WeiYing and Ankit will bring you through the most commonly asked personal and motivational questions at your SFP interviews and personal tips to ace them.
SFP interview prep 3: the personal motivation station
Summary
This on-demand teaching session for medical professionals is a great opportunity to learn how to structure their answers and stand out during their SF P interview. We Ying and K, both F1's in York and Leeds Hospitals respectively, will be discussing topics such as why to choose the SF P instead of the normal foundation program, knowing what each deanery offers, and self reflection to demonstrate qualities. The session will also cover making sure answers don't appear to be too robotic and allowing for time to practice with friends and family. Additionally, a framework of a “STAR” (Situation, Task, Action, Result) and “C A P” (Clinical, Academic, Personal) model will be discussed to better explain and answer interview questions in a professional manner.
Description
Learning objectives
Learning Objectives:
- Identify the purpose and structure of personal motivation questions asked during SFPD interviews.
- Comprehend the pros and cons of the SFPD.
- Describe the STAR and CAA frameworks used to structure answers when addressing questions about personal motivations.
- Understand the importance of doing research into the specific deanery when answering questions about the SFPD.
- Explain the need to sell oneself in the interviews and use personal examples and qualities to do so.
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The following transcript was generated automatically from the content and has not been checked or corrected manually.
Ok. Hi, everyone. Um, we're just gonna wait for about three more minutes and then we'll make a start. Um Yeah. Mm. Ok. Hi, everyone. My name is We Ying. I'm one of the, um, I'm an F one in York Hospital. Um, so we've got on kit today who's also, um, an SF PF one and K based in Leeds. So welcome to our final session. And we, so we've done about seven teaching um, series and this is our last one. Uh So thank you to everyone who's, you know, joined us, um, you know, joined us on for all of our sessions. Um, and we hope that you found them helpful and also massive congratulations to everyone who's received, um, their S FP interviews. Um, and hopefully you'll find this session because I think for most SF P interviews, there will be, you know, sort of a station where you get asked about your personal reasons for wanting to do the S FP. So I think the aim of this session today would be to, you know, teach you how to approach, you know, questions, you know, when you get asked about why you want to do the S FP, when you get asked about, you know, tell me a bit about yourself. I think these are questions that, you know, sound easy to answer, but then it's very difficult to make your answer sound professional if you don't structure it in, in a correct way. And it's also very easy to sort of, you know, go on and on without actually giving much content um in a, in a lot of the S FP interviews, you'll have a time limit. So for mine, I had, I think my interview lasted about 24 minutes and I had two stations. So they're not, you know, long interviews. So you don't really get much time to answer these questions. So, you know, it, it's important to, you know, when to have a structure in your head as to, you know, when people ask you um a question, you need to know what, what points you want to get across. Um So it's important to, you know, be aware of it. You have a structure in your mind when you answer these questions. Um If you want it. Yes. So, so again, congrats everyone for getting your interviews. Um So I just thought we'd recap a few bits and then we'll go on to uh the main bulk of this talk, which is um the motivation section essentially. Um So remember, so structures may differ between which units of application you apply for. So there may be a bit of information online on their specific deary website about what you might expect. Um, in your deary interview, there might be some stuff from previous years that people have put up about what they sort of got in their deary interview. And I'm not, I'm not, I'm not saying go off that, but it might give you a bit of an idea. Um, it's usually a panel setting so you'll have maybe so when I interviewed, I had three on my panel that were asking me questions. Um But I know some people have more, some people have less. Um, you may have just a lay by person just watching. Um But that's generally the sort of um panel you can expect. So it's not sort of moving around stations. Generally, it's, you're sat there with one panel and um, yeah, mine lasted about 20 minutes to half an hour as well. Um and the general structure. So some of the stuff that we've covered in our other sessions. So the clinical stations um where you might have to prioritize, you might have to do an A two E, there might be some ethical considerations that you have to think about. Um, there might be academic stations where you have to appraise a paper that they might give you beforehand or that they might pop in front of you. Um And the main bulk of today is your own motivations. Why do you actually want to do the S FP and why would you be a good candidate in that specific pary? Um And why should they accept you essentially? So that's what we'll be talking about and we'll be talking about how to structure your answers. Um And how to stand out a little bit as well. Um And the main thing in all of this, I know interviews will be coming up very soon. Um But just keep practicing with friends, family. Um and don't over rehearse, but make sure that you can sort of formulate a, a nice cohesive answer that