Cambridge Medicine Interview Questions (2027 Entry)

How does Cambridge interview for medicine?

Source: Cambridge Colleges, Key Criteria for Medical Admissions (PDF) (no year stated, current on the admissions site); University of Cambridge, Cambridge interviews (2027 entry); University of Cambridge, Interview preparation (no year stated); University of Cambridge, Medicine (MB BChir) (2027 entry); Christ's College, Medicine (no year stated)

Does the interview depend on which College you apply to?

Source: Christ's College, Medicine (no year stated); Churchill College, Medicine (no year stated); Downing College, Medicine (no year stated); Gonville & Caius College, Medicine (no year stated); Jesus College, Medicine (2026-27); King's College, Medicine (no year stated); St John's College, Medical Sciences (no year stated); Trinity College, Medical Sciences (2027 entry)

When are Cambridge medicine interviews for 2027 entry?

Source: University of Cambridge, Cambridge interviews (2027 entry); University of Cambridge, Application outcomes (2027 entry)

How does Cambridge decide who to interview?

Source: University of Cambridge, Medicine (MB BChir) (2027 entry); Trinity College, Medical Sciences (2027 entry)

What does Cambridge assess at interview?

Source: Cambridge Colleges, Key Criteria for Medical Admissions (PDF) (no year stated, current on the admissions site)

Applying your A-level science to new problems

What Cambridge says: The Key Criteria ask for "the application of that knowledge to new scenarios and problems, whether at a micro level (e.g. molecular models) or on a larger scale (e.g. whole body problems and systems)." Cambridge Colleges, Key Criteria for Medical Admissions (PDF)

This is the heart of a Cambridge medicine interview. You will be given a problem you have not met, built from Chemistry, Biology, Physics or Maths you already know, and asked to reason towards an answer out loud. Nobody expects you to know the answer at the start. Say what you know, make a sensible assumption, and keep going; when you are stuck, say why, because that is often the point at which the interviewer helps.

1. 1

   Why does a red blood cell burst in pure water, when a plant cell in the same water does not?

   What to cover: Water enters both cells by osmosis because the inside is more concentrated. The red cell has only a membrane, so it swells until it bursts; the plant cell has a rigid cell wall that pushes back, and it becomes turgid instead. Then say what this means for the fluids given into a vein.

2. 2

   Carbon monoxide binds haemoglobin far more tightly than oxygen does. Why might a pulse oximeter reading look normal in someone with carbon monoxide poisoning?

   What to cover: Reason from how the device works: it reads the colour of haemoglobin, and haemoglobin carrying carbon monoxide looks much like haemoglobin carrying oxygen, so the reading can stay high while the tissues are starved of oxygen. The lesson is that a measurement is only as good as what it actually detects.

3. 3

   If you doubled the radius of a blood vessel and nothing else changed, what would happen to the flow through it?

   What to cover: Think of a narrow tube first: resistance falls very steeply as the tube widens. The physics (Poiseuille's law) says flow rises with the fourth power of the radius, so doubling the radius gives about 16 times the flow. Then apply it: small changes in the width of arterioles are how the body redirects blood.

4. 4

   Why do small mammals such as mice need to eat a much larger fraction of their body weight each day than elephants do?

   What to cover: Work from surface area to volume. A small animal has much more surface for its volume, so it loses heat faster and must produce more heat per kilogram, which means a higher metabolic rate and more food. You can make the point with a cube: double the side and the volume goes up eight times, but the surface only four.

5. 5

   Aspirin is a weak acid. Where in the gut would you expect it to be absorbed, and why might the answer be more complicated than it first looks?

   What to cover: In the acid of the stomach a weak acid is mostly un-ionised and crosses membranes easily, which argues for the stomach. But the small intestine has an enormous surface area, so in practice most absorption happens there. Showing that you can hold two effects together and weigh them is exactly what is being assessed.

6. 6

   Someone with diabetic ketoacidosis breathes deeply and quickly. Why?

