Interview
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2012 CT1 interview dress codeNB - For ease of use, within this page it will be assumed that the reader has been invited to a CT1 interview, hence the use of 'you', 'your', etc. However, it should not be taken as read that all candidates will receive an invitation.
The CT1 interview
The second part of your application to CT1 is the interview - sometimes referred to as 'assessment/selection centre'. Here you will be asked a series of questions by clinicians at different interview stations, and will have your documentation verified and assessed to confirm your eligibility and the achievements noted on your application.
The content of the interview is designed to review in full a candidate's skills and experience, and to give as accurate as possible a picture of their suitability for CT1; candidates will be given the opportunity to demonstrate their strengths to a greater degree than that afforded by the application form.
Single interview
Please be aware that the CT1 interview will be the same regardless of whether you would wish to be considered for CT1 posts in CMT, ACCS-AM or both.
Around the time of interview, you will be invited to give preferences of potential posts, specifying both preferred locations within the particular deanery/UoA, and whether you wish to be considered for CT1 posts in CMT and/or ACCS-AM.
As such, throughout this page (as with elsewhere on the site), we will make reference to 'applying to', 'being considered for', 'interviewed for', etc. CT1 posts; this can mean CMT and/or ACCS-AM, depending on which posts you wish to be considered for.
Dress code
For 2012, guidance has been produced on appropriate dress code for all candidates attending medical interviews. To view/download this guidance, please click the PDF icon in the upper-left of this page.
Please review this guidance in advance of, and abide by it when attending CT1 interview.
(NB - this guidance has been produced by the committee of general practice education directors (COGPED), committee of postgraduate dental deans and directors (COPDEND), and conference of postgraduate medical deans (COPMeD).)
The various stages of the interview process are as below:
‹ Qualifying for interview ›
Following submission of applications, all will be assessed for eligibility ('long-listed'), then scored ('short-listed').
All applications found to be eligible for CT1 will then be ranked nationally from the highest-scoring to lowest, and candidates will be assigned to their interviewing deanery/UoA in order of ranking (highest-ranking first, then second-highest, and so on).
Where assessment centre capacity allows, and your application score is sufficiently high, you will be invited to interview at your first-choice deanery/UoA.
If you come to be invited to interview, but all places at your first-choice deanery/UoA have been taken up by candidates whose applications scored more highly, then your application will be considered for interview at your second-choice deanery/UoA preference.
Should the interview capacity at your second-choice deanery/UoA also be filled with higher-scoring candidates, your application will then be considered at your third-choice, and so on.
In the event that your application does not score highly enough for you to be interviewed at any of your deanery/UoA preferences, your application will not progress to the interview stage.
‹ Invitation to interview ›
If your application to CT1 is found to be eligible, and subsequently scores highly enough within a particular deanery/UoA for you to be invited to interview, that deanery/UoA will send you an email inviting you to attend interview.
The interview dates for each deanery/UoA can be viewed on the interview dates page of this website.
Invitations will be sent out once long- and short-listing is completed by a deanery/UoA, but please be aware that the speed with which invitations are sent can vary between, and even within deaneries/UoAs, for a number of factors.
All candidates will be given a minimum of five days' notice before their interview date where possible; although in some instances, if an interview slot becomes available at short notice late invitations will still be sent to candidates.
Please be aware that upon receiving an invitation to interview, there will be a stated deadline by which you must book your interview slot, otherwise the place may be withdrawn from you and offered to another candidate.
‹ Booking interview slots ›
Once you have received your invitation to interview, you will be able to book into an interview slot via your candidate portal. Once you have logged in, the available (remaining) timeslots will be presented on your portal; to select a slot, click on the one you wish to book and then click 'Submit Choice'. Following this, you will receive an email confirming your booking.
If you encounter any difficulty booking your interview online, please firstly try an alternative web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, etc.) and/or a different computer.
If this does not resolve the issue, contact the deanery/UoA at which you are trying to book your interview, as they will be able to schedule the interview slot on your behalf.
Contact details for all deaneries/UoAs can be found on the deanery/UoA contacts page of this website.
In the event that you are not able to attend your interview at the scheduled date/time, you should contact the hosting deanery/UoA as soon as you are aware of this, be it for ill health, other commitments, a wish to withdraw your application, etc.
‹ Preparing for interview ›
At interview, you will be required to take a sizable amount of documentation with you to support your application. This will fall into two distinct categories - 'eligibility' and 'evidence' documentation - and you must take two separate folders to keep the two types of documentation distinct.
Ideally you should use lever-arch folders for these - or alternatively some form of folder which will allow interviewers to quickly view the contents within. Each folder should be clearly labelled with your name, GMC number and application ID number.
