Medical School Interview / University of Birmingham
University of Birmingham medicine interview: every MMI station, named
Birmingham names all seven of its stations, from role play with a professional role-player to a computer-based calculation task, and tells you how your SJT band is added to the score.
Updated September 2026The University of Birmingham interviews around 1,300 of its highest-scoring applicants for the five-year MBChB and typically makes 700 to 800 offers. Its interview page is one of the most detailed in the country. Home applicants take a face-to-face MMI at the Medical School of six or seven eight-minute stations, each including two minutes of preparation, running simultaneously so you can start at any station, with a scenario or brief to read before each. The stations are named: critical thinking, commitment and insight into medicine, dealing with personal and ethical challenges, professionalism, data interpretation and debate, interaction in a healthcare setting (a role play with a professional role-player) and a computer-based calculation station. International applicants interview online via Zoom with at least two stations, including the role play, plus a separate online calculations assessment. Offers are based on interview performance plus your UCAT SJT band, weighted equally with the stations, and Birmingham says there is likely to be a minimum standard for each station.
Merra is not affiliated with any medical school, the Medical Schools Council, the GMC or UCAS.
Merra: practise it out loud before it counts
Merra's Birmingham practice is a spoken, MMI-style mock on the talking stations Birmingham names: five questions, one follow-up each, about fifteen minutes, then spoken feedback and a written report. The role play is practised as a 'what would you say' talk-through with no professional role-player, and Merra does not cover the data-interpretation or calculation stations.
- 1Sign up free — no card, 2 free coaching sessions available until used.
- 2Practise out loud — answer unseen questions across the areas this school assesses.
- 3Get readiness feedback — see what worked and what to fix, with a recording and transcript.
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Practise the Birmingham medicine interview
An AI interviewer runs a spoken mock across the talking stations, pushes once with a follow-up, then scores you on the areas your school actually assesses.
Practise the Birmingham medicine interview2 free coaching sessions · available until used · no card needed · no subscriptionThe interview process
- 1Around 1,300 of the highest-scoring applicants are invited, with invitations in December and January and interviews in January and February. Birmingham keeps inviting until places are filled.
- 2Home applicants: face-to-face MMI at the Medical School. Six or seven stations of eight minutes, each including two minutes of preparation with a scenario or brief to read. All stations run simultaneously, so you can start at any of them; stations are updated every year.
- 3The stations, as Birmingham names them: critical thinking (a healthcare topic: identify the issues and argue rationally); commitment and insight into medicine (reflections on work experience and caring for vulnerable people); dealing with personal and ethical challenges (a scenario about staff and the qualities needed to cope); professionalism (how you would respond, as a student, to poor behaviour by a team member); data interpretation and debate (interpret clinically relevant information and explain it accessibly to a patient or carer); interaction in a healthcare setting (a role play with a professional role-player, testing rapport under challenge); and a computer-based calculation station (GCSE-level maths on clinically relevant data).
- 4International applicants: online via Zoom, with at least two MMI stations including the role play plus one other from the list, then a separate online calculations assessment on a different date. Stations are eight minutes including two minutes of preparation, with one interviewer or role-player and a second interviewer present, scored independently.
- 5Skills assessed: commitment and insight into medicine, communication, evaluating information, empathy, self-insight and reflection, ethical reasoning, and data analysis. Interviewers are academic, clinical and professional services staff and trained senior medical students.
- 6Scoring: offers are based on interview performance plus your UCAT SJT band (band 1 = full marks, band 2 = two thirds, band 3 = one third, band 4 = zero), all stations and the SJT weighted equally, with a likely minimum standard per station (except calculation). Decisions appear on UCAS by mid-March. Birmingham's advice: you cannot revise for an MMI; keep up with medical news and discuss it with people.
Interview questions
Birmingham publishes its station names and what each tests but not the scenarios. The practice questions below are Merra's, written to the talking stations Birmingham names; they are not Birmingham's own. Merra does not practise the data-interpretation or calculation stations.
“Should hospitals charge patients who miss appointments? Identify the issues, then argue the side you disagree with.”
“Is it better for the NHS to spend on prevention or on treatment? Make the case with an example.”
“Tell me about a vulnerable person you cared for or observed being cared for. What did you notice about what they needed?”
“What did your work experience show you about the parts of medicine that aren't about medicine?”
“A senior colleague asks you to do something you're not trained for because the ward is short. What do you say, and what qualities does that take?”
“You've had a terrible week and a patient is rude to you. What happens next?”
“A fellow student turns up to placement clearly hungover and is about to see patients. As a student, what do you do?”
“A doctor on your team consistently talks over patients. Do you say anything? To whom?”
“A patient is angry that their appointment has been cancelled for the third time. What would you say to them, word for word?”
“Explain a blood test result showing 'slightly high cholesterol' to a patient who is convinced they're about to have a heart attack.”
Pricing
FAQs
What are the stations in the Birmingham medicine MMI?
Birmingham names them: critical thinking; commitment and insight into medicine; dealing with personal and ethical challenges; professionalism; data interpretation and debate; interaction in a healthcare setting (a role play with a professional role-player); and a computer-based calculation station. Home applicants face six or seven eight-minute stations.
How is the Birmingham medicine interview scored?
Interview performance plus your UCAT SJT band (band 1 = full marks, band 2 = two thirds, band 3 = one third, band 4 = zero), with all stations and the SJT weighted equally and a likely minimum standard per station.
How many people does Birmingham interview?
Around 1,300 of the highest-scoring A100 applicants, leading to typically 700 to 800 offers.
Is the Birmingham interview online for international applicants?
Yes, via Zoom: at least two stations including the role play, plus a separate online calculations assessment on a different date. Home applicants interview face to face at the Medical School.
When are Birmingham medicine interviews?
Invitations go out in December and January; interviews run in January and February. Decisions appear on UCAS by mid-March.
Official information
More medical school interview guides
Merra is not affiliated with any medical school, the Medical Schools Council, the GMC or UCAS. Merra’s feedback is advisory only — it is not a guarantee of any offer or admission outcome.
The medicine interview is spoken. Practise it that way.
Your first mock takes about 15 minutes: unseen questions, a follow-up, and feedback on what to fix. Free, no card.
Practise the Birmingham medicine interview2 free coaching sessions · available until used · no card needed · no subscription