   What to cover: Ketones are acids, so the blood becomes more acidic. Carbon dioxide forms carbonic acid in the blood, so breathing it off faster pulls the pH back up. Write the equilibrium, CO2 plus water to carbonic acid to hydrogen ions and bicarbonate, and move it in the right direction.

7. 7

   Roughly how many times will your heart beat in your lifetime?

   What to cover: Estimate in steps and say each one aloud: about 70 beats a minute, 60 minutes, 24 hours, 365 days, 80 years. That is roughly 4,000 an hour, 100,000 a day, 37 million a year and about 3 billion in a lifetime. A sensible order of magnitude reached openly is the whole answer.

8. 8

   Why is a fever of 38 to 39°C not usually harmful to the body's enzymes, when boiling an egg changes its proteins for good?

   What to cover: Enzymes do have an optimum temperature, but a fever sits only a degree or two above normal, well short of the temperatures that unfold most human proteins. Cooking an egg goes far higher and denatures the proteins permanently. You might add that a modest fever may even help the immune response, which is why it is not always treated.

9. 9

   Why do antibiotics work against bacteria but not against the viruses that cause colds?

   What to cover: Antibiotics target structures bacteria have and our cells do not, such as the bacterial cell wall and bacterial ribosomes. Viruses have none of these and use our own cells' machinery to copy themselves, so there is nothing for an antibiotic to hit. Then link it to why prescribing them for a cold does harm.

Go deeper: Ultimate medicine interview questions guide

Observation, data and hypotheses

What Cambridge says: The Key Criteria list observational skills, "the ability to hypothesize and to think through scientific problems", and the ability to avoid "jumping too hastily to conclusions". Cambridge Colleges, Key Criteria for Medical Admissions (PDF)

Expect to be shown a graph, a table, an image or an object and asked what you notice. Describe before you explain: say what the axes are and what the pattern is, then offer more than one explanation, and say what extra data would tell them apart. The interviewer is listening for whether you commit too early.

10. 10

    People who carry a lighter are more likely to get lung cancer. Does carrying a lighter cause cancer?

    What to cover: No: smoking causes both, so it is a confounder. Then go further, because this is where the marks are: how would you test it? You would compare smokers with and without lighters, or non-smokers who carry one, and see if the link disappears.

11. 11

    A test for a disease picks up 99% of people who have it and wrongly flags 1% of people who do not. The disease affects 1 in 1,000 people. If you test positive, how likely is it that you have the disease?

    What to cover: Use a population of 100,000. 100 have the disease and 99 test positive. 99,900 do not, and 1% of them, about 999, test positive too. So only 99 of roughly 1,100 positives are real, about 9%. Then explain why this matters for screening healthy people.

12. 12

    Here is a curve of bacteria growing in a flask over 24 hours. Describe it and explain each part.

    What to cover: A slow start while the bacteria adapt, a steep rise as they divide (on a log scale this is a straight line), a plateau as nutrients run out and waste builds up, then a fall as cells die. Name what limits each phase rather than only the phase.

13. 13

    A study finds that people who drink coffee live longer. Give me three explanations other than coffee being good for you.

    What to cover: Confounding (coffee drinkers may be richer or more active), reverse causation (people who are unwell may give up coffee) and chance or bias in who was studied. Then say what kind of study would settle it and why a trial is hard here.

14. 14

    How would you design an experiment to find out whether a new drug lowers blood pressure?

    What to cover: Randomise people to the drug or a placebo, keep both the patients and the assessors blind to which is which, decide the outcome and the sample size in advance, and measure blood pressure the same way in both groups. Say what you would also watch for, such as side effects.

15. 15

    Look at this object for a minute and tell me everything you notice about it.

    What to cover: Describe before you interpret: size, shape, texture, colour, symmetry and anything that looks damaged or unusual. Then offer a hypothesis about what it is or what it is for, and say what would confirm it. Guessing straight away skips the skill being tested.

16. 16

    Two groups of patients are given the same dose of a drug. One group's blood level is twice the other's. Suggest reasons.

