Reflection and resilience: Specialty Training Interview Questions Australia

An error you made and what changed, a case that changed your practice, and how you manage stress and exam preparation alongside full time work. Panels score honesty and a strategy you actually use.

Updated 26 October 2026

How to answer

Own the error, describe the reflection and the concrete change. For wellbeing, name your warning signs and your supports, including the college and hospital resources, and say when you would ask for help.

Frameworks: GIBBS for reflection; STAR for the event

  • Gibbs Description of what happened, Feelings at the time, Evaluation of what went well and badly, Analysis of why, Conclusion: what you learned, Action plan: what you now do differently and the evidence it stuck. Full guide →
  1. Asked in most interviewsUsually asked by the head of departmentGIBBS

    Describe an error you made, what you did about it, and what changed.

    Own the error plainly, say what you did at the time including telling the patient and your senior and reporting it, and what you changed afterwards. The worst answer has no error in it. The second worst blames someone else.

  2. Asked in most interviewsUsually asked by the staff specialist colleagueGIBBS

    Tell us about a case that changed the way you practise.

    One case told briefly, then the change: what you do differently now and how you know it stuck. Panels score the concreteness of the change.

  3. Asked in most interviewsUsually asked by the head of departmentGIBBS

    How do you manage stress and look after your wellbeing during training?

    Name your warning signs, then what you actually do: sleep after nights, exercise, people outside medicine, asking for help early, the supports the hospital and college provide. Say when you would seek help and from whom.

  4. Often askedUsually asked by the staff specialist colleagueGIBBS

    Tell us about a time you received critical feedback and what you did with it.

    The feedback, how it felt, what you did with it, and the change. Panels score the absence of defensiveness. Say how you now seek feedback.

  5. Often askedUsually asked by the head of departmentGIBBS

    Tell us about a time you were out of your depth. What did you do?

    An honest example: a situation beyond your competence, how you recognised it, and how you got help. Knowing your limits and acting on them is the quality being scored.

  6. Often askedUsually asked by the staff specialist colleagueGIBBS

    How do you balance exam preparation, full time work and the rest of your life?

    A realistic plan: a timetable, study leave, a study group, the exam's structure, and protecting rest and relationships. Say how you managed exams alongside work before. Do not imply it will be easy.

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