If you’re approaching residency interview season, here’s one piece of advice that all of our counselors can agree on: completing a mock residency interview beforehand is a must. Every detail counts when it comes to making a first impression with your dream program—and the best first impressions are the ones that you intentionally prepare for.

Think of a mock interview like a dress rehearsal before a big performance, giving you a chance to workshop your answers without the pressure of the real interview. You’ll have the time and space to think through your personal experiences, present your greatest strengths, and know how you’ll respond to the most common interview questions ahead of time. This way, you’ll be prepared, confident, and less likely to be caught off guard during the real interview.

Take a Mock Residency Interview (From Home!)

Use this self-guided quiz to complete a mock residency interview on your own time. The idea behind this quiz is for you to work through the most common residency interview questions in a safe space (ideally by yourself, in a quiet environment) as many times as you’d like before scheduling your live mock interview.

Here’s how it works:

1. Our expert residency counselor, Mike, will ask you 7 common residency interview questions. You’ll have 2 minutes to respond (though we recommend keeping your answers around 60 seconds each).
2. Answer the question just like you would in a real interview. You can even record yourself on your phone and listen to them back later to workshop your answers!
3. After answering the question, click “next” to see Mike’s top tips for responding to that question. You’ll also see how you can incorporate these tips in a sample response on the next slide.
4. Then, you’ll rank your confidence level for each question. At the end of the interview, you’ll receive an overall “confidence score” to help you gauge how much you improve every time you take the quiz.
5. We recommend taking the quiz at least twice to see how much you can improve your score! Spend extra time workshopping the answers you felt the least confident about using Mike’s tips. (And if you’d like more 1:1 support, you can always reach out to us for feedback from the experts.)

For more (free!) resources to help you during residency interview season, check out these other posts from Blueprint tutors on the Med School blog:

• Residency Interview Tips & Tricks: The Ultimate Guide
• Do Residency Programs Rank Everyone They Interview?
• The Most Common Medical Residency Interview Questions
• Can I Stop Zooming Now? How to Know You’re Done with Residency Interviews
• How to Make A Residency Rank List That Puts Your Happiness First