    What to cover: Differences in absorption, in body size, in how fast the liver breaks the drug down (which can be inherited), in how well the kidneys clear it, and in other drugs they take. Then pick the explanation you would test first and say how.

17. 17

    Infection rates on a hospital ward fell after hand gel was put at every bed. Can we say the gel caused the fall?

    What to cover: Not yet. Rates may have been falling anyway, a new cleaning contract or a quiet winter may have coincided, and staff may have changed their habits because they knew they were being watched. A comparison ward without the change would help.

18. 18

    Antibiotic resistance spreads faster in hospitals than in the community. Why?

    What to cover: Heavy antibiotic use selects for resistant bacteria, patients are unwell and often have lines and wounds, and bacteria pass between patients on hands and equipment. Our antimicrobial resistance guide gives the wider picture.

Go deeper: Data interpretation interview questions

Interest in the science behind medicine

What Cambridge says: The Key Criteria ask for "an interest in the science behind medicine", and the Clinical School looks for students "knowledgeable about the scientific basis of medicine, including its most recent developments". Cambridge Colleges, Key Criteria for Medical Admissions (PDF)

Cambridge's first three years are taught as science, so the interviewers want evidence that you enjoy the science for its own sake. Anything in your personal statement is fair game, and you should be able to explain it more deeply than you wrote it. One topic you have genuinely followed up beats a list of headlines.

19. 19

    Tell me about a scientific development in medicine from the last few years that interests you, and explain how it works.

    What to cover: Choose something you can explain from the mechanism up, and be ready to be taken one level deeper than you prepared. Say what problem it solves, what its limits are and what you would want to know next.

20. 20

    How do mRNA vaccines work, and why could they be developed so quickly?

    What to cover: The vaccine delivers instructions for the cell to make a viral protein, which the immune system then learns to recognise. Speed came from the platform: once the genetic sequence was known, the vaccine could be designed without growing the virus. Mention one limitation, such as storage.

21. 21

    What is CRISPR, and what is one problem with using it to treat patients?

    What to cover: It lets scientists cut DNA at a chosen sequence and change it. Problems include edits in the wrong place, getting it into the right cells, cost, and the ethics of changes that could be inherited. Our CRISPR and gene editing guide covers both the science and the ethics.

22. 22

    Why do cancer cells keep dividing when normal cells stop?

    What to cover: Mutations switch on genes that drive division and switch off genes that would halt it or trigger the cell's own death. Then explain why cancer is more common with age: mutations accumulate over time.

23. 23

    Why have we not been able to make an effective vaccine for HIV?

    What to cover: The virus mutates very fast, hides inside the immune cells it infects, and inserts itself into our DNA. Compare it with measles, where one vaccine works for life because the virus changes so little.

24. 24

    Pick something from your personal statement and explain it to me as if I were a first-year student.

    What to cover: Choose the most scientific thing you wrote and prepare it properly, because you will be asked a follow-up you did not anticipate. Saying "I had not thought about that, but I would guess..." and reasoning on is a good answer.

25. 25

    If you had a year and a laboratory to research one question in medicine, what would it be?

    What to cover: Choose a real open question, explain why it matters, and outline how you would begin to answer it. This is testing the "capacity for inquiry" the Clinical School names, not your knowledge of the answer.

26. 26

    What is the most interesting thing you have read about the human body that was not on your A-level syllabus?

    What to cover: Name it, explain it, and say what it made you want to find out. Show that the reading led you to think rather than to collect facts.

27. 27

    AI can now read some scans as accurately as a specialist. What would you want to know before using it on patients?

    What to cover: How it was tested, on whom, how it fails, who is responsible when it is wrong, and whether it works as well for every group of patients. Our AI in medicine guide has examples.

