are a medical student on placement. An elderly patient has been waiting for an appointment for several hours and is visibly frustrated.
Speak to the patient and try to understand and address their concerns.
Follow-up: The patient says: "Nobody here actually cares about me." How would you respond?
Follow-up: What communication techniques did you use during this interaction?
A fellow medical student has failed an important assessment. They are upset and say: "Maybe I'm just not clever enough to be a doctor."
Talk to the student.
Follow-up: The student says: "Everyone else seems to be coping except me." Respond.
Follow-up: What would you do if you became concerned about their wellbeing?
Explain the concept of "risk" to a person who has never studied science.
Follow-up: Why can using medical terminology cause problems?
Follow-up: How would you check whether someone had genuinely understood your explanation?
You are a medical student working with a GP. A patient has been told that their appointment has been cancelled for the second time.
Speak to the patient.
Follow-up: The patient says: "If I had private healthcare, this wouldn't happen." How would you respond?
Follow-up: What should you avoid saying in this situation?
You are a student representative. A student has been told that their request to change an assessment date cannot be accommodated.
Explain the decision to the student.
Follow-up: The student says: "So you clearly don't care about students." Respond.
Follow-up: How could you communicate an unpopular decision while maintaining trust?
Tell us about a time when something did not go according to plan.
Follow-up: What did you learn about yourself from this experience?
Follow-up: What would you do differently if the same situation happened again?
You are working on a group assignment and another student tells you that you are not contributing enough. How would you respond if you believed their criticism was unfair?
Follow-up: Why can receiving feedback be uncomfortable but still valuable?
Follow-up: What is reflection and why is it important?
Tell us about a piece of feedback you found hard to hear.
Follow-up: What did you do with it?
Follow-up: How will you handle feedback on placement, where it may be given in front of others?
Looking back at your preparation for medicine, what would you do differently if you started again?
Follow-up: What has that taught you about how you learn?
Follow-up: How will you keep reflecting once you are at medical school?
Look at this information comparing Leeds with the national average:
- A&E patients dealt with within 4 hours: Leeds 76.8%, national average 75.0%
- A&E patients waiting over 12 hours: Leeds 6.5%, national average 9.7%
Elective patients waiting within 18 weeks | 67.8% | 65.4%
- Elective patients waiting over 52 weeks: Leeds 1.7%, national average 1.5%
What observations can you make from this information?
Follow-up: What are the limitations of comparing Leeds with the national average?
Follow-up: If you were asked to improve waiting times, what information would you want before deciding what intervention to introduce?
You are a medical student helping a community healthcare team. Four tasks arrive simultaneously: A patient has fallen and may have injured themselves. A colleague asks you to complete paperwork due at the end of the day. A patient wants help understanding information they have been given. Your supervisor asks you to organise resources for tomorrow.
How would you prioritise these tasks?
Follow-up: What additional information would you want before making your decision?
Follow-up: What would you do if you realised you could not complete everything safely?
A fictional GP practice introduces a new text-message reminder system. During April, the practice also changed its appointment booking system and increased the number of evening appointments.
Missed appointments: January 94, February 88, March 91, April 70, May 65, June 61.
What does the data appear to show?
Follow-up: Can we conclude that the text-message system caused the reduction?
Follow-up: What additional information would you collect to evaluate the intervention properly?
NHS England data for April 2026 showed that 76.9% of patients across all A&E departments were admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours. For Type 1 A&E departments, the figure was 63.8%.
Why might the overall A&E figure be considerably higher than the Type 1 figure?
Follow-up: What does this information tell us, and what does it not tell us?
Follow-up: If you were responsible for improving A&E performance, what other data would you want?
A new treatment has been tested in a study of 30 people and appears to improve symptoms. Would this be enough evidence to recommend the treatment to all patients?
Follow-up: What features would make research evidence more convincing?
Tell us about a scientific topic you have explored beyond your A-level syllabus.
Follow-up: What did you find hard to understand, and how did you work through it?
Follow-up: How might this topic matter to patients?
A newspaper headline says: "Coffee linked to longer life." What questions would you ask before believing it?
Follow-up: What is the difference between a link and a cause?
Follow-up: How would you explain this to a patient who has read the headline?
Leeds uses this format for medicine: MMI circuit. There are 8 stations, each about 6 minutes. Interviews may be in person or online.
Interview timing for Leeds: 4, 5 and 6 January 2027 for Home applicants, online for overseas applicants. Always check the university's own admissions pages for this year's dates.
Leeds assesses: Motivation for medicine, Communication, Teamwork, Ethical reasoning, Reflection on experience.
No. They are 50 original MedicHut practice questions, written to match Leeds'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.
Leeds medical school guide: entry requirements and interview advice
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