What is marked
Ethical reasoning, and how it is marked.
The dilemma stations. There is rarely a right answer, and the interviewer knows that. What they mark is how you got to yours.
What it is
In one line. Can you see both sides of a dilemma, name the principle at stake, and reach a decision you can defend?
An ethics station gives you a situation where two good things pull against each other. A patient’s wishes and their safety. Fairness to one person and fairness to many. A promise of confidentiality and a risk to someone else.
The marks are for the reasoning. The interviewer wants to hear both sides stated fairly, and then a position that survives being pushed on. A student who refuses to decide loses marks, and so does one who decides in the first sentence without looking at the other side.
What the interviewer listens for
- Both sides, fairly stated. Say the strongest version of the view you end up disagreeing with. If you cannot, the interviewer assumes you have not thought about it.
- What is at stake, in plain words. The four principles are useful as a checklist in your head. Said out loud as a list, they sound like revision notes. "The patient has a right to make this choice, and we also have a duty not to let them come to harm" does the same work.
- A decision. At the end, what you would do and why. With the conditions that would change your mind, if there are any.
- Who else to involve. A first-year student does not resolve hard cases alone. Knowing when to ask a senior, a supervisor or an ethics committee is part of the answer.
Where students lose marks
- Sitting on the fence. "It depends" is where an answer starts. It is a poor place to end one.
- Reciting principles. Autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, justice, in that order, at the start. Every interviewer has heard it many times, and it delays the thinking they are waiting for.
- Missing the person. An ethics station is still about people. An answer with no feeling in it for the patient in the scenario reads as cold, however sound the logic.
How to practise it
Argue the other side on purpose.
Take a prompt, decide what you think, then argue the opposite for two minutes. It is uncomfortable, and it is the fastest way to learn to state a view you reject fairly.
Read a hard case in the news.
Health funding, a public health rule, a court case about treatment. Decide what you think and say why, out loud, to time.
Have someone push back.
A parent or friend asks "are you sure?" after every answer. Reasoning that only works without follow-up questions has not been tested.
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.
- A town council plans to add fluoride to the water supply. Some residents object that nobody asked them. Should it go ahead, and on what grounds?
- A sixteen year old asks their GP for contraception and asks that their parents not be told. What should the GP consider?
- Should people who have not followed medical advice about their health be given a lower priority for treatment? Argue both sides, then decide.
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.
Stations that test it
Question themes that often test it
- Ethics scenarios Most circuits have at least one.
- Rural and remote health Australia does not have enough doctors outside its cities, and several schools exist partly to change that.
- Public health and the community Questions about what keeps a whole population well: smoking laws, vaccination, junk food, housing.
Common questions that test it
The other five
- Communication 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?
- 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.