How a Kira Talent interview works

A Kira Talent interview is a one-way (asynchronous) assessment: the school pre-records its questions, you get a short countdown to think, and then your webcam records one take with no interviewer on the other end. Some schools add written questions that you type on a timer with no prep time, and every school sets its own question count, think time, answer length and deadline, so the numbers in your invitation are the only ones that count.

Here's how Kira's applicant help centre describes the asynchronous format:

For a video question, a pre-recorded clip plays once. The question text stays on screen through your prep time and your answer, with a countdown bar at the top.
Your recording submits on its own when time runs out. You can also click Submit to finish early and move on.
Written questions show text only. There's no prep time, but the response time is often longer.
You get one attempt per question, and you can't replay or review your answers after you submit (Kira: confirm your submission).
To see your question count, types and expected length, click Check In in your invite, then Learn More, then the Assessment Details slide.

Kira also hosts live, two-way interviews. Kira says a one-way invite usually says "assessment" and, if there's a deadline, "Your response is due by:", while a live invite says "interview" and gives a schedule (Kira: types of assessments). This article covers the one-way version.

Kira Talent is a trademark of Kira Talent Inc. Confetto isn't affiliated with Kira Talent, ETS, Acuity Insights or any school. Facts below come from Kira's and schools' own pages, read in October 2026.

Kira's practice questions

Kira does offer practice, inside your invitation, if the school turned it on: look for a Practice step on your Check-In page. During practice you can redo questions and replay your recordings, and nobody sees them but you. Kira warns that practice questions may not resemble the real ones and the timings may differ (Kira: practice). If the school made practice required, the assessment step stays greyed out until you finish it.

Kira's preparation tips say the built-in practice can be repeated an unlimited number of times. Before you're invited, it suggests recording yourself on common interview questions.

Some schools make it mandatory. UVM's Larner College of Medicine, which runs its MMI on Zoom and Kira, says you must finish your Kira profile and practice question at least 12 hours before interview day or you can't interview (UVM interview overview).

Kira set-ups on official school pages

These are each school's own set-up as its pages described it in October 2026. Schools vary and change year to year, so treat this as a range, not a prediction.

School and program	What the page says	Timing given
Washington State University, prelicensure BSN	7 video questions	Usually 15 s prep, most answers 120 s, 30 min max
Toronto Metropolitan University, MD (2027 cycle)	6 timed questions, video and written	Complete Nov 19 to 22, 2026
Yale School of Nursing	Written and video questions, one session	About 25 to 30 min; 2 weeks to finish
UMass Chan, MD	Brief recorded responses, then live interviews if invited	Within 7 days of notice
McGovern (UTHealth Houston), MD	Video assessment for invited applicants	Within 5 days of invite

Sources: WSU College of Nursing, TMU selection process and TMU dates, Yale School of Nursing, UMass Chan admissions, McGovern admissions FAQ.

Pacific University's PA program says Kira is built into CASPA with timed written and video responses (Pacific PA admissions), and AACP says Liaison partnered with Kira to build its assessments into PharmCAS and other CAS applications (AACP Kira resources). McMaster's MSc OT program charges a $55 interview fee and says tablets and phones won't work for its Kira interview (McMaster OT selection process). If UMass Chan is on your list, our UMass Chan interview guide covers the live round that follows.

Acuity Insights' Video Interviews is a separate one-way product where each program sets its own questions, rubrics, think time and response time. The prep below works for both.

What schools say about how answers are reviewed

Kira says reviewers want your own perspective, not a script, and that more words don't necessarily make an answer stronger. Scoring is each school's call. A few explain theirs:

WSU Nursing says multiple reviewers score answers with competency-based criteria and structured rubrics, without seeing the rest of your application. Each question gets a different reviewer, so reusing a good story is fine, but don't refer back to an earlier answer.
McMaster OT says the interview score makes up 75% of the final ranking, with the other 25% from sub-GPA.
UMass Chan says its interviews don't test scientific knowledge. They focus on skills such as communication, ethics, teamwork and understanding others' perspectives.

Kira also monitors your activity and browser behavior during the assessment and reports it to the school, along with any disconnections (Kira: applicant integrity). Do it alone, in one sitting, and don't switch tabs.

A timing plan for 30 seconds of think time and a 60 to 90 second answer

None of the pages above sets these exact numbers. They're a practice default, so swap in the timings from your invitation.

The 30 seconds of think time

0 to 10 s: Reread the on-screen question and find the actual ask. "What would you do" needs a decision; "tell us about a time" needs one real story.
10 to 20 s: Pick one example or one decision. Only one.
20 to 30 s: Fix your first sentence and your last sentence, then move your eyes to the lens before the recording starts.

With only 15 seconds, as in WSU's set-up, just pick the example and your first sentence.

