Online Interview for IMU in Malaysia : Local MBBS Programme

Hello there! In this post, I am going to share with you my experience of having the interview for the MBBS programme at International Medical University (IMU) in Malaysia for the August 2020 intake. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I had my medical interview for IMU through online using ZOOM  and Skype. Basically, ZOOM is the main app for the online interview; Skype was used for contacting for the interview.

I hope you'll find this post helpful to you. :) Let's begin!

< If you want to read about details on the day of the interview or the interview questions, 
   please feel free to scroll down until you see the HIGHLIGHTED SUBHEADER  >



Let me start off with some brief description and explanation of the process before the interview. I applied for the MBBS programme in IMU using my AS Level results during an Open Day held in January of 2020. After the payment of registration fees, I received an email regarding the interview slots available from IMU admissions. Since IMU does provide the applicants with the opportunity to choose the interview date preferred as long as there are available slots, on 4 June, I actually sent some preferred dates to the admission team, particularly at the end of July, which was still about few weeks after I had completed my A-Level studies. On the same day,  the admission team replied me with an email of confirmation of the interview date on 23 July together with some details regarding the interview, such that: 
-time of interview: at 10.00 am
-links to download the apps required for interview
-formal attire that should be worn during the day of interview:
                  Men – Long sleeve shirt with tie and long pants
                Ladies – Dress or blouse and skirt or long pants
-details regarding the online testing sessions: one day prior to the interview
(This is to test your audio, speaker, microphones as well as the internet connection stability. Also, they explained some steps for the confirmation of offer during this session. )


In fact, if there is no COVID-19 pandemic, the IMU interview for local students will be conducted in face-to-face in IMU Bukit Jalil Campus. Usually, the online interviews are for those international students from other countries except for this special condition. 

>>>>>>>ON THE DAY OF INTERVIEW ( 23 July 2020 )

I woke up early in the morning at around 7.00 am and started to prepare myself with formal attire and breakfast after bathing and brushing my teeth. Since I usually don't have much appetite early in the morning, I chose to have a cup of Ensure Gold meal replacement of green tea flavour and some biscuits as my light breakfast to charge my energy for the interview. Around 8.30am, I switched on my laptop and had a quick test on my internet connection, webcam and the microphone and speakers of it using ZOOM as well as adjusting the settings especially on the volume of sound. ( I'm a person who always worries too much about things :) You may skip this step if you want as these are already tested during the online testing session haha. Yet, it would be great if you do this before your online interview. Just to double confirm so that nothing can go wrong during your interview hahaha) Also, I started with some speaking practice by just simply talking just to warm up myself. To relax, I did fingers massage and watched some funny RunningMan videos just to unwind my mind so that I wouldn't be too nervous. After a long wait, the IMU admission let me enter the ZOOM meeting room at 9.50 am and they directed me to another small room with two interviewers when I confirmed that I was ready, hence my interview began.

**Remark: The candidate should be prepared and waiting for the interview in the waiting room of ZOOM at least 30 minutes before the interview time.

 DURING THE INTERVIEW 

Basically, the interview consisted of 2 parts, such that Ice-Breaking Session and Case Study respectively. During the ice-breaking session, I was mainly asked with general questions for the medical interview such as "Why Medicine?", just for the interviewers to know more about myself; whereas for the case study session, it was like given a certain situation and talked about your point of views or what actions that you would do. There is no right or wrong answer for the case study and about 1 minute time was given for me to think about the answer.

So similar to the other interviews, the interview also started off with greetings. I am not going to talk about deep details during the interview but let's just proceed to the questions asked directly.

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS:

1. Make a brief introduction about yourself and tell me about your personalities.
**Talk about introduction is usually the first question to be asked in IMU interview, so be prepared for this!
2. Why do you choose Medicine?
3. Which good attributes of doctor that you possess?
4. What do you do during your spare time?
5. Did you have any clinical attachment before? Talk about the experience
6. Case study: Given that you are a pilot and there is a passenger in the business class of your aeroplane having a heart-attack now. There are 10 hours more to reach your final destination and the nearest landing site is about 2 hours away from now but the weather there is stormy. What would you do?  If he is an economic-class passenger, will you do the same thing?
>from your answer, the interviewers will try to ask you other more questions related, particularly to change you stand. It's okay to maintain your own stand.
7.Any questions?

In overall, the interview took about 20-30 minutes, which was quite fast. Surprisingly, the questions asked were not that much as I heard from my seniors and friends. Anyway, the interview managed to be done smoothly. :)

Some Thoughts/ Comments Regarding the Interview:

Overall, I would say that the IMU admission team is quite efficient enough and responsive. They managed to reply to my emails regarding my queries about the application and interview process. Also, I want to point out that the details of the process actually done greatly by IMU such that they even write an email to inform you about the formal attire needed as well as held an online testing session prior to the day of the interview. That's really a good point to be mentioned haha! The interviewers and admission were both very friendly as well, and this made the interview ran in a way like just a normal communication. Surprisingly, I actually had a friend who applied for Dentistry course in IMU having her interview on the same day in the afternoon and the questions being asked were about the same as mine after we compared with each other. So, I think for those who interested in applying for Dentistry course, you may refer to some medical interview questions as well. It's about the same.

