Most Australian undergraduate medicine programmes interview with a multiple mini interview: six to ten stations of about eight minutes each, a bell between them, a scenario or a question at each, and a trained interviewer scoring against a rubric. A few use a structured panel instead, and rural programmes add a rural commitment interview. The stations differ between universities but the themes do not, and this guide covers the questions that recur within each theme and what the interviewers are scoring.
The format
You rotate through the stations with a short reading time before each. The interviewer may ask follow up questions or may stay mostly silent, depending on the university. Each station is scored independently, so a weak station does not carry into the next. No medical knowledge is required or scored; the stations test how you think, how you communicate and how you treat people.
Motivation
- Why do you want to study medicine?
- What do you think a doctor's day is actually like?
- What have you done to find out whether medicine is right for you?
- What will you find hardest about studying and practising medicine?
- Why this university?
Interviewers hear "I want to help people" fifty times a day. They score evidence: the volunteering, the work experience, the conversation with a doctor, the thing you learned that surprised you. Honesty about what will be hard scores higher than enthusiasm.
Ethical reasoning
- A friend asks you to share your answers in an assessment. What do you do?
- Should a doctor tell a patient's family about a diagnosis the patient wants kept private?
- A patient refuses a treatment that would save their life. What should the doctor do?
- Is it fair that some people can pay for faster treatment?
- A classmate is struggling and you suspect they are cheating to keep up.
The interviewer wants reasoning, not a verdict: the principles at stake, the people affected, the options, your choice and why, and an acknowledgement of the other side. There is rarely a right answer and there is always a thoughtful one.
Communication and empathy
- A role play: your friend has just failed an exam and is upset. Speak to them.
- A role play: a neighbour is angry that your dog has dug up their garden.
- Explain something you know well to someone who knows nothing about it.
- Tell us about a time you had to deliver bad news.
Listen first, acknowledge the feeling, speak plainly, check understanding, and do not solve the problem before the person has finished. The interviewer plays the role and scores how you treat them.
Teamwork and leadership
- Tell us about a time you worked in a team and something went wrong.
- Describe a time you led, and a time you followed.
- A member of your group project is not contributing. What do you do?
One real example with your own actions clear, the outcome, and what you learned.
Reflection and resilience
- Tell us about a mistake you made and what you learned.
- Describe a time you received criticism. What did you do with it?
- How do you cope with stress, and what do you do when it is too much?
- Tell us about a time you failed at something.
Honest, specific, and ending with a change. A candidate who has never failed reads as unreflective.
Current issues
- What are the biggest challenges facing healthcare in Australia?
- What do you know about the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people?
- How will artificial intelligence change medicine?
- Why are there not enough doctors in rural areas?
A considered view with one or two facts, and an acknowledgement of what you do not know.
Rural commitment
For rural programmes and bonded places: your connection to rural Australia, what you understand rural practice to involve, and whether you would stay. Evidence counts here more than anywhere.
What the interviewers score
Reasoning that considers more than one side, empathy shown rather than claimed, plain communication, honesty about mistakes and difficulties, evidence behind your motivation, and awareness of the world medicine operates in. They are not scoring medical knowledge and they are not scoring polish.
Preparing
Practise each theme aloud against an eight minute timer with someone who plays the role and asks follow ups. Build your examples from real experiences, in your own words. Read about the health system and Aboriginal health enough to have a view. And rest the night before: the MMI rewards a clear head more than a crammed one.