Preparing for the Queen's Belfast medicine interview

What QUB's sample stations show

QUB publishes three sample stations. The first is a role player station: you are a first-year student who finds a classmate looking upset at a bus stop and must show how you would approach them, testing communication and empathy. The second asks what options you have when neighbours complain about noise from a shared student house, with the assessor asking questions, testing problem-solving and communication. The third is a semi-structured interview about helping mediate a difficult family medical decision, testing problem solving, ethical reasoning and communication. The pattern is useful: everyday situations, a role player or an assessor, and a focus on reasoning and sensitivity rather than medical knowledge.

QUB's own preparation advice

QUB advises you to look at the non-cognitive competencies it tests and at your own background to see how you could show them. Before you enter a station you have one minute to consider the scenario: ask yourself what competencies it might be testing, what steps you would take, and what the options are, then talk those through with the assessor. It also reminds you that each station carries equal marks, so a weak station can be offset by others.

Work experience and disability support

The school says work experience is not required because access is unequal, but caring experience through volunteering or paid work is encouraged. It also says it welcomes applications from candidates with disabilities and points to the university's Accessible Learning Support Unit.

How to prepare for the Queen's Belfast interview

• Practise the one-minute plan. Name the competency, list options, then talk through your reasoning with the assessor.
• Practise role play with someone you do not know well. Approach someone who seems upset and ask how they are without assuming.
• Prepare ethical reasoning. Use autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and justice to structure a view and then say what you would do.
• Treat each station as a fresh start. QUB says each is equal, so move on from a poor one quickly.
• Check your 2027 invitation. The pages describe 2026 entry, so confirm setting and timing when you are invited.

Queen's Belfast practice questions (written by us, not Queen's University Belfast)

QUB publishes three sample stations, so we did not reuse them. These are our own questions around the four competencies it tests. Allow a minute to think, then speak for about five.

1. Role-play: a new student on your course tells you they feel they do not belong. How do you respond?
2. You are a student on placement in a GP surgery and a patient asks you about a test result you are not allowed to give. What do you say?
3. A group project partner has not done their share and the deadline is tomorrow. What are your options?
4. An elderly patient wants to go home but their family wants them to stay in hospital. How would you help?
5. Should it be legal for a doctor to refuse to provide a treatment because of personal beliefs? Discuss.
6. You discover a friend has lied on their application. What do you do?
7. Describe a time you had to put someone else's needs ahead of your own.
8. How could a doctor help a patient who cannot read well?
9. A relative asks you to decide something they should decide themselves. How do you handle that?
10. What would you do if you disagreed with a treatment plan that your senior had chosen?

For a wider set, see our practice questions with answers guide and our MMI practice and preparation guide.

A drill for short MMI stations

1. Use a one-minute timer to read a prompt and plan, then speak for five minutes with a partner as assessor.
2. Make two stations role plays with a partner who stays in character.
3. Make one station a four-principles ethics case and one a practical problem like a noisy neighbour.
4. After each station, write the competency you think was tested and one thing you did to show it.
5. Run all stations without stopping between them, to practise the reset.

If you don't have a practice partner, Confetto's AI mock interviews ask follow-up questions based on what you actually said and give rubric-based feedback afterward. The question bank has over 500 questions, and you can start with a 7-day free trial.

Queen's Belfast interview FAQ

Is the QUB interview an MMI?

Yes. QUB says applicants selected for stage two attend a multiple mini interview.

Is it online?

For 2026 entry, home applicants were interviewed in person at QUB and international applicants online. Check your invitation for the current cycle.

What does QUB test?

Empathy, problem-solving, moral reasoning and communication skills, which it says patients and academic staff identified as key non-cognitive competencies.

How many are interviewed?

QUB says that around the top 700 applicants by combined UCAT and academic score are considered for interview.

What is the UCAS deadline?

15 October 2026 at 18:00, with the UCAT sat beforehand.

How does the SJT matter?

The UCAT SJT can inform decisions on borderline applicants who achieved a similar score at interview.

Applying to schools elsewhere in the UK too? See our guides to the University of Dundee School of Medicine, University of Liverpool School of Medicine and Cardiff University School of Medicine interviews, or our medical school interview prep page.

Sources: QUB MMI page, QUB how to apply, QUB Medicine course page.

Confetto isn't affiliated with Queen's University Belfast. Everything here about the school comes from its public admissions pages, checked in October 2026. Formats can change between cycles, so go by your invitation email.