Please mark out your folders with clearly labelled dividers to allow interviewers to locate particular items more quickly - eg if you wish to refer to a particular achievement/qualification/etc., it will help both you and the interview panel if they can view the relevant item more swiftly.
It is very important that you lay out your documentation clearly in the prescribed manner. The time spent at the evidence station is relatively short and if the interviewers are unable to verify that your evidence matches the achievements listed on your application form - including due to poor organisation - then you may be marked down on this basis.
Additionally, the less time spent searching for documentation and the more spent in discussion between you and the interviewers, the better your chance of picking up marks at the station.
‹ Eligibility folder ›
Eligibility documents are those which demonstrate your eligibility to take up a CT1 post, in line with the essential criteria laid down in the relevant person specification.
The necessary documentation is listed below. In each case, it is necessary to include an original version of the document where possible, along with two photocopies of each document, which the deanery/UoA will retain.
‹ Passport photographs ›
Please take with you to interview two standard, 'passport' photographs (approx size = 35mm x 45mm); both of these will be retained by the deanery.
‹ Personal identification documents ›
You will also need to provide either:
- two forms of photographic identification (not including the passport photographs above), and one document showing proof of address;
- or one form of photo ID and two proof-of-address documents.
Forms of photographic identification can include passport, photocard driving licence, national ID card, etc. Examples of documents showing proof of address include utility bills, bank/building society statements, etc. Proof of address documents should be as recent as possible.
Candidates should also provide two photocopies of each document used, again for the deanery/UoA to retain.
‹ Evidence of eligibility to take up UK employment ›
If you are a candidate of UK/EEA nationality, you should provide your passport or birth certificate - plus, if relevant, any naturalisation papers.
If you are a non-UK/EEA candidate, you should provide your passport, containing evidence of your current visa status with dates, as well as any other appropriate documentation.
Again, it is necessary for all candidates to provide two photocopies of any documents used here, for the deanery/UoA to retain.
Photocopying passports
Please note that when photocopying a passport, the relevant pages you need to photocopy are the details page at the back (which includes your photo, passport number and other details); and the front outer cover - displaying the word 'passport' and the name of the issuing country.
Should there be any additional pages of relevance within the passport - eg giving information on immigration status - please copy these as well.
As with all other items, please include two copies of each page you will provide here.
Using passports as personal ID
Following on from the item above, if you are using your passport as both a form of personal ID and also evidence of your eligibility for UK employment, you need only make one set of copies in total - not two sets for personal ID and a further two sets for UK eligibility.
‹ GMC documentation ›
If you are (or, at time of interview, will be) registered with and licensed by the GMC, please bring your original current GMC certificate and licence.
For further information on this, please visit the GMC website.
As with other items, please take with you two photocopies of whichever GMC documents you take, as well as the original documents.
‹ Medical degree & other qualifications ›
Please take the original 'version' of your medical degree certificate and any other qualifications you have listed on your application form, along with two photocopies of each for the deanery/UoA to retain.
‹ Proof of English language skills (if applicable) ›
The most common methods used by candidates to demonstrate their English language skills are either IELTS certificate, or a letter from a supervisor attesting to their satisfactory English.
Whichever type of documentation is used, candidates should, as ever, bring the original document along with two photocopies for the deanery/UoA to retain.
As noted elsewhere, any candidate who took their undergraduate training in English does not need to provide any evidence of English language skills.
‹ Foundation competence ›
The necessary documentation which can be used to demonstrate your achievement of Foundation competence will depend on your past training and particular circumstances - for more information on this, please see the eligibility page of this website.
Whichever documentation you are required to bring (if any), please bring the original versions - signed and stamped, where appropriate - as well as two photocopies for the deanery/UoA to retain.
‹ Other eligibility documentation ›
The above items are the main documents which deaneries/UoAs will require you to provide to demonstrate their eligibility; however, if further documentation is required, you will be notified of this in advance of the interview.
For more specific information on the eligibility criteria themselves, please visit the eligibility page of this website.
‹ Evidence folder ›
In addition to demonstrating that you are eligible for a CT1 post, you will also be required to take documentation to interview which backs up the various claims made in your application form - such as achievements, qualifications, publications, etc. These should be contained in your 'evidence folder' which MUST be prefaced with an Evidence Summary Form (see section below).
Please note that, unlike with eligibility documentation, it is not necessary for you to provide copies of each document in your evidence folder; just the originals are required. Interviewers will review the documents in the folder, and then return it to you. The only piece of documentation from your evidence folder which will be retained by the deanery/UoA is the 'evidence summary form' (see further down this section).
