How MMI Stations Are Marked: MMI vs Panel

How MMI Stations Are Marked: MMI vs Panel

In a UK MMI, each station is marked by a different person. Manchester's five stations are each "marked by a separate interviewer", and at Newcastle each station is scored "by an individual selector". A bad station is heard by one marker, not by the whole circuit. In a panel, the same interviewers hear every answer.

So the right preparation for an MMI is consistency across stations, not one brilliant answer. What happens to the mark afterwards matters as much: Glasgow decides on the interview alone, while Newcastle weights it 50:50 with your academic screen. The UK MMI station bank covers what each station type asks; this page covers how the marks are made and used.

Every school page quoted below was checked on 7 November 2026. We quote only what schools publish. No school we checked publishes its mark sheet, so the mark sheet on this page is ours and labelled constructed.

Who marks you, school by school

Manchester adds who sits at its stations: interviewers "drawn from both the University and clinical environments", plus "patient/lay representatives, current medical students and simulated patients". Its starting station "is allocated at random, and applicants pass round in order from station to station until they complete them all." Bristol says "At least one member of the interviewing staff is trained in fair and effective recruitment, and at least one is a member of the Medical Admissions Committee."

Two things follow:

• At an MMI, each station has its own marker. At Manchester each station is "marked by a separate interviewer", so a story you reuse at a second station is new to that marker.
• At a panel, the same people hear everything. At Glasgow, two interviewers cover motivation, teamwork, communication and an ethical scenario. A story told twice is heard twice. Prepare separate stories.

Where the interview mark goes next

The interview mark is not the decision at every school. These are the schools whose pages say what it is combined with.

Our view: at Glasgow and Exeter, treat the interview as the whole application, because their pages say it is. At Newcastle, your academic screen is already half of the final mark when you walk in. The interview can move you, but it is working against a score you cannot change. The countercase: Manchester's page does not say how its forms are combined, and schools outside this table publish no rule we could check. Do not assume a 50:50 or an interview-only rule where the school does not publish one.

Glasgow also rules out two things you might ask for afterwards. "No interview score adjustments are made for any applicants, including widening participation candidates or those with extenuating circumstances on day of interview, including illness." And: "We are unable to offer repeat interviews to applicants who may have felt they didn't perform their best or were ill at time of sitting their interview." It reminds applicants that they are "declaring themselves 'fit to sit'" when they take the interview. If you are ill, say so before, not after.

What the markers listen for

Imperial publishes its list: "evidence of commitment to the values of the NHS Constitution", "motivation and understanding of medicine as a career", "empathy", "work experience and community activities" and "leadership and teamwork". The station bank maps those to station types, so we will not repeat it here.

Manchester describes what earns the mark more than what the criteria are called:

"Candidates who give spontaneous yet well-thought-out answers to questions are more likely to impress the interviewers than those who give obviously rehearsed and 'coached' responses."

On ethics it says "There are often no right answers in an ethical debate, and our interviewers will not be looking for a specific viewpoint." The mark is for being able "to coherently summarise the issues at stake", not for the conclusion. Glasgow's Panel B is "focus on communication and will include discussion of an ethical scenario", chosen from two. The UK medical ethics interview guide works through those cases.

SJT vs MMI ethics: the written test and the spoken station

The UCAT Situational Judgement Test asks you to judge written scenarios. An MMI ethics station asks you to reason aloud to a person. Schools use the SJT result in different places, and one school puts it inside the interview mark.

At Newcastle, then, your SJT band works like one extra station you sat in the summer. A Band 1 is worth the same as a strong station. That is the one place in our checks where the written test and the spoken stations land in the same total.

How the spoken station differs. The SJT gives you options to rate; the station gives you a blank. You have to name the issue, say who is affected, weigh the options and say what you would do next, in your own words, with follow-up questions. A good SJT band does not rehearse that. Practise ethics aloud.

Constructed example: one station on an illustrative mark sheet

Constructed illustration, invented for this guide. The mark sheet below is ours. It is not any school's form; no school we checked publishes one. The four criteria echo what Manchester and Imperial describe.

Context (invented): an MMI ethics station. Prompt: "A friend on your work placement tells you they made up a patient's blood pressure reading because they forgot to take it. What do you do?"

Answer A (constructed): "Honesty is really important in medicine, and the four pillars say we must do no harm. I would tell my friend that what they did was wrong and that they need to be honest in the future."

