No Dissapointments Leggo Fam We Out Herre

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The USyd interview experience was interesting to say the least. We went up in groups of 8 and had to wait outside a door each, in
a hallway. There were 8 rooms. A bell would ring, we'd go in to find a person sitting behind a desk, and on each desk, a laminated
A4 sheet with a scenario written on it. We had to read it, then give our thoughts on it to the examiner. After we had answered, they
would change the conditions of the scenario, or probe further. There were about 5 further questions / condition changes for
each. A bell would ring eventually (I think we were given about 8 minutes to answer, I can't remember), and we had to leave the
room, and go and wait outside the next door everyone would rotate and the whole thing would be repeated. I've seen two people
from my group who got in uni they were both people who I chatted to between each room!
It's really really important not to try and impress and wow the examiners with your superior intelligence or if they query you on
something, completely change your argument to agree with them. For the former you'll look like a tool (they know you're intelligent,
that's why you're sitting there), and for the latter, well, they're looking for integrity, not someone who will agree with anyone they
think will get them ahead. The interview is about personality, not intelligence or sucking up, or the right answers. For this particular
interview, there are no right answers, you are marked based on the qualities of character you display. I know people who got in and
we all had completely different answers, but the things we had in common were honesty and friendliness and the ability to stick to
our guns even if some old guy was arguing blue in the face with us!
MMI Stations 1530 25th September 2007 Education Building
In most stations I did not get to the end of the questions so some are longer or have more parts than those included here.
1) Grandfather
Your 70 year old maternal grandfather has been diagnosed with a condition that will cause him to die sometime in the next 5 years.
There is an operation that can save his life but it has a 10% mortality. Your mother doesnt want him to have the operation because
she thinks it is too risky. How would you mediate in this situation?
i) Your grandfathers good friend, a GP advises him against the operation, what issues are involved in this situation?
ii) How would you form your own opinion in this case, how would it effect how you handle you mother and grandfather?
2) Pregnancy
A friend has told you that she is pregnant and that she hasnt told anyone else and will possibly seek a termination. One day in
class she becomes unwell and your tutor asks you if she is pregnant. What do you respond?
i) What issues are involved in this situation?
ii) The girls mother calls you the day after the incident and asks if her daughter is pregnant, what do u answer?
iii) The girl has decided upon a termination, what would u say to her?
3) Car Crash
You are a medical student and the first witness at a car crash where the driver is thrown from the car. You call an ambulance but
the man dies before they get to you. Over the next few days you find that the incident is consuming all of your attention and is
effecting your work at the hospital. You are also worried that the anxiety will effect your performance in an exam in a few weeks.
i) What would you do in this situation?
ii) What kind of help would you expect there to be within the hospital system to help you through this?
iii) A friend tells you to get over it and its not a big deal, how would you respond to these suggestions?
4) Bad Doctors
The media recently reported several incidence of Bad Doctors and there have been suggestions that doctors should have to
routinely be re-examined on their knowledge to be able to continue practicing.
i) How do you feel about this?
ii) What suggestions can u make as to how this would be done most effectively?
iii) How would you feel if your long time GP failed an exam and had to stop practicing?
5) Internet Image
You are the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, two senior students have been accused of posting erotic images of a first year student
on the internet, one of the boys used to date the girl.
i) As the Dean what would you do?
ii) What reasons could you give for expelling the students?
iii) I dont remember the rest at this stage I was panicking, sorry.
6) Muslim Patient
A Muslim patient has been accidentally given bacon as part of his breakfast. He didnt realise this because he is still recovering
from an operation. Later in the day his son comes to visit and find out about the bacon and gets very angry.
i) How would you try to calm the son down?
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ii) What should the first person who realised the situation have done?
iii) Can you think of any other situations where cultural and religious sensitivity is important in a hospital environment?
iv) You are asked to help write a guide for the nursing a catering staff about religious issues, what kind of things would you
include?
7) Science Team
You are given the task of leading a team of science students in a comprehensive science competition. Each student is from a
different specialty but all must complete the final exam that covers all specialties.
i) How would you organise you studying so as to maximise the scores of your team?
ii) One team member is struggling, how do you respond?
iii) One team member is sick of the studying and is threatening to abandon the team, how to you respond?
Bad Team Members
You are employed to lead a team of highly skilled researchers from a wide variety of fields. The teams previous leader has been
fired because the team as a whole is not performing up to scratch. As part of your plan you implement weekly progress meetings
where the whole team gets together to discuss each others progress. Two team members repeatedly fail to attend.
i) What do you do about this?
ii) One of the two is performing his work poorly, what do you do?
Hopefully this will help some future students, i would love to see what kind of questions other people got. Personally i stuffed up the
erotic images one because i thought that it had nothing at all to do with the Dean of the Faculty and i tried to stick with that opinion
through to the end of the 7 minutes.
Here are brief outlines of my senarios:
1. Youtube (revamped erotic image I suppose)

Personally revealing internet video of a local celebrity was posted on a public viewing website. It was posted by an account that you
and three friends share. How do you proceed?
2. Library
Under-resourced library is experiencing increasing incidence of missing books and damaged books. You are tasked to improve
situation.
3. Death
Unrelated to your medical studies, you are involved in providing first aid to a random in the community who dies on the way to
hospital. You are very upset but have a big workload (wards, hxs, hurdle exam). How do you go forward?
4. Team work
Tutorial group assignment where 2 people just want to copy model answer, 1 doesnt speak English well and remainder student
hasn't showed up due to family commitments. The deadline is looming. How do you proceed?
5. PBL
Basically you have tute colleague who has stopped going to PBLs. What are strengths and weakness of PBLs?
6. Dr exam
As previously described, opinions on MDs resitting exams every five years.
7. Muslim
As previously described, Muslim pt is fed non-halals bacon. What is our responsibility?
8. Privacy
Fellow student gets pregnant. She asks you not to tell anyone but people are asking you directly, how do you respond? She
decides to have an abortion. How do you respond?
Sydney University MMI Scenarios
1) Bad Team Members

Same as Phobos... However, I remember an additional prompt:
-What if one of the team members [who doesn't turn up] is performing extremely well? What do you do?
2)PBL
Same again as SplenicArtery. I do remember another prompt
-What do you think the advantages and disadvantages are of self-directed learning?
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3) Sick Grandmother
Your grandmother lives alone and is fiercely independent. Recently however, she has become quite ill, and your mother is worried
that she is unable to look after herself anymore. Your grandmother however, flatly refuses to live in a nursing home. Your mother
then decides that it would be best for her if she came and lived with the family instead. Your father however, is resolutely against
this idea.
-what should the mother do?

-how might you discuss this with your father?
-How might you persuade your father?
-Imagine you are a teenager, and your grandmother is very conservative. How might you react to having your grandmother living
with you?
4) PBL member who becomes pregnant

same as Phobos, though I do remember another prompt (it is asked before the girl's mother prompt):
-The girl's pbl tutor comes up to you and asks "Is she pregnant"? What do you say? What are the issues?
5)'Bad Doctors'
Same as Phobos
6) High school Principle
You are a principle at a well known high school. It comes to your attention that a video has been posted on the internet that shows
two older students wheeling around a younger student in a bin. The student in the bin looks very distressed.
-What strategies would you use to determine the facts of the case?
-What are some of the issues involved here?
-What would be an appropriate disciplinary action for the two older students?
-At the disciplinary hearing you discover that the video was, in fact, a hoax. What do you do now?
7) Shark's cartilage
Same as jacky, although he seems to have been told it was shark's fin. I did get this (totally out of the blue!!!) additional prompt:
-The internet and in particular, Google, is a very popular method of getting information. How would you go about determining if the
sources you read on the internet are reliable?
Alcoholic
You are a student at university. A very good friend of yours, who is also a fellow student, likes to go out a lot and drink. One
weekend, after a big party, your friend calls you up and says that he is feeling very hung over and cannot do his assignment that is
due tomorrow. He asks you if you would do the assignment for him.
-What would you say to him?

-You are now both students studying medicine. Your friend still likes to drink and party a lot. During a clinical round, a patient (who
was just seen by your friend) tells you that they could smell alcohol on your friend's breath. What would you say to your friend?
-Your friend admits to you that he has a drinking problem. However, he claims that he hates counselors and will not see them. What
advice would you give to your friend?
1. Youtube
Personally revealing Internet video of a local celebrity was posted on a public viewing website. It was posted by an account that a
group of friends share. One of the persons is arrested and you believe they are wrongly arrested. You are afraid to go to the
university as it may reflect badly upon you.
How do you proceed? They also asked me about professionalism
2. Shark Cartilage Question as per the others
3. The bad doctors question. as per the others
4. You play chess for Australia and have a tournament coming up, you are away from uni for 3 weeks, and work part-time and also
have an exam coming up on the week that you come back, how do you proceed/prioritize.
What do you do if you fail the exam?
5. Media and how overseas doctors are mostly working rurally and how the media says they are incompetent or below standard.
Discuss the issues.
5. Pregnancy question as per the others

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7. A student brings in a video of a person in therapy who appears upset, this video is shown to a tutor and a group of 10. Discuss
issues...
8. The team of researchers question you are the leader as per the others.
Hey guys, a lot of the scenarios I got have already been covered but anyway, these are what i got:
> Shark cartilage, per above.
> Books missing from the libarary, already mentioned I'm pretty sure.
> Tutor asking about pregnancy, see phobos' post.
> Two doctors practicing in a small country town (they are the only doctors), both of whom are heavily religious (or was it only one?
feel free to correct me as it's somewhat critical). A girl comes in for a pregnancy test, she is found to be pregnant and wants an
abortion. Her doctor strongly advises against it. What are the issues here and how should this situation be handled?
> Essential a 'how do you deal with stress?' question. Something about having a part time job and a network of friends to maintain
plus increasing university committments.
> Your friend from med school has part time employment in order to support himself. He has been unable to make it to some
compulsory seminars because of these committments and has asked you to mark his name present on the roll. What do you do and
why?
> Teamwork question similar to the others: you are a team leader (can't remember what sort of team) and two of the team members
have not been turning up to meetings recently. How do you handle the situtuation and how might this reflect on your leadership?
> You are good friends with a young couple who have just had a baby. They wish to have the child circumcised. You are a second
year medical student (I think). There are medical risks to circumcision. How would you advise your friends?
- pregnancy
- library books problem -> damage and stolen property
- bad docs/5 yearly test
- pbl self directed learning
- shark cartilage
- video presentation of person in therapy privacy issues
- team work
and my other scenario which has not been mentioned was about traditional/cultural views/morals vs conventional system of
revealing test results to patient... the head of the patient's tribe asked the doctor not to tell the patient the results if they were bad
because they believed it to be an omen and the patient would die in the near future... discuss issues and the approach the doctor
should take and so forth...
In no particular order... and with a severe lack of prompts, because I simply didn't memorize any after each station
1) Pregnancy/Abortion
one that phobos33 has above
2) Internet Video
I think its similar to the Internet Image one EXCEPT i don't think I was the dean :S either that or i misread (which I did do in the
first scenario). Prompts were slightly different as well. Scenario ended on 'Discuss the issues' or along those lines
3) School Principal
You are the principal of a highly regarded school. Two final year students have been found taking advantage of a disabled student
to the amusement of a group of other students. Discuss.
(I think this one was mentioned somewhere in the MMI thread, or I read this one in one of the papers)
4) PBL
You are the group leader of a PBL consisting of 10 students. 2 Students are not participating in group work. What would you do?
5) Bad Doctors
As phobos mentioned above
6) PBL/Library
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In your PBL group one student believes she works better in the library alone than contributing to the PBL group. What would you
do?
7) High School principal

As stewie has it above
Gifts
You are working at a retirement home. After a particularly bad bout of illness, the old lady you are taking care of gives you an old
antique clock as a gift. What would you do in this situation?
-What policy should be created to rule over when it is acceptable to receive gifts and when to deny them?
1. Woman at busstop with 2 boys (around one girl (4) and a baby in a stroller. She looks tired and angry, the boys are running
around and the babies crying. Suddenly, she grabs one of the boys and slaps and screams at him. The other children starts crying
and the other boy tries move away. What do you do?
i. If you intervene, how would you approach the woman?

ii. What would your thoughts be when you see that happening?
iii. What if the woman wasn't the mother, would your view change?
2. The understaffed library question ran out of time with this one :S
3. Dean and have photo of your student put on the net.
4. PBL one
5. The team one I had the question about the team member not showing up but doing extremely well.
6. Principal of school and the video of the handicapped student circulating around.
7. You are in last year of ur clinical sciences degree, assignment coming up, you have to go to work to make rent, have family and
friends depending on you for various reasons. Oh and you are not sure if you want to do clinical sci any more. How do you cope?
Got told I had answered all the prompts for this one in my answer...had quite an interesting time chatting to the interviewer bout the
weather for the last coupla minutes...
and lastly...
8. The pregnancy question.
USYD Interviews for 2009 entry

Woohoo blackout has been lifted so here are some of the scenario questions I had on the first day of interview, September 29.
I'll skip illustrating in detail of my actual experience as this is quite similar to the previous years. Basically, you come in 30 minutes
before your interview and register. You join other candidates in a room and a student helper comes in and talks to everyone to help
with the nerves. 10 minutes prior to the interview someone comes in and explains the procedure and leads you to the interview
rooms. You stand outside a door and when the bell rings you come in, do your interview, bell rings again and you leave the room,
wait for 2 minutes before commencing your next interview. After completing all stations you are taken to another room to fill out
some feedback forms.
By the way, I noticed how some of the scenarios were similar to the sample ones and previous interviews. In no specific order here
are my scenarios. Might be different to how I remember it but you get the gist...
1. Imagine you are the principal of a prestigious school and it has come to your attention that a video made by two senior students
posted in the Internet show them verbally abusing an intellectually impaired student/person (don't remember which one). Damn I
forgot the initial question but some of the questions I got asked were: What issues would you raise during the hearing? How do you
determine the facts? What underlying reasons would you have to suspend these two students? What are the consequences for the
intellectually impaired person? What would you do if you found out it was actually a hoax/documentary that was made to inform
students about verbally abusing/discriminating others?
2. A student who has to juggle work and med school. Has a lot of assignments and an exam coming up. He/she is having second
thoughts about this career path. How should he/she address this? What are your thoughts about that person? How do you cope
with stress?
3. Your aunt has eye problems but still wants to drive. She hasn't seen a doctor or had her eyes checked. How do you deal with
this? What if she calls you and that she had a car accident, what do you say to her?
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4. You and two other friends watch a movie. I think the movie was an autobiography of an actor who recently died and who is also
a chain smoker. After the movie one friend comments on how film makers glamourises smoking and the other friend says it's just
depicting the truth. What are your thoughts? What are your thoughts if all movies with smoking are rated as R-18? What if the
movie used smoking special effects? (hahaha this was the part where I had to ponder on the issues and the interviewer started
talking about special effects, explaining to me what it was. I know what is is I just paused to think about the question!! Lost so much
precious time).
5. Your friend who has to juggle work and med school asked you to tick his name off the student roll for a compulsory seminar.
During the seminar, the roll is passed to you what do you do? What are the implications for that person not attending the seminar?
Haha I said I would mark his name off but would not do it again if he asked me too. Gave an explanation how I can help him
overcome the situation etc etc. After that, kind of regretted saying that then I thought ah well might as well be honest and true to
myself rather than pretend to be someone who is super honest and follows rules, might come out as a fake.
6. You and your family is concerned about your aging grandmother who refuses to stay in a nursing home. You and your mother
suggested that she'd stay at your home, but are aware that she does not get along well with your dad (her son-in-law). How do you
deal with this situation? What might be reasons for her not wanting to leave her home? If you were a teenager how would you cope
with this?
7. There's a science competition with an important prize. You are the leader of the group. How would you maximize study time?
One of the students do not agree with your strategy/plan, how do you deal with this? One of the students is not attending group
meetings, what do you do?
8. You are responsible for some scholarship/prize to give to a student. Deadline for portfolio submission has passed. A professor
of the university, who's daughter is a candidate for the prize, tries to include an article to her portfolio which you know will help her
get the prize. What do you do? The dean wants to talk to you and discuss the situation, what do you say? You find out that the
daughter finds out what her dad is trying to do and upsets her, what do you do?
Please remember that the scenarios had more detail than that! Apologies if I got some of them wrong, but those were basically the
main ideas of each station.
A friend of mine interviewed at Usyd this year and asked if I could place these scenarios up once the blackout was lifted to help
other people for next year. They couldn't remember all of the scenario prompts, but this is the MMI scenarios and prompts they
remember:
Teamwork. Youre to lead a team of specialist scientists in a competition. The prize money for the competition is significant. How do
you organise your team?
i. How would you resolve a conflict if it arose?
ii.
2. Dealing with self-problems. A tree falls on your house but youre not injured. You find you are affected by the incident and
your work at the hospital suffers. How do you deal with this?
i. Your mate tells you to get over it, how do you deal with it?
ii. What strategies do you have for dealing with stress
3. Internationally trained doctors working in areas of unmet need. What are the main issues?
i. What are some difficulties with attracting people to rural medicine?
4. PhD Thesis. 10 pages have been plagiarised (included in the thesis without acknowledgement). The student was involved in
the research, but didnt cite the publication in their thesis. Is this acceptable?
i. How would you deal with this?
5. Woman abusing her children. Youre having coffee at a caf when you see a lady with 3 children in a dishevelled state. Her
kids are playing up and she hits one of them. What do you do?
i. Would this change if the lady wasnt the childs mother?
ii. Why do you think the lady could have been behaving in this way?
6. Cultural diversity. You have a patient that insists their family assume responsibility for their medical care. This includes being
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told of any diagnoses and being responsible for planning treatment. What do you do?
i. What would you say to the patient?
7. Alcohol tax. The alcohol tax has been introduced, what do you see as the main issues involved with it?
i. How could this impact small bottle shop owners?
8. Porn on the net. Senior students post a naked photo of a first year on the internet. You are the dean of the medical school,
how do you deal with this?
i. What reasons could you give for expelling the boys?
ii. How do you think this could affect the girl?
iii. What role do you have to play as the dean?
I was an interviewer this year, and one of the questions that I had tested this very thing. It was more of a traditional med school
interview question, although there were 5 prompts, just like the other scenario-based questions.
Broadly, the 'scenario' that the candidate read was "What led you to study medicine at the University of Sydney?"
The prompts were (paraphrasing because I can't remember the details):

