BlackStone Tutors | Medicine Application Specialists
London Office: 020 3393 8934 
info@blackstonetutors.co.uk
  • Home
    • Our Tutors
    • Our Tutees
  • Interview Clinics
    • Medicine Interview Preparation & Tuition
    • Dentistry Interview Preparation & Tuition
    • Personal Statement Services
    • Complete Medicine Application Packages
  • Schools
    • In-School Medicine Talks and Courses
    • How to get into Medical School Intensive Course
  • UCAT
    • UCAT Preparation Courses
    • Online UCAT Course
    • UCAT ANZ Courses
    • Private UCAT Tutoring
  • BMAT
    • BMAT Preparation Courses
    • Singapore BMAT Course
    • Online BMAT Course
    • Private BMAT Tutoring
    • Free BMAT Resources >
      • BMAT Information: Free Guide to the BMAT Exam
      • Free BMAT Past Papers
      • Free BMAT Subject Guide
      • BMAT Practice Questions - Section 1
      • BMAT Practice Questions - Section 2
      • BMAT Section 1 Tips & Techniques
      • BMAT Section 2 Tips & Techniques
      • BMAT Section 1 Critical Thinking - Additional Practice
  • MMI
    • MMI Interview Courses
    • MMI Question Bank >
      • Medicine MMI Question Bank
      • Dentistry MMI Question Bank
      • Nursing MMI Question Bank
      • Physician Associate MMI Question Bank
    • MMI Tips & Resources >
      • Multiple Mini Interview (MMI) Questions and Answers
      • MMI Interview Tips
      • Medical School Interview Questions
      • Medical School Interview Questions | US & Canada
      • Multiple Mini Interview (MMI) Ethical Scenarios
  • GPST
    • GP Stage 3 Preparation Course
    • GP Stage 3 Online Question Bank
    • GPST Entry Articles & Resources >
      • GPST Entry >
        • GP Training Entry Requirements and Key Tips
      • GP Stage 2 (MSRA) >
        • Free MSRA Practice Questions & Answers
        • GP Stage 2 Exam Information, Tips & Banding
        • GP Stage 2 (MSRA) & GP Stage 3 (Selection Centre) Weighting
      • GP Stage 3 >
        • GP Stage 3 - What To Expect, Mark Scheme & Preparation Tips
        • GP Stage 3 Selection Centre: The Complete Guide
        • GP Stage 3 Written Prioritisation Exercises | Key Tips, Techniques & Mark Scheme
        • GP Stage 3 Simulation Exercises | Key Tips & Techniques
        • Free GP Stage 3 Written and Simulation Exercises
        • GP Stage 3 Mark Scheme Domains
        • GP Stage 3 Pass Rate
        • How To Score 100% In The GP Stage 3 Selection Centre
  • Articles
    • BMAT Articles >
      • Free BMAT Resources
      • BMAT Section 1 Tips
      • BMAT Section 2 Tips
      • BMAT Section 3 Mark Scheme
      • How Universities use the BMAT
      • BMAT Past Paper Worked Solutions
    • UCAT Articles >
      • Free UKCAT Practice Questions
    • TSA >
      • TSA Essay Tips & Techniques
      • TSA Essay Example
      • Free TSA Past Papers
    • Personal Statement >
      • Medicine Personal Statement Structure
      • Medicine Personal Statement - Common Errors & Pitfalls
    • Interview Articles
    • Medicine Applications >
      • Which Medical Schools Should I Apply To?
      • Tips for a Successful Oxbridge Medicine Application
      • Why 40% Of All Doctors Choose General Practice?
    • Dentistry Applications
  • COVID
  • Contact Us
    • New Tutor Registration
    • Fees
    • Testimonials
    • Terms and Conditions
  • Subscribe To Our Newsletter
  • GPST Entry and Selection Centre Dates
  • GP Stage 3 Selection Centre Tips
  • The University of Auckland Medicine Interview Questions
  • The University of Auckland Medicine Interview Tips
  • MMI Tips & Techniques
  • 5 Cambridge Medicine Interview Tips
  • GP Selection Centre: Common Written Prioritisation Scenarios
  • Oxford Medicine Interview Tips
  • When Do Medical School Interview Invites Come Out?
  • MMI Role Play: The Complete Guide
  • MMI Data Analysis: The Complete Guide
  • MMI Prioritisation Tasks: The Complete Guide
  • MMI Calculation Questions: The Complete Guide
  • MMI Ethical Scenarios: The Complete Guide
  • MMI Observation Tasks: The Complete Guide
  • How To Revise For The BMAT
  • Why Do You Want To Study Medicine?
  • Guide To The 2020 UCAT
  • How To Prepare For The UCAT Situational Judgement Section
  • How To Prepare For UCAT Abstract Reasoning
  • How To Prepare For UCAT Verbal Reasoning
  • How To Score 850+ In UCAT Quantitative Reasoning
  • How to Score 850+ on the Quantitative Reasoning section of the UCAT
  • Pre-Registration Pharmacist Situational Judgement (SJT) Exam: The Complete Guide
  • Bespoke BMAT Course
  • UCAT Practice Test: Decision Making Mini Mock Exam
  • Online TSA Course Tutorials
  • Medicine Personal Statement Checklist: 8 Key Areas
  • What Should a Medicine Personal Statement Include?
  • Physician Associate University Interview Questions and Answers
  • Nursing University Interview Questions and Answers
  • Nursing Applications
  • Dentistry University Interview Questions
  • BMAT Section 1 Critical Thinking Questions
  • BMAT Section 2 Physics Questions
  • BMAT Section 2 Maths Questions
  • BMAT Section 2 Biology Questions
  • BMAT Section 2 Chemistry Questions

