The second and third sections of the interviews are ‘scenarios' – where a situation is presented to the candidate to determine how they would respond when (1) given incomplete or conflicting information and (2) a member of the peer group is in need of support. This year we will have a range of different scenarios which will confront similar themes, two of which will be randomly selected for each interviewee.

The two we used for 2004 entry can be seen below:

You are a medical student doing the hospital attachment during the Locomotion Unit. Your tutor introduces a young woman with rheumatoid arthritis to your group. She has tried all of the conventional treatments but is still having problems. Unless her symptoms improve she will have to give up work in the near future. The tutor tells you that there is a new, but very expensive treatment available. Treatment for a single patient costs as much as conventional treatment for 10 patients. The drug is not effective in all patients and in some cases gives rise to a worsening of the symptoms.

The tutor asks the group what should be done.

One of your tutorial group has not attended any of the teaching sessions for a week. Members of the group have tried to make contact on the phone but have not been able to get through. There is no reply to text messages that you have sent. You decide to call round to your friend's flat where you find them staring at a blank television screen.

What are you going to do?