1. What led to you choosing to become a health care professional?
2. What specifically about the USyd program appealed to you?
3. How will you cope with the study demands of such a busy course?
4. Describe any role models who may have influenced you?
5. And there was one more, but I can't remember it.
Because the initial question was wide open, often the candidates covered several of the prompts in their initial response.
The second prompt was clearly testing "commitment to USyd". The people who did well on this were able to demonstrate that they'd
actually researched the course (i.e. even if they'd just looked at the website, which has plenty of info). The most common thing they
mentioned was the early clinical exposure.
The third prompt was essentially about time management, and I was surprised that a few people fluffed this one nerves I guess.
Re. the prompt about role models don't stress if you didn't have an answer to this! I didn't have any significant role models when I
got into med! Here we were looking for recognition of the value of role models, regardless of whether or not you have a specific role
model.
But overall, this station was done well, once people got over the shock of a non-scenario question. It was hard as an interviewer,
because I would've loved to ask for more information about the stories people were telling me, but I had to stick to the prompts.
The interviews at USyd were MMI style with 8 stations each with a diffrent ethical situation to discuss. The 8 questions I had were
all scenario based and were (with some overlap with those above)
1) The quality of foreign doctors, the media has been focused on some scandals involving foreign doctors, what would be the
reasons? How would you vet overseas trained doctors? What are qualities in a doctor you would need to test for? Working in a rural
area, what are the positives and benefits.
2) Two students have uploaded erotic images of a 1st year, that one of them used to be in a relationship with what issues does
the dean consider when disciplining them? What effect would this have on the 1st year? Should the students be kicked out of the
course?
3) PhD copies the introduction to their thesis from an unpublished article what do you do? Should the student have the thesis
failed? The student says she did most of the work for the unpublished article but wasn't on the author's list, does this change your
view?
4) You are the leader of a team of 5 competing in a national science competition. How do you organise it? What do you do when
one of the students seems to be doing no work? How do you cover all the material? Why do people enter competitions like this?
5) Tree falls through the roof one evening and you are stuck for several hours until you are rescued. After this you have difficulty
sleeping and concentrating. You are doing case histories on the ward and have an exam coming up what do you do? Should you
tell the truth about your feelings? Who should you talk to?
6) You see a woman with 4 children who are running around and being noisey. She disciplines one by slapping and swears at
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another. Why are your thoughts? What do you do? What do you do if you find out she isn't the mother? What are the factors that
would stop you from being involved/doing anything?
7) The government wants to reduce alcohol consumption and therefore antisocial behaviour by increasing the tax on it. What are
your thoughts on this? How would you look to see if increasing tax really does make a difference? What are other things that could
be done to reduce alcohol use or antisocial behaviour? Does the government have a role to play in changing societal attitudes?
You have a patient who has a serious life threatening illness, however, this patient is a member of religious group and one of the
'rules' of this group are that people should not be told they could die as then the spirit gives up and the person dies. However, to
begin treatment you need informed consent. A leader of this religious group has asked that you don't tell the patient. What do you
do? What issues do you have to deal with.
2008 USYD
1. Your mother wants your frail grandmother to live in a nursing home, but grandmother refuses to because she wants to remain
independent and she doesnt get along with the mother (or your father, I can't remember which). What do you do and how do you
mediate the situation/what would you say?
I think for me, there was so much to say but at the same time I was sooo nervous (being my first station). I only remember saying
the obvious things.
2. Why do you want to study medicine at Sydney? Prompts: who has been your role model/encouraged you to study med, why did
you choose Sydney in particular?
This threw me off, but managed to get through by being completely honest. I think I should have talked the uni up more, I hadn't
realised they were looking for "Committment to Usyd" as the criteria until after Still, I think this is a strange and unnecessary criteria
to test.
3. Immigration: some say it is economically necessary, others say it will deplete resources. What's your take on it? Prompts: If there
was a need to curb immigration, what actions should be taken? What's your opinion of the baby bonus? What's your opinion on the
1-child policy in China? What's your opinion on detaining illegal refugees in detention centres?
The interviewer was an older guy who seemed to be politically in-the-know, so I probably sat on the fence for most of this. He really
wanted to get the prompts done, that's why I got so many.
4. You are studying a healthcare degree and working two jobs to finance it. You also have friends and family committments to tend
to. Recently you have been struggling to cope with all this and are wondering if this is the right career path to take. What do you do?
5. You are the leader of a team working on a project. Two members have started to not show up to meetings/do their work. As a
result of this, how would you and the other members judge your skills as a leader? Prompts: What leadership skills do you have?
How would you think differently if it was only the one member who stopped showing up?
6. A really long and complicated one: You are the leader of a board that awards students a (insert a large sum of money here)
scholarship. The award is based on academic merit and one of the criteria is to have something published. One female student is
ranked third on the shortlist, but due to some unforseen circumstance, her work isn't published on time. Her father, a professor
comes to see you about this (asking for some leniency of some sort). What are the issues here? Prompts: Would you do things
differently if the girl was ranked first/you were certain that she academically deserved this scholarship?
This is the one where I had my neuroscience lecturer from last semester interview me. The fact there was so much detail didn't help
either. One of my worst stations basically. I feel like I just stated the obvious, and not something that stood out...
7. A 32-year old woman has just finished her denistry degree and applying for a licence. One of the questions on the application
asks for any criminal offences being committed. As a 17-year old, she was charged with shoplifiting. She is unsure if she should put
this on the application and asks you for advice. What do you tell her?
This was an example scenario from Des O'Neil's interview workshop. That guy is good, it was almost word-for-word! Not that I did
exceptionally well in this station. I basically emphasised that even though it is her choice in the end, I wanted to express my concern
for her if somehow they found out that she lied to them the consequences may be much more severe than if she was honest in the
first place.
8. You are a manager at a nursing home, where carers are involved in assisting residents with showering etc. One resident
approaches you and says that she no longer wants the "black girl" as her carer. This employee has never had any previous
complaints from other residents about her care. How would you deal with this situation?
I said that first you need to consider if there's some sort of policy that lets the residents choose their carers or not. If yes, there really
isn't anything you can do except comply with their wishes but of course explain to the resident that this employee's care is of the
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same standard as others. If no, try and convince her that the employee is doing her best and the same standard of care would be
given regardless of the carer. HOWEVER this type of care is really personal and intimate and anyone who is uncomfortable about
the care for whatever reason shouldn't be forced to endure that discomfort. Also need to talk to the employee in question, it may
just turn out that she totally understands and wouldn't be that offended if she had to swap with someone else. I can't remember if
there were any prompts, I may have blabbed on too much.
I experienced the USyd MMI from the other side as an interviewer.
I've already posted one of the questions I handled (see reply #76). Here I'll go through the rest, which have already been mentioned
by some other posters.
(All scenarios and prompts are paraphrased due to my rapidly failing memory, and the prompts are not in any particular order. If you
have any questions for me, ask them in the USyd interviews thread.)
Scenario: There has been a media focus on overseas-trained doctors working in rural areas. What are the issues?
Prompts:
1. Why is there a focus on overseas-trained doctors?
2. How can we ensure that overseas-trained doctors meet Australian standards?
3. What does the Australian public expect from their healthcare professionals?
4. What are some of the issues any healthcare professional faces working in a rural area?
5. How can the government/health department help healthcare professionals working in rural areas?
Testing:
Respect for diversity

Understanding of differences between urban and rural practice
Thoughts:
I was an observer for this scenario (week 1, Wednesday afternoon, Education Building). I thought it was too complicated it was
testing too many things. I think there should have been one scenario focused on diversity, and another focused on the rural vs
urban issues. Most candidates did well though. A big thing we were looking for in response to the rural prompts was an
understanding of the lack of access to resources in the country. People focused on distance from friends/family, ability to work
alone/unsupervised/in small teams, etc. But not many people mentioned resources, i.e. lack of access to specialists and services
like CT and MRI. (Too medical? Maybe.)
Scenario: You work in an underfunded, understaffed hospital library that's also accessed by staff and students from 3 universities. A
problem has emerged with missing and damaged books. You've been asked to investigate this. What are the possible reasons for
the missing or damaged books?
Prompts:
1. What is the effect of understaffing?
2. What are the key elements of your plan to solve this problem?
3. How will you know whether your plan has worked?
4. Your supervisor suggests increasing fines for missing or damaged books. What do you think of this?
5. How would you respond to a student who has been found to have been responsible for missing or damaged books?
Testing:
Problem-solving
Planning
Thoughts:
The initial scenario was too long, as were the prompts. People tended to focus on the missing books, without commenting much
about the reasons for damaged books. When they did comment on the damaged books, they focused on things like damage to the
spine on old books that need rebinding. No-one mentioned things like writing in the books, tearing out pages, etc. i.e. no-one
thought that students could be maliciously damaging books for their personal gain. Re. understaffing, we were looking for
recognition that perhaps there weren't enough staff to monitor what was happening to the books. About half the candidates I met
picked up on this.
Scenario: You are the treasurer of a student council that awards two annual $5,000 scholarships based on academic excellence.
The applications (portfolio submissions) closed two weeks ago, and the winners have been decided, but not yet announced. A
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professor comes to see you about his daughter, who applied for the award. She has just had an article published, and the professor
wants you to include this in her portfolio. If this had been included at the time, the professor's daughter would have been awarded a
prize. What are the issues?
Prompts:
1. How would you respond to the professor's request?
2. The leader of the student society tells you that the professor's daughter should be awarded the prize. How do you respond?
3. You believe that the professor's daughter does deserve the award. Does this change your response?
4. The Dean of the faculty hears about the professor's request, and asks you for more information. How do you respond?
5. The professor's daughter finds out about her father's request, and is very upset. How do you respond to her?
Testing:
Integrity
Empathy
Thoughts:
The initial scenario was too long, as were the prompts. I felt bad because a few of the candidates asked me to repeat some of the
prompts, which I know wastes valuable time. Some of the prompts were repetitive, but this was on purpose we wanted you to
stand firm in the face of pressure. I think only one candidate wavered when faced with the question from the Dean. One of the
things being tested on the marking sheet was "respect for privacy" (paraphrased). I found that strange, because I didn't think the
prompts brought that out at all, and it wasn't particularly obvious in the initial scenario. None of the candidates mentioned privacy.
Overall, I thought all the candidates I interviewed did well! I'm glad I volunteered to be an interviewer. All the best to all the USyd
candidates!
Oh and just so you know, all interviewers give feedback at the end of the 8 stations, so any of the comments I've made above
about specific scenarios were made on the feedback form on the day. :)
(Reminder if you have any questions for me, ask them in the USyd interviews thread.)
USyd Interviews
Friday 3rd Oct 12pm

Looks like I had the exact same as alot of others on Paging Dr.
Interview 1
You are a supervisor at a nursing home which employs people from the community to help with the every day living of tenants (eg.
Washing, changing clothes). You are in charge of the rostering of the employees and whom they attend.
A tenant, Mrs Smith, does not want one of the black employees to be assigned to her.
What are your thoughts?
What are the issues at hand?
Mrs Smith tells you she finds the employee to be very rough with her. How does this affect your perspective?
It becomes apparent Mrs Smith has been abusive and used racist comments toward other employees and tenants. How does
this affect your perspective?
The named employee comes to your office very upset and crying regarding the issue. How do you proceed?
Interview 2
This has been shown on the Paging Dr forums before.
Your grandmother lives alone and is extremely independent. She has recently become quite frail and ill. Your mother is concerned
she is unable to take care of her own needs. Your mother considers a nursing home, but your grandmother refuses. Your mother
then discusses the idea of having your grandmother move into your family home. Your grandmother is against the move, as she
doesnt get along with the son-in-law. Your father feelings are mutual.
How would you help your mother mediate the situation?
How might you discuss this with/persuade your father?
As a teenager in the house, how will the presence of your grandmother affect your lifestyle?
If you didnt want your grandmother in the house, what would you say to your father?
Interview 3
I was surprised to get this line of questioning since I was told there wouldnt be traditional-type questions ask. I hadnt thought too
hard about possible answers. Hope I blabbed enough to seem intelligent.
There was an intro paragraph. Cant really remember it, but lead to these questions:
Why Medicine?
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Why the city of Sydney?