Go deeper: Medicine reading list

Motivation, the career and the Cambridge course

What Cambridge says: The Key Criteria ask for "a strong motivation for a medical career and ability to explain and substantiate it", a realistic understanding of the career, and an understanding of what studying for a medical degree entails. Cambridge Colleges, Key Criteria for Medical Admissions (PDF)

At some Colleges this is a separate interview with a doctor; at others it is a few minutes of a science interview. Either way, know the Cambridge course: six years, three pre-clinical years taught through lectures, practicals with dissection and small-group supervisions, a third year in which you specialise in another subject, then three clinical years.

28. 28

    Why do you want to be a doctor rather than a scientist?

    What to cover: This is the question Cambridge's science-heavy course invites. Say what draws you to patients as well as to the science, and back it with something you have seen or done. A good answer usually admits that you love both.

29. 29

    Why Cambridge?

    What to cover: Talk about the course, not the name: the supervision system, three years of science before the clinical years, dissection, and a third year in a subject you choose. Say why that suits the way you learn.

30. 30

    Cambridge's first three years are taught mainly as science. Why might that make a better doctor, and what might it miss?

    What to cover: A deep scientific base helps a doctor reason about the unfamiliar rather than memorise patterns. It may delay the communication and clinical skills other courses build from the first term. Weigh both honestly and say how you would make up for the gap.

31. 31

    In the third year you specialise in another subject. What might you choose, and why?

    What to cover: The course page names options from Natural Sciences subjects to History of Medicine, Philosophy or Anthropology. Pick one, say what you would want to learn and how it would make you a different kind of doctor.

32. 32

    How do you think a supervision will differ from a lesson at school?

    What to cover: Two or three students, one supervisor, your own work discussed and challenged. Show that you would welcome being told you are wrong and that you would prepare rather than wait to be taught.

33. 33

    What have you done to find out what being a doctor is really like?

    What to cover: Give one or two experiences and what each taught you, including something that surprised you or was harder than you expected. The Key Criteria ask you to show how your understanding has moved on as a result.

34. 34

    What does a resident doctor's working week actually involve?

    What to cover: Shifts, nights and weekends, rotations every few months, exams and portfolios on top of clinical work, and a lot of time with families and colleagues as well as patients. Our guide to why resident doctors are leaving the UK gives the realistic picture the criteria ask for.

35. 35

    Medicine means learning for your whole career. How do you know you will still want to?

    What to cover: Point to something you have kept learning about long after anyone required you to. A habit is better evidence than a promise.

36. 36

    If you were not offered a place, what would you do?

    What to cover: Have a real plan: reapplying with something you would genuinely use the year for, or another degree you would actually enjoy. Sounding as if you had thought about it is what matters.

Go deeper: How to answer "Why medicine?"

Personal qualities and communication

What Cambridge says: The Key Criteria include listening and empathy, "skills in clear communication of scientific and personal matters both to peers and to lay audiences", team-working, and "a capacity for focused hard work and ability to cope with stressful situations". Cambridge Colleges, Key Criteria for Medical Admissions (PDF)

These questions often arrive inside a science interview: explain what you have just worked out to someone who is not a scientist, or describe how you would cope with an eight-week term. Keep the answers specific and honest, because the interviewers are looking for maturity rather than polish.

37. 37

    Explain how the heart pumps blood to a 10-year-old.

    What to cover: Use one good analogy, such as two pumps side by side, one sending blood to the lungs and one to the body, with doors that only open one way. Check they have understood and keep the science right underneath the simple words.

38. 38

    Now explain what you just worked out to me as if I were a patient worried about my own heart.

    What to cover: Change your tone as well as your words: acknowledge the worry first, then explain only what they need, and ask what they want to know. The switch between audiences is the point of the question.

39. 39

    Tell me about a time a team you were in was not working. What did you do?

    What to cover: Describe your own part honestly, including anything you got wrong, and what changed because of what you did. A story in which you rescue everyone sounds rehearsed.

40. 40

    Cambridge terms are eight weeks long and intense. How do you cope when the work keeps coming?

    What to cover: Describe what you actually do: how you plan, what you drop, how you rest and who you talk to. Say how you would know you were struggling and where you would go for help.