Answer B (constructed): "The risk is to the patient: a made-up reading could hide a problem that needs treatment now. So the first thing is that the reading gets taken properly, today. I would ask my friend to tell the nurse in charge themselves, and offer to go with them. If they refused, I would tell the nurse myself, because the patient's safety comes before our friendship. I'd also want to understand why they forgot. If they are overloaded, that is something the supervisor should know too."

Answer B scores more because it starts with the patient, gives the friend a chance to act first, and names the person it would go to. It does not need the word "ethics" once.

Now the point of independent markers. Imagine two applicants on a five-station circuit, each station on the 16-point sheet above.

• Applicant 1: 15, 15, 15, 5, 5. Total 55 (our arithmetic).
• Applicant 2: 12, 12, 12, 12, 12. Total 60 (our arithmetic).

If a school adds station marks, steady beats brilliant-but-patchy. Newcastle's policy gives the SJT "the same weighting as one station", which only makes sense if station marks are combined; its policy does not publish the scale. The numbers above are invented to show the arithmetic, not any school's scale.

Recovering from a bad station

1. Use the gap. Manchester's stations have "a two-minute gap between stations". Spend it breathing, not replaying.
2. Start the next station as if it were the first. It has its own marker, and at Manchester the starting station is random.
3. Do not apologise for the last station. It only tells a fresh marker something went wrong.
4. In a panel, recover inside the conversation. You can say "Can I go back to the last question for a moment?" once, briefly, and then move on.
5. If something outside your control happened, tell the school straight away. Glasgow asks for concerns "in writing via email to the Admissions Team within 10 working days of the issue arising". Feeling you did badly is not one of those concerns.

Questions about how MMI stations are marked

How are MMI stations scored?

Each station is marked by its own interviewer. Manchester says each station is "marked by a separate interviewer", and Newcastle scores each station "by an individual selector". None of the schools we checked publishes how station marks are added up. Newcastle publishes what the interview total is combined with: the academic screen, 50:50.

Is a panel interview harder than an MMI?

It is different. In a panel, the same people hear every answer, so a weak answer and a repeated story both stay in the room. In an MMI, each marker starts fresh.

Do MMI interviewers read my personal statement?

At Newcastle, no: selectors have no access to it. At Glasgow, interviewers know only your name. At Imperial, your statement "may be referred to". The UK medicine personal statement questions guide covers schools where it is used.

Does the UCAT SJT count at interview?

At Newcastle, yes: the SJT band is weighted like one MMI station. Sheffield reviews it only for interviewees. Cambridge does not use it for 2027 entry.

Can I get my station marks after the interview?

Newcastle says selectors "will not convey their scores to the applicants at the time of the interview or at any time thereafter." Glasgow gives only "a general overview" of performance. The interview feedback request email covers what each school releases.

Review the writing you send next

Schools keep their station marks, but the statement that earned you the circuit is a document you can improve. If this cycle ends without an offer, get a free Quick Review of your UCAS medicine personal statement against GradPilot's UCAS medicine rubric, our closest rubric to an interview page. It reads whether your answers show readiness through actions and consequences rather than trait labels, the gap between Answer A and Answer B above.

More: the UK medical school interview formats for 2027 entry, the role-play station guide, and the medical school essays hub.

Sources

Retrieved 7 November 2026, except where noted.

• University of Manchester, Medicine interviews and Decision and feedback: station format, separate markers, interviewers, ethics, how decisions are made.
• Newcastle University, MBBS Admissions Policy, 2027 Entry: MMI and panel marking, SJT bands, 50:50 final score, selectors' access, scores not conveyed.
• University of Glasgow, MBChB interviews (2027 entry): panel format, decision on interview performance, no adjustments or repeat interviews, concerns within 10 working days, feedback.
• University of Bristol, Undergraduate Admissions Statement, A100 Medicine, 2027 cycle: online interviews, separate marking, tie-break.
• Imperial College London, Medicine MBBS/BSc: interviewers, criteria, 2026-entry UCAT and SJT thresholds.
• University of Exeter, BMBS Medicine Admissions Policy, 2027 entry (PDF): MMI judgements, offers based on interview.
• University of Cambridge, Medicine: SJT not used for 2027 entry.
• University of Edinburgh, MBChB Medicine (6-year programme): ranking with SJT and UCAT weightings.
• University of Sheffield, Medicine MBChB, 2027 entry: SJT reviewed for interviewees.