MMI Questions UK: Station Bank With Answer Outlines

MMI Questions UK: Station Bank With Answer Outlines

A UK MMI station is scored against a short list of qualities the school publishes, so practise by what is scored, not by question count. At Manchester each station runs 8 minutes with a 2-minute gap; Imperial lists five criteria, starting with "evidence of commitment to the values of the NHS Constitution".

Long question lists teach you to recognise prompts. They do not teach you to hit the criteria inside eight minutes, and Manchester warns that rehearsed, coached answers impress its interviewers less than spontaneous ones. This page gives a smaller bank, organised by what each station is listening for, with a timing plan you can rehearse aloud.

Every school page quoted below was checked on 7 November 2026. The Medical Schools Council and GMC websites returned HTTP 403 to our fetcher that day, so nothing from them is quoted here. Your invitation email sets your format: Manchester says "All interviewees will be sent detailed information by email that explains the interview procedure and format".

How a UK MMI circuit runs, school by school

Three things in this table change how you practise:

• Station length is not universal. Only Manchester gives the clock on its page. If your school does not publish one, practise at eight minutes and also at five, so you can expand or compress.
• Reading time is not a given. Manchester: "No information will be provided in advance, and there will be no reading or writing component to any of the online or in-person interview stations." You may meet the prompt when the interviewer says it.
• International applicants may not sit an MMI at all. At Newcastle and Sheffield they get a panel. The UK medical school interview formats guide covers that split and more schools.

What each station type scores

Imperial's five criteria are the only published scoring list among these pages, and Manchester points readers to "the values enshrined in the NHS constitution". The NHS Constitution names six values: "Working together for patients", "Respect and dignity", "Commitment to quality of care", "Compassion", "Improving lives" and "Everyone counts" (NHS Constitution for England, updated 17 August 2023).

The mapping below is ours. It shows which criterion each station type gives you the chance to show.

Our view: before each practice answer, name the criterion out loud ("this one is empathy"), then build the answer to show it. The basis: Imperial says these are the criteria that "may be considered", and Manchester says each station is "marked by a separate interviewer", so each station is a fresh chance to show one thing well. The countercase: if your school publishes its own criteria, use those instead of Imperial's. Do not recite the value names to the interviewer either; Manchester warns against "trying to think of innovative ways of working the names of each of the principles of medical ethics into your answer", and the same logic applies to NHS values.

Question bank by station (constructed set)

These 32 questions are our constructed set, written for practice. They are not questions any school has said it will ask. Each type has a scoring cue: the thing the interviewer needs to hear.

Motivation

Cue: one specific moment, one fact about the job you checked, one reason only a doctor's role meets.

1. Why do you want to study medicine rather than another health degree?
2. What did you learn about a doctor's working week that surprised you?
3. Which part of a doctor's job do you expect to find hardest?
4. What have you done in the last year to test your decision?

The why medicine interview answer guide for the UK works this station in full.

Work experience reflection

Cue: what you saw, what you felt, what you would do differently, without claiming a clinician's work as yours.

5. Tell me about a patient interaction you observed and what it taught you.
6. Describe a time in a caring role when you got something wrong.
7. What did you notice about how the team communicated?
8. Your work experience was online. What did you learn that a placement would not teach?

Manchester says "some online work experience can also be discussed". The work experience reflection guide goes further.

Ethics

Cue: summarise the conflict, give both sides, say what you would do and who you would involve.

9. A 15-year-old asks you, as a GP, for contraception and not to tell her parents. What are the issues?
10. Should smokers wait longer for surgery?
11. A friend on your course is posting patient details in a group chat. What do you do?
12. Should organ donation be opt-out for everyone over 18?

The medical ethics interview questions guide works these cases with NHS consent rules.

Role play

Cue: listen first, name the feeling, check understanding, offer a next step.

13. You are a volunteer. Tell a care-home resident's son that today's visit has been cancelled.
14. A classmate wants your notes the night before an exam you are both sitting.
15. A neighbour is angry that the GP surgery will not give her a same-day appointment.
16. A teammate on your project has missed three deadlines. Talk to them.

See the MMI role-play station guide.

Teamwork, leadership and failure

Cue: your part, the conflict, what changed, what you learned.

17. Tell me about a team that did not work. What was your part in it?
18. When have you led without a title?
19. Describe a failure and what you did in the following week.
20. What do you do when you disagree with someone more senior?

Prioritisation

Cue: state your assumptions, rank, justify each place, say what you would escalate.

21. Rank five tasks for a busy Saturday shift (worked below).
22. Three patients need the one available bed. Whose case do you need to know more about?
23. You have two hours and three deadlines. Talk me through your order.
24. You can fund one of three local services. Which, and why?

Current NHS issue

Cue: what happened, the official position, the strongest opposing view, your view labelled as yours.

25. What do you know about the 10 Year Health Plan?
26. Should doctors be allowed to strike?
27. What is the role of a physician associate, and should it change?
28. How should the NHS use AI scribes?

The NHS hot topics guide for 2027 entry dates each topic.

Data or calculation

Cue: read the axes, say what the data shows and does not show, give one sensible next step.

29. Here is a chart of A&E attendances by month. What do you notice?
30. A drug cuts risk from 4 in 100 to 3 in 100. How would you explain that to a patient?
31. A dose is 5 mg per kg. The child weighs 18 kg. What is the dose?
32. Two GP practices report different waiting times. What would you need to know before comparing them?