Why have you chosen USyd?
Medicine is a very involved and consuming university degree. How will you manage your workload and time during the
degree?
Why do you want to be a health professional?
Can you think of anyone who has influenced your decision to study medicine? (Who were your greatest influences and their
positive attributes)
Interview 4
Currently there is a great debate regarding immigration, the increasing Australian Population and how they affect our natural
resources.
An increased population and immigration influx will improve business and economics of Australia, but will also put strain onto the
available natural resources and infrastructure available.
What is your view on this issue?
What is your view on Australian Immigration laws? (Visas, immigrant detainment etc.)
Some countries have a one baby per family policy. What is your view on this, in light of Australian Issues?
Australia has the baby bonus to aid boosting population growth. Identify positive and negative attributes of this scheme.
Climate change will affect Australias resources and natural productivity. How can we address this issue locally and globally?
Interview 5
You are a 3rd yr med student spending most of your time in clinical school and studying at night when possible, struggling to keep
up. Youre also finding it difficult to see your family.
The work load is starting to take its toll. You have upcoming assessments and exams. You are not sure how you will fair,
considering your work load and stress.
What do you do?
Youre beginning to question your choice to study medicine and to become a health professional. What are your thoughts?
How do you cope with stress? What are your stress coping mechanisms?
Explain about a stressful period in your life and how you dealt with it?
Interview 6
Youre the team leader of a group, which is not performing as well as expected considering the attributes of the team members. You
organize team meetings to discuss the issues surrounding the teams performance, where you also discuss the team project.
Two team members continually miss these meetings. What do you do?
One of the absent team members is producing poor work. What do you do?
The other absent team member is performing excellently. He continues to skip meeting, stating he doesnt work well with
groups. What do you do?
What type of team leading style do you think you bring to a group?
Interview 7
You are a treasurer of a student society which gives out a $10 000 prize annually. The recipient must submit a portfolio and
application entailing their works.
This year two students came equal first, pocketing $5000 each.
One of your professors, whose daughter is the 3rd place getter, approaches you, asking to consider an additional piece of work.
The daughters article, which was published, was late as the journal was still deciding whether to publish it while the application
process was finishing. All applications were to be completed in full two weeks ago. The professor urges you to consider this as part
of her application. If you did, she would receive first place.
What are the issues?
What are your thoughts regarding the approach of the professor?
The society president thinks the profs daughter should receive first prize. Does this affect your view?
The dean becomes aware of the issue. What do you say to the dean?
The dean thinks the article should be considered and she should receive first prize. Does this affect your perspective?
Interview 8
Your friend is a 32 yo who has just graduated dentistry with honours. She receives her application form for registration as a dentist.
A section asks for her to notify the dentistry council of any previous criminal convictions. As a 17yo she was caught shoplifting and
received a conviction and fine.
She is unsure whether she should disclose this as it may affect her registration as a dentist.
How do you advise her?
Should she disclose this?
Are there any crimes which you think do not have to be disclosed to the dentistry council?
If it will affect her eligibility to practice, does this change your perspective?
Sydney Med MMI 2008

Room one:
You have been put in charge of an investigation into a library that is used by three medical school universities and the staff
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members of a hospital. The library is understaffed and under resourced, and lately there have been a number of books go missing
or come back damaged. Please tell us how you would investigate this situation? How would you narrow down the culprits? The
head librarian wants to put in a series of progressively higher fines for offenders, what is your opinion on this? How would you
manage the situation?
Room two:
You are an employee at a swimming centre and you are looking after children. A colleague comes over and begins talking to you
and you turn your back on the children. While you have your back turned a child jumps in and chips their tooth. Someone has
been fired for a similar situation in the past. What do you do? The collegue comes out of the bosss office and tells you that they
have covered for you, what do you do? The manager asks you if it is because there arent enough staff on deck, what do you
suggest? What are the implications of your actions?
Room three:
Australia is a country that experiences a high amount of immigration. While this immigration is good because it means that local
industries can rely on the growth and the tourism etc, it also places considerable strain on services and infrastructure. What are
your opinions on immigration and what are the pros and cons? Do we have great enough barriers to immigration? What is your
opinion on population control?
Room four:
You attend a tutorial at uni as a graduate medicine student. The tutor shows up ten minutes late and continues the lesson in the
usual way that he/she teaches. When you are leaving the class room you notice that Dr Smith (the tutor) smells of alcohol. When
you get outside another student comments on the same thing. What do you immediately do? What is your plan of action in
response to this? What if you approach the tutor and they say that it was only one time and that she likes to have a glass of wine
with lunch? What if it continues? I said go to the dean and then he asked me what I would do if I were the dean in this situation.
Room five:
You have applied for graduate medicine at Sydney university, what makes you want to become a doctor? What first got you
interested? Why Sydney uni as opposed to the others? What clinical experience have you had to know how the health system
works? If you and another student had the same scores, why should we pick you over them?
Room six:
You are the treasurer of the student committee and the committee is awarding two 5 thousand dollar scholarships to the highest
academic achievers. The top two positions have been filled but before the final decision is made a professior approaches you and
makes you aware that his daughter (who is in third position) has an article coming out in a journal that is yet to be published and
should therefore get the prize. What do you do? You take it back to the committee and the leader wants to give it to the professors
daughter, what do you do? You speak to the dean and he recommends giving it to the daughter, what do you do? The girl finds out
about her father interfering and is upset, what do you say to her?
Room seven:
You are on clinical placement with a GP in a rural area. While you have been observing, the GP expresses his strong views on
religion and artificial means of interfering with fertility. A teenage girl presents to the clinic having had unprotected sexual
activity. What could be some possible implications of the GPs beliefs and the teenage girls position? It turns out she is pregnant,
what are the implications of this in regards to how the GP feels. While viewing the situation, you notice that the GP does not at all
suggest or bring up the possibility of abortion, what would you say/do? What are the implications of this being a case in a rural
area?
Room eight:
Your grandmother is 89 years old and has mentioned that she has difficulty reading street signs. She is, however, reluctant to have
her eyes tested or to report the problem to the RTA. How might you treat the situation? She tells you that her licence is up for
renewal in three months so she will have the problem looked at then. How might you persuade her to have them checked sooner?
She agrees to have them tested and the optometrist tells you that she should not be driving anymore. Your grandmother is not
happy about the situation but agrees not to drive. She then calls you a couple of days later to say she has run into a telegraph pole,
how do you respond?
My questions at the USyd MMI seemed to be a little different to everyone else who has posted. For this reason I thought I'd take the
time to try and remember them and post them. Here is the general gist.
You have chosen to undergo professional training at the University of Sydney. Why did you choose Sydney and what do you expect
to gain from the training?
1. How do you think you will cope with the work load?
You come across a disheveled looking 50 year old man on the side of a street with a sign asking for money. How do you make the
decision whether or not to give him money?
1. Would it make any difference if it were an Indigenous woman?
2. What if it was a child?
The owner of a New York caf has been making excellent cheesecake and cannoloni. However he has been recently forced to
modify the recipe due to new legislation surrounding trans fats. It is estimated that the new legislation will prevent about 200 heart
attacks a year. How do you feel about the government controlling society in this way?
1. What is the role of the health care provider in this scenario?
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2. It is said the campaign is targeted at children. What are your thoughts?
You become aware that a classmate of yours has a serious drinking problem. They are trying to give up drinking but are having a
very hard time. How would you approach this? (I cannot remember the details of this one very well but that was the gist)
Your grandmother has recently broken her dentures. She does not want to get them replaced or undergo a complete examination
(due to not wanting x-rays). If the dentures are repaired rather than replaced the dentist expects them to break again very soon.
How do you approach your grandmother?
1. What if it is about the money?
2. Does the dentist have the right to refuse to repair the dentures?
You are on placement in a hospital. You have just examined a patient a female patient of a minority race. Whilst you are in the
elevator your tutor makes a sexist and racist comment that is certainly heard by visitors and other staff in the elevator. What do you
do?
1. What could the consequences be if you rebuked the tutor in the elevator (at the time)?
Two final year health science male students have been found out to have placed an erotic image of a first year female student on
the internet. The image was obtained whilst one of the two men was in a relationship with the woman. The relationship has since
ended. What issues does the dean need to take into consideration in the disciplinary hearing?
1. What reasons could you have for expelling the boys?
2. How do you think this could affect the girl?
You are a health student and you have been given one week to hand in a major assignment. The due date corresponds with your
final exams. Whilst sitting with some friends in a caf you overhear a fellow student say that they copied 90% of their assignment
from someone else and still got a great mark. What do you do?
My interview was not until 5.10pm so I flew down from Brisbane to Sydney at around 10am. I arrived in Sydney at 11.30am and
then had a leisurely lunch before heading to the University of Sydney. I wandered around campus for a while, found the building
where the interviews were being conducted and then walked towards the aquatic center. I brought my swimmers with me so I could
have a swim and clear my mind so I wouldn't be tired for my interview especially seeing as it was so late in the day. I found it was a
fantastic idea cause the exercise helped get my mind thinking and then I got to have a shower and get dressed there so I looked
fresh to the interview. I then headed up to the interview building and did a few practice questions before going in and
registering. After we were all registered, we were taken to a small room where a medical student volunteer sat us down and talked
to us about the process and what would happen. He was very friendly and made sure we were all properly attired before going
down to the interview area. When we got downstairs we stood in front of a door and waited for a bell. On the bell we entered the
room where an interview always stood up to greeted us (including a handshake!). We then were invited to read the scenario in front
of us. After 7 minutes were up the bell rang again and we had to leave the room immediately, even mid-sentence. We then rotated
rooms and waited in the corridor for 2 minutes before starting it all again.
I had quite a few questions that were exactly the same as some seen in previous years although sometimes there was an additional
promt in there which I have tried to remember and add.
Ok so here goes:
1. Immigration scenario (seen before)

Currently there is a great debate regarding immigration, the increasing Australian Population and how they affect our natural
resources.
available nature resources and infrastructure available.
What are your views on this issue?
What is your view on Australia Immigration laws?
Some countries have a one baby per family policy. What is your view on this, in light of the Australian Issues?
What do you think of illegal Immigrants that try to enter Australia and what should be done about them?
Australia has the baby bonus to aid boosting population growth. Identify positive and negative attributes of this scheme?
2. Alcohol tax (seen before)

The government wants to reduce alcohol consumption and therefore antisocial behavior by increasing the tax on it.
What are your thoughts on this?
How would you look to see if increasing tax really does make a difference?
What are other things that could be done to reduce alcohol use or antisocial behavior?
How do you think this tax might affect those that sell alcohol?
Does the government have a role to play in changing societal attitudes?
3. Government legislation (seen before)

The owner of a New York cafe has been making excellent cheesecake and cannelloni. It has taken years to perfect the recipes and
involves a lot of tradition. However the government has introduced new legislation that will force him to modify the recipe to reduce
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the amount of trans fat in the product. Trans fats have been associated with heart attacks and it is estimated that it will prevent
about 200 heart attacks a year.
How do you feel about the government controlling society in this way?
What is the role of the health care provider in this scenario?
It is said the campaign is targeted at children. What are your thoughts?
4. Aunt with eye-sight failure (seen before)

Your Aunt thinks her eyes might be starting to fail her but still wants to drive so she comes to you for advice. She hasn't seen a
doctor or had her eyes checked.
What do you say to her?
Your Aunt then goes and gets her license renewed for the next 5 years but she is still having seeing difficulties. What do you say to
her?
How might you convince her to give up her license?
What if she then called you to tell you saying that she had crashed into a telegraph pole? What would you say?
5. Homelessness (seen before)

You come across a looking 50 year old man on the side of a street with a sign asking for money.
How do you make the decision whether or not to give him money?
Would it make any difference if it were an Indigenous woman?
What if it was a child?
How can medical school students help the homeless?
6. Stress (seen before)

You are a 3rd year medical student spending most of your time in clinical school and studying at night when possible. You are
struggling to keep up and also finding it difficult to see your family. The work load is starting to take its toll. You have upcoming
assessments and exams. You are not sure how you will fair, considering your work load and stress and you are not sure you want
to do medicine any more.
What do you do?
What resources are there available to you?
7. Team leadership
You are the leader of a team. You have had reports back from several sources that one of your team members is no longer
participating in work any more. They are failing to hand in work, being lazy, not showing up being rude etc.
What do you do?
What if that person was the star player of your team?
What is that person was you?
What are some of the qualities that make you a good leader? And a bad one?
8. Stealing friend
A friend of yours mother just died of cancer. You work together. Your friend is showing signs of being depressed. When they come
into work you can smell alcohol on them. You also know that they have been stealing from the till. You have offered help but they
don't want it.
What do you do?
What if you talk to the friends father and they don't believe you that your friend is depressed, drinking and stealing. What do you say
to them?
What do you say to your boss?
What if your boss comes forward at the staff meeting as says they have noticed money is missing from the till?
What if they just say that the till has been short a few times?
9. Plagiarism
You are working a lab. An honors student has finished their thesis and asks you to read it. You notice that they have copied 10
pages from an unpublished journal article of the lab coordinator.
What do you do?
What if the lab coordinator had left the article unattended on a bench in the lab? Who is to blame?
What if the student submits the report and gets caught? What should happen to them?
What if the student tells you that they actually did most of the research for th article but the coordinator won't give them credit? What
do you do then?
At the end we were taken back to a different room and asked to fill out an anonymous survey about the procedure. It took less
than 5 minutes and then we were allowed to leave. All in all it wasn't too painful an experience.
Ill start off with some more general aspects of my experience and preparation, but if anyone feels its not appropriate for me to
include it in this post, please PM me and Ill edit it out.
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Preparation
The best thing I can suggest to any future applicants is to read the past experiences and scenarios here on PD I recognised
several of my scenarios, and I think that it was an advantage to have had a few weeks to think over them.
I also practiced going through the scenarios with other PD members on MSN, which I found really helpful. It was great to give me a
few other perspectives, and also to help me make my answers clearer and more refined.
I was quite concerned about needing to read through medical ethics texts and doing a great deal of research, but in the end, with
the scenarios I was given, they didnt really come into play at all. If I were to do it all over again, Id probably still read as much as I
could, but I wouldnt stress about it as much as I did.
I had developed a template structure for my scenario answers, but in the end, I didnt use it. I found that the seven minutes went
really quickly, especially with prompt questions, and I didnt have time to structure on the run. One thing I would recommend,
though, is to use personal anecdotes / experiences where relevant. (Dont lie, though theyll be able to tell if you do.)
I also did the Des ONeill interview workshop. I found that the most helpful aspect of it was doing mock interviews with other
participants, and getting general feedback from the observers, but I didnt get much feedback from the other participants, and apart
from the practice, you can find everything else covered here on PD.
The lead up to the interview

I dont live in Sydney, and wasnt familiar with the city, much less the uni, so I arrived in town on Saturday (for a Tuesday morning
interview). I found that getting to know my way around, having a few days off work, and meeting up with a few lovely PD members
was the perfect way to spend the few days before the interview. The week before, Id been quite stressed, and it would have really
affected my performance at interview if I hadnt managed to relax a bit over the few preceding days.
I found the building and the registration room of my interview on the day before the interview, which was one thing I didnt have to
worry about on the day and Id recommend it if at all possible.
I also made sure I ate well a good roast dinner the night before, and a good breakfast in the morning.
The Interview
I arrived at the venue a little early at about 9:30, I think, for the 10:10 start (we needed to be there at 9:40 for registration). Make
sure you have all your documents, but the guy only copied my birth certificate, not my marriage certificate (change of name) or
drivers licence. I was given a fluorescent yellow nametag, and an envelope with barcode stickers for each interview station. I found
it good to chat with the other candidates (especially Karen!), and then we had someone give us an outline of how the session would
run. It was mostly the same as what you get from USyd in the interview offer 9 stations, 81 minutes etc. A good tip they gave was
to peel your barcode sticker off the sheet and have it on your finger ready to give to the interviewer during your two minute breaks.
I learned that the nametag gave us candidate numbers, too, which determined which station wed start at. Being Candidate 1 made
me a bit nervous, I must admit! But it didnt really mean anything. We lined up outside the doors, and there were a few second year
students who were showing us around and trying to keep the mood fairly lighthearted between each station. They did a great
job!
The two minutes between each station is absolutely essential. Calm yourself down, wipe the previous station from your mind, and
walk into the next room with a big smile.
So finally, the scenarios (not necessarily in any particular order, and I dont remember most of the prompts, unfortunately).
Scenario 1: The owner of a New York caf has been making excellent cheesecake and cannelloni. However he has been recently
forced to modify the recipe due to new legislation surrounding trans fats. It is estimated that the new legislation will prevent about
200 heart attacks a year. How do you feel about the government controlling society in this way?
Prompts:
1. How do you think your community would react to the legislation?
Scenario 2: You are the treasurer of a student council that awards two annual $5,000 scholarships based on academic excellence.
Prompts:
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Scenario 3: You are a 17 year old living in your parents house. One day you see your neighbour, who had recently received
money from Workcover due to a back injury at work, lifting heavy bags of concrete around his backyard. he sees you, gives you a
wink before raising his finger to his lips as if to say 'shh'. What do you do?
Prompts
1. Would it change your opinion if your parents knew?
2. Would you change what you would do if your parents knew and specifically told you not to say anything?
Scenario 4: You are a supervisor at a nursing home which employs people from the community to help with the every day living of
tenants (eg. Washing, changing clothes). You are in charge of the rostering of the employees and whom they attend.
A tenant, Mrs Smith, does not want one of the black employees to be assigned to her.
Prompts:
1. What are your thoughts?
2. What are the issues at hand?
Scenario 5: A candidate for Miss USA said:

