Question themes
The subjects medical interview questions come from.
Stations change every year, but the subjects they are drawn from change slowly. Each theme has its own page: why schools ask, what is worth knowing, what a strong answer shows, and three prompts to practise.
The themes
- 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.
- Rural and remote health Australia does not have enough doctors outside its cities, and several schools exist partly to change that.
- 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.
- The profession Questions about the job rather than the patient: the training, the hours, burnout, technology, how medicine is changing.
A theme and a domain are different things
A theme is what a station is about. A domain is what it marks. A station set in a country hospital is a rural health station, and it might be marking ethical reasoning, or empathy, or your reasons for wanting the job. Knowing the theme helps you understand the scenario. Knowing the domain tells you what to talk about.
What these pages leave out
Breaking bad news and triage stations come up often, and I cover both in sessions with the frameworks I teach. They are not here because those frameworks are the part of the work a session is for.
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.
- 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 schools you are applying to and which of these worries you.