< P/s The face-to-face interview conducted is different from an online interview in certain processes. Please refer to the other blog spots and links below to have a read on others' experience on the face-to-face interview in IMU. >

**And I finally received the conditional offer letter from IMU about 3 days after the interview, which was earlier than what I've expected; about a week later.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Some Extra Questions for IMU interview:
(These questions are compiled from what I heard from a senior and what I searched online )
1. What are your strengths and weaknesses?
2. Why do you think you fit in this field?
3. Talk about any teamwork experiences that you had before?
4. Talk about any challenges that you faced before and how you deal with it?
5. Why do you choose IMU? Did you apply for any other universities?
6. What experience did you have in hospital?
7. Did you do any volunteer work before? What did you learn from it?
8. As a leader, how do you get your members to cooperate?
9. One of your patients intends to present you an expensive holiday trip as a gift to appreciate your help in saving her life. Would you accept it? Why? If it is not an expensive one, would you still accept the gift? 
10. You know that a doctor has a busy life, are you mentally prepared for that? What makes you keep on going for another 9 to 10 years in this field to further your study?
11. How are you going to deal with your family? Do you willing to sacrifice the time with them to save patients?

OTHER LINKS OR BLOGGER RELATED TO IMU INTERVIEW:
1.http://eunicetangtang.blogspot.com/2017/02/imu-interview.html
2 https://nadirahim.com/2017/11/09/international-medical-university-interview/
3.http://dyllarezan.blogspot.com/2014/05/imu-interview.html
4.http://kat0306.blogspot.com/2019/06/imu-medicine-interview.html
5.The Medic Portal ( This website contains lots of medical interview questions of different aspects; Highly recommended)
6.youtube videos 


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here are some of my advice for YOU who may have the interview from NUMED in the future:

> Try to get enough sleep the day before your interview so that you are able to think clearly.

> Take some time, maybe a few days or a week to prepare for your interview. Try to do research online, searching the questions for the medical interview as well as read through the website and brochure for the university that you have applied to have a better understanding of the university. Think of how would you answer the questions. This is to make yourself have a mental preparation on what might be asked during the interviews and hopefully, you have some ideas on how are you going to answer the questions. 

* You DON'T have to write in full sentences like an essay. Just write in point forms. As long as you can understand. * Please don't try to memorise the answer. Just have an idea on what you probably could talk about when you're asked with the questions :) *

>Be resourceful. Make use of Internet and other platforms such as Youtube to search for more questions, tips and advice for interview. Watch how other people do during the medical interview. 

> Have a sufficient meal 1-2 hours before the interview. Don't eat too much, just to prevent you from feeling sleepy before/ during the interview. 

>Please remember to wear tidy formal attire! An interview is a serious an formal event. You don't want your panel to feel that you are joking or does not take it seriously. Also, with tidy and near appearance, you able to leave a better first impression in the panel's mind, show that you actually respect them and the interview. EG: 

Men= Long sleeve shirt with ties and long pants
Women= Dress/ Blouse and knee-level skirt/ long pants

***This is for the interview through online. For face-to-face interview, you will have to take note of your shoes as well : 
closed shoes ***

>Try to practice speaking in front of a mirror or record your voice, also practise it with your friends or family members, so that they can give some relevant advice to improve your speaking skills or ideas. Try out the questions you have compiled especially those commonly asked in Medical interview.(e.g.Why Medicine? What are your strength and weaknesses? ) Practice in front of a mirror can be really helpful. **I personally didn't believe with it before this, but I saw the effect after I have tried :) **

>Take a deep breath before or during the interview when you feel nervous. The interviewers understand that you will feel nervous. It's okay to know your limitation and take some deep breaths to calm yourself, rather than mumbling with something wrong and unclear due to being too nervous. 

>Be wise to use sentences like:" That's a good question. May I have few moments to think about it ?" , "Sorry, I didn't catch what you have said. Could you please repeat again?" 

>Ask for clarifications if you don't understand the questions or maybe certain words in the questions. This would be better rather than just booming with unconfirmed answers which might be wrong.

>Be true. Just think of it as a daily conversation. Speak naturally like you are having a conversation with others in daily routine. You don't have to be bombastic, but try to speak in a way that others can understand clearly. Don't try to 'create' an event that doesn't really happen in your life just for giving an example to fulfill the questions asked. It's okay to admit things like you don't have any clinical attachment before etc. Just tell the interviewers that you don't experience or know much about it, instead, try to relate your answers to similar topics like volunteer work. You don't have to act or 'create' something. Just be yourself! :)

EG: You can tell the panels that you have never experienced any clinical attachment before but you do take part in volunteer works before. Then, you may ask them whether you shall talk about the volunteer work instead of the clinical attachment.

> Be confident. Normally, during interviews, what the examiners want to see is your confidence and clarity in speaking. Although you might do any errors in your talk, please feel free to correct yourself. And be confident with your answer while you speak.


>It's okay to speak in a slower way instead of mumbling :) Just speak in the pace that you can manage with. 

>For online interview, make sure your Internet connection, audio and microphone are all doing well before the interview. 

>Also, pray hard for the smooth flow in interview, especially online interview. You don't want to have any cut-off or unstable connection happens during the interview. :)




-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is a quote for you:

"Opportunities are only for people who are prepared" 

So please do a good preparation for important events or work like interview or exams. 
Your hard work will definitely be paid off one day when you succeed! 


Pray hard. 
May wish you all the best and blessed with fortunate :)