Well I think its great that Americans are able to choose one way or the other. We live in a land where you can choose same-sex
marriage or opposite marriage. You know what, in my country, in my family, I do believe that marriage should be between a man
and a woman, no offence to anybody out there. But thats how I was raised and I believe that it should be between a man and a
woman. Thank you.
What do you think are the issues?
Scenario 6: As before, a trolley is hurtling down a track towards five people. You are on a bridge under which it will pass, and you
can stop it by dropping a heavy weight in front of it. As it happens, there is a very fat man next to you your only way to stop the
trolley is to push him over the bridge and onto the track, killing him to save five. Should you proceed?
Prompts:
1. What if the people on the tracks are your friends or family?
2. What if you know the fat man has a reduced life expectancy because of his weight?
3. Would you suggest to the fat man that if he jumped himself, hed save the life of the other five?
Scenario 7: Your sister is being bullied at work, but shes worried about being fired if she says anything about it. What are the
issues?
Prompts:
1. You go in with your sister to meet her boss, and her boss says its not that shes being bullied, but that shes not doing her work
to the required standard. What are the issues?
Scenario 8: You have an 18 year old friend, whose mother died four years ago from cancer. Shes got two younger brothers, aged
13 and 15. Your friend has recently started drinking heavily, and ended up in the ER twice. She doesnt want to tell her father,
because she thinks hes not coping well with her mothers death, and hes an alcoholic himself. She wants your help, and wants to
stay with you for a while. What do you do?
Prompts:
1. Your friends dad asks you about her. What do you say/do?
2. You go to a meeting between your friend and her dad. What do you say/do?
Scenario 9:Your uncle lives in an aged care facility, and you notice his oral hygiene is poor. What do you do?
Prompts:
1. You notice the other residents also have poor oral hygiene. What do you do?
2. You receive a letter of apology from the manager of the facility. How do you react?
As far as the interviewers, they were all pretty good especially Grammar Girl *flutters eyelashes* (its too late for you to give me
extra marks, though, right? Do let me know if you remember any of the prompts I missed, though Im terrible at remembering
that sort of thing). I had one interviewer who seemed to be playing bad cop a little, but he gave me a big smile on the way out, so
Im hoping it was an act. I had another who actually marked me during the session, which I thought was a little weird. He wasnt
making any attempt to hide it at all, but he gave me good marks, so I suppose Im not complaining! I finished two or three of the
stations a little early, but not by more than a minute. In others I ran out of time, and gave my final sentence on my way out the door!
After the final station, we went into a separate room to fill out surveys about how we'd found the experience. I said that if there was
any way they could minimise the wait for us now, it'd be much appreciated! Best of luck to all future USyd applicants.
USYD MMI 2009
My prep was very similar to meimeis and I also found that reading into ethics didn't really help me with these questions that
much...also didn't get to talk about personal experiences so much, which in retrospect I wish I did..
I did end up going through all the prompts and had enough time to have a conversation with most people (except for the couple who
decided to stare at the wall behind me)...but this may mean I rushed through the questions...I don't know...
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Here is my account of what happened for the interview on Thursday 1 October 2009.
There were 5 prompt questions after (or including?) the initial question...Sorry for minor inaccuracies...but youll get the minor gist.
Scenario 1 Coping with trauma

There is a car accident and you are first on the scene. Before the ambulance arrives the passenger/driver dies.
You have to take patient histories for the week, and next week there is an important exam. What do you do in this situation?
There is the chance for you to defer your exam if you choose to what do you think about this (?)
There were many more questions about who you would talk to and how you would cope etc, but I dont remember them word for
word.
Scenario 2 Fair play and sticking to your decision.

This is a similar scenario that has been stated in the past about a girl whose father is the professor and wants the girl to win a
competition (?) and you are the Treasurer in the selection committee. But the dilemma is that she has submitted part of the project
two weeks after the deadline, and the winners (although not yet notified) have been selected. There is prize of $5000 (?) for each
winner.
The prompt questions are all a one-up on the hierarchy of people involved in trying to convince you to reassess her work so that
she definitely wins a prize and her concern over her fathers confrontation and what you would say to her, etc.
Scenario 3 Bullying in the workforce

Your sister is being bullied at work by her manager but she is afraid to bring it up because she fears for the security of her work.
Prompt questions about what you would do in this situation, how you would confirm that the manager has been bullying, etc...
Other staff members have also been bullied, would this change your response?
You go with your sister to speak to the manager and he states that she doesnt meet the standards required, what would you do?
Scenario 4 Displaying leadership skills

You are part of a group of 4 involved in a very important and prestigious competition that has a very nice prize for the winner. Each
member in your group has a different background (from a different discipline). What would be your strategy in approaching this
competition?
Prompt questions on: the syllabus covered being to extensive and how to cope with the workload in the given time, what happens
when one member is finding it difficult to cope/turn up to meetings, and how you respond when a member challenges the way you
think something should be done, etc.
Scenario 5 The sick grandmother

Your grandmother has soreness around the mouth and she goes to her dentist who recommends she get further tests done before
treatment. She wants to get the treatment without any further unnecessary tests and fussing about that she hadnt experienced
with any other doctor or dentist before. What would you say to your grandmother?
Prompt questions include: how you notice shes having difficulty eating and what you would say to her in regards to this; how her
neighbour signs her up to see her dentist for a second opinion and your grandmother wants you to go with her and your response to
this (which I thought was a really silly question: umm, Id go with her? Lol)..and lastly your response to your grandmother going
through with the tests after she heard the similar advice by the second dentist.
Scenario 6 Erotic image displayed on the Internet

An erotic image of a first year health student has been posted on the Internet. It is thought that two final year health students are
involved, one which was in a relationship with the student before. The student may press charges? (I cant remember if this was
from this scenario).. As a dean how would you approach this situation?
Prompt questions: What the necessary actions should be? How the first year student may be feeling? How you might prevent this
from happening again? What implication does this have on student and peer support in the health profession?
Scenario 7 Overcoming the power dynamics

Your clinic tutor who has just seen a female Aboriginal patient makes a racist and sexist joke in the elevator that other people also
hear. What would you do in this situation?
Prompt questions regarding whether you would approach the clinic tutor, what issues are involved and who else you might talk to
about the situation. Also, is there a place for humour in the medical profession?
Scenario 8 Government control over trans-fat levels in foods

A caf in Manhatten which is deeply routed in tradition and has very popular cheesecakes (and one other dish). The government
plans to introduce a policy that would result in trans-fats being cut by 50% in the hopes to reduce heart disease which is linked to
consumption of trans-fats. Whats your opinion on the government deciding what people can and can not eat?
Prompt questions: How would your community respond in this situation? What if instead of cutting trans-fats foods were genetically
modified not to have trans fats, would your opinion change? The caf experiences a severe drop in sales after the implementation
of the policy, what would be your strategy to overcoming this problem?
Scenario 9 Plagiarism
You are a student in the health care profession and you recently submitted a 2000 word essay on a patient. You didnt pass the
assessment and now have to resubmit. You have an exam coming up. When you are walking past the cafeteria you hear one of the
students complain how there wasnt enough time to complete that assignment but boast about how they got good marks because
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they pretty much copied the assignment word for word from a previous students work. What would you do in this situation?
Prompt questions regarding: How you would go about doing the work, who you would talk to, where you might seek help (?)...cant
really remember the details as this was an earlier station for me.
Scenario 1
You are sitting in a cafe close to a bus stop. There is a woman with 4 children. Two boys, one girl, and a baby in a pram. The boys
are running around and you saw her slapping one of the boys.
- What are your thoughts?
- What are the possible immediate dangers?
- Would this change if the lady was not the child's mother?
- Why do you think the lady behaved that way?
Scenario 2
You are the team leader of a group, which is not performing as well as expected considering the attributes of the team members.
You organise team meetings to discuss the issues surrounding the team's performance, where you also discuss the team project.
- Two team members continually miss these meetings. What do you do?
One of the absent team members is producing poor work. What do you do?
- The other absent team member is performing excellently. He continues to skip meeting. What do you do?
- What type of team leading style do you think you bring to a group?
Scenario 3
Your grandmother lives alone and is extremely independent. She has recently become quite frail and ill. Your mother is concerned
she is unable to take care of her own needs. Your mother considers a nursing home, but your grandmother refuses. Your mother
then discusses the idea of having your grandmother move into your family home. Your grandmother is against the move, as she
does not get along with your father. Your father feelings are mutual.
- How would you help your mother mediate the situation?
- Why do you think your grandmother or elderly people are reluctant to stay with their family/nursing home?
- As a teenager in the house, how will the presence of your grandmother affect your lifestyle?
- What would you say to your father?
Scenario 4
You and several students are going on a rural placement program. The accommodation/logistics have been designated prior to you
arriving and it is a shared mixed accommodation. Someone in your group needs to stay in a single-sex accommodation due to
cultural reasons, however there is no other accommodation available.
- What are the issues? What would you do?
- How would you approach your group regarding this matter?
- If your friend's dad call to ask you if she is alright, what would you say to him?
- Any other thoughts? What do you think should be done in the future?
** I noticed that firstly, it did not say I was the team leader, secondly, it only became clear the person is female after later prompt
and that I was probably her best friend if the dad calls me so I stated these assumptions when I answered the questions
Scenario 5 I had a bad cop interviewer here and due to continous questions I can only remember some details and some follow
up questions, I was sinking!
You go to see a movie with a couple of your friends. It was a modern movie depicting society in the 50s had an actor who was very
famous. You noticed that there were a lot of smoking in the film. After the movie, one of your friend argued strongly against
smoking and the other one thought it was fine.
- What are your thoughts? Would you say anything to your friends?
- If your friend suggested that films depicting smoking should be rated R, what is your view on this idea?
- If the actor dies from throat cancer, would that alter anything?
- What would you do in practical terms to back up your position? (and he emphasised 'practical')
Scenario 6
attacks a year.
- How do you feel about the government telling society about what they can and cannot eat?
- How would you think the society respond to this legislation?
- What is the role of the health care practitioner in this scenario?
- If you were the owner of the shop and you are experiencing drop in sales, what would you do?
- It is said the campaign is targeted at children. Why do you think this might be?
Scenario 7
You are a beginner bushwalker. You go on a bushwalking trip with a friend of yours and your 12 year old brother. You got lost and
your friend hurt herself (I think it was her leg). Your brother wants to go to look for help but you are afraid he might get lost too.
- What would you do? How would you make a decision?
- Your friend tells you to leave her there and for you to look for help. What would you do?
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** somehow I got into discussion about gears and preparation etc, however I am now not sure if this was a prompt or not
Scenario 8
You are a medical student attached to a resident (Dr Smith). One day, Dr Smith came late and smelled of alcohol however seems
to be doing fine with regards to her work with patients.
- What are the issues?
- What would you do?
- If Dr Smith tells you that she had lunch with few colleagues and had a bit of wine, what do you think then?
- What if Dr Smith repeated this behaviour again?
- If the Dean asks, what would you say?
Scenario 9
In your tutorial group, a student is showing a video of a patient in counselling. The patient seemed distraught and the conversation
seemed very personal.
- What are the issues? What would I do?
- How would you mediate this in your group?
- If you were the patient, how would feel and how would you approach the situation?
USyd 2010 Entry MMI
Scenario 1
You are a specialist and are invited to attend an important symposium in your field. At the symposium another specialist will be
presenting very important research information that will have the capability to save the lives of many children. After the symposium
there will be a dinner that is put on by a pharmaceutical company. You do not want to go but your colleague does. What are the
issues from both of your perspectives.
-How would this change if the symposium were to be held at an all expenses paid for luxury resort (by the pharmaceutical
company)?
Scenario 2
You are in class and another student is doing a presentation on personal well being. They show a video on the subject which
includes a scene of a woman who is very distressed and speaking to her councilor. What are the issues here?
Scenario 3
(I can't remember the details of this one...)
You are the leader of a team competing in a competition, how would you best manage this team?
-what are the benefits of your leadership style
-tell about a time when your leadership style was successful
Scenario 4
You are in a PBL group and one of the students is not attending meetings. She is instead studying in the library by herself. She
says she prefers to study alone. Her grades are good.
-what are advantages of self directed learning
-how much should you urge her to study with you
Scenario 5
Cannoli (as before) A baker has been using the same recipe for may years and now has to change it because of legislation about
trans fats. It will prevent 200 heart attacks each year. How do you feel about the govt. controlling society in this way.
-What if he lost half of his customers in changing the recipe
Scenario 6
Your grandmother goes to dentist and has sores in her mouth. Dentist wants to do more tests as she may have a serious condition.
She doesn't want all of this 'extra' care and refuses.
-her neighbour recommends someone else and that dentist wants to do the same tests
-after the second opinion she agrees to the procedure. What was going through her mind?
Scenario 7
You are the principal of a school and it has been brought to your attention that there is a video of some students verbally abusing a
student that has an intellectual disability. What do you do to determine the facts?
-how would you appropriately discipline them?
Scenario 8
Sportspeople are a big part of Australian culture. They are given a lot of money in the form of sponsorship. What do you think are
the main roles that sports people play within our society?
-They often have a bad reputation, if you were the leader of a team how would you change this?
-a friend of yours is hoping to become a professional sportsperson, what advice would you give them?
(This one totally threw me and I began talking about sex crimes committed by sports people and how they often promote a
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chauvinistic mentality within society! Yowch!)
Overall the interview felt really positive, although I am now regretting not talking about personal experiences and not getting through
more prompts. Thanks to PD I had seen 3 of these questions before. Advice to future candidates get some good sleep, and
'let go' of the anxiety on the day. I sort of mentally prepared myself for whatever happens happens, so I was feeling relaxed when I
got in there.
ALSO- in terms of preparation, I found medical ethics text books extremely helpful, as I had zero knowledge in the area before
hand. I think it is really good to have an understanding even if you don't directly use legislation in your answers it will change the
way you answer the questions. Also, I know it sounds lame but watching greys anatomy in all of its unrealisticness was also helpful
for me, not having hospital experience, I feel like I learnt a lot, and a good way to relax after studying....
Forgive my lack of details with the scenarios, as soon as I was done I mentally blanked out and took a while to remember what they
were in the first place and don't even recall the prompts! However a lot of them are already mentioned in this thread, if that helps =)
In no particular order:
1) You are the owner of a New York cafe who makes awesome cannelloni and cheeschake. New legislation has been introduced
that alters the recipe, and prevents 200 heart attacks annually. What are the issues? Also a prompt on what are the issues if it was
targeted towards children. (this scenario has been mentioned before)
2) You are having lunch with a friend at a cafe, when you see a woman at a bus stop with a baby, two young boys and a girl running
around. The woman slaps one of the boys for misbehaving, the little girl ends up crying. Issues? What would you do? What would
stop you from approaching the woman? (this scenario has been mentioned before).
3) Grandmother's health is deteriorating. Very independent. Doesn't want to leave home, reluctant to go to nursing home. Your
mum wants her to live at home with the family...however granny doesn't get along with your father. (this scenario has been
mentioned before)
4) Teamwork and leadership skills. Scenario was based on a team member not contributed, rest of the team frustrated. What do
you do? What role do you play in a team? What would you do practically to improve your leadership style (or something along those
lines).
5) Cultural sensitivity. You're starting a rural placement with a friend who is from a culture where segregation of males/females is
expected. Two rooms were booked (one for males, other for females) however something happened with the booking and only one
room is available. You're friend is reluctant to stay in the same room as the boys. Issues? What do you do? Your friend's father calls
and you pick up the phone. What do you tell him?
6) Dr. Smith is your tutor, a classmate notices one day she comes in smelling slightly of alcohol and makes a comment about it.
Issues? Would you approach the tutor? What if it happened again in two weeks? The Dean hears about this and asks you about the
situation..what do you say?
7) You're in a PBL group, watching a video in which a patient is very distressed. What are the issues? I don't remember the whole
scenario, i was panicking at this staged and bombed this station. Maybe someone else can clarify?
Bushwalking scenario. You're inexperienced at bushwalking, however still decided to go, taking your brother (12 yr old) and
friend. You get lost, your friend becomes injured and may have broken her leg. What would you do? How would you better prepare
yourself next time? How would you support your friend? Your brother decides he wants to go and look for help. What do you say?
9) Smoking and public health. The scenario has been mentioned here before, you're at a movie with a friend watching the
autobiography of someone famous. Something about smoking being glamorized and what your view is on the issue. (sorry guys,
don't remember too much on this one...but it's here in this thread somewhere!)
USYD MMI 2009
I interviewed in the same session as meimei ( ), so had the same scenarios. I've added a few prompts and some
(unnecessary) details to the scenarios.
Page 21 of 41
Scenario 1: Dennis (insert Italian surname here) runs an Italian restaurant that prides itself on recipies steeped in tradition,
including cheesecake and cannelloni. The government has just introduced legislation that limits the use of trans fats to no more
than x grams per serve, forcing Dennis to change his recipies It is estimated that the new legislation will prevent about 200 heart
Prompts:
1. How do you think your community would react to the legislation?
3. If you were Dennis, how would you feel about being forced to use a genetically modified (insert plant) oil that is proven to be
more healthy?
Scenario 2: You are the treasurer of a student council that awards two annual $5,000 scholarships based on academic excellence.
Prompts:
Scenario 3: You are a 17 year old living in your parents house. One day you see your neighbour, who had recently received
money from Workcover due to a back injury at work, lifting heavy bags of concrete around his backyard. he sees you, gives you a
wink before raising his finger to his lips as if to say 'shh'. What do you do?
Prompts
1. Would it change your opinion if your parents knew?
2. How would you feel towards your parents if they knew and didn't do anything about it?
3. Would you change what you would do if your parents knew and specifically told you not to say anything?
4. What do you think about people who cheat the system like this?
5. What is the effect of these people's actions on the community, and the community's view on insurance companies? (Can't
remember this clearly, I just remember having to talk about the community's trust in insurance companies...)
Scenario 4: You are a supervisor at a nursing home which employs people from the community to help with the every day living of
tenants (eg. Washing, changing clothes). You are in charge of the rostering of the employees and whom they attend.
A tenant, Mrs Smith, tells you that she no longer wants the "black girl" to be her carer. What are the issues?
Prompts:
1. What do you do?
2. Mrs. Smith complains that the carer is very rough with her. How does this add to your view on the situation?
3. You find out that Mrs. Smith has been racially abusive to other tenants and staff. How does this add to your view on the
situation?
3. The employee in question finds out and comes to you upset and crying. How do you respond?
Scenario 5: A candidate for Miss USA was asked during the pageant about same-sex marriage:
Well I think its great that Americans are able to choose one way or the other. We live in a land where you can choose same-sex
marriage or opposite marriage. You know what, in my country, in my family, I do believe that marriage should be between a man
and a woman, no offence to anybody out there. But thats how I was raised and I believe that it should be between a man and a
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woman. Thank you."
The audience responds with a mix of applause and boos.
What do you think are the issues?
Prompts:
1. What challenges are there for people who are for same-sex marriage in convincing others that it should be legal?
2. If you were the candidate and knew that your views would be unpopular and cost you the crown, would you lie about your opinion
or tell the truth?
Scenario 6: As before, a trolley is hurtling down a track towards five people. You are on a bridge under which it will pass, and you
can stop it by dropping a heavy weight in front of it. As it happens, there is a very fat man next to you your only way to stop the
trolley is to push him over the bridge and onto the track, killing him to save five. Should you proceed?
Prompts:
1. What if the people on the tracks are your friends or family?
2. What if you know the fat man has a reduced life expectancy because of his weight?
3. Would you suggest to the fat man that if he jumped himself, hed save the life of the other five?
4. I don't remember this one, but it might have been along the lines of "What do you think of fat people?" (may have been question
2)
Scenario 7: Your sister is being bullied at work, but shes worried about being fired if she says anything about it. What are the
issues?
Prompts:
1. You go in with your sister to meet her boss, and her boss says its not that shes being bullied, but that shes not doing her work
to the required standard. What are the issues?
2. As her sister, how would you support her?
Scenario 8: You have an 18 year old friend, whose mother died four years ago from cancer. Shes got two younger brothers, aged
13 and 15. Your friend has recently started drinking heavily, and ended up in the ER twice. She doesnt want to tell her father,
because she thinks hes not coping well with her mothers death, and hes an alcoholic himself. She wants your help, and wants to
stay with you for a while. What issues do you raise with her?
Prompts:
1. Your friends dad asks you about her. What do you say/do?
2. You go to a meeting between your friend and her dad. What do you say/do?
Scenario 9: Your uncle lives in an aged care facility, and you notice his oral hygiene is poor. You approach the facility's Director but
she says "How would you feel if someone barged in to tell how to brush your teeth?" and doesn't do anything about it. What do you
do?
Prompts:
1. How would you demonstrate to your uncle how to properly brush his teeth?
2. The next time you visit your uncle, his teeth are healthy and gleaming white. You notice the other residents have poor oral
hygiene. What do you do?
3. The next time you visit your uncle, you notice bruises on his head. How do you react?
4. You receive a letter of apology from the manager of the facility. How do you react?
Sydney MMI for 2010 Entry