doesn't appear too robotic, but that helps to get your point across in a professional manner. So what I did for, you know, in terms of preparing for the station, um because you know that there's only so much that they can ask you in, in terms of like your, your personal motivation. Uh So it's, you know, reasonable to expect, you know, a question like, you know, why do you want to do the S FP or, you know, tell me about, you know, the qualities that you have um that makes you a suitable candidate for the um for the S FP program. So, what I did was I listed down, you know, a whole, you know, list of potential questions that might be asked in the interview. Um We'll talk on this um later in a bit. Um And for each of these questions, II AM sort of had an example answer. Um in my head. So I used um a, a structure that we will talk about in the next slide and, you know, using that structure, I formulated an answer for each of these potential questions. And I think, you know, that really helps me during the interview because if you don't prepare for these questions, when you're asked about them on the spot, it's really difficult to think of, you know, an answer there and then on the spot. But then, you know, echoing what I said, it's really important not to over rehearse your answers because, you know, people will know when you sound too, when you, yeah, people will know and you will come across um as you know, sounding too robotic um which is not good, especially in an interview setting. So there's a slide, um you can take a screenshot of the slide if you want. But these are the um the whole list of potential questions that I had when I was preparing for the interview. A lot of them are, you know, questions that um you know, really explore your personal motivations as to why you want to apply for an S FP. And so things like, you know, why, why, why did you choose the um the S FP instead of of, of a normal foundation program? And so you need to be very clear as to what the S FP can offer as compared to a normal foundation program. And what, what the cons are of um of doing the S FP and we compared it to the normal FP. Um deanery wise. I think it's important to, you know, do research on your deanery that you're applying to. Um because in the interview, when they ask you, it will be helpful to, you know, give deanery specific answers. So for example, I applied to East Midlands and for East Midlands, you know, if you did a Met a program, they would sponsor you to do APG cert and they will also give you like a four month block where you had no clinical commitments and you could just foc focus on doing the, um you know, whatever research that you, you were doing. So it's important to, you know, have a, have a, have an idea as to what each Deanery offers, um because each, they vary between each deanery, I think, you know, the S FP is, um, you know, it's a good program but there are also, you know, challenges that come with it. Um, you know, such as, you know, having less time for clinical work, you know, less time to sort of, you know, achieve your clinical competencies. Um So it's important to have an idea as to what the um like pros and cons are of doing the um S FP program. And also I think as to the, you know, qualities questions, um you know, it's, it's good to, you know, do some self reflection and you know, think of the qualities that you have and sell yourself in the interview and you know, just sell yourself and you know, prove to them that you are a suitable candidate for this job. So this is another slide that I would highly recommend um taking a screenshot of. So this is a basic framework that I used for most of the questions. Um I used the star framework for um you know, questions that um required me to explain the situation and the action that I took. So, you know, it, you might get a question like, oh, tell me about the time where you worked successfully in a team or tell me about a time when you managed to um you know, sort of, you know, work things work through conflict or tell me about the time where you managed to, you know, show leadership. So the framework that I used was was a star framework. So star, well, you can see it stands for a situation, task action and result. So for a situation, I, you know, you kind of start by explaining the situation. So what did you do? What was the situation which required you to demonstrate the, you know, qualities that you mentioned um task and so what needed to happen? Um You know, what did you do in that situation? Um action sort of, you know, like an overlap with um task and then results. What was the outcome? So, how did you, what was the outcome that, you know, managed to um you know, demonstrate the qualities mentioned um for questions, you know, asking you to demonstrate your achievements or qualities to be an S FP doctor. I used the C framework um which stands for clinical academic management. I put a, I put a bracket around management because I didn't like for when I was answering these questions, I didn't really go that much into management. Um and p for personal. So if you, you know, get questions like, oh what makes you a good sf what, what makes you think you can be an S FP doctor? I would, you know, demonstrate my, you know, clinical abilities, abilities, academic wise and then, you know, personal abilities like, you know, time management or um you know, discipline. Um So I would give examples from each um each subset if you um and then, you know, use that to formulate my answer because it gives a, a more, it makes your answer more well rounded if you can, if you can um you know, demonstrate an example from each um category. So in the next few slides, I have a few example answers um