The 8-minute plan

This timing is ours, built on Manchester's 8-minute station:

• 0:00–1:30: your opening answer. Name the issue and your position.
• 1:30–6:00: follow-up questions. Expect two or three. Answer each in under a minute.
• 6:00–8:00: practise for a late twist ("what if…"). Keep your structure and adjust.

No follow-ups? Go one level deeper: a second example, the counter-view, or your next step.

Prioritisation and data stations, worked

Constructed example: a prioritisation station

Constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant answer or a real station. Prompt (constructed): "You are a volunteer on a hospital ward on Saturday. Rank these: a patient's relative wants to complain; a patient asks for water; the ward phone is ringing; a patient on the floor says he slipped; the nurse asked you to restock gloves."

First I'd make sure the man on the floor is safe and get a nurse straight away, because I'm not trained to move him. (Safety first, and a role boundary: shows understanding of the job.) Second, the water: I'd check with the nurse before giving it, because some patients can't drink before procedures. (Checks rather than assumes.) Third, the relative: I'd tell her I've heard her, that I can't solve it myself, and that I'll find who can. (Respect and dignity: honest about what "we can and cannot do", in the NHS Constitution's words.) The phone and the gloves come last; if the phone keeps ringing I'd tell the nurse in charge. (Ranks, then escalates.)

The spoken part, without our notes, is 81 words. It fills about the first minute and a half and leaves room for a follow-up such as "What if the nurse is busy?"

Constructed example: a data station

Constructed data, invented for practice. A table shows a ward's falls per month: January 6, February 5, March 9, April 4.

A strong answer says: March is the highest; four months is too short to call a trend; I would want to know how many patients were on the ward each month, because 9 falls among more patients may be a lower rate. Our arithmetic: the four-month total is 24, an average of 6 a month. Saying that out loud shows you can work with the numbers without over-reading them.

What the stations do not test

• Academic knowledge. Manchester: "The interview is not a test of your academic knowledge." It asks for "an informed layperson's view on contemporary aspects of medicine, particularly those of current media interest."
• Your personal statement, at some schools. Newcastle's 2027 policy says selectors do not see it before or during the interview; Imperial says it may be referred to. The UK medicine personal statement questions guide covers schools that use it.
• A right answer on ethics. Manchester: "There are often no right answers in an ethical debate, and our interviewers will not be looking for a specific viewpoint."
• Your background. Manchester: "You will not be asked questions about your gender identity, sexuality, marital or parental status, race, religion or social background".

Newcastle also counts one part of your file inside the interview score: the UCAT Situational Judgement Test band is included "with the same weighting as one station from an MMI". Its final score is "weighted 50:50" between the academic screen and the interview.

A 10-day rehearsal plan for the bank

This plan is ours.

1. Day 1: read your school's interview page and invitation email. Write down the format, the clock and any published criteria.
2. Days 2–8: two station types a day from the bank above, out loud, with a timer set to your school's station length. Record each one.
3. After each recording: score it yourself against the criterion you named for that station. One line: did the interviewer hear it, yes or no?
4. Day 9: run a full circuit with a friend or family member reading the prompts cold, with a 2-minute gap between stations.
5. Day 10: rest, re-read your personal statement if your school's interviewers see it, and check one news source for anything that changed this week.

Rehearse the structure, not the sentences: Manchester asks for pointers in your mind, not a script. For a longer plan, see the two-week UK medicine interview plan.

Questions about UK MMI stations

How many stations are in a UK MMI?

It depends on the school. Manchester runs five, with one possibly replaced by a group task in the 2026/7 cycle. The other pages above do not give a number. Your invitation will.

Do I need to know medical facts for an MMI?

No. Manchester says the interview "is not a test of your academic knowledge" and expects an "informed layperson's view" of current issues.

Is a UK MMI different from a US MMI?

The format is similar; what is scored differs. Manchester and Imperial point to NHS Constitution values, and Manchester also to the GMC's Good Medical Practice. For the US version, see MMI questions and sample answers. For how marking works, see how MMI stations are scored.

Review the writing you send next

If you reapply, the stations you rehearsed here feed a new UCAS medicine personal statement. Get a free Quick Review of your UCAS medicine personal statement: GradPilot's UCAS medicine rubric checks whether each of your three answers does its own job and how your study and experience prepare you for medicine.

More: the UCAS medicine personal statement guide for 2027, the reapplicant medicine personal statement guide, and the medical school essays hub. Personal stations draw on the same stories; see teamwork, failure and weakness answers.

Applying in Australia or New Zealand too? The Australian and New Zealand medicine interviews guide sets out UNSW, JMP and Auckland formats.

Sources

Retrieved 7 November 2026, except where noted.

• University of Manchester, Medicine interviews (2026/7 cycle): format, timing, dates, what is and is not tested, coaching warning.
• Imperial College London, Medicine MBBS/BSc (2027 entry page): MMI criteria, top third, rolling invitations, personal statement at interview.
• Newcastle University, MBBS Admissions Policy 2027 Entry (PDF): MMI and panel formats, role play, selectors without the personal statement, SJT weighting, 50:50 final score.
• University of Sheffield, Medicine MBChB 2027: home MMI, international online panel.
• University of Edinburgh, MBChB Medicine: half-day assessment day, on site or online.
• Department of Health and Social Care, The NHS Constitution for England (updated 17 August 2023): the six NHS values.
• Not retrieved: Medical Schools Council and GMC pages (HTTP 403 on 7 November 2026). Nothing from them is quoted.