Page 23 of 41
Some details here are a little hazy but I have put down as much as I could remember. Was a good experience overall, a couple of
blank interviewers but the rest were very friendly. As you can see below I did not have a traditional "Why medicine?" type station.
1.You are in a tute/PBL and a video is shown as part of learning about mental health issues (a bit cloudy on that one). The video
shows a patient talking to a counselor. It is obvious that the patient is talking about something very personal.
What are the issues here?

How would you act in this situation?
What are the possible consequences of your actions?
2.You live next door to a man who has recently been injured in a workplace accident and has received workers compensation.
Whilst in the street he walks with an obvious limp and cane. You witness him in his back yard gardening and he does not appear
disabled at all.

How does you/your parents relationship with this person affect your opinion of this man?
What if your parents tell you to mind your own business.
3.Two final year male medical students have been found to have placed an erotic image of a first year female student on the
internet. The image was obtained whilst one of the two men was in a relationship with the woman. The relationship has since
ended.
What reasons could you have for expelling the boys?

How do you think this could affect the girl?
What issues does the dean need to take into consideration in the disciplinary hearing?
4.You come across an elderly homeless (looking) man on the side of a street with a sign asking for money.
How do you make the decision whether or not to give him money?
Would it make any difference if it were an Indigenous woman?
What if it was a child?
How can medical school students help the homeless?
5.You are a 3rd year medical student spending most of your time in clinical school and studying at night when possible. You are
working 2 jobs and need to do so to survive. The work load is starting to take its toll. You have upcoming assessments and exams.
You are not sure how you will fair, considering your work load and stress and you are questioning your decision to study medicine.
What resources are there available to you?

6.You are at a cafe and you witness a mother and her 3 children(1 in a pram, 2 infants) at a bus stop across the road. She is yelling
at the kids and is having trouble controlling them. She then smacks on of the children and yells at the other

What do you do in this situation?
What danger are these children in?
7.The government wants to reduce alcohol consumption as a way of decreasing antisocial behaviour. They propose to do this by
Increasing the tax on alcohol.
What are your thoughts on this?

How can you prove that a decrease in antisocial behaviour is in fact as a result of a decrease in alcohol consumption?
What are other things that could be done to reduce alcohol use or antisocial behaviour?
Does the government have a role to play in changing societal attitudes?
8. You, a friend, and your 12 year old brother are bushwalking. You walk for about an hour and leave the track and walk for another
30 mins. Your friend falls and breaks his/her leg. You are lost.
Page 24 of 41

What do you do in this situation?
What decision process do you go through as to decide what to do?
Would you send your 12 year old brother to get help?
What would you do to prepare for this walk before leaving?
9.Chef Mark works in New York and owns a restaurant that makes excellent canelloni. However the government has introduced
new legislation that will force him to modify the recipe to reduce the amount of trans fat in the product. Trans fats have been
associated with heart attacks and it is estimated that it will prevent about 200 deaths a year.
How do you feel about the government controlling society in this way?
What is the role of the health care provider in this scenario?
It is said the campaign is targeted at children. What are your thoughts?
Similar legislation was introduced regarding genetically modified foods. What are your thoughts on this?
I am sincerely grateful for this site! Words can not express the deep deep gratitude I feel for all my MMI qtns save one were the
very ones I had practised for because I had found them posted on this website by the previous years' cohort.
I had told myself the moment should I be so lucky to receive an offer into medical school I would post up my experience and share
as everyone else before me has. I wish you all the best!
QTN list [/u]

1. Transfat
2. Shark Cartlige
3. Immigration
4. Dean, internet image
5. Science competition
6. Sydney traffic congestion
7. Alcoholic friend
8. Stress
9. Cheating/plagerism.
Breakdown of each qtn and the prompts[/u]

Legislating transfat
1. What is the role of the health care provider in this scenario?
3. Business going down, what do you do?
4. Would you use GM palm oil instead?
Shark's cartilage
Aunt wants your advice on usefulness of shark cartiliage. The internet and in particular, Google, is a very popular method of getting
information. How would you go about determining if the sources you read on the internet are reliable?
1. They countered that the GP had assessed the evidence and found there to be none, so what would you do?
2. She is now all scaly what do you do?
3. The final condition was that the lady was going to recommend it to her friend as sole treatment for her terminal cancer.
Immigration:
Australia is a country that experiences a high amount of immigration. While this immigration is good because it means that local
industries can rely on the growth and the tourism etc, it also places considerable strain on services and infrastructure. They want to
stop immigrants, what's your opinion. How can we regulate immigration? Immigration: some say it is economically necessary,
others say it will deplete resources. What's your take on it? If there was a need to curb immigration, what actions should be taken?
What's your opinion of the baby bonus? What's your opinion on detaining illegal refugees in detention centres?
Australia has the baby bonus to aid boosting population growth. Identify positive and negative attributes of this scheme.
Climate change will affect Australias resources and natural productivity. How can we address this issue locally and globally?
Internet Image
You are the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, two senior students have been accused of posting erotic images of a first year student
Page 25 of 41
on the internet, one of the boys used to date the girl.

i) As the Dean what would you do?
ii) What reasons could you give for expelling the students?
iii) I dont remember the rest at this stage I was panicking, sorry.
Science Team
You are given the task of leading a team of science students in a comprehensive science competition. Each student is from a
different specialty but all must complete the final exam that covers all specialties.
i) How would you organise you studying so as to maximise the scores of your team?
ii) One team member isn't pulling their weight,how do you respond?
iii) One team member is sick of the studying and is threatening to abandon the team, how to you respond? How would you
maximize study time? One of the students do not agree with your strategy/plan, how do you deal with this? One of the students is
not attending group meetings, what do you do? Why do people enter these competitions?
Sydney traffic congestion

How would you ease traffic congestion. What are the main issues in traffic congestions. How can you use media to help? How
would you get correct data on traffic congestion?
Alcoholic
You are a student at university. A very good friend of yours, who is also a fellow student, likes to go out a lot and drink. One
weekend, after a big party, your friend calls you up and says that he is feeling very hung over and cannot do his assignment that is
due tomorrow. He asks you if you would do the assignment for him.
-What would you say to him?
-You are now both students studying medicine. Your friend still likes to drink and party a lot. -Your friend admits to you that he has a
drinking problem. However, he claims that he hates counselors and will not see them. What advice would you give to your friend?
Stress/Car Crash
You are a medical student and the first witness at a car crash where the driver is thrown from the car. You call an ambulance but
the man dies before they get to you. Over the next few days you find that the incident is consuming all of your attention and is
effecting your work at the hospital. You are also worried that the anxiety will effect your performance in an exam in a few weeks.
i) What would you do in this situation?
ii) What kind of help would you expect there to be within the hospital system to help you through this?
iii) A friend tells you to get over it and its not a big deal, how would you respond to these suggestions?
Cheating
You are a health student and you have been given one week to hand in a major assignment. The due date corresponds with your
from someone else and still got a great mark. What do you do? What are down side of plagerism software? Define integrity. How
imp is it for health professionals to have integrity?
My advice [/u]
PRACTISE PRACTISE PRACTISE. I know others say there is no need, however it was due to all the research for practise qtns that
I was able to expose myself to all SAVE 1 of the actual MMI posed to me during my interview.
THANK YOU TO ALL THOSE WHO WENT BEFORE ME AND POSTED YOUR EXPERIENCE.
USYD MMI 2009 for 2010 Med/dent entry
Posts from previous years' experiences definately helped with my interview, if only I had known that most of the scenarios would be
repeated! I didn't overly prepare for the interview to avoid sounding "rehearsed" but I think if I had practiced more I would have felt
more confident on the day.
Senarios & Questions:

1. You're assessments are approaching and you feel unprepared, you're due to catch up with friends you haven't seen in a long
time and you have part-time work commitments.
How would you handle this? What skills/experiences do you have which helps you? How do you deal with stress? Give an
example
Interviewer was so sweet and very chatty! and commented she liked how I described step by step what I was thinking, how I
would prioritise etc. Very lucky to have had this one 1st, needed the confidence boost!
2. A New York cafe is well known for its cannoloni but new government legislation on trans fat will require them to change their
family tradition recipe. Recent studies estimate that a ban on trans fat would prevent about 200 heart attacks a year. How do you
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feel about the government imposing this new law?

A campaign targeted at children would be more successful why do you think may be the case?, what if changing the recipe
changed the taste and affected business? What if this happened in Aus?
Interviewer was very easy going, felt like we were just having a discussion rather than being interviewed!
3. Two senior students have been accused of posting erotic image of another student (which one of the boys used to date) on the
internet. As the Dean, what would you do?
- How do you determine the facts? What reasons could you give for expelling the students? What would be reasons for deciding to
prevent the students from graduation?
- Interviewer kept strictly to reading out each question from the sheet, so I felt like I kept repeating the same thing!
4. Alcohol related violence seems to be a continued major problem in our society. What do you think the government should do?
- Interviewer let me discuss the topic and continue putting forward my ideas and at the end said that I had basically covered all the
questions she would have asked so she didn't ask anymore!
5. In a tutorial, one group presented a video of a woman in a counselling session visibly upset. Discuss the issues.
- As the tutor what would you do?
- This scenario was completely ambiguous, I think you would only understand what they are asking if you had read about it from
previous posts!
6. (Can't remember exact details!) Woman with baby in a pram, toddler and boys at the bus stop. One child is running close to the
road, the woman yells at them and hits one of the children. What are your main concerns?
Why would you (or wouldn't you) intervene?
I was thinking of so many things at once, I didn't know where to start! I think my interviewer saw me panic and broke down the
question into smaller prompts.
7. You go bushwalking with your friend and your younger brother. After wandering off the track you find yourselves completely lost.
Your friend has injured her ankle and is struggling to walk so tells you to go on without her but you're worried to leave her on her
own. Your brother is keen on finding help himself.
what would you do? what could have been done differently to avoid this situation?
Talked through everything I was thinking and my interviewer was very friendly. Just as she opened the door for me to leave, she
asked what my undergrad degree was...seemed shocked!..not sure if she's allowed to ask that!?
8. You walk past a person who looks like he's homeless and he asks for some money.
What would be important in your decision to give or not give him money? what if this person was an indigenous australian?
Interviewer seemed to have an endless list of questions...do you think the government provides enough services for
disadvantaged, do you think they can easily access these services?...etc
9. can't for the life of me remember...! will edit later...
Obviously don't memorise answers to previous questions/scenarios but the best tip I can give is to have an idea of the topics that
will be asked (most seem to be repeated with minor modifications so check all previous Syd MMI posts!), then have a good think
about what YOU believe, list all the reasons/thoughts you have to come to each decision and practice speaking about your thought
processes out loud!
I also interviewed at Sydney (2010 entry)