of questions that you will most likely get in the interview. So if you were to ask if, if you were um asked about why you wanted to choose the S FP, I would approach it using the C A framework. So clinical academic um I didn't go into management, but I talked about, you know, my personal like abilities and um reasons to why I wanted to choose the S FP. Uh So for clinical II said, um so this was my um my model answer. But then I would highly recommend, you know, you drafting your own because everyone's um reasons for doing the S FP will be different. So for clinical, I said, uh research in medicine allows us to discover a new treatment and making sure we use existing treatments in the best way. Um As a future clinician, I would like to provide the best care to my patients. And I believe that research is vital to this goal that I have. So I, you know, managed to demonstrate my clinical reasons for doing the S FP. And then for the academic side of things I managed to, you know, sort of talk about the research project that I did um that I did in that school. And, you know, I also, you know, managed to sort of demonstrate my, my sort of a my desire to um to, you know, further develop these research skills. Um And then you can link it to, you know, the extra time that you get in the S FP for you to further develop these research skills. Um And then, you know, personal reasons um for, for this, II talked about, you know, my career aspirations. Um and you know, my career, you get my, um sort of, you know, plan after the S FP, um which is to, you know, maybe go for the ACF after F two. So there is a, an I hate drive pathway that we'll be talking about in a second. Um And it's, again, it's another slight that I would highly recommend um people, you know, taking the time to read their own understand. So this is what I'm talking about. So the NIH R Foundation, uh the NIH R pathway and it's so it's basically a pathway that allows you to sort of delve into clinical, the clinical side of things and academic side of things. So if you look at medical schools, so everyone goes through medical school, you could, you know, go through graduate entry medicine or, you know, um go go into medical school right after a levels and then you do the foundation program. So as you can see that you've got the academic foundation program or you could be, you know, do you could do the, the normal um F one and F two. So after the academic foundation program, you can apply for something called the ACF the way II understand it is that it's basically um like the S FP but for specialty trainees, um and I know for surgery, you do get 25% of your time for academic work and then 75% of the time for clinical work. And so that's usually for ST one to ST three. And then after that ST four onwards, I think you do get, you know, opportunities to take time out to pursue a phd. If you're lucky enough, fully funded by the N NIH R or you could, you know, apply for um a clinical lecturer, lecturer after that. And so I think the aim for this pathway is, you know, to train people to become proper like academics, um you know, go to, you know, l they go on to become professors and lecturers. Um And then after CT um which is when your specialty training ends, then you can, you know, have a senior clinical fellowship post or a senior lecturer post. Um So, yeah, this is basically the um a broad overview of the um NIH R academic training pathway. I'll put the link in the slide. Um If you want to have a, a more, you know, detailed read about this um on the NIH R pathway and uh website fine. So this might be another question that you could get in the interview. So why are you applying to this deanery? Um As, as I've said before. So, you know, um it's important to, you know, do some research on the deanery that you're applying to and what the deanery offers in your S FP block. So I again, I use the C framework. So, you know, clinical, when I applied to the, um when I applied to Yorkshire, I said Oh, I'm interested, you know, in applying to Yorkshire specifically because um a lot of the S FP posts, um you know, give you one year in a major tertiary center and then you have another year in Ad GH or it could be the other way around. So, you know, you, it gives you opportunities to be exposed to like, you know, more complex cases, but they're working in the DG H where you're, you know, you're more independent. Um It gives you the, you know, confidence to sort of build your own clinical um skills. Um And then the academic part, um you know, Yorkshire for research, they do fund um APG cert in health and research statistics. So everyone who does a research job in Yorkshire would get um APG cert funded, which I thought was really good because you do learn things like epidemiology in more detail, you learn things like regression analysis and these are things that would really help for, you understand clinical research more. Um And then personal. So, you know, for the personal aspect, you can talk about, you know, the deanery itself because this is a place that you'll be living for for the next two years. So, you know, you can do a bit more research about the town, the city itself, you know what life is like I mentioned um a lot about, you know, like outdoor stuff. So the peak district Yorkshires, you know, yeah, it's close to the peak District, they've got like lots of nature. Um And then you, I mean, this is just an idea, but you could also, you know, talk, talk about a, about a bit about your, um, you know, like hobbies and link it to the deanery that you're applying to. Um fine. So I've also said here about, um, you know, being specific about your research interest. So for the academic section of this answer