Advice & Insight From Dentistry Interview Specialists
Congratulations to all applicants who were successful in reaching the interview stage for King’s College London Dental Institute! It is no easy feat and is a testament to the level of hard work and commitment undertaken thus far-the objective of this article is to hopefully share some insight to preparatory measures that can help in strengthening an applicant’s performance at interview stage and best do justice to an already strong application.
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Applicants may be required the following to their interview-it is prudent for applicants to check the pre-interview briefing and guidance to ensure that these requirements are adequately met:
With each station, applicants are encouraged to read the guidance carefully, ask for clarification if unsure rather than making presumptions and consider the relevance of the question, scenario or exercise towards Dentistry.
The latter will often be asked as a follow up question in the station itself or in the succeeding station as an opportunity for the applicant to demonstrate that they understand the significance of certain skills or qualities in a course of this nature, which is often indicative of a more profound sense of awareness.
Learn the best interview strategies and practice with past interview questions & model answers.
Station Task/Activity– You have 1 minute to review the painting/picture in front of you and then describe it to the assessor
What is the significance of this exercise?
This exercise employs a multitude of different skills from information processing, attention to detail, communication, systematic and structured rational thinking.
How does this relate to Dentistry?
Each of the aforementioned skills need to be enacted routinely as part of a standard patient assessment. For example:
It is strongly recommended to practice under timing both independently and with a wide variety of different individuals for the applicant to familiarise themselves with varied communication in general along with how long a 5 minute duration is in terms of continuous talking-it is often longer than one anticipates!
It is also preferable to fill the assigned amount of time at each station (3-5 minutes) rather than stopping prematurely. If this is the case, assessors will normally be trained to ask a second follow up question or prompt to elicit further elaboration from the applicant where warranted.
There are a wide variety of question banks and sample questions available to draw from and aid an applicant in guiding their preparation. However, in lieu of rote learning a scripted response, it is usually more effective to practice using a series of 3-5 key points to string together a train of thought when talking, which is more flexible and easier to adapt to the actual question being asked.
In addition, demonstrating active listening and engagement at the time of the interview is of paramount importance and thus, applicants are encouraged to pause and think (perhaps even repeat the question back if that aids in the organisation of thoughts) prior to offering a response.
For further tips, techniques and past practice questions – review the Dentistry Interview Question Bank
Authored by: Pooja Patel BDS, King’s College London Dental Institute (2011-2016)