41. 41

    Tell me about something you saw on work experience, and how your thinking about it has changed since.

    What to cover: The criteria ask you to show that your understanding has progressed. Describe the moment, what you thought then, and what you think now after reading or more experience.

42. 42

    A friend on your course fails an exam and tells you they want to give up medicine. What do you say?

    What to cover: Listen before you advise, find out what is really behind it, and help them see the support available, from their Director of Studies to welfare services. Do not decide for them.

43. 43

    Tell me about a time you were wrong about something important to you.

    What to cover: Choose a genuine example, explain what changed your mind and how you responded. Being able to change your view is something the criteria value in scientific problems too.

44. 44

    Is it ever right for a doctor to show emotion in front of a patient?

    What to cover: This is the kind of ambiguous question the criteria say you should not treat as either/or. Some emotion shows care and honesty; too much shifts the burden onto the patient. Say where you think the line sits and why.

45. 45

    What would your friends say is your biggest weakness, and are they right?

    What to cover: Name something real and show you are doing something about it. Self-awareness is on the criteria list in its own right.

Go deeper: Empathy vs sympathy at interview

Ethics, real-world dilemmas and the NHS

What Cambridge says: The Key Criteria include an understanding of "the 'real world' dilemmas and practical considerations that face doctors", a capacity to understand ethical issues, and awareness of the major current issues facing the NHS. Cambridge Colleges, Key Criteria for Medical Admissions (PDF)

Science leads at Cambridge, but the criteria name ethics too, and a College that runs a separate interview on motivation and suitability, as Caius and St John's describe, may well use a dilemma. The skill is the same one tested in the science: hold more than one view at once, reason between them and reach a conclusion you can defend.

46. 46

    Should people who smoke be given lower priority for treatment of lung disease?

    What to cover: Resist an instant yes or no. Weigh responsibility for one's own health against the principle of treating people on clinical need, the difficulty of drawing the line (alcohol, diet, sport), and addiction. Then say where you land.

47. 47

    England moved to an opt-out system of organ donation. What are the arguments on each side?

    What to cover: More organs and a default most people say they support, against concerns about consent, trust and families' wishes. Our organ donation guide has the detail.

48. 48

    A patient asks you for antibiotics for what is almost certainly a viral sore throat. What do you do?

    What to cover: Explore what they are worried about, explain why antibiotics will not help and may harm, agree what to look out for and when to come back. You are balancing the patient in front of you against everyone affected by resistance.

49. 49

    A 16-year-old with capacity refuses a blood transfusion that would save their life. What are the issues?

    What to cover: At 16 they can usually consent to treatment, but in England a refusal of life-saving treatment by someone under 18 can be overridden by the courts, which is different from an adult with capacity. Explore their reasons and involve the family and the senior team.

50. 50

    Should doctors ever go on strike?

    What to cover: Set the right to protest about pay and conditions against the duty to patients, and how cover for emergencies is arranged. Our resident doctor strikes guide has the background.

51. 51

    Should the NHS pay for weight-loss injections?

    What to cover: Weigh the health benefits and the long-term savings against the cost, the supply, fairness to other patients and the risk of treating a social problem with a drug. Our weight-loss injections guide covers the debate.

52. 52

    You notice a senior colleague's breath smells of alcohol on a morning ward round. What do you do?

    What to cover: Patient safety comes first, so act today, not next week. Speak to them if it is safe to, and if not, raise it with someone senior. You can be kind and still do the right thing.

53. 53

    Is it fair that some people can pay to be treated sooner than others?

    What to cover: Consider choice, the pressure private care takes off NHS lists, and the risk of a two-tier service. Reach a view, but show you understand why reasonable people disagree.

54. 54

    What is the biggest problem facing the NHS, and what would you do about it?

    What to cover: Choose one issue, give real evidence and propose something practical. The NHS hot topics hub keeps the current issues in one place.

Go deeper: Answering medical ethics questions