Are You Prepared For Personal Insight Questions?

Why is personal insight important?*
- Self-reflection is important for continued professional development. It’s an important part of being a Doctor and will be the key to getting me through Medicine and into the working world safely.
- Personal insight can help you identify your strengths and weaknesses but you won’t really have any weaknesses if you’re applying to Medicine.
- Personal insight helps you to calculate your strength to weakness ratio, which is a really important part of your Medical School application.

What should you not say if asked what you think you will find hardest about being a Doctor?*
- That you will find it hard to witness a patient struggle, but you will be learning techniques to deal with this throughout your studies and your career, and you run most days as a form of stress relief.
- That you will struggle with something that is crucial to be comfortable with as a Doctor.
- That you might struggle with being on call as you work better with a regular schedule, but that you know that your motivation to study Medicine and become a Doctor will help you to work to overcome this.

Will there be a “right” answer to give for a personal insights question at interview?*
- Yes, you have to know exactly what the interviewer wants you to say or else you won’t get an offer.
- No, they don’t really care what you say for the personal insights questions, they let anyone into Medical School.
- No, as long as you can demonstrate that you have considered the personal qualities of a good Doctor, and that you match them, your answer is good.

Sometimes, preparing for the personal insight questions can be stressful as it can be scary thinking about your weaknesses just before an interview, which of these would be useful to remember as you prepare?*
- Nobody is perfect; it is important that I know what my weaknesses are so that I can improve.
- I am going to accidentally reveal a major weakness and then I will never get an offer.
- I have weaknesses and therefore I am not suitable as a candidate, I should just pull out my application.

How would you go about answering the question: “How would your peers describe you in three words”?*
- Use words that demonstrate the full range of your qualities and match those necessary to be a good Doctor, and back up each quality with evidence.
- Say that you are not your peers so you have no idea.
- Say that your peers would not be a good judge of your character and that you think you can describe yourself better.

What would be a good answer to the “Why do you deserve a place at this Medical School over the other candidates?” question?*
- Describing the qualities that make you suited to Medicine and will make you a valuable member of the university, giving multiple reasons and backing each up with evidence using real examples.
- Saying that you will work really hard because this is your childhood dream.
- Comparing yourself to the other candidates and only focusing on one area.

It can be really useful to get feedback from those you trust around you, which of these is the best response to feedback from your peers?*
- Take any feedback on your weaknesses really personally and decide to withdraw your application to study Medicine – you won’t get any offers anyway.
- Consider how you might improve in any areas of weakness identified and remember that being able to receive feedback (both positive and negative) will be an important skill for your career in Medicine.
- Compare it to your own reflections on that experience, if it is different, disregard it completely because they clearly just don’t know you.

How would you use weekend hockey games to demonstrate personal insight in an interview?*
- Playing hockey games at the weekend is great because we play matches on Saturdays, so there is no school the next day and we can go to the pub and get drunk afterwards.
- Playing hockey is great because it helps me to stay fit, but I will drop all exercise when I get to university because I won’t have time.
- Playing hockey as a team is a good method of stress relief for me, it is also a really great place for me to continue to develop the traits of being a good team member, which I think is really important for a career in Medicine.

If they throw a curveball in the interview and ask you about a skill, quality, or situation you had not considered in your preparation, what would you do?*
- Panic, there is no other option.
- Think rationally and think aloud, you think to yourself “this is a great opportunity to demonstrate my self-reflection and personal insight skills in real time!”
- Pluck out the first answer that comes into your head without any consideration.

Quiz: Are You Prepared For Personal Insight Questions?