when I was applying to East Midlands, um before I had an interview, I actually approached um one of the um academics in Nottingham. Um So I messaged him, I was like, you know, can I just have a quick meeting with you to, you know, talk about your research because if I do get this job, I would really be interested in working with you. Um I want something to talk about in the interview as well. So I would like to, you know, just meet you to have a deeper understanding of what your research work is and how I can be involved. Um And I actually got a reply. So I set up a meeting with him and then, you know, he talked about his research and, you know, if he said that, you know, if I get the AF PSF P drop and ended up staying in Nottingham, then I could, you know, get involved with him, you know, in this or that project and that gave me something to talk about in the interview. And, you know, it could be something that sets you apart from other people. Because if you have a specific topic that, you know, if you have, if you've already approached a specific person, if you, if you already have an idea as to what kind of research project that you're doing, then it's, you know, it, it just, you know, it is better evidence that, you know, you, you could get the um the S FP post and, you know, you basically sound like, you know what you're doing um fine, what are the challenges of being an S FP doctor then? So again, using the C framework, um I think going through clinical academic and personal um with clinical, with the clinical side of things, you know, being an S FP doctor, we do have less time than other people to achieve our clinical competencies. So when you're an F one, it's similar to how you have to get things signed up in med school. But then um yeah, it is time principle as well because you have to, every single year, you have to have a set amount of, you know, like case based discussions or reflections or, you know, procedural skills that you've done. So you need to, you know, get signed off on all these things that you do in medical school and because of the S FP block that you have and also in some deaneries, they give you every one day off per week to, you know, study for the search or sort of, you know, do research. You do have less time than other people. So you do need to be, you know, more on it. Basically, it can be stressful, especially when you're in a busy rotation where you don't have much time to develop your portfolio. Um So this is something that you could talk about in the interview. Um academic wise, you know, you're working a full time job basically as a doctor, but you also have academic um you know, responsibilities. A lot of people start their research projects really early in F one. So it's basically, you know, working a full time job, but also having to do academic work on top of that. Um So it could mean, you know, that you're bringing home lots of academic work um after your normal 9 to 5 job um personal, you know, as I've mentioned, you do have less time to, you know, pursue your hobbies and talk about. I mean, yeah, less time to pursue your hobbies and, you know, because of that, it could lead to a higher risk of burnout. So how can you overcome the challenges of being an S AP doctor? I've just given some examples here in this slide. And so you could say that, you know, you are already aware of the things that a foundation doctor needs for ACP, which is the um thing that you need in the end to sort of pass your f one year. Um So because you are aware of that already, you can talk about in the interview, you know, that you would be sort of, you know, be, you know, more disciplined, you know, manage your time better. Um And then, you know, you can also talk about, um, you know, being aware of support available. So everyone will get allocated a supervisor in their f one year. And you know, the supervisor is basically there for you to bring up any issues that you have with anything. You know, like you, if you, if you have trouble getting, signing off, getting stuff signed off or, you know, if you're having trouble at work, you know, your, your clinical supervisor or educational supervisor would be the people that you're going to. So you could demonstrate your knowledge and you, your, your awareness of, you know, people who are there to provide support for you. Um academic wise, you can say, um you know, you can talk about, you know, how you manage to balance your clinical, your med school work and also do research projects or audits. At the same time, you can also talk about the hobbies or, you know, like clubs and societies that you've joined in med school. And you can go a bit deeper into how you've managed to balance those um alongside, you know, studying for finals. And you could also add in a, a personal station, I mean, a personal section which I didn't include in this slide, you can talk about, you know, how you've managed to sort of maintain, you know, your hobbies. Like if you play for a sports team in med school, you could talk about that while also, you know, managing to juggle the S FP. Um, uh, sorry, the, um, like med school work, right? Um, so another question that you could get, um, is where do you see yourself in five years time? Um So for this question, I find it helpful to sort of split it into short term goals and long term goals. So, you know, you could talk about, you know, in the short term, five, well, in five years time, in the short term, you will want to sort of, you know, hopefully get an S FP post, you know, be a competent F one or F two doctor, um, you know, and learn how to manage unwell patients. Um, you know, from an F one perspective, long term goals, you could go, you could talk about, you