The answer

Block	60 s answer	90 s answer
Answer the question directly	0 to 8 s	0 to 10 s
One example or your reasoning	8 to 40 s	10 to 60 s
What it changed or why it matters	40 to 52 s	60 to 80 s
One closing line, then stop	52 to 60 s	80 to 90 s

Once you've said your closing line, click Submit. A recap to fill the clock makes a good answer weaker.

Written questions

The clock starts when the question appears. Type a one-sentence answer first, then support it, and keep 30 seconds to reread. Kira asks you to disable extensions, Grammarly included.

Pre-recording tech checklist

From Kira's help pages on supported devices, camera and mic setup, lighting and framing and check-in time.

Use a laptop or desktop with Chrome, Kira's recommended desktop browser. Update the browser and your operating system first so a forced restart can't hit mid-answer.
Close Zoom, FaceTime, Photo Booth and anything else that might grab the camera or mic.
Open your invite in an incognito window, or disable ad blockers and Grammarly.
Silence notifications on your laptop and phone, and plug in your charger.
Put the light in front of you, not a window behind you, and frame your face and shoulders against a plain wall. Look at the lens, not your own face.
In Device Setup, record the sample video and play it back with sound before you go any further.
Allow 15 to 30 minutes for check-in if it's your first time on Kira.

A one-week Kira practice drill

Day	What to do
1	Write down the question count, types, timings and deadline from Assessment Details. Finish Device Setup.
2	Record 3 prompts from the list below at your exact timings. Watch once muted for eye contact, then listen once without watching for content.
3	Written drill: 2 prompts at your written time limit. Check that the first sentence answers the question.
4	Record 4 prompts back to back without pausing. Fix only your opening sentences.
5	Have a friend read you unseen prompts, then name the one point they remember. If they can't, your point came too late.
6	Do Kira's practice step, if your school offers it, in the room and outfit you'll use. Replay to check light and sound.
7	Take the real assessment in one sitting.

If your window is shorter, as with McGovern's five days, do days 1, 2, 4 and 6 and record on day 5.

8 Kira-style practice prompts (written by Confetto)

We wrote these for practice. They aren't real Kira questions or any school's questions, and they suit MD, PA, pharmacy, nursing and PT or OT applicants.

Video: A patient's son asks you, a volunteer, whether his father's test results are back. You know they are, but sharing them isn't your role. What do you say to him?
Video: Tell us about a time you were wrong about a person.
Video: What part of this profession do you expect to find hardest, and what are you doing about it now?
Video: Describe a task you found dull that you still had to do well.
Video: A classmate who missed a shadowing day asks for your notes, including details about a patient you saw. How do you respond?
Video: Tell us about a group that didn't include you at first. What did you do?
Written: Some people think health professionals should never share personal opinions with patients. Do you agree? Explain.
Written: Describe a decision you made with incomplete information. What would you do differently now?

More prompts: our PA program interview questions.

Worked example: a fictional 90-second answer

Fictional applicant and answer, written by Confetto to show the timing plan, for prompt 6 above.

[Direct answer, about 10 s] "When I started as a physical therapy aide, the other aides had a routine I wasn't part of, and I got in by asking to learn it."

[Example, about 50 s] "They'd worked together for years and finished each other's tasks without talking. For two weeks I mostly cleaned tables. Then I asked the senior aide if I could shadow her during setup for a week, just watching. I wrote down the order she prepped rooms in and asked why for each step. By the second week I was setting up the morning rooms myself, and she started handing me patients' exercise sheets to check."

[What it changed, about 20 s] "I'd been waiting for them to include me. It went faster once I treated their routine as something worth learning, not a club I was locked out of."

[Close, about 10 s] "I expect to be the new person on a lot of teams in clinical training, and I'll start the same way."

It runs about 150 words. Read it aloud with a timer to see where 90 seconds lands for you.

Retakes, deadlines and confirming you're done

Kira can't grant retakes or extend deadlines. Ask your school, which may allow a retake for a technical problem at its discretion (Kira: retakes and deadlines). McMaster OT says it doesn't grant extensions.
When you finish, you'll see "You have completed your assessment." Your invite link will then open a submission confirmation page.
If your school portal hasn't updated, Kira suggests checking again within 24 hours before contacting the school.

Practicing with the real timer

Confetto's one-way video interview practice runs 3 to 8 timed video questions, with think time from 0 to 120 seconds and answers from 30 to 180 seconds in one take, plus up to 3 timed written questions of 3 to 5 minutes. The presets are typical set-ups, not any school's official settings, so pick Custom and enter the numbers from your invitation. Every answer gets a rubric score, a transcript and delivery feedback. The questions are written by Confetto, not taken from Kira, Acuity or any school. The free trial includes one one-way practice round with full feedback, and unlimited one-way practice comes with every paid plan.