The University of Auckland announced that the 2023 MMI would take place between August 28 and September 8. Whether you are applying to medicine, optometry, or pharmacy, the MMI makes up a big part of your entry. It’s essential to prepare early, so here are some common mistakes you want to avoid making for your MMI!
Memorising responses
Memorising responses is something you want to avoid. It’s very easy for interviewers to identify rehearsed and memorised responses, and you may be marked down for lack of genuineness. We recommend you practice but not rehearse your responses. Be natural when speaking; you don’t want to sound robotic in your responses. When talking about your personal experiences, don’t try to memorise and recall them word for word. Although some topics may repeat over the years, the questions often differ. Don’t try to practice and memorise the “perfect answer” because that won’t work.
Not listening to the interviewer
The interviewers are there to help you during the interview. They act to guide the conversation and bring you on the right track. Pay close attention to the follow-up questions asked by the interviewers. Answer questions concisely and straight to the point. Not doing this will waste time, but don’t interrupt the interviewers before they finish talking! You may be asked to clarify and expand on points you’ve made or even have your arguments challenged. Some questions may be tough, but they aren’t trying to make you fail. Though the MMI is like a conversation, you will be doing most of the speaking, so don’t expect the interviewers to talk for very long.
Going off-topic
Going off-topic and talking about unrelated things is another common mistake. If the question asks about your strengths, don’t start talking about your weaknesses too. The interviewers will ask this in the follow-up questions if it’s something they want to hear. Try not to ramble on and repeat what you’ve said over and over again. If the interviewer feels you are going off-topic, they may interrupt and bring you on track. Staying on topic also applies to follow-up questions. Listen closely and answer what the interviewers asked you.
Timing!
Timing can be tricky for students when they are starting to practice the MMI. You have eight minutes for each station; two minutes for preparation, so you have six minutes to respond. You don’t want to talk for too long in your initial response because you want to leave time for follow-up questions, but not too short as well. We recommend an initial response of 2-3 minutes, and you can practice your timing by answering questions and timing yourself at home. Lacking knowledge on topics can lead to a short initial response, and we recommend checking out our MMI guide after this blog!
Be Unique
As an interviewer, you often hear similar responses and having a unique answer can help to make you stand out. Adding a personal experience to your answer can make your answer memorable. We recommend adding a personal experience to your answer whenever applicable, such as when discussing your strengths and weaknesses.
In our MMI course, you will learn essential knowledge and key strategies. We also have a custom-made MMI question bank with over 70 questions for your practice. We offer a FREE consultation with every purchase!