This time it was a lot more stressful. Not so much of an introduction, although they did tell us that the interviewers would only read
what was on the script, and ask the questions exactly as they were worded. They wouldnt add anything else until you had
completely finished the interview station and then you could sit and chat or just have a silent break.
There were no traditional questions. They were all scenarios. Mainly asking you to talk about them rather then put yourself in them.
I was pretty nervous and felt I stuffed up the first 3 stations as the nerves felt like they completely took over. My first interviewer
actually commented during my interview that he could tell I was nervous because I had gone red (my neck gets really red and
blotchy when Im stressed). That totally threw me and made me more nervous and uncomfortable so afterwards reflecting on it I am
pretty annoyed that he said that. Definitely wasnt on the script they were supposed to stick too.
Besides that the interview went alright. The other interviewers were either friendly or neutral. There was no debriefing afterwards
although we were asked to fill in a feedback form. This was conducted by med students, not faculty so you couldnt ask any
questions about the interview or what happens next or anything.
I left feeling pretty lost and not knowing at all how I did, unlike the bond interview where the debrief made me feel a lot better.
Anyway I got in and must have done well as they told me I was in the top 20 applicants. Either way I am so glad I dont have to do
another med interview. EVER.
Good luck to everyone that has to do an interview.
*just wanted to add that in one station I was asked about a student whos alleged ex partner posted inappropriate images of them
on the internet. I made a nervous miskate of assuming that it was a male who had posted the images. The interviewer called me on
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it. There was nothing in the question to say it was a boyfriend that did it not a female so be careful not to pre-judge / jump to
conclusions
USYD 2010 MMI (for 2011 entry)

Monday 27/9 - 1.40pm - Yellow Group (easy layout)
1. The owner of a New York caf has been making excellent cheesecake and cannoli. However he has been recently forced to
modify the recipe due to new legislation surrounding trans fats (limiting usage to <0.5g). It is estimated that the new legislation will
prevent about 200 heart attacks a year. How do you feel about the government controlling society in this way?
- What is the role of the health care provider in this scenario?
- How do you think your community would react to the legislation?
- If you were the owner of the shop and you are experiencing a drop in sales, what would you do?
- It is said the campaign is targeted at children. What are your thoughts?
2. You are in a PBL group and one of the students is not attending meetings. She is instead studying in the library by herself. She
says she prefers to study alone. Her grades are good.
- How would you handle this situation
- What are advantages of self directed learning?
- What would you expect the tutor to do?
3. Currently there is a great debate regarding immigration, the increasing Australian Population and how they affect our natural
resources.
available natural resources and infrastructure available.
- What is your view on this issue?
- What is your view on Australian Immigration laws? (Visas, detention of illegal immigrants, etc)
- Some countries have a one baby per family policy. What is your view on this, in light of Australian Issues?
- Australia has the baby bonus to aid boosting population growth. Identify positive and negative attributes of this scheme.
4. Your grandmother has recently broken her dentures. She does not want to get them replaced or undergo a complete
examination. If the dentures are repaired rather than replaced the dentist expects them to break again very soon. How do you
approach your grandmother?
- What if it is about the money?
- Does the dentist have the right to refuse to repair the dentures?
- Another dentist offers to repair the dentures but they break shortly after what would you do
- Which dentist took a better approach to the issue
5. Your sister is being bullied at work, but shes worried about being fired if she says anything about it. What are the issues?
- You have a discussion with your sisters boss, what would you say?
- You find out other employees have also been bullied, what would you do?
6*. You are a high school principal and you get a report from a teacher that they saw one of the teachers giving a student a lift on a
Saturday. What would you do?
- Would it make a difference if a student reported seeing this?
7. You have strong suspisions that a fellow final year med student is drinking to excess even in day time. How would you respond?
- What if they were taking illegal drugs?
- Would you report it to the university?
- What do you think is suitable punishment?
8*. You have been appointed to develop a program for medical and dental students from a developing country to come study at
USYD for 3 months. How would you plan the program?
- What Learning objectives would you set?
9. You are a medical student and struggling to manage your workload at uni, working 2 nights a week at a cafe and family and
friends. You are questioning whether this is the right degree for you and thinking about quitting. How would you react to this
situation?
*These are questions I had not come across in any of my preparation so I am guessing they are new! Some of the questions I have
copy and pasted from previous years (just so they flow better as I really only remembered the topic, not the specifics). Some of the
prompts are a bit vague, and I haven't recalled all the prompts, but hopefully people can fill it in a bit as they post also
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Of all the interviewers most were fine, some put their pen down and crossed their arms like an angry child if I tried to complete my
sentence after the bell went. I had one guy who I felt tried to push a little harder to see if we would trip ourselves up (Question 7 - in
relation to reporting alcoholic student to the uni) - but even still it was just a matter of being confident in your response and not
letting him sway you. The new question (8.) was a bit weird and seemed to lack content to the extent it was a bit tricky - but while it
was a little harder, I didn't find it too bad.
Hi guys. Just registered, I found this thread very helpful so I thought I would try to contribute. I think I only got one new question
though, the last one.
I did interviews at 3:30pm on Wednesday at USyd, in the orange group. There was also one guy in jeans in my group of 17,
amazingly!
1.
Your father is getting old and is suffering from cataracts. He doesn't want an operation to correct his vision. What are the issues at
hand here?
- He has the operation and is now legally blind in one eye and can no longer drive. What do you do?
2.
Cafe making cheesecake and cannoloni, legislation makes them change the recipes and business drops.
- What are the issues?
- What role does the government have here?
- What other options are there for the cafe to make money again?
3.
A girl who is visibly upset in a therapy session has her video shown to a group of students. What are the issues?
- What system would you put in place to make sure this operates properly?
4.
You and a colleague are invited to a symposium and a free dinner afterwards, paid for by a pharmaceutical company. The
pharmaceutical company is revealing a new drug that has the potential to save many childrens' lives. You want to go, but your
colleague does not want to go because it is alleged that the company has conducted unethical clinical trials in the past, in
developing nations. What are the issues yourself and your colleague are evaluating?
- What about the fact that this particular drug has not been tested unethically?
5.
You work with a friend at a local grocery store, and your friend's mother recently died of cancer. One day you notice your friend
stealing from the till, and you confront her about it. She tells you to mind your own business. What do you do?
- The manager mentions the till hasn't added up, and cautions everyone to be careful. What do you do?
- What behaviour is/isn't acceptable in this situation?
6.
You are the manager of an aged care facility. Mrs Smith tells you she doesn't want the "black girl" as her carer. What would you do?
- Mrs Smith tells you she finds the black girl to be very rough with her. What do you do?
- Another carer also mentions that Mrs Smith has made racist and abusive comments to them. What do you do?
- What general guidelines would you give for dealing with situations such as these?
- The black girl comes to your office crying. What would you do?
7.
Your grandfather needs surgery. He has been to visit a specialist. He then went to see a second specialist, who recommended the
same surgery as the first one. However your grandfather doesn't like the second specialist, and does not want the surgery any
more. What are the issues here?
- What would you do?
- You find out that the method of surgery recommended by both doctors was outdated. What do you do?
- What systems could be in place to ensure that this doesn't happen?
- Your grandfather has the surgery and it works out well. He wants to get a gift for the specialist. What do you say to him?
8.
Your uncle is a resident at an aged care facility. You notice that he and a number of other residents have poor oral hygiene. You
mention this to the Director, and he points out that this is their home, and asks you how you would feel if someone came into your
home and told you how to brush your teeth. What would you do?
- How would you demonstrate how to brush teeth?
- The next day your uncle's teeth are gleaming but the rest of the residents still have poor oral hygiene. What do you do?
- You receive a letter of apology from the director. How do you react?
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- The next time you visit, your uncle has a broken tooth and a bruised forehead, how does this make you feel?
9.
You are on an overseas trip with a friend. Your friend still lives at home. You notice that your friend has lost weight since the trip
began. You mention this to your friend and they deny that they have lost any weight. What are the issues?
- what do you do?
- What do you do when your parents call?
- What do you do when her parents call?
29/9/10 Wed 1:40 USYD Orange group.
Hallo.
PD was a fantastic resource for me as i prepared..
here is my contribution.
1. The owner of a New York caf has been making excellent cheesecake and cannoli. However he has been recently forced to
modify the recipe due to new legislation surrounding trans fats (limiting usage to <0.5g). It is estimated that the new legislation will
prevent hundreds of heart attacks a year. How do you feel about the government controlling society in this way?
- What is the role of the health care provider in this scenario?
- How do you think your community would react to the legislation?
- If you were the owner of the shop and you are experiencing a drop in sales, what would you do?
- It is said the campaign is targeted at children. What are your thought now?
The interviewer was more or less a pleasant lady. seemed interested in what i had to say and smiled and nodded as i talked.
2. You have been appointed to develop a program for medical and dental students from a developing country to come study at
USYD for 3 months. How would you plan the program?
- What Learning objectives would you set?
- Giving an example of a 3rd world country, what health and education issues should be focused on in that country?
- what activities would you set out for these foreign students?
This was a new station. oh so vague, if i remember more points i will put them later.
The interviewer was the nicest old lady. She was so interested in what i had to say, constantly nodding and saying things like 'oh
yes' 'thats a good point!' It was very very encouraging to the point where i even thanked her for being so relaxing lol.
3. You are an intern and a medical student comes in for his placement and he is smelling of alcohol. You suspect they have a
problem with alcoholism. What are the issues involved and how would you handle the situation?
What would you do if the same student does the same?

What if it was a patient that reported the alcohol smell?
What advice would you give health students about alcohol?
My memory is hazy on this one. Cannot remember the exact wording on question but it was something along those lines. Similar to
previous scenarios but the prompts seemed updated.
The interviewer was my first bad cop. A guy, didnt look at me much. I spent most of the time looking at the top of his head. His
disinterest actually threw me off for a moment, luckily i managed to compose myself.
4. You play chess for Australia and have a tournament coming up, you are away from uni for 3 weeks, and work part-time and also
have an exam coming up on the week that you come back, how do you proceed/prioritize?
What do you do if you fail the exam?
i forget the prompts hehe, but i took this as the stress station and ended up talking about my own coping mechanisms etc..
the interviewer was fine.
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5: You are a health student and you have been given one week to hand in a major assignment. The due date corresponds with your
from someone else and still got a great mark. What do you do?
What are advantages/disadvantages of plagerism software?

What are the issues regarding the students actions?
What are the issues the dean must consider?
Should there be disciplinary action?
here i had the devil interviewer. During the whole time, he had one hand rubbing his eye/temple so i couldnt see half his face and
one eye. I focused on the eye i could see haha but then that one was rarely looking at me. he seemed displeased at all my
comments, interrupted quite a few, and openly disagreed with one of my points. When i started to explain my stance on it he cut me
off and told me to move on.
At the end of the interview another candidate mentioned how this interviewer was arguing with him also, so in hindsight im sure it
was all just an act.
6. You are a principle at a well known high school. It comes to your attention that a video has been posted on the internet that
shows two older students wheeling around a younger student in a bin. The student in the bin looks very distressed.
-What strategies would you use to determine the facts of the case?
-What are some of the issues involved here?
-What would be an appropriate disciplinary action for the two older students?
-At the disciplinary hearing you discover that the video was, in fact, a hoax. What do you do now?
the interviewer was incredibly nice. when i walked in he was saying things like, 'i know this is a very stressful process, just relax and
do your best.. there is water here poured out for you on the table...' he said some other very encouraging things and was nice
throughout.
In hindsight i suspect he was strategically placed after the devil interviewer to comfort candidates hehe.
7. oops gotta run and do some stuff.. i will finish this up abit later!
8.
9. Scenario: You are the treasurer of a student council that awards two annual $5,000 scholarships based on academic excellence.
Prompts:
USyd 2011 MMI. Wednesday, 1:40 pm, Orange group.
1) You are one of the top 6 chess players under 30 in your state. Exams are coming up in one week and you also have part-time
job to support yourself.
How do you manage the time? What if you fail an assignment beforehand? Some other prompts.
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I saw a similar scenario before - answered along the lines of time management, making a decision which career to pursue and
attempting to resolve the situation with the help of employer, faculty, chess organisation. The interviewer was very friendly. Did run
out of time eventually.
2) You have failed an assignment and have been given a chance to redo it. Exam is coming up in one week. You overheard a
student boasting that he has copied 90% of material - what are the issues here?
Saw this one before, answered along the lines of plagiarism is not only academically unacceptable, but in the case of medicine
affects patients in future etc. Also mentioned that this is purely hearsay and facts should be established. Interviewer was very
unresponsive and hard to read. Ran out of time, wasn't too happy with the way I structured things, but got most points across.
3) You are a principal of an elite high school. Video emerges on the web depicting two students wheeling around another one, who
appears distressed. Your actions?
Saw this before as well. Focused on safety for the victim first, establishing the facts, maintaining confidentiality, apologies to
parents, investigate further to make sure there is no patterns here. Interviewer was a young guy, who was very friendly and
supportive. Replied to my points with nodding. Ran out of time, got everything I wanted.
4) YOu come across a homeless man on the side of the street begging for money. Issues?
Saw this one as well. Compassion; mentioned that it depends on how I feel like and whether I think the person is in real trouble; if
money is for drugs/alcohol - not necessarily a bad thing; point towards a social worker. Prompts: What if it was an indigenous
woman? What if it was a child? What can we do to stop it?
Interviewer was extremely nice, nodded and smiled in response to my points. Ran out of time, but got all I wanted.
5) Very old bakery has to change its recipe due to transfat limit imposed by the government. What are your thoughts on the
government regulations of this nature?
Answered that democratic government represents society; not my place to judge; personally I disagree; compare with
smokes/alcohol; children should listen to parents when it comes to these things, not the media/government; censorship issues;
impact on businesses. Interviewer was very nice again - smiles all around, and nods in response to my points. Talked a lot, ran out
of time, but got everything important across.
6) Friend has read that MMR vaccine causes autism, when she asked her nurse about it she just laughed and said it was nothing.
Friend comes to you and asks for advice. Actions?
Research journal articles/reviews, not google; poor handling of an enquiry by a nurse; patients right to know all the info on their
treatment; inform friend of current research - let her make up her own mind; if people reject vaccines for no scientific reason
disease prevalence would go up. Interviewer was hard to read, but friendly. Had 10 seconds to spare.
7)Bringing group of Dental students from overseas for 3 months. What would the program be?
Purpose of visit would determine the program; get academics to give intro talks; show the admission process; hospital excursions;
student testimonials; also show around sydney, and familiarize with lifestyle; make sure cultural needs are met; get feedback. What
are some of the 3rd world countries' medical system issues? Talked about bribery and lack of funding in Russia. Interviewer was a
very nice old lady, agreed with all my points. When I accidentally took the scenario out of the room, she called me Naughty
boy at that point I wasn't nervous at all anymore Ran out of time as well, but happy overall
You are in charge of scholarship distribution. Winners have been decided, but professor from your faculty asks you to reconsider
his daughter since she got something published after the rankings were done. Actions?
Justice; being fair to others; not about deserving the scholarship, but about qualifying for it; at the point of ranking his daughter did
not make it - that's it.
What would you do if president of student asscn would ask you to get her a scholarship? What if you think she deserves it? Again:
not deserving, but matching the given criteria; not your money to spend; must be impartial. Interviewer was a friendly lady, not very
outgoing, but smiling and supporting points with nods. Ran out of time, but got everything I wanted.
9) Your friend drinks a lot, lately it started to affect her work. Actions?
Fidelity to your friend; helping out; showing the evidence for her problem, not just telling her. She asks you to do an assignment for
her - actions? Politely decline; try and see her personally ASAP; offer help with assignment within normal means; advice
counselling; advice talking to faculty; ways to manage stress in medicine. Interviewer was very hard to read, very few responses,
however in the end I got a smile and a handshake. Got all the points but messed up the structure - not very happy.
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Overall impressions.
All the students in the waiting room were very friendly. A bit of chatter before the interview was good to calm down the nerves. Staff
members in charge of directing us to rooms etc were very helpful and friendly. Organisation was nice and error free. Overall I was
happy with an interview, only 2 questions left me hesitating, however this is more because of the way I answered, not the lack of
points I discussed. Majority of the interviewers were very friendly, others were just neutral. This website has helped me immensely,
especially the scenarios from the previous years - in the end I have seen and answered 7/9 questions in my prep! Also our Head
and Neck Anatomy tutors - Dana and Matt, who voluntarily ran a free workshop have helped me quite a lot.
Advice for future applicants: practice as much as you can! You may have a perfect answer in your head, but it takes a lot more to
say it right. Practicing will also familiarize you with the whole experience and help you calm down the nerves. Also - drink water,
otherwise you may lose your voice, I drank a cup at every second station.
2011 USYD MMI Thurs, yellow group, afternoon
7/9 scenraios were repeated from previous years, so I felt like this gave me a huge advantage and calmed my nerves so much
1. phd plagiarises 10 pgs, what to do?
2. Students from developing country come to visit - how to prepare?