You should ensure that your folder is as easy to review as possible; try and avoid using plastic pockets for documents with multiple pages which makes it awkward to access the documents. Obviously if you need to use these (to avoid puncturing a hole in your original!) then please do.
Please bear in mind the GMC's Good Medical Practice guidelines on probity (point 64), as below (original text is on the GMC website at this link:
"You must always be honest about your experience, qualifications and position, particularly when applying for posts."
Any instances of candidates found to be making claims on the application form which they cannot substantiate will be taken extremely seriously and may be reported to the GMC.
‹ Completed Evidence Summary Form (ESF) ›
The ESF is a list detailing all documents included within your evidence folder, and their location therein. The ESF acts as a contents page, allowing recruiters to find and view each document quickly and easily. Please note the following rules about using the ESF:
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it MUST be the first page included in the folder
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it MUST reference every document you have included in the evidence folder
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when adding documents to your evidence folder, they MUST be added in the order in which they appear in your application form.
The ESF also acts as a checklist. When reviewing the evidence folder, recruiters will tick off each item on the ESF as it is found, checked against the application form and verified.
Once this is complete, the interviewer checking will sign the ESF to confirm all documentation is present, and retain the ESF as a record that your evidence folder was acceptable.
‹ Application evidence ›
All claims made on your application form must be supported by a piece of evidence that can be verified by recruiters at interview. So any claim made, such as a published article, a prize awarded, etc. needs to be backed up by a piece of documentation that you can include in your evidence folder.
You must put each piece of evidence into your folder in the order in which the corresponding items appear in your application form. If you have gained further achievements, not mentioned on your application form, you may add these to your evidence folder but they must be indexed on the ESF and filed in the appropriate section.
Any claims made on your application form that are not backed up by documentation in the evidence folder will be raised in discussion by the interviewers. If the claim is found to be false, your application may be rejected.
To receive full reward for a claim made on an application form, it has to be supported by a piece of evidence provided at interview.
Evidence folders which do not fulfil the criteria above may be rejected, and could lead to your whole application being rejected. It is very important to abide by the guidelines given here, as interviewers will not able to adequately review folders which are not organised as described here.
‹ Any other documentation requested ›
Deaneries/UoAs may have other requests for evidence to be provided; if so, they will notify you of this in advance of the interview.
‹ References ›
The 'default' process by which a candidate's references are provided to the deanery/UoA managing their application is for the deanery/UoA in question to contact referees directly, requesting that references are then sent on to them, without the candidate necessarily being involved. References will only be sought for those candidates accepting a post.
However, some deaneries/UoAs may request that candidates obtain their references in advance of interview, and bring them to interview. If this is the case, the interviewing deanery/UoA will notify you of this in advance.
If you are attending a CT1 interview, it may be wise to check the website of the deanery/UoA at which you are to be interviewed in case they have made any announcement on this - web addresses can be found on the deanery/UoA contacts page of this website.
Should you have any queries on this, we would advise contacting the deanery/UoA at which you are to be interviewed, as they can give confirmation on their particular requirements. As ever, more general queries can be sent to our office here at ct1recruitment@rcplondon.ac.uk.
‹ Other preparation ›
It is not really possible to 'revise' before the interview, although of course it is always sensible to review your application form, experience and skills to date, achievements, etc. in advance, and to prepare yourself more generally as you would for any interview.
Certain questions at the interview will involve discussion of particular (brief) scenarios, but information on these will be provided to you on the day. Otherwise, we would advise reviewing the structure and content of the interview (see further down) to gain an idea of the topic areas for discussion.
Travel & venue
When you book into your interview slot, the deanery/UoA at which you will be interviewed will provide details of the interview venue.
As it is essential that you arrive on time, we advise that you plan travel to the venue in advance, with plenty of time allowed for travelling, parking (if applicable) and contingency (in case of any difficulties en route).
‹ The interview - structure and content ›
The structure and content of CT1 interviews will be consistent among all participating deaneries/UoAs; that is, in 2012, regardless of the deanery/UoA at which you are interviewed, the makeup of the interview will be largely the same.
Format
The 2012 CT1 interview process is based on the multiple-mini interview (MMI) format. Here, there are three separate stations through which you will progress, testing and reviewing different facets of your skills and experience.
At each station, you will have two aspects of your candidature assessed, and will receive a mark between 1 and 5 for each of them.
All stations will be staffed by two interviewers (consultants from the interviewing deanery/UoA), each of whom will award you a mark on each of the aspects on which you are being assessed; thus at each station, you will be awarded four marks overall.
