· 6 min read
MMI Teamwork Station: What It Tests and How to Prepare
What an MMI teamwork station tests, the schools that run one, the four formats you may get and drills to practice with friends before your interview day.
An MMI teamwork station scores how you work with other people, not whether you finish the task. You may talk a partner through a drawing, solve a problem with other applicants, handle a team scenario or describe a time a team struggled. Duke lists team stations twice in its MMI, NYU Long Island adds a team-based group activity, and at least six more schools run a group exercise on interview day.
What a teamwork station tests
The AAMC lists Teamwork and Collaboration among its competencies for entering medical students and describes it in four parts. Here is each one, with what a rater is watching for.
- “Collaborates with others to achieve shared goals and prioritizes shared goals”
Do you keep the group on the task, even when your own idea loses? - “adjusts role between team member and leader based on one's own and others' expertise and experience”
Do you lead when you know more and follow when someone else does? - “shares information with team members and encourages this behavior in others”
Do you say what you know out loud and ask quieter people for theirs? - “gives and accepts feedback to improve team performance”
Can you tell a partner what is not working, kindly, and take it back?
Our AAMC core competencies guide covers the other 16, and the traditional-interview version of this skill is the conflict with a coworker question. In Confetto practice, about one in five teamwork answers (19.3%, 99 applicants) missed a core point.
Schools that run one
These schools describe a team station or a group exercise on their own interview pages for 2026-27. Each school links to our guide and to its official page.
| Duke | MMI with team stations, visited twice Source |
|---|---|
| NYU Long Island | MMI, then a team-based group activity of about an hour Source |
| Utah | Small-group scenario scored on teamwork Source |
| Colorado | Observed group activity plus an individual interview Source |
| Dartmouth (Geisel) | A 20-minute group exercise before two interviews Source |
| Rochester | PBL-style group discussion of an ethical issue Source |
| UT Tyler | MMI plus a group exercise Source |
| Central Michigan | MMI plus small-group exercises Source |
The four formats
Open each format for what it looks like, what raters score and the most common trap.
Give or follow instructions
What it looks like: One person sees a picture or a model and talks the other through drawing or building it without showing it. Then you may swap roles or debrief with the rater.
What is scored: How clearly you explain, whether you check the other person understood, how you take correction, and how you talk about it afterward. Finishing the drawing matters less than how you got there.
The trap: Talking faster when it goes wrong, or blaming your partner in the debrief.
Group task or discussion
What it looks like: Three to eight applicants get a problem, a ranking exercise or a case to discuss in a set time while raters watch. Some schools run it as a separate session after the MMI.
What is scored: Whether you move the group toward a decision, bring in people who have not spoken, build on others' ideas and stay on time. Raters watch everyone, all the time.
The trap: Talking the most, or saying nothing for the first five minutes.
Tell me about a time
What it looks like: A traditional question at a station: a team that was not working, a conflict with a teammate, a time you led or followed.
What is scored: What you did yourself, how you treated the others in the story, and what you learned. The rater cannot check the story, so specific detail is what makes it believable.
The trap: A story where you were the hero and everyone else was the problem.
Practice one: tell me about a team that was not working well.
Team scenario
What it looks like: A written prompt about a team: a group member who is not doing their share, a colleague who made a mistake, a project about to miss its deadline.
What is scored: Whether you find out what is going on before acting, talk to the person directly and privately, and keep the shared goal (and any patient) first.
The trap: Going straight to a supervisor before talking to the teammate.
Stations where an actor plays the teammate are covered in MMI role-play stations.
What MMI research says
The first MMI, at McMaster in 2004, mixed three kinds of stations: discussing a health issue with an interviewer, interacting with an actor while an examiner watched, and traditional questions. Some later MMIs aim each station at one skill. A UNC pharmacy MMI, for example, ran two separate teamwork stations, one for giving instructions and one for receiving them.
A 2016 review of 41 papers found MMIs are most reliable with 7 to 12 stations, and Duke's FAQ notes that a weak station leaves the rest to make up for it. A 2014 review of MMI designs listed comparing station types as an open research question. See how the MMI is scored for each school's scale.
Five drills to practice
You need two to four friends and a timer. Do them in this order over a week.
- Back-to-back drawing. Sit back to back with a friend. One describes a simple drawing of shapes for three minutes while the other draws it. Swap roles, then spend two minutes saying what helped and what you would change.
- Timed group ranking. With three or four friends, rank a list (who gets the last ICU bed, which five items to take on a camping trip) in eight minutes. Give yourself one job: get every person to speak once before you decide.
- Two team stories. Prepare one story about a team that struggled and one where you followed someone else's lead. Say each out loud in two minutes, with what you did and what you would do differently.
- Debrief out loud. After any group drill, answer "How do you think that went?" in one minute. Name one thing the group did well, one thing you would change, and credit someone else.
- Record and count. Record one group drill. Count how often you asked a question versus gave an opinion. If you never asked, aim for one question every couple of minutes next time.
On the day, say your plan out loud in the first minute, ask the quiet person what they think, and keep an eye on the clock for the group.
Sources, checked October 18, 2026
- AAMC: Premed Competencies for Entering Medical Students
- Duke University School of Medicine: MMI FAQ
- NYU Grossman Long Island: Interview Process
- University of Utah Spencer Fox Eccles: MD admissions FAQs
- University of Colorado School of Medicine: Interview
- Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth: Admissions FAQ
- University of Rochester: Your Interview
- UT Tyler School of Medicine: How to apply
- Central Michigan University College of Medicine: Admissions FAQ
- Eva et al. 2004, Medical Education: An admissions OSCE, the multiple mini-interview
- McLaughlin et al. 2017, Teaching and Learning in Medicine: targeted construct assessment in the MMI
- Rees et al. 2016, Medical Teacher: BEME Guide No. 37 on the MMI
- Knorr and Hissbach 2014, Medical Education: Multiple mini-interviews, same concept, different approaches
Frequently asked questions
What is a teamwork station in the MMI?
A station that scores how you work with others. You may do a task with a partner, join a group discussion with other applicants, answer a team scenario or describe a time you worked on a team.
Which medical schools have a teamwork station?
Duke lists team stations, visited twice, in its MMI. NYU Long Island adds a team-based group activity, and Utah, Colorado, Dartmouth, Rochester, UT Tyler and Central Michigan describe a group exercise or discussion on their interview pages.
How is a teamwork station scored?
On how you collaborate, not on whether the task gets finished. Raters watch whether you explain clearly, listen, bring others in, take feedback and keep the group on the shared goal.
How do I practice for an MMI teamwork station?
Practice with friends: a back-to-back drawing task where you swap roles, a timed group ranking exercise, and two prepared team stories you can tell out loud in two minutes.