These MMI sample questions are designed to represent the varied nature of topics that can occur in an MMI. Remember, a lot of these situations are behavioural, rather than strictly medical.
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Imagine that you are the leader of a university project, which makes up around 50% of your grade for a particular course. One of your team comes to you and explains that another student taking part in the project has been rude about their work. Why do you think that the student came to you rather than speak to the other student directly? Additionally, what would you say to the student?
Excellent Student Response:
I would assume that the student has approached me because they feel intimidated and upset by the behaviour of the other student. It’s understandable that they would want to involve someone else and seek an objective point of view, rather than face more abuse. It shows that the student on the receiving end of the rude comments feels that the situation has continued as long as they can stand, and that they trust in me to resolve it. They believe that I will help them and thus help the team to work together and develop the project. Therefore I would seek to explore the situation with them, through the use of open ended questions. I would ask them if they could tell me more about the other student’s behaviour. I would ask if they’ve tried anything else to resolve the situation so far. Next, I would ask what I could do to help them, and whether they had any particular hopes or thoughts as to what I could do when they decided to come and speak to me. I would check that my responses were helping them, and that I was understanding their point of view and their concerns.
You are in your second year of medical school. It comes to your attention that Tom, another medical student, is dealing drugs to finance his studies. What would your initial response be in this situation? Is James’ behaviour an issue?
Initially I would speak to Tom in private, and explore the situation with him. I’d need to consider my relationship with him when deciding how to act – for example, if I were close to him then I would be in a better position to intervene and understand his behaviour. No matter my relationship, it would be my duty to speak to him and ensure that he understood that his actions were unacceptable and must stop. Ideally, he would realise this himself and stop dealing drugs. If he were to stop, I would still expect him to discuss the issue with a senior figure at the university, like his tutor, as this is a serious issue that would need further investigation and action to be taken.
Many students consume recreational drugs. Why is James’ behaviour an issue?
Whilst this may be true, it does not mean that we should condone the consumption of recreational drugs, and certainly not the selling of them. In particular, we must realise that James is a pre-Med student, and as such is setting out on a particular path that will see him become a professional trusted with others’ lives. He must therefore be expected to uphold the strictest standards of behaviour already, as a pre-Med, and then further as a medical student and as a doctor in turn. His current behaviour is clearly not befitting of a future doctor, or indeed any future professional.
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Think about a time when you found yourself struggling with your workload at school or college.
Describe the situation and how you came to be struggling. How did you deal with the situation?
I struggled with my workload during my final year of GCSE, as I suffered a serious injury after a car that I was a passenger in crashed. As such, I missed multiple weeks of school, and found it difficult to concentrate when I returned due to the painkillers that I had been prescribed. This led to me becoming quite distressed, as I had never fallen behind at school before, and was acutely conscious that I had my GCSEs coming up, the most important exams of my life. I felt that I couldn’t work at my normal rate, and simply didn’t understand how I could catch up. To deal with the situation, I spoke to my doctors at length, spoke to my teachers, and in the end I worked with my teachers on a one-to-one basis to make sure I could cover the content, and as I became better found a drive that I had never had before, being able to work almost non-stop both during school hours and outside them. I was able to, in the end, achieve all A*s. I have my incredible teachers and the doctors that helped me to thank much more than my own resilience, as it was their input that allowed me to deploy that resilience.