know, getting into the specialty of your choice, like I MT or CST if you're interested in surgery and applying for an ACF post. And so that's what I, so that's what I talked about in the previous slide um on the NIH R pathway. Um You could also, you know, if you're doing a phd is what you're interested in, then you could also mention that and talk about um you know, your desire to sort of um take time out and apply for a phd. So we'll go through um the staff framework that we talked about a little bit earlier. So we've done a great job of talking about the camp framework. Uh So this is essentially a framework that you can use when you get asked about um a specific, a specific time that you showed a certain skill. So whether that's organizational skills or leadership skills or being a good team player, you can use this framework to pretty much umbrella all of that. And it's a really good framework and it shows that you've of your answer. So an example here which I've just written um and it can, it can be, for example, in this case, leadership. So tell me about a time when you showed good leadership skills and this particular example is academic related, but just note, you don't have to make it academic related. If you did something non academic, like you captained a team or you captained a group of people on an expedition or something like that, that's more than reasonable to say. Um And don't be afraid to share that in your interviews. Uh So for example, here, if we take leadership skills, the situation would be so an example of a time where I showed leadership skills is when I coordinated a teaching series for first year medical students as they felt that they lacked sufficient knowledge in clinical examinations. And that's your situation. So you have a bunch of first year medical students that don't feel super confident. So what are you going to do about it? And that's the task. So the task is I along with my other colleagues or other medical students help to devise a regular teaching series aimed at teaching the junior, the junior students, the fundamentals of clinical examination. And that's your task. So essentially, it's a problem. Um And it's your solution to that. So, so you've done that in the first two sentences, which is really good. Um And then the action. So what did you actually do in the end? So we successfully set up a weekly face to face seminar where we invited a group of students to practice their examination skills with us. And this is obviously incredibly brief, but it's just giving you an idea of sort of what you can say in ST and a um so far and then probably the most important bit. Um So we talked a little bit earlier that you can say result. Um But I also used to add a little reflection in as well, so you can use the R as, as two things essentially. Um And so the results, it was really good to get feedback. So we can say that we collected feedback and it was clear to see that nearly all students benefited from whatever percentage saying that they felt more confident at the end of the session than they did at the start of the session. And then possibly the most important bit is the reflection. So what did you actually learn from this experience? What did you gain out of being a good leader? Um And this can all be stuff that you can translate into your S FP career. So there might be times in your research block during your F two year where you might be leading a small group of people during a research project or if you're doing med ed, you might be leading a group of students um doing a particular group of doing a particular session on teaching. Um And so these are all skills that you want to be able to say that you can translate to your S FP and that will make you look really good. Um And so, so yeah, so it's a really good framework and this is just an example of how you can use it for leadership, but of course, you can sort of interchange that with a bunch of scenarios. And I think one thing that I did before my interviews was I noted down a couple of um really important ones. So, so for example, organizational skills, leadership skills, uh a good team player. And like we mentioned, show me a time when you um were able to deal with a conflict and if you just have an example of each of those, you don't have to write paragraphs and paragraphs for each section and star. Um But if you just write bullet points, what I found was best, um, then you'll remember those bullet points, but you also won't speak like a robot. So you'll, you'll alter your answers slightly differently each time you rehearse it. Um But that will make it seem more natural. So a really important thing as well is what will you do during your S FP? So I got asked this question when I was being interviewed, um and it's really important to have an idea of what you actually want to do during your S FP block cos it's all well and good applying for the S FP. Um But if you don't really have an idea of what you want to do, it doesn't look so great to the interviewers. Um So I structured this sort of with a before, during after approach. Um And I found that it works quite well. Um And it's a bit of a chronological approach. So it, it, it sort of is, it makes it easier for you and it also makes it easier for the examiners to follow where you're coming from as well. Um So beforehand to have a think of what you want to do with your protected time. So four months of protected time is actually quite a lot of time to be able to do your research block or your med Ed block or your leadership block. Um And so have a think now what you actually want to do during that. So if you are applying for research, have a think of what particular specialty you might want to get