What is marked
Teamwork, and how it is marked.
Doctors spend their working lives in teams, often not in charge. The interviewer wants to know what you do when you are one member among several.
What it is
In one line. Can you describe a time you were not the leader, and what you did instead?
A hospital ward runs on nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists, social workers, cleaners, and doctors at every level. A junior doctor is a small part of that, and the job goes badly for one who has not learned to be. Teamwork stations ask about times you worked with others, and sometimes put you in a task with another candidate.
The questions often ask about leadership too. The better answers treat leading as one role in a team, and know when it is someone else’s.
What the interviewer listens for
- Your role, named. What you specifically did. "We" for the whole answer leaves the interviewer unable to mark you.
- Following as well as leading. A time you were not in charge and helped anyway, or a time you stepped back so someone better placed could lead.
- Conflict handled. Teams disagree. How you dealt with a disagreement says more than a story where everyone got along.
Where students lose marks
- Only ever the captain. Every example a story where you led and saved the day. It suggests you do not know how to be anything else.
- Never saying "I". Modesty that leaves your own part invisible. The station is about what you did.
- Ignoring the other people in the room. In a paired task station, talking over the other candidate. They are being marked on teamwork too, and so are you.
How to practise it
List the teams you have been part of.
Sport, work, a school project, a family business, a volunteer shift. For each, write your role in one line. You will find more examples than you thought.
Find the time you were not the leader.
Then tell it in two minutes. If you have never been anything but the leader, that is worth knowing too.
Do a paired task with a friend.
Build something, plan something, solve a puzzle, with a time limit. Afterwards, ask them how it felt to work with you.
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.
- Tell me about a time you were part of a team that was not working well. What did you do?
- Describe a time someone else led a task you could have led. How did you contribute?
- You are one of four students running a fundraiser. A week before the event, one of the four stops replying to messages. What do you do?
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
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.
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?
- 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?
- 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.