1. UK Medical School Admissions
Mark Blakemore St George’s, University of London

2. St George’s and medical education in the UK
Medical programmes and admissions
Overall application process and components:
Academic requirements
Personal statement and previous experiences
Entry tests
Interviews

3. UK Medical Education

4. Routes into Medicine Foundation training (2 Years)
Finishing High School / Secondary School
Medicine MBBS
5 year
Any Degree
(2.1 or 1st)
Biomedical Science BSc
(3 years)
Year 1
Grad Medicine MBBS 4 year
Clinical Transfer MBBS 3 year
Year 2
T Year: Clinical Transition Year
BSc Intercalation (optional)
P Year – Penultimate
F Year – Final Year
Foundation training (2 Years)

5. Overall Application Process - Summary
Applications through UCAS (4 medical programmes and 1 non-medical programme)
15th October deadline, to allow time for assessment of:
Academic requirements
Entry tests
Personal statement, reference and previous experience
Candidates at interview
Some universities weight different components (differently)
Others have a series of ‘minimum’ requirements (and more emphasis on the interview)

6. Academic Entry Requirements
Majority of medical schools’ A level requirements are AAA / 36 IB Points or above
Biology and Chemistry generally most important, physics and maths have different importance at different schools
Adjusted criteria schemes, and pre-university programme progression, vary
Consideration of GCSEs (or equivalent) is usually included in assessment of candidates

7. Personal statement, reference and previous experiences
Some universities ‘score’ personal statement, others don’t (and refer back at interview)
Overall lack of prescription around previous experiences – many talk around ‘caring situations’ or ‘health-related’ experiences. Only 2 schools refer directly to clinically related experience
Whole range of co-curricular experiences can be relevant
Key for students to demonstrate learning and reflect on their experiences

8. Entry Tests (1) - UKCAT
Used by 24 university for school leavers programmes (many graduate programmes use GAMSAT)
Taken July – early October prior to application at Pearson testing centres – immediate results
Each university sets a cut off – is used as a primary tool to select for interview
Explores cognitive powers and other attributes considered to be valuable for healthcare professionals
No specific curriculum or science content
No revision required but practice question taking advised
Significant number of preparation programmes now available

9. The UKCAT cut-off Entry year
 St George’s Overall Minimum UKCAT Score Requirement
 2013
 2530
 2014
 2590
 2015
 2550
 2016
 2600
2017
1870*

10. The BMAT Test Questions Minutes Scoring Aptitude and skills 35 60 1-9
Scientific Knowledge and Applications 27 30
Writing task
1 from choice of 4
A-E for English

11. Interview types - summary
Multiple Mini Interview
Panel Interview
Semi-structured interview
Assessment Centre
No interview
Undergraduate Entry 21 6 2 1
Graduate Entry 8 4

12. Multi Mini Interview (MMI)
Pre-eminent interview style in the UK
Details differ across schools – consistent philosophy
“Speed dating” as candidates move around a number of “stations” completing different activities - same experience for every candidate
Blind scored by individual assessors – reduce individual bias
Assessors are a mix of faculty, other staff, and community – representative of future patient mix
Questions are both medically and personally focussed
Training provided and questions annually reviewed and updated, particularly around cultural neutrality (shared question banks and question design)

13. Example MMI formats St George’s, University of London
Brighton & Sussex Medical School
Number of stations 8 5
Duration of stations
5 minutes
10 minutes
Time between stations
15 seconds
60 seconds
Question format
Mainly a task or question with five minutes to respond. One station has an actor role play
Ten-minute discussion with one interviewer. One station has two interviewers.
Total duration
42 minutes
54 minutes

14. Core competencies tested at interview
Academic ability and intellect
Empathy
Initiative and resilience
Communication skills
Organisation and problem solving
Team work
Insight and integrity
Effective learning style

15. Thank you!