involved with. Um what particular projects if you've got one. Um And the way that I did it was when I intercalated, I did some, I did some research in, in cardiac surgery. Um, and I said that, um, in that specific deanery that I was going to, which was the Northern Deanery, um, they have a really big tertiary cardiac center. Um And so I wanted to continue my, um, sort of researched during that uh F two block. And so, and so that's what I did. So I linked it quite nicely to my intercalated degree and said that's something that I want to build on further. Um And like Wing said earlier. So, so show some initiatives so you can always contact potential supervisors early in advance. There's absolutely no reason why you can't. And I think it sets you apart from the rest of the cohort if you do that. Um And I certainly did that. Um, and I think it looks quite good cos one of them might happen to be on your interview um panel and if they are, then it, it, it just looks good that you've put in a bit of effort, which maybe some other people didn't do beforehand. Um And again, some forward thinking. So just have a think of, of what you would want to do with your allotted time um in F two. Um and then during your S FP block, you know, how will you, how will you achieve that? So, do you have a plan? Um So if you're going to do a research project, do you have a plan or it, it doesn't have to be a very detailed plan? But do you have a basic plan of, of how you would go about doing that? So, is it going to be lab based research? Is it going to be quantitative research? So just again, have an idea, they're not expecting pages and pages or very very detailed stuff, they're just expecting an outline. Um So, so do you have an awareness of the different types of research methodologies? Um And then afterwards, um so why are you doing this research? So are you just doing it to get a paper out of it um with having no meaningful output or are you actually doing it so that it can affect something in the future? So if you're doing med ed, for example, like I am, um you know, if you develop a teaching series, it's obviously going to help students in the future. Um And then, and, and you can relate it to the future of medical education. If you're doing research, how is this research going to benefit patients? Um And that's a really important thing to address as well. So they always want to know how is what you're going to do during your S FP going to be useful in the future. And it's nice to be able to link that. Um And of course, it's always nice to be able to get some output out of it as well. So you're, it's good to say that you want to be able to disseminate your findings either through national or international conferences and with the aim of, of, of eventually publishing your work as well. And I'm sure that during all of your SF PS, you'll be able to do that. So what are the interviewers actually looking for? Um So I put a bit of a smiley face and a and a down arrow for, for what they're not looking for. So in terms of the smiley face, um they want somebody that actually has an awareness of that specific Deanery S FP program. Um So for example, um I apply to Northern and Northern is a bit unique in that they have 24 month blocks where you can uh take out some academic time. So they have a four month block in F one and they have a four month block in F two. Um And if you didn't know that, then it's, it's quite a basic thing to miss out and pretty much everybody else will know that. So if you are applying there, that's a, that's a unique selling point of, of, of the Northern Deanery. And it might be within your answer about why you wanted to apply there in the first place. Uh So just have a look, have a look at the deaneries, possibly speak to some potential or some past S FP applicants in that deanery. Um You can find them on linkedin or often they have emails on the deaneries website where you can contact them, um, and just find out what it's actually like. And that will again look really good that you've shown some forward thinking again, show an appreciation for what you'll do with your allotted time. So, like we talked about before, have an idea of what you actually want to use your time for er, understanding of the IC ATS pathway. So the in integrated clinical academic training pathway just like why you touched on earlier, um it's really important to have an awareness of, of the different stages and how the S FP can be a bit of a stepping stone um for a CFS and, and future academic careers. Um and confidently answers questions that are easy to follow. So, so we talked about the two structures which are really good to use. So camp and um star and if, if you're, if you're stuck by a question, if you're, if you're completely lost, it's, it's nice to be able to fall back on those structures. So you can start from the start and, and build your way up towards the end where you reflect. So some of the negatives which they're not looking for. So they don't want you, you just, just to list your achievements. So if they talk about, if they ask you a question on, tell me about your previous research experience, they don't want you to just list all of your papers that you've done and list all of the presentations that you've made. They maybe want you to pick out one or two. It's fine if you haven't done any. But it's, it's always good to talk about your experiences and, and what you've learnt from them. Um That's really important. So say, for example, if you have done 10, maybe you can pick one or two and, and what you actually learned. So you learned about the importance of critical appraisal, you were able to do data analysis and data synthesis and you were able to learn