The time allocated to each interview station is 10 minutes overall, with five minutes' transfer time in between.
Also, please note that as all stations are independent of each other, you will not necessarily progress through the stations in the order that they are listed below.
The content of each station is as follows:
‹ Station 1 ›
In the main, station 1 is where your application form will be reviewed.
This will include all of the documentation you have brought along (see the 'preparing for interview' section above) being reviewed and verified, to ensure that all content on your application form is correct.
Often, there will be a third interviewer present at station 1 who is brought in to review this documentation, allowing the two other clinicians to concentrate on the interview.
The main areas for discussion here will be your suitability and commitment to both CT1 and to the deanery/UoA at which you are being interviewed; as well as your achievements to date.
‹ Station 2 ›
Prior to arriving at station 2, you will be given a clinical scenario to review. This scenario will be relatively brief (a few sentences) so once you have seen this, the remainder of the pre-station time here will allow you to undertake some short preparation (just mentally; this does not mean taking notes etc.)
You will be asked questions relating to this scenario upon arrival at the station, so beforehand you should consider:
- what next steps you would take
- any potential treatments possible
- any further information you would gather
- how you would go about communicating with any people (eg patients, family members, colleagues) involved in the scenario.
As well as any other considerations you would feel appropriate, using your experience and professional judgement.
Your suggestions and responses to the clinical scenario will result in one mark being awarded; also at this station, you will be assessed on your communication skills, both in terms of you showing how you would communicate while discussing the scenario, and also your communication with interviewers at this station.
‹ Station 3 ›
There will be two further scenarios discussed at station 3. The first will be an ethical scenario, which (as you would expect) deals more with consideration of the moral, ethical, legal, etc. issues of a particular situation. You will be assessed on your suggested responses to the ethical scenario, as well as knowledge of the different considerations required.
Also, a further scenario will be given to you, the discussion of which is designed to assess your demonstration and understanding of professionalism and governance in a given situation. This station is underpinned by the principles of GMC Good Medical Practice.
You will be given the ethical scenario background in advance of arrival at station 3, to allow for some preparation.
‹ Interview scoring ›
At interview, each candidate will be awarded 12 different marks, which will make up their overall interview score. The interview panel will determine the appointability of each candidate; any candidates considered to be unappointable will be notified.
After interview, a weighting is applied to the scores in each area, and combined with a weighted total of short-listing score to give an overall assessment score. The scoring and weighting is detailed in the table below:
| Assessor 1 | Assessor 2 | Weighting | Max score | |
| Station 1 | ||||
| evidence (achievements to date) | /5 | /5 | x1.6 | 16 |
| suitability for CT1 | /5 | /5 | x1.2 | 12 |
| Station 2 | ||||
| clinical scenario | /5 | /5 | x1.6 | 16 |
| communication skills | /5 | /5 | x0.8 | 8 |
| Station 3 | ||||
| ethical scenario | /5 | /5 | x1.6 | 16 |
| professionalism & governance | /5 | /5 | x1.2 | 12 |
| Short-listing | /64 | x0.25 | 16 | |
| Overall assessment score | /96 | |||
Each '/5' in the table above represents a mark awarded to a candidate by an assessor at interview; this mark will be a whole number between 1 and 5. These 12 marks will be added to form a 'raw interview score'; the maximum score being 60.
Each of the 12 marks, and the candidate’s short-listing score, will have the weighting applied; the two are then combined, to give an overall assessment score for CT1; with 96 being the maximum possible score.
Decisions on whether candidates can be made offers will then be taken on the basis of their appointability and their final assessment score.
‹ After the interview ›
It may be the case that deaneries/UoAs ask candidates to provide additional documentation - such as CRB checks, references, etc. - that was not requested prior to the interview.
If this is the case, you may be required to supply this information after the interview has been completed; but you will be notified of this as necessary.
At interview, you will be awarded four marks at each station. Once all of a deanery's/UoA's CT1 interviews have been completed, each candidate's scores will be added together, weighted, and then combined with their short-listing scores (with appropriate weighting applied between interview and application form scores) to give the final, overall assessment scores.
All CT1 candidates within the deanery/UoA will then be ranked according to this overall score, and post offers will be made to appointable candidates according to this score. For more information on the offers process, please see the offers page of this website.
Travel expenses
You may be eligible to claim reasonable expenses for your travel to CT1 interview, based on the cheapest mode of transport available; unreasonable expenses will not be reimbursed.
For more information on the provision of expenses - handled by the interviewing deanery - please visit the deanery's website. Deanery website links can be found on the deanery/UoA contacts page of this website.