University of Oxford Medicine Interview Questions

Picture

General Interview Information
Picture
Interview Format (Historically)
​
Oxford University utilises a traditional panel interview.  Each candidate typically has two interviews; these are conducted by tutors and clinical tutors from their respective colleges. Oxford uses the following criteria to inform their selection process:

Personal Characteristics
·         Empathy
·         Motivation, commitment and insight into medicine
·         Communication skills
·         Honesty and integrity
·         Ethical awareness
·         Teamwork
·         Capacity for sustained and intense work
·         Alignment of individual values and behaviours with the values of the NHS Constitution

Academic Potential
·         Problem-solving: critical thinking, analytical approach
·         Intellectual curiosity
·         Communication skills compatible with their tutorial format


​COVID-19 Update for 2021
​

Interviews for the 2021 Medicine intake are still scheduled to take place in mid-December 2020, and consist of online interviews with two colleges over the space of two days. These are of a ‘traditional’ format. ​


Interview Focal Points​​ 

  • The main focus of the Oxford Medicine interview is to see how the candidate approaches problems, and especially how they cope with not knowing the answer immediately. This is closely aligned with the Oxford tutorial system and is designed to examine the candidate’s suitability for this style of teaching and learning. For this reason, engaging in discussion, as well as logical thinking, justifying your thoughts and adapting your ideas based on the discussion in the Oxford Medicine interview is highly recommended.
  • The Oxford Medicine course has a heavy focus on research, and aims to produce academic doctors. Hence, they want students who are interested in learning about science beyond the minimal requirements required to be a doctor.
  • Candidates are often provided with an image to discuss – such as an x-ray or a microscopic slide. Whilst knowledge of the contents are not expected, a structured, systematic approach which takes on board the interviewers cues will score well.
  • Candidates may also be given a review article to read for half an hour before their interview, which they then have to answer questions on in the interview itself. In most cases, the main focus here is not on the intricate details of the article but instead on the general themes explored. What is the overall message of the article? What were the authors trying to do and say?
  • Alternatively, interviews may involve reviewing and interpreting a graph or data set.
  • Many Oxford Medicine Interview questions centre on creative problem-solving, with questions including:
    • How much does a mountain weigh?
    • How different would the world be if the wheel wasn’t invented?
  • These questions are designed to test the candidate’s creative and critical thinking skills and how they approach the problem. Can the candidate explain their thought process out loud? Can they guide them through their thoughts, step by step? Can they ask logical questions to reach an answer?


Recent Interview Questions

Why Medicine/Oxford?
1.Why do you want to study medicine/be a doctor?
2.Why the University of Oxford?
3.What do you think you could contribute to college life?
 
Background and Personal Statement:
4.How good were your teachers at school?
5.What keeps you awake at night?

Work Experience:
6.What did you learn from your work experience?

General Questions
7.If you could invite any two people alive or dead to a dinner party, who would they be and why?
8.If you had to choose a new language to learn, which one would it be and how would you go about it?

Attributes of a Good Doctor
9. What makes a good doctor?

Biology and Abstract Biology Questions
​10. When given a drawing of the nerves from the ear to the auditory canal; explain the image shown.
11.How would you poison someone without the police finding out?
12.Why is it a disadvantage for humans to have two legs?
13.Given a skull: what animal is this, describe the teeth and why they are designed as such.
14.Describe what happens when a neuron is excited and an action potential follows.
15.Show what happens to the membrane potential of an animal cell when put in different solutions.
16.How can a specific animal tell the difference between spring and autumn? 
17.How many genes are there in the genome of a rice plant? 
18. Draw a graph of learning against time/stage of life
19. What do you like most about the brain?
20. Can you describe an experiment to differentiate between a normal and multi-resistant strain of bacteria?
21. Why do we have red blood cells?
22. How is a city like a cell?
23. How would you design a better brain?
24. Why don’t we just have one ear in the middle of our face?

Chemistry-Based Questions
25.How many moles of H2O are there in a cup of water?
26.Calculate what volume of wine can be drunk to reach the legal concentration of alcohol in the blood for driving?
 
General Science-Based Questions
27. How would you simulate altitude in your living room?
28.How would you measure the weight of your own head?
29.If you are in a boat in a lake and throw a stone out of the boat, what happens to the level of the water?
30.Why can you not see many stars when you stand on top of a mountain?  
31.How would you design an experiment to disprove the existence of God?
32.What leaves you drier if it's raining: running or walking?  

Medicine-Based Questions
33.Why does your heart rate increase when you exercise?
34.What's the greatest medical innovation this century?
35.How would you determine whether leukaemia patients have contracted the disease because of a nearby nuclear power station?
36.At what point is a person "dead"?
37.If urine was emptied into the small intestine instead of the bladder, what would happen?
38.What does the letter b stand for in b-lymphocyte? 
39.How do prions actually affect the brain?
40.How does the body try to remove or recognise poison?
41.How would you solve the aids crisis in South Africa
42.How would you restrict the spread of an epidemic such as Ebola? 
43. In your opinion, what has been the most significant medical breakthrough in the last 10 years?

The NHS
44.What do you think of the state of the NHS? What would you do to improve it?

Ethical Dilemmas
45.Should patients be allowed to sell their kidney(s)?
 
Additional Questions:
46.Why are manholes round?
47.If you were a grapefruit, would you rather be seedless or non-seedless?
48.Draw a cross section of a bicycle wheel. Now draw another one.
49.How would you describe a human to a person from Mars?
50.What is a tree? 
51.How many people believe in evolution in the United States? 
52.What is your opinion on spontaneous human combustion? 


Oxford Medicine Interview Mark Scheme
​Click Here (Available to UKCAT/BMAT/MMI Interview Course Attendees)
​

In-School MMI Preparation
MMI Question Bank
MMI Preparation Course