The RACP sets the standard for basic physician training selection but the networks run it, and the format you face depends on where you apply. Knowing which you are preparing for changes how you prepare.
The structured panel
Several networks, including the large east coast networks, use a structured panel of two or three physicians. The same questions go to every candidate and each is scored against a rubric. The typical shape is one clinical scenario, one situational judgement question, and criterion mapped questions on motivation, the role of a BPT, teamwork, errors and wellbeing. One network has published evidence that its selection score predicted examination progression, which is why the format has spread.
A panel rewards depth. The assessors can probe, and they will: which part of the audit was yours, what did you do when the family still refused, what would you have done differently. Prepare each answer with a second and third layer underneath the first, and practise with someone who asks follow up questions.
The multiple mini interview
Other networks, including Queensland and the centralised basic training processes, run a five or six station MMI with two assessors per station. Each station has a scenario or a question, a short reading time, and a fixed duration of about six to eight minutes. Stations rotate; you start fresh with new assessors each time.
An MMI rewards structure and pace. You have to get the framework out, give one specific, and close before the bell, without the chance to recover a slow start. Prepare a signposted opening for each type of station (behavioural, clinical, ethical, motivation) and practise against a timer until the timing is automatic. Do not carry a bad station into the next one; the assessors in the next room have not seen it.
What is the same
Whatever the format, the content maps to the RACP professional qualities and the network's criteria: medical expertise, communication, teamwork, leadership, health advocacy, scholarship and professionalism. The questions overlap heavily: why BPT and this network, the role and qualities of a BPT, the difficult supervisor, the family refusing treatment, a teamwork example, an error, a clinical scenario at registrar level, rural attitude, and wellbeing. Prepare these once and adapt the delivery.
State specifics
The state picker on the track selects the network vocabulary and the format, but a few things are worth checking yourself before the interview: whether your network interviews in person or online, whether reading time is given for the clinical scenario, whether you will be asked about a specific rural site, and whether the network uses an additional written task. Network websites publish most of this, and recent trainees will tell you the rest.
A preparation plan
Three weeks out: write one STAR example per criterion and the answers to the role and motivation questions, with a specific in each. Two weeks out: the clinical scenarios, talked through aloud with ISBAR handovers. One week out: full practice runs in your network's format, timed, with someone who probes if it is a panel or rings a bell if it is an MMI. The candidates who do well are rarely the ones who know the most medicine; they are the ones who have said their answers aloud enough times that the structure survives pressure.