about how you can academically write a paper. Um And, and, and these will all be things that will be useful in the S FP. So there's not one thing that won't be um so lacks insight into how the S FP can develop them as a clinician and an academic. So it's really important that you don't forget about the clinical part of the foundation program. Um The academic part is obviously great. Um But you need to show an awareness that you're, you're obviously going to develop to become a well rounded doctor. Um So make sure you don't forget that bit. So if so, for example, in my answers, when they said why this specific scenery, I talked about why it's great academically. Um But then clinically, you know, maybe they have large tertiary centers, maybe they have AAA lot of DG HS with really unique populations. And so each of them will be able to tailor you to become a really good doctor. So it's just important to mention that and it also strokes the interviewer egos a little bit as well. So it's nice to mention. Um And again, a bit like we talked about earlier so that it's not all fancy and glamorous, there will be some negative aspects to the S FP particularly time management. Um So just make sure you have an awareness of that and, and, and how you're able to overcome that. So just to sort of wrap things up and, and, and things to do before your interview. Um So I'd say from our personal experience is read upon your Deanery S FP program. So there's a lot of information online um about why they're unique and, and what they can offer you. So they've already compelled you to apply to them. So now it's your time to show them why they should accept you. Um And so make sure you know them inside out. Uh So a bit like we talked about earlier, again, have some examples ready for different types of questions. So whether that's leadership, teamwork, organizational skills, solving a conflict, um teaching stuff like that. So just make sure you have a few bullet points jotted down and, and try and just sort of practice with your friends and family. Um Just to make sure your ans your answer isn't too rehearsed. And I think the main way to overcome that is by not remembering continuous pros, but by memorizing bullet points, I found that the best thing to do, uh, think about apa potential project beforehand and, and get in touch with some supervisors beforehand if you can. Um, it's fine if they don't get back to you, that's not your fault. But you can even just say that you've attempted to contact a few people. Um, and again, that's probably more than what a lot of other people have done. So it will look again really good that you're showing some forward thinking. Um, and I know obviously easier said than done. I wouldn't have said this to myself last year, but try and enjoy the interview, er, be yourself. Um, I think it's really easy for interviewers to be able to see when you're not yourself and you're sort of portraying yourself to be, uh, someone else or, or you're over rehearsed and you're, you're speaking from, from your memory. So just make sure that you can, um, come across as yourself. They, they are obviously wanting to employ you as a person. So they want to make sure that the person that they're employing is somebody that they, they can see working alongside. So try and sell yourself. Um And if you enjoy the interview and give the impression that you're enjoying it, it will be a much nicer conversation and, and mine was a really nice conversation and didn't even feel like an interview. Um So if you can sort of get in that mindset, it will make your life and their life a lot, lot easier. So, thank you for listening. I know we've um spoken about quite a lot of content. Um Hopefully it's all made sense. I think this uh session should be recorded if you want to go back and, and view anything in particular. Um Hopefully we've managed to answer some questions in the chat. But if you've, if you've got anything else, uh feel free to put it in the chart or I'm not sure if you can put your microphones on and ask, that's also fine. But yeah, um thanks again for listening. We'll send you guys a certificate once you fill in some feedback if that's OK. Um And yeah, just let us know if you've got any questions. Um So there's one here. So do you or anyone, you know, have any experience with the S FP in Scotland? So I don't, sadly, I'm not sure if you do. Why? No, I personally don't. But II think um so I do know that there is a National S FP group chat with S FP. So, current S FP doctors, um, and S FP. Well, candidates are people who are applying so I can pop the link in the chat. Um, because people have been asking in this group chat about, you know, some other people who, who applied to their deanery. Um, so I can, yeah, I pop the link and the whatsapp group. you able to find someone who's in doing the SP that would be a good idea actually. Yeah, anyone else to treat them yourself. Um or you can type in the chart if you've got any more questions. If not, you're free to go all the best for your interview and good luck for getting an interview. And if you wouldn't mind filling in the feedback form, that'd be great. And then you should be able to get a certificate from it which you can use in your portfolio as well. My computer is just so sorry. II think you've got a question for East Midlands. I can read it out. So for East Midlands, they say there will be two stations. Is it likely that they will combine the clinical with motivational? So for my East Midlands interview, I didn't have a clinical station. So I mean, they, if they do the same format as I had um during my interview, um it would just be a critical appraisal station and then another, maybe 15 minutes or so on your