MMI prep books (Doing Right and MSC MEDICAL) + Advice on personal strategies

[yugerry]

Hi everyone,

Please see below for a short survey we did in my MMI prep group. There are more people who have emailed me with their thoughts and answer to the survey but some of them did not confirm their username. Once I find enough time I will add the remaining answers to this thread.
Good luck. and I will see some of you at UBC and/or Calgary!!!!!!!

P.S. Please feel free to include your thoughts and/or reviews.



Username: eternalkeener
I) Doing Right (YES or NO). Yes. How helpful has it been? Out of 5. 2/5
II) In Person Practice Sessions. How helpful has it been? Out of 5 5/5
III) Online Skype Sessions (YES or NO). How helpful has it been? Out of 5. 4/5.
IV) MSC MEDICAL MMI Book/DVD (YES or NO). How helpful has been? Out of 5. 3.5/5
V) What has been the most helpful strategy for you? Practising with strangers until my anxiety diminishes and natural confidence takes over. Verbalizing ideas concisely and with a certain structure in front of strangers doesn't come naturally to anyone!

Username: proteinaceous
I) Doing right: 5/5 by far the best resource
IV)MSC MEDICAL: 5/5 has changed the way I approach MMI scenarios.
V) I have found the most helpful strategy to be attacking the MMI scenarios from this group under actual MMI conditions and then comparing my responses to those of the group members. (Thank you for organizing this)

I have not used the other resources however i would like to get involved with the skype practice sessions ASAP.





Username: Applepie
I) Doing Right (YES or NO). How helpful has it been? 3/5 (I took a health ethics class prior)
II) In Person Practice Sessions. How helpful has it been? 4/5 - 5/5 (This will depend on the group!)
III) Online Skype Sessions (YES or NO). How helpful has it been? 4/5 (convenient)
IV) MSC MEDICAL MMI Book/DVD (YES or NO). How helpful has been? 3/5
V) What has been the most helpful strategy for you? PRACTICE!













Prep 101 username: Ylisztruusi
Materials you have used for your prep:
I) Doing Right (YES ). How helpful has it been? Out of 5
4/5 . Doing Right is excellent to provide a standard framework for answering MMI questions. However, only 2-3 "ethical- Doing Right" type questions were on the MMI I did last year. Real MMI scenarios test a wide variety of topics and it is hard to predict what they will ask. Reading Doing Right is however highly recommended.
II) In Person Practice Sessions. How helpful has it been? Out of 5
5/5. Without a doubt, this is the most effective way to improve interviewing skills.
III) Online Skype Sessions (NO). How helpful has it been? Out of 5
- did not use.
IV) MSC MEDICAL MMI Book/DVD (YES ). How helpful has been? Out of 5
4/5. MSC Medical I thought seemed like a combination of (60/40) "Doing Right" /real MMI- more of "Doing Right", as it seems to discuss more about ethical situations and the responses to these questions. I think the book was worth buying as some of the scenarios had good explanations and strategies for framing your response. The DVD I thought was poorly done, as there were very few MMI scenarios on it- a lot less than I was expecting to see. It was not well edited either, with spelling mistakes and long time lags between scenarios. I learned more from the book than I did from the DVD.
V) What has been the most helpful strategy for you?
- In person full length "mock MMI" practice sessions.



Prep 101 username: RN-MD
Materials you have used for your prep:
I) Doing Right (YES or NO). How helpful has it been? Out of 5
Yes. 5/5- very interesting, easy to read- makes you think.

II) In Person Practice Sessions. How helpful has it been? Out of 5
Trying to arrange some in the future, hope they will be helpful.

III) Online Skype Sessions (YES or NO). How helpful has it been? Out of 5
No

IV) MSC MEDICAL MMI Book/DVD (YES or NO). How helpful has been? Out of 5
No

V) What has been the most helpful strategy for you?

Reflecting on personal experiences, answering standard interview questions, talking to strangers







Prep 101 username: lolas
Materials you have used for your prep:
I) Doing Right (YES or NO). YES, 4
II) In Person Practice Sessions. YES, 5
III) Online Skype Sessions (YES or NO). , NO
IV) MSC MEDICAL MMI Book/DVD (YES or NO). NO
V) What has been the most helpful strategy for you? Practicing in person, for sure.



Prep 101 username: mew2alakazam
Materials used: MSC book+DVD package, CanMEDS Physician Competency Framework package, healthydebate.ca
I) No, did not use Doing Right
II) In Person: YES, but only practiced with some current med students at U of T. 4.5/5 Extremely helpful, but would've liked a more organized, lengthly interview experience. Was not able to meet any current applicants in person because I am in Toronto.
III) Online Skype sessions: YES, but didn't get to do many. 3.5/5. Hard to organize time to be online at same time to practice.
IV) MSC book/dvd: YES 4/5. Strategies were clear and well laid out. I was able to create my own structure from their book.
V) Combination of IV (MSC) and II (in person interview). Instead of working this out myself, I had another person listen and comment on the scenarios from the book.






Username: davinmn
Doing Right - 3/5 I found this book very interesting but slightly more detailed than necessary.
IN Person practice Sessions - 5/5 very helpful
Online skype sessions - 4/5 Although I have been stood up a couple of times, generally this is a great way to practice
MSC Medical MMI BOok/DVD - 5/5 - Great breakdown of strategy and major ethical concepts for the interview. It was nice to see a comparison of unsatisfactory vs. excellent answers as demonstrated on the DVD

Overall, I would definitely recommend the MSC MEdical MMI book and in person practicing. Skype practicing is great for booking around a busy schedule!


BreakItDown
Materials used for prep:
I) Doing Right - YES, 5/5
II) In Person Practice Sessions - Yes, 5/5
III) Online Skype Sessions - YES, 3/5
IV) MSC Medical MMI Book/DVD - NO
V) Most helpful strategy - combo of Doing Right and in person sessions


Prep 101 username: rebeccablack
Materials you have used for your prep:
I) Doing Right (YES or NO). YES: 4
II) In Person Practice Sessions. YES: 5
III) Online Skype Sessions (YES or NO). NO
IV) MSC MEDICAL MMI Book/DVD (YES or NO). NO
V) What has been the most helpful strategy for you? Practicing in person and brainstorming about each question.



Prep 101 username: razr
Materials you have used for your prep:
I) Doing Right (YES or NO). Yes, 5.
II) In Person Practice Sessions. Yes, 3
III) Online Skype Sessions (YES or NO). Yes, 2
IV) MSC MEDICAL MMI Book/DVD (YES or NO). Yes, 4
V) What has been the most helpful strategy for you?
Practicing the scenarios from multiple resources in a 2min/8min format for the last month or so, after doing my initial research on ethics. It helped to get me in that MMI frame of mind.

Name:
greenneurogirl
I) Doing Right (YES or NO). How helpful has it been? Out of 5
3

II) In Person Practice Sessions. How helpful has it been? Out of 5
4

III) Online Skype Sessions (YES or NO). How helpful has it been? Out of 5
0 (n/a, haven't used it!)

IV) MSC MEDICAL MMI Book/DVD (YES or NO). How helpful has it been? Out of 5. 3/5

V) What has been the most helpful strategy for you?
Talking through scenarios.



Prep 101 username: Solar88
Materials you have used for your prep:
I) Doing Right (YES or NO). Yes 5/5
II) In Person Practice Sessions. 5/5
III) Online Skype Sessions (YES or NO). No
IV) MSC MEDICAL MMI Book/DVD (YES or NO). No
V) What has been the most helpful strategy for you? Reading Doing Right and then practicing as a group