What is marked
Communication, and how it is marked.
Every station marks it, whatever the station is about. It is the one domain you are scored on whether or not the question mentions it.
What it is
In one line. Do you answer the question that was asked, clearly, at the right length, and can you be understood by someone who is not a doctor?
Communication in an interview is three things the interviewer can hear. Did you answer the question that was asked. Was the answer the right length for the time. Could someone who is not a doctor follow it.
It sounds like the easy one. In mock circuits it is where most marks go missing, because nervous students talk around a question rather than at it. A good idea delivered in a shape the listener cannot follow scores less than an ordinary idea delivered clearly.
What the interviewer listens for
- The answer early. Your position in the first two sentences, then the reasons for it. An interviewer who has to wait three minutes to learn what you think has stopped listening by the time you tell them.
- A shape they can follow. Two or three points, said as two or three points. "There are two things I would weigh here" tells the listener how to hold what comes next.
- Plain words. Medical vocabulary you half know is a risk with no upside. Nobody marks you up for saying "autonomy" when "the patient’s right to decide" would do.
- Stopping. Finishing when the answer is finished, and leaving the silence alone. A clean stop reads as confidence.
Where students lose marks
- Restating the prompt. Reading the scenario back to the interviewer uses a minute and tells them nothing. They wrote it.
- Answering a nearby question. A prompt about how you would tell a friend they had upset someone is a question about the conversation, and a student who spends it on why the friend was wrong has answered something else.
- Filling the time. Eight minutes feels long, so students pad. The interviewer has follow-up questions ready. Let them ask.
How to practise it
Record yourself, and listen back once.
On your phone, to time. You will hear the restated prompt and the third "basically" in a way you never notice while speaking.
Say your answer in one sentence first.
Before you open your mouth on a practice prompt, say the whole answer in one sentence in your head. If you cannot, you are not ready to start.
Explain something to someone outside medicine.
A grandparent, a younger sibling. If they follow it, an interviewer will.
Three prompts to run on the clock
Thirty seconds to read each one, then two minutes to answer it out loud. Record it on your phone if you can, and listen back once.
- Explain to a twelve year old why they should finish a course of antibiotics even when they feel better.
- A friend asks you why you want to study medicine rather than something that pays as well with fewer years of training. You have two minutes. What do you tell them?
- Describe how you would give a new volunteer directions to a room in a building they have never visited, without a map.
Schools that name it
These schools list it among the qualities they assess, in their own published words. The others mark it too, under different names or none.
- University of Queensland Publishes “verbal communication skills” among the qualities it assesses.
- University of Newcastle – UNE Joint Medical Program Publishes “interpersonal and communication skills” among the qualities it assesses.
- Curtin University Publishes “communication and critical appraisal skills” among the qualities it assesses.
- James Cook University Publishes “communication” among the qualities it assesses.
Stations
None of the stations published here is built around this one yet, though every station marks it in passing. The practice stations run on the same clock as the prompts above.
Question themes that often test it
- Ethics scenarios Most circuits have at least one.
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health Many schools ask about it, and some build their whole mission around it.
- Disability and healthcare access About one in five Australians lives with disability, so every doctor treats people with disability every week.
- Public health and the community Questions about what keeps a whole population well: smoking laws, vaccination, junk food, housing.
Common questions that test it
- Tell me about yourself. Usually the first question in a panel, and the one students prepare least for because it sounds like small talk.
- Why do you want to study here? The one question you can prepare facts for, and the one where students most often recite the website back to the people who wrote it..
- What are your strengths and weaknesses? A question most students have a rehearsed answer to, which is the problem.
- Do you have any questions for us? The last question in many panel interviews.
- What would you do if a colleague made a mistake? More often an MMI station than a panel question, and it is rarely about the mistake.
The other five
- Ethical reasoning Can you see both sides of a dilemma, name the principle at stake, and reach a decision you can defend?
- Empathy and perspective-taking In a role-play, do you notice how the other person feels before you try to solve their problem?
- Self-awareness When you talk about a failure, is it a real one, and do you know what it taught you?
- Teamwork Can you describe a time you were not the leader, and what you did instead?
- Motivation for medicine Is your reason yours, is it specific, and does it survive the follow-up question?
Other guides
- Start here What the interview is testing, and how the cycle runs.
- Timeline planner Put in your interview date and get a week by week plan.
- Pathway planner The whole road from school to consultant, drawn around your choices.
- Practice stations Real MMI stations with a two minute reading phase and a station clock.
- By university The interview at every undergraduate-entry school: format, timing, and what is marked.
- What is marked The six things every station marks, and how to practise each one.
- How to answer The questions every panel asks, what each is testing, and the follow-ups to expect.
- Question themes The subjects questions come from, from rural health to the profession, with prompts.
- Interview dates When each school sends invitations, holds interviews and makes offers this cycle.
- When you hear back Every school’s offer dates, and why the wait after the interview is so long.
- Formats What an MMI and a panel interview each are, and how to prepare for each.
- Interview soon? Days to go? What you can still book at short notice, and the prices.
- For parents Who your child is working with, and what I will not promise.
If you want a session
Thirty minutes, $40, online, and it comes off any package you go on to book. Tell me which of these worries you most.