Start with the three-station circuit below. Each student answers every station, then leaves with specific feedback and one task to practise.
Updated 22 October 2026. Original MedicHut teaching stations, not past university questions or official scoring.
Download all nine filesIndividual downloads Choose a formatRotationsStaff and deliveryFeedbackReview safeguards45 minutes for up to three candidates
Three stations: motivation, teamwork and role-play. Use three assessors and one actor for three candidates in parallel. With one assessor and one actor, run one candidate at a time; allow 45 minutes per candidate. Ethics is excluded while professional review is pending.
90 minutes for up to six candidates
Six assessors and one actor, with up to six candidates rotating in parallel. Station 2 must receive qualified clinical/legal review before delivery. Until then use the three-station format, not the unreviewed ethics station.
Each row is one candidate. Move one column on the bell. With fewer candidates, leave the unused rows empty. Observing another student does not count as answering a station.
| Candidate | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| B | 5 | 6 | 1 |
| C | 6 | 1 | 5 |
| Candidate | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Round 5 | Round 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| B | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 1 |
| C | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 2 |
| D | 4 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| E | 5 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| F | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
For larger groups, repeat the full circuit for another cohort or staff a second circuit. If students work in pairs, repeat after swapping roles so both answer all stations. Do not fit extra candidates into the timetable without allowing extra rounds.
MMI stands for Multiple Mini Interview. Instead of one long interview, the student moves around a circuit of short stations. Each station lasts about five to eight minutes and tests one thing, such as ethics, communication or motivation. A fresh assessor at each station scores the student independently.
Universities use different interview formats, including MMIs and panel interviews. The format each university uses is published on its admissions pages, and our question bank links to those pages for each university.
Grades and admissions tests show academic ability. Interviews test the things grades cannot: communication, empathy, ethical reasoning, teamwork and whether the student understands what a career in medicine actually involves.
This is good news for you as a teacher. The quick format needs no clinical expertise. Sensitive clinical or legal teaching, including Station 2, needs qualified review before delivery.
This teaching toolkit uses the following qualities. University criteria may differ:
You need one space per station. Classrooms, offices or marked corners of a hall all work. Put the printed candidate card face down on the desk outside or inside the station. Each station needs one assessor. Station 6 also needs an actor, who can be a staff member or a reliable sixth-form volunteer.
Brief every assessor before the day. Give them their station's assessor sheet and scoring sheets, and make sure they understand they are scoring communication and reasoning, not medical knowledge.
Use the slides provided, or cover these points yourself: the format and timings, that they get reading time before each station, that they cannot carry notes between stations, and that the assessors are not trying to catch them out. Reassure nervous students that being nervous is normal and that this is practice, not the real thing.
Give each student a starting station number. On each bell, everyone moves to the next station in numerical order, with the last station wrapping back to the first. Print the rotation plan and pin it up where everyone can see it. With six students and six stations, everyone starts at once. With fewer students than stations, some stations simply sit empty each round.
Use one loud timer or bell for the whole circuit so every station stays in step. The standard timing is 1 minute of reading time, then 6 minutes with the assessor, then 1 minute to change over. If a student finishes early, use listed follow-ups where supplied. Do not invent follow-ups during the role-play. If they run over, the bell ends the station anyway, just like the real thing.
Every station in this toolkit comes with an assessor sheet listing what a stronger answer looks like and the common weaknesses. You are comparing what you hear against those descriptions. Score what you observe: did they structure the answer, did they show empathy, did they weigh both sides. You are not scoring whether their medical facts are correct.
Use the behavioural anchors on the scoring sheet. Choose Not observed when a criterion was not tested or could not be observed, including eye contact in Station 3. Explain the evidence rather than automatically choosing a lower rating. Do not total ratings to rank students.
Vague feedback like be more confident does not help. Use this shape instead: name two or three specific things that went well, give one or two specific, actionable improvements, and agree one thing to practise before the next session.
For example: your explanation was easy to follow because you used short steps. Next time, pause after each step and check what the listener understood. Do not treat eye contact as a universal requirement; respect individual access needs.
Interviews can make anxious students tearful or frozen. If this happens, stop the station. It is practice, and nothing is at stake. Take them aside, be kind and normalise it: this is exactly why we practise. Offer to let them watch a station instead of answering, retry the same station later, or stop for the day. Follow your school's usual pastoral procedures if you have any wider concerns.
Ask students in advance about any adjustments they receive in exams, and mirror those where you can. Reasonable adjustments might include extra reading time, a printed copy of questions in a larger font, a quieter room, or a break between stations. Tell students before the day what adjustments are available so nobody has to ask in front of the group.
Write observations while the student answers, without a running commentary. At the end, return one station sheet per station answered. Record the station number, one strength and one specific change. Agree a next practice date on the overall feedback form.
Do not total these teaching ratings to rank applicants. Do not penalise eye contact where it is not observed, appropriate or accessible. In the communication task, the assessor turns away, so visual cues are not assessed.
Choose a follow-up practice question from the free bank
The ethics station involves a young person asking for contraception. Its clinical and legal guidance has not had qualified professional sign-off. Do not deliver that station until reviewed. The quick format uses motivation, teamwork and role-play instead. The full pack keeps the separate ethics draft clearly labelled for review, not as clinical advice.
GMC guidance on children and young people
Use your school's safeguarding procedures and agree access adjustments in advance. Preparation times have not been trialled: rehearse the circuit with staff before student delivery.