(I hated this question, too vague!)
3.Transfat
4.A friend wants to go overseas for an organ transplant - what are the issues? what legislation should be put in place?
(the scenario itself wasnt so bad, but the interviewer was very uncertain and English was his second language, so I felt
uncomfortable about how I went)
5. You are a principal and a video is on the internet of bullying.
6. Workcover cheat
7. Grandmother not wanting to mvoe into a nursing home what are the issues? how to mediate between your parent etc
8. Harried mother at the bus stop
9. A friend has been drinking while at the hospital, how would you counsel her
I finished early for most, and had a chat to the interviewers, I'm not sure if this a good thing or not! All the other candidates seemed
worthy as well, so who knows!
Usyd Friday @ 8.30
I can't remember the order of the stations but here we go
there is a runaway tram and its going to hit 5 people. you can stop the tram by pushing a fat man in front of the tram which will stop
it but he will die. What do you do? what would you do if you knew the 5 people? would you do it if the man was thin? you weigh half
his weight, would you jump to save the 5 people?
you are on your way to the hospital and you witness a car accident. the driver of the car is alive but dies before the ambulance
arrives. you go to hospital and you are unable to work. you have a major exam next week. what do you do?
There is a Muslim patient. Gets bacon. son is angry. How may this have happened? what should the charge nurse do?what are the
issues faced in an intercultural multi faith society. what would you put in a manual for ward staff ?
Your 16 year old cousin comes and tells you she had group sex with some local footballers last night . what do you do? she tells
you that she has contracted an STI, what do you do? Her mother calls you and asks about the party, what do you do?
your Cantonese neighbor goes to an eye specialist and gets a diagnoses she did not like. she goes to get a second opinion and
gets the same diagnosis. she now wants to go back to the the first specialist but doesn't want him to find out . what do you say?
Cafe having to change its menu due to government regulation of trans fat, subsequent loss of customers an money. what do you
think?
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You are in PNG and a pt comes in with a badly cut leg. there is no one else there to help them. what do you do? what if the pt
refuses your help, what do you do then? what if there is no one else there to help ?
hmm I can't remember the rest right now, will modify if I do .

I was shocked by some of the questions especially about pushing some poor obese man in front of a tram!!! But overall I had fun
and that surprised me. So here goes , good luck to all :-)
USYD 2011
Wore a black office skirt, black stockings, black jacket over a neat blouse and wore black flats. Made sure from previous
experiences that I had a really good breakfast.
Got there 30 minutes before my scheduled interview, was given a name sticker to put on my jacket and was handed an envelope of
9 barcodes to hand to the interviewer. The guy who gave us the prep talk was very friendly, tried to make the whole situation as
accommodating as possible and threw in a few jokes to try and relax us a bit.
I talked to some of the other interviewees in the room we were waiting in, shared some lollies, alot of them were from other states
and were talking about the weather here etc. Noticed some of the girls wearing shiny killer heels (10cm+) which surprised me a
little, otherwise everyone was very well dressed. We waited for about 15 minutes, then the prep guy called us up and we lined up in
number order (assigned from 1-9) and were sent off.
All questions except two were recycled from previous years, and some of them I had practiced in our PD practice sessions so were
ready for them!
1. NY Cheesecake shop owner & trans fats

--> For this station, I was talking about the seriousness of CVD and obesity in society, and the interviewer cut me off mid-sentence
and asked "What has trans-fats got to do with cardiovascular risk and obesity?" I gaped at him for a moment, lost track of my
thought and had to ask him for a trigger. Felt that he was staring at my forehead rather than at me, and was shuffling through his
papers whilst I was talking, forgot where he was up to in prompting me... Hope that he was intentionally being bad cop.
2. Stress and Med school
3. PBL - one of the students not showing up, studying independently in the library
--> The interviewer I had was such a kind nice old gentleman, kept nodding to everything I said and saw his eyes brighten up at my
responses- which was very encouraging. I had a bit of time left after all my triggers were given and asked him what he did; told me
he was a farmer.
4. Immigration question
--> I answered alot of the triggers without getting prompted and the interviewer seemed pleased.
5. Grandma with dentures
6. Sister getting bullied at work
7. Colleague suspected of being alcoholic
8. You're a med student and designing a program for med students from a developing country who are visiting Australia. What are
the aims and objectives of this program? I think falcon up there has listed the triggers, got the same ones.
9. You're a principal of a high school and a teacher tells you that they've witnessed another teacher and a student driving in a car
together at night. What do you do?
1) What would you say to the teacher?
2) What if the student was coerced into doing things they didn't want to by the teacher?
3) Who can help the student?
4) What would you do to prevent something like this from happening in the future?
Overall, I have to say I had fun I really did have fun and I think all the preparation I did made the whole experience much better.
I read through the perspective section of NEJM and the virtual mentor on AMA to prepare for some of these questions and they
really really helped.
I would advise people to actually meet up and go through past scenarios from PD, read the recent news threads, keep reading the
paper on crucial issues and be confident!
Page 34 of 41
I attended the Thurs 12 noon session. When we checked in at Rm 230, we received a name tag and 9 barcodes ( one to be used at
each Mmi station). The name tag was not sticky enough so most of us ended up carrying the name tag around instead.
There were two groups of 9 - orange and yellow name tags. An organiser gave a briefing about how it was all to suppose to work at
about 1140-1155am , then gave us time for a toilet stop before 12noon start. He said that you can go to the toilet during the Mmi but
only 2 mins between stations so will eat into interview time . Also he said that we had a new set of interviewers for 12noon
session.
The yellow group had a very convenient layout with all 9 interview rooms in the same corridor but my orange group had to traverse
3 levels to reach each of the interview rooms i.e. not all rooms were together. Fortunately, there were lots of guides to make sure
we did not get lost between rooms. And they had walkie talkies to make sure that each candidate was ready before letting us in
simultaneously.
There was one terrible interview room which was accessed after entering the fire stairs. It had no windows and was lit with weird
white light the type used in interrogation rooms that you see on TV thrillers when the good guy has been captured and the
baddies are trying to make him give up the secret. Even worse was the fact that when I spoke , my voice echoed in the room..one
of my two worse stations.
Otherwise, the whole process ran smoothly , and we finished on time.
For the men, a mixture of suit and tie, tie with shirt only, and a couple of shirt with no tie. For women, seem to be a mixture of suit ,
and no suit but all conservative. Personally, given how quickly we are in and out of each room , and that interviewers seem to
concentrating hard on what we say I feel that clothing would not have much impression at all.
I think most of my 9 stations are already in this thread in some form or variant from previous years but that is still not a guarantee of
doing well in all of them as I discovered. Still I am hopeful.
I only remember the gist of each station but you can trawl through previous postings of this thread for more details.
1. neighbour has got insurance payout but acts disabled in public but not at home
2. You are teenager, grandma is becoming frail, mother wants her to move in , dad says not, what do you do ?
3. You are headmaster, video showing your snr students abusing an intellectually disabled person, what do you do ?
4. PHD student shows you her thesis where you recognise has copied portions of unpublished paper without crediting.
What do you do ?
5. restaurant cannot use transfat in much loved dishes anymore
6. friend wants to go overseas to buy a kidney and be transplanted, what do you say to her ?
7. fellow 4th yr student has alcohol on breath often what do you do ?

There is one more which I cannot recall.
This one looks new to me . 8. The uni has got lots of funding to bring developing country medicine / dentistry students. How/what
program/activities would you organise for them ?
USYD INTERVIEW - 2011 Entry
Station 1
Your 16 year old cousin tells you that she was involved in a group sex session with the local football team. She says she really
enjoyed it and wants to do it again. She plans on calling them tonight. What advice do you give her?
She gets angry with you for telling her what to do, how do you respond?
She tells you she contracted an STD, what do you do?
Her mum rings you and asks you what happened at the party, how do you respond?
She tells you that it was all a lie, how do you respond?
Station 2
Your friends recently lost their child to leukemia after a suitable donor was not found. They now have the option to have a second
child through IVF, the wife wants to go ahead, but the husband is opposed to the idea. They have asked you to mediate the
situation. How do you advise them?
What would you say to her?

What would you say to him?
Page 35 of 41
How would you help them find out more about IVF?
How do you resolve the situation?
Station 3
You are on an elective in a medical hospital Papa New Guinea. A man who comes in is actively bleeding from his leg and asks you
for help. This is something that you have never done before. What do you do?
What would you say to the person who stationed you at the front of house?
How do you think team work could help the situation?
The patient suspects that you don't know what you are doing and asks to see someone else. How do you deal with the situation?
Station 4
You're on a bridge and see a runaway tram with five people in it going to crash. They will all die. There is a fat man next to you. You
have the opportunity to push the fat man off the bridge to stop the tram and save the five people. What do you do?
Would your answer change if you knew the five people in the tram?
What responsibility do you have in this situation?
Would you tell the fat man to jump?
You are half his weight, would you jump?
Considering the man is fat, what issues are involved here?
Station 5
Sports players are involved in gathering a lot of spectators to their games (or something along those lines). There is a lot of money
involved in the form of sponsorships. What role do you think sports men and women play in the community?
What are the negative implications of this on society and youth?

A nephew tells you that they want to be a professional sports player. What do you say to him?
Station 6
Your 59 year old neighbour and friend went to the doctor and is told that they have a prominent eye condition. They are advised to
have an operation. Your friend decides to seek a second opinion to which the second doctor agrees with the first doctor. She
doesn't like the second doctor and wants to go back to the first again but doesn't want to tell them that they sought a second
opinion. She asks you for advice. What do you say?
She asks you to call the first doctor for her, do you do it?
She wants to give the doctor a gift. What do you advise?
Later, at a tutorial, your tutor tells you that the operation is out of date. How do you proceed?
Station 7
You are a medical student working in a hospital. A Muslim patient is served some bacon and eats it. He doesn't realise what it is
due to the severity of his illness. His son comes in and sees what has happened and demands to see the person in charge. The
head nurse comes to the scene. What do you think happened/went wrong?
How does the religion and culture of the catering staff influence this crisis?
What would you, as a medical student, say to the son and father?
How should the nurse respond to the situation?
What other religious and cultural issues may affect peoples health care?
Station 8
You witness a car crash and call an ambulance but the driver dies before they arrive. You are working in wards, taking patients
histories and find you are suffering from anxiety and your work is suffering. You have an important exam next week. How do you
deal with this?
Your tutor/supervisor notices your work is suffering and asks you about it. What do you tell them?
Your friend dismisses your problems. What do you say?
What support network should there be for students?
Exam deference is an option. What are the issues for taking it or not taking it?
Station 9
New york traditional bakery is famous for their cheesecake and cannelloni. However a recent ban on foods with a certain amount of
trans fats means they can't serve it anymore. What do you think about the government telling people what they can and can not
eat?
The U.S. Government did actually do this to stop kids from eating these foods, what do you think?
What is the role of individual medical professionals in this? e.g. G.Ps
How would you feel if you were the owner after sales have halved?
The new oil you use is genetically modified, what are the issues?
Page 36 of 41
Usual apologies about sketchiness of this applies. I didnt write it down at the time just going from long distant memory.
Station 1: a scenario in which smoking is portrayed in a movie set a few decades ago. Your friend disagrees with the portrayal of
smoking for public health type reasons what do you think? Elderly male interviewer for this one, trying to play bad cop but not very
convincing. Asked me a prompt that I know wasnt on his list. He tried hard to get you to change your mind.
Station 2: rural station; interviewed by an academic from the rural school. Was asked about the barriers to working rurally, and
about issues around overseas-trained doctors (OTDs), including why there seems to be a lot of concern or media attention around
OTDs.
Station 3: Scenario about working in a group where one person is not pulling their weight. How do you handle it.
After this, I forget the order. I did badly on the first 3, so I remember them more clearly than the rest. So, in no particular order:
Station 4: Tell me about a time you enjoyed learning something new. Interviewer was a dentist. My favourite station.
Station 5: Some sort of scenario involving a child who is pushed very hard by their parents (there might have been a mention of
them being Asian?). Asked to reflect on whether you agree with pushing children to do well academically etc.
Station 6: A scenario in which a beauty queen makes a speech in which she says she thinks homosexual couples can do what they
like, but that she doesnt agree with gay marriage because thats just the way she was brought up. Youre asked to respond to this.
One of the prompts was to explain what large-scale social factors you think underlie this type of attitude.
Station 7: A scenario in which your grandfather is weighing up whether to have a dangerous procedure, and which your mother (his
daughter) doesnt agree with. One of the prompts was what would you say to your grandfather? or it might have been mother. The
point was, you actually had to do a bit of acting at this station bit different to the other stations. The last prompt was one where
you had to detechnicalise the stats he was using to make his decision.
Station 8: You are a student on placement in a GP clinic. Your friend, also on placement, finds the records of another student you
both know and tells you what she read. He has suffered from depression (I think?). There might be a prompt where they change the
condition and ask if it changes your response (I cant remember what it was HIV? drug addiction?). Youre asked how you would
respond & what you would do. One prompt was to ask whether you think medical students should have access to patient records.
Station 9: A scenario in which a mother of a son who is dead or dying wants to have access to his sperm so she can get a
surrogate to have his baby. Youre asked how you respond, what you would say to her. Interviewer appeared to be a med student. I
used a word that he tersely asked me to explain ('familial') which made me feel (rightly) like a pompous git.
Other notes:
(1) Uni colleges provide cheap accommodation on campus during holidays (which is when they always hold interviews). Great
option I stayed at Womens college and got breakfast every morning too. Was a 10 min walk in heels to the med school; would
have been 5 mins in sensible shoes.
(2) Arrive early. You book in at a front desk, then they show you to a waiting room, where its great to have a bit of time to talk to
other interviewees (yes, even if youre shy). I met heaps of nice people & really enjoyed it. So dont worry about coming too early.
(3) They got us to throw our bags in a little storeroom, so dont worry about what kind of bag to take you dont need to fork out
money for a nice handbag or bag if you dont have one already.
(4) There were observers in almost all the stations I went to. Remember this in terms of your posture etc. I slumped over and
kicked my shoes on & off my feet, forgetting that it was on full view to the observer behind me doh!
(5) It feels a lot like an episode of thank God youre here; a bell rings, you knock on a glass door and go in. You shut the door,
greet the interviewer, then read the scenario. Then you start the response in your own time. Then a bell rings after 7 mins, at which
time you stand up, farewell the interviewer and leave. Then 2 mins in the hall in front of the next door, with everyone looking
nervous. Then a bell rings and you start again.
(6) There was water and lollies/mints at every station.
(7) A student volunteer chaperoned us during the waiting period, and held an informal Q&A about the school.
( 8 ) There were roomy toilets near the waiting room, so no need to worry about staying well-hydrated while you wait (plenty of
water and lollies - including FANTALES - if I correctly recall; that's a recipe for pre-interview dental disaster ...).
Page 37 of 41
Preparation
- Meet with current USyd students (bribe with coffee) to discuss their experiences at USyd, likes/dislikes about the course, their
interview experiences.
- Read about studying medicine on PagingDr and in a couple of novels.
- Practiced scenarios printed out previous scenarios from PagingDr and went over them with a partner for timing and feedback.
Got some excellent feedback here I tended to focus too much on the science of the scenarios rather than the interpersonal
relationships.
- Timing of scenarios was aiming for 5 mins for initial answer to have time to cover prompts.
- Develop answer structure to use if I got stuck (didnt end up using it that much): 1. Major and minor issues, 2. Stakeholders and
how they might feel, 3. Assumptions or missing information, then 4. Applying a personal example or anecdote or brainstorming
unusual ways of solving the problem. This made sure I would address all the points and having looked at the USyd interviewer
training they gave higher marks for personal examples and empathizing with stakeholders.
- Had studied a Bioethics course recently (textbook Intervention and Reflection: Basic Issues in Bioethics by Ronald Munson was
very readable).
Lead up to interview
- Decided on outfit (dress, blazer, heels) to wear. Ended up wearing a matching scarf as well as thought Sydney would be much
colder.
- Arranged with sister with local apartment to stay the night, within walkable distance of uni.
- Walked around campus ahead of time, relaxed in the park with dogs, checked out local Glebe cafes, found building interview
would be held in. Saw another person wandering around carrying new suit and shoes I suspect another med applicant.
- Saw musical and had dinner at Lindt caf on Darling Harbour.
- Breakfast next morning: cold baked beans. Hey, they dont make me drowsy or nauseous when Im nervous and they were really
quick
- After the interviews there was a campus tour offered.
The Interview
- Arrived a little early at the venue, found that a line had been formed for registration to the right. Gave my name, had my passport
copied, and got a nametag with applicant and station ID and an envelope with barcodes with applicant ID. Also gave them a copy of
the interview offer email, just because theyd requested it, though they didnt seem as interested.
- Was led to a lecture room out the back with water and Fantales. Used this chance to use the loo. Other applicant apparently did
handstands in corridor extra energy!
- Applicants talked. US applicant had been told of interview offer 4 days previously, and had to fly back to US for interviews in 2
days (!). 2nd year med student talked to applicants to calm us down.
- Applicants lined up in station order and were taken to stand outside of stations. Bell rang, you went into the room, firm
handshake and introduce with right hand, then give interviewer barcode stuck on left hand index finger.
- Suggest NOT eating provided Fantales on each interviewers desk. Caramel is too sticky to eat in the few minutes available.
- Reading the posters in the corridor was a good way to switch my brain off from the previous station and back into more relaxed
mode and they were interesting too.
- Seven minutes is a really short time to discuss the issues raised. Youll be given the prompt and when
Scenario 1:
- Went in to this interview feeling nervous, but it was the interviewers first interview as well. Awesome pink dreadlocks.
- A friend of yours has a baby and has refused to give it the MMR vaccine because of an article she read linking the vaccine to
autism. She raised her concerns with a nurse at her local GP but the nurse laughed at her. She feels angry at the nurse. What do
you tell your friend? I replied that the nurses laughter is counterproductive and that my friend would not feel her concerns were
taken seriously, and that while I felt my friend should vaccinate her child it was important to understand her concerns.
- What sorts of sources might your friend find more persuasive? I replied saying that I would find sources with authority such as
journal articles more persuasive, but that my friend might find information that focuses on the risks of measles more persuasive,
especially ones that focused on local, personal experiences or family impact. I also suggested that Wakefields financial dealings
look shady and may also help convince her to vaccinate her child.
- Why might people not want to vaccinate their children? I replied that vaccination is counterintuitive, and that a mother wanting to
protect her child clearly wouldnt want sharp things with diseases stabbed into her child, and that this protection of your child is a
good thing and should be encouraged.
- I think I did pretty decent job here; I managed to stop myself getting dragged into discussions of vaccination too much.
Scenario 2:
- Your 16 year old cousin tells you she slept with several members of a local football team last night, and she plans to meet with
them again tonight. What do you do? I replied that while her behavior isnt something Id do, its really her choice and Id do my best
to support her in making sure that shes doing this safely looking at potential complications like alcohol, drugs, STDs, pregnancy,
and having naked pictures of her released.
- Your aunt asks what happened at the party last night. What do you tell her? I replied that it was important that my cousin had
someone she could take to about these issues and that I would not violate her privacy by letting her aunt know.
Page 38 of 41
- Later, your cousin tells you she made the whole thing up. How do you react? This one threw me a little. Id reply that Id be a little
disappointed that she lied to me, but that my role to support her shouldnt change.
Scenario 3:
- Your roommate for a rural elective arrives at the rural town and finds that the accommodation is co-ed. Your roommate has
cultural sensitivities that require same-sex accommodation, but no such accommodation is available in the town. What do you do? I
advised that I would look at billeting or alternative accommodation with other medical professionals, that I would follow up with the
hospital and the school, that compromises may have to be made (whether that was paying money for a hotel room for the night or
the roommate living in a coed house, but with a chaperone). Id ask my roommate for their suggestions on how flexible they could
be on the requirements.
- Your roommates father calls and asks after the (female) roommate. What do you tell him? I told the interviewer that my
roommate would probably be old enough to make her own call as to what she told her father about the situation, and gave a
personal example of a friend who made this decision.
- How would you deal with tensions between the roommates over this change? I replied that we all had preferences when it comes
to accommodation and that mine (indoor toilets!) might not always be available, that wed have to compromise, and that hopefully it
should be for a short period.
Scenario 4:
- Cant remember this one.
Scenario 5:
- Why medicine at Usyd? I broke this down into why medicine, and why Sydney, and why USyd.
- What about the USyd program appeals to you? I spoke about my informational interviews with current students and the clinical
exposure.
- Who do you know in medicine that you hope to emulate? I spoke about two recent graduates and how theyd found different, but
rewarding, niches.
- How do you plan to cope with the study load? Treat as a full-time job, basically.
- My interviewer for this station was quite gruff, but I think thats because there were so many prompts to cover and so he had to
push through the prompts and cut me off a little for each issue. He actually stopped me at one point and said youre interviewing
well, so relax now for the next question
Scenario 6:
- Education question tiger mother - based on the below article
- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704111504576059713528698754.html
- I was able to make some good responses to the prompts of is this a good way to prepare future doctors etc.
Scenario 7:
- - understairs, older male interviewer, drugs/alcohol abuse.
- You suspect a friend is abusing alcohol.
- You also suspect your friend is abusing drugs (which drugs is not stated). How does this change what you do? I said it would
depend on the drug,
- Your friend denies that he has a problem and is upset that you brought it up. What do you do?
- Reporting the issue could impact your friends career down the line. Would the damage to your friends career stop you from
reporting?
- I also mentioned that in medical school we are impacting not only ourselves but also our patients, and that the patients health
has a level of priority.
Scenario 8:
- Your elderly aunt is having trouble seeing street signs. She tells you she is seeing an optometrist soon. She doesnt want you to
tell anyone. She continues to drive. What do you do?
- Her licence is due to expire in three months. Does this change what you do?
- She finally sees an optometrist and the optometrist confirms that her eyesight is poor.
- Your grandmother is involved in a crash into a lamppost and her car is damaged. What do you do now?
Scenario 9:
- You are a student competing in a national science competition. You are leading the team. The team members are from different
background. How do you best prepare for the competition?
- One of the team members disagrees about how to prepare. What do you do?
- One of the team members is unwell and tells you that it is a short-term illness but that he will be better by the competition. What
do you do?
- Apart from the prize money, why do people compete in these competitions?
Page 39 of 41
This is just some general advice for USYD, that I found helpful or could have found helpful!
1. First thing I'd say is it's definitely worth reviewing questions from previous years, and practising answering those questions
out loud or discussing the issues involved (see next point). They do vary from year to year although some questions are repeated, it
helps with timing and it definitely helps with your nerves if you recognise the question you're being asked.
2. Practice being able to succinctly state the issues involved. It is a nearly universal first prompt question and it shouldn't take
long at all to get the hang of. eg 'Confidentiality is an issue in this scenario because ..' This question only needs slight elaboration,
and the meat of what you will say will come in the following prompts. I realised this too late, and the first few stations I waffled on
this first prompt and didn't get to answer the last few prompts. You can't get marked for what you don't answer!
3. Think before you speak. Take a couple of seconds to think about where your answer will go, rather than just starting to speak
and thinking as you go. The markers will gain an overall impression of you, your body language and your composure and even if
these are not on the marking criteria as they are humans, have subjective opinions and rambling, waffling etc are not good ways to
make an impression.
4. Similar to 3, but answer the question. I got caught up on this a few times, as I had recognised the question from previous years
and started trying to remember what I said when I was practicing. Don't do this !!!! Stay in the present if you've reviewed past
questions and answer the question they ask you, as it may have been changed slightly. It is also clear to see from a mile away if
you're giving a genuine answer or a rehearsed one. Remember there's time constraints so make your point and then STOP. There
will be more questions to come.
5. RELAX. Deep, long, slow breaths and some water helps, but everyone has their own methods. Plenty of sleep the night before,
don't go in empty stomach etc. The interviewers will expect you to be nervous. Its high stakes. I only relaxed once I'd finished two
stations. I was so absorbed in thinking about possible answers, my first two stations were disastrous. I walked outside and looked at
everyone in the corridor and thought, hang on, we're all in it together, everyone is feeling just as nervous as I am. I think that helped
me a lot and I actually started to enjoy answering the questions and nutting out the issues.
6. There is no right or wrong answer. Even with ethics stuff, scenarios are taken out of the context of health care. As long as you
can clearly, succinctly and logically justify your answer, you'll be fine. Don't get ahead of yourself and think 'what do they want me to
say', just answer the question with what your intuition tells you to. Don't be afraid to take a particular stance. Having said this, you
need to be able to see the other side(s) to the scenario. When answers are not black and white, a good approach to take is to look
at each party's perspective. The scenarios are generally quite complex so its safe to say there are no right or wrong answers.
7. Be yourself, and allow personal experience to come into your answers. Some people might disagree with me on this, but if I was
a marker seeing hundreds of applicants over a week, I'd prefer the ones who showed who they are in their answers. Some people
might be afraid to show their personality, perhaps those who always get told to 'tone it down' etc. I just think the worst thing that
could happen is you finish the interview, don't get through, and think oh 'if only I was just myself it would have gone better.' I say this
within the realms of staying professional, but its important to remember that doctors are people too, with their own personalities,
and the markers will appreciate the applicants who are being themselves.
8. Remember you're having a conversation. You are talking to a person, and whilst it may not seem like a conversation because
the interviewer isn't talking back, you don't need to talk as though you're giving a speech with an audience. It should be a normal
conversation as though you were talking to someone you know. No need to try to use words you wouldn't normally use, the most
important thing is being understood by the interviewer, so thinking about it in terms of a conversation helps. This means eye
contact, volume, tone of voice etc will all be fine if you just pretend you're having a normal conversation with a friend.
9. Take it one station at a time. This might sound obvious but its easy to lose concentration if you think you're cruising, and you
could get stumped by a curly one in the next station. Same goes if you have a disastrous station brush it off, forget about it, water
off a duck's back, accept it, move on, it's done, say bring on the next station!
10. When you're done, celebrate. Its a good achievement in getting to the interview, so go and enjoy yourself.
Scenarios in no particular order:
1. USyd is inviting health care students from developing countries to Australia. How would you go about organising this? What are
the issues?
Me: I liked this station and said that Australia needs to do more for students from poorer nations. Had lots to say about identifying
health care needs of their respective countries and inviting appropriate medical professional in those fields to address them.
Couldn't stop talking but nervous throughout as this was my first station.
2. Susie is an Olympic swimmer and has decided to study graduate medicine. What do you think about this?What do you think she
has to offer?
Page 40 of 41
3. Gradma refuses to visit dentist. What are the issues?
Me: Pretty sure I stuffed this one up.
4. An immigrant family has asked you as the treating doctor to not reveal to their the father that his condition is terminal. Thoughts?
In a variation to this question, the father has asked you not to reveal to his children about his illness? How will you deal with this?
What do you understand by consent?
5. Tiger mummy question. Asian parents pushing kids too hard. Thoughts...
Me: I loved this station. Was my favourite in the whole MMI because I read the book and really got into a chat with the interviewer.
6. You can smell alcohol in the registrar's breath. How will you go about dealing with this?
7. Racist joke by consultant about aboriginal patients to you while in elevator, that others could hear. How will you react? Do you
think there is a place for humor in the workplace?
Really nice interviewer, very soft spoken and the key here was building rapport... We had a chat on this and acknowledged that
confronting a consultant is an unenviable task as a lowly med student, but said that I would raise my objection in private...
8. Appears neighbour is cheating centrelink by claiming handicap benefits. What would you do?
I am pretty certain I messed this one up. I said that I cant be certain he is cheating Centrelink. Just because he's waling around
normal doesn't mean he's not actually handicapped. talked about my mate who has bipolar who is outwardly very normal but has
been on disability benefits for most of his life. Said that it wasn't my role to pass judgement and you had to be in their shoes. The
interviewer kept prodding me at this station.
---
Overall experience: Pleasant!
Did I expect a place offer: No! I couldn't even believe I got an interview offer.
What I liked best: There was no "Tell me why you want to do medicine". This questions drives me nuts.
What I disliked: My accommodation (the Pencione Hotel) in the heart of Sydney. Really noisy and street lighting kept coming
through cracks in the blinds.
What did I think of the interviewers:? I was pleasantly surprised. They were all respectful, well trained and didn't try to intimidate at
all.
There were nine scenarios, but I only remember eight of them.
1. Imposing tax on alcohol consumption in order to reduce social or health issues.

what you think?
How you feel for government act in this way?
How would you come up your own opinion?
what medical professionals can do in this case?
2. Chinese tiger mam

what you think, good or bad?
How would you bring up your children?
Australian society is liberal, good or bad?
Pros and cons of giving children freedom
3. Dead man stored his sperm. His mam wants to use his sons sperm to get a grandchild.
what are the issues here?
Does dead people have rights?
How would you talk to the mam?
How you come to your opinion?
4. Barry went to see doctor for depression. Amanda was doing rotation there and thus knew it. Amanda then told you that Barry is
suffering from depression.
What would you say to Amanda?
If Amanda told you Barry had illegal drugs, any difference?
Will you report this to supervisors?
How this will affect Barry?
5. Foreign doctors were reported in medical accidents and been blamed for incompotency.
Page 41 of 41
what you think?

Do we need the same standard for oversea-trained and local trained doctors?
How to improve rural medicine?
what role government has here?
6. Grandfather has eye disease, cant drive but dont want to give up his driving license.
what would you do?
now blind, what would you say to him?
7. Two senior students bullied a disabled in video. Youre the principle of this high school.
What would you do?
How you come to your decision?
What resources you can use to help you make decision?
What suggestions you can give to the discipline committee?
8. Video showing a disturbing patient was used in PBL class.

Whats the general guideline for this?
What will you say to the patient?

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Page 1 of 41

MMI Stations 1530 25th September 2007 Education Building

Bad Team Members

Here are brief outlines of my senarios:

1. Youtube (revamped erotic image I suppose)

Sydney University MMI Scenarios

1) Bad Team Members

-what should the mother do?

4) PBL member who becomes pregnant

6) High school Principle

-What would you say to him?

2. Shark Cartilage Question as per the others

3. The bad doctors question. as per the others

5. Pregnancy question as per the others

> Shark cartilage, per above.

> Tutor asking about pregnancy, see phobos' post.

7) High School principal

i. If you intervene, how would you approach the woman?

3. Dean and have photo of your student put on the net.

8. The pregnancy question.

USYD Interviews for 2009 entry

i. How would you resolve a conflict if it arose?

ii. What strategies do you have for dealing with stress

i. What are some difficulties with attracting people to rural medicine?

i. How would you deal with this?

i. Would this change if the lady wasnt the childs mother?

i. What would you say to the patient?

i. How could this impact small bottle shop owners?

i. What reasons could you give for expelling the boys?

ii. How do you think this could affect the girl?

iii. What role do you have to play as the dean?

The prompts were (paraphrasing because I can't remember the details):

I experienced the USyd MMI from the other side as an interviewer.

Respect for diversity

Friday 3rd Oct 12pm

Why the city of Sydney?

Sydney Med MMI 2008

2. It is said the campaign is targeted at children. What are your thoughts?

1. Immigration scenario (seen before)

2. Alcohol tax (seen before)

3. Government legislation (seen before)

4. Aunt with eye-sight failure (seen before)

5. Homelessness (seen before)

6. Stress (seen before)

The lead up to the interview

Scenario 5: A candidate for Miss USA said:

USYD MMI 2009

Scenario 1 Coping with trauma

Scenario 2 Fair play and sticking to your decision.

Scenario 3 Bullying in the workforce

Scenario 4 Displaying leadership skills

Scenario 5 The sick grandmother

Scenario 6 Erotic image displayed on the Internet

Scenario 7 Overcoming the power dynamics

Scenario 8 Government control over trans-fat levels in foods

USyd 2010 Entry MMI

chauvinistic mentality within society! Yowch!)

USYD MMI 2009