personal motivation, um, in my emails. So, from what I remember last year when I had the email, they specifically said that it would be a critical appraisal station and a personal motivation station. So I, it was quite clear that they weren't going to ask like, at E stuff and I didn't get, they didn't ask me any a to E um A to E things in my interview. Um, so if that's what they wrote in the interview, then if this, if that's what they wrote in the email, then, um, I would assume that, um, it's just the personal motivation station and the, um, critical appraisal, right? So I finally got the, um, link to the group chat. Um, hopefully that should work. We've got further questions. Do you know how long the Motivation Station is in London? So I don't apply to London? Um, I'm not sure if you know. No, neither do I actually. Um, so I'm sorry about that. II, but again, it might be so the, the, the, the chat is really good because it has a lot of, um, current S FP doctors and, and applicants as well. So I'm sure if, if you popped the question, that somebody would be more than happy to answer that question if you join that chat and people have been messaging the chat asking for, you know, uh, current S FP doctors who've been, who are in the Deanery that they're applying for. So I'm sure that you'll be able to find someone. Uh We've got a question KSS have said that they will have four S FP questions in one clinical scenario. Uh There isn't really time scheduled before the interview for reading of a re do you think it's likely that a ne strut will not come up? Um So I'm not, not sure because um I didn't apply to cases but um, is there anything specifically said in the email that they specify that, you know, there would be a critical appraisal coming up or? Um, is it just, did they just say for us a few questions without further information? I think from what I understand, um, with the critical appraisal stations, they can differ. So if they don't give you that much time, if they say we'll give you 10 minutes beforehand to read an abstract, then it's usually just the abstract, not the full paper. If they, if they said that if they say that we'll send you the paper one full day before the interview, then it will be a full paper that they will send you and you'll have to read the full, the full paper. Sadly, they didn't say anything else. Mm. I think it's a bit tricky, isn't it? Because, um, we don't really know um, what they say. I think if I were you, I would join the group chat message. Um People about your current current K SSF P doctors and see if they've had a similar, similar experience what their experience was last year. Um But I think with the S FP interviews, it's usually, I mean, you might not, you could get an academic um question, they might ask you, you know, what's the hierarchy of like evidence or what type of research trials? You know, what's a systematic review? They might ask you things like, you know, what does ap value mean or confidence interval um mean without sort of, you know, giving you a uh an abstract to critically appraise. Um But I think if I were you, I would join the group and message the group if they've, if there are people currently doing the S FP and KSS uh for East MS, were they quite detailed with the questions about the paper? So I would say yes and no, I think the most detailed questions for my, um the most detailed question they asked for my East Midlands interview was um a Box and Whisker plot uh which is something that I certainly didn't read too much into before the interview. But they did ask me, you know, what the um the, what the Whiskers meant in the chart. Um And then what the box represented, but that was probably the most difficult question um out of all the questions that they asked for the critical appraisal station. Um But apart from that, I think you should expect them to ask you to summarize the paper using the PO framework. Um They might, they should, yeah, you should again expect them to ask you things about like, you know, biases, like confidence intervals or P values. So these are things that um we have covered in previous sessions. I would, you know, have a quick read through them. Cool. So, I think that's all the questions we have on the chart. Um Is there anything else that you would like to add? Um No, no, I think hopefully we've managed to answer everything. Of course, if there are any questions um just let us know we've got the Instagram page and stuff. Um So yeah, you can, you can message us on there. We'll be more than happy to answer. Um But no, if you guys have no further questions, you, you're more than welcome to leave if you could leave. Oh yes, we've got one question. Um So for more than any tips for interview, as I think you said you applied there, they say interviews will focus on academic areas. Um Yeah. So um yeah, so I'd say it was fairly academically focused. Um There was some clinical stuff in it as well. So I'm, I'm I wouldn't exclude it. Um unless they have specifically said that they're not doing a two es and, and clinical stuff. Um But I would say just have so a bit like we spoke about today, just have an awareness of, of what you would do with your S FP and, and, and why you want to apply more than in the first place. Um, because they seemed quite picky on, you know, why, why did you want to come here? Um, and, and what will you actually do? So you've got eight months in total over F one and F two. That's a lot of time. Um, and if you thought about what you actually want to do, it comes across as probably like you haven't actually thought about it and you're just applying to the S FP for the sake of it or just to get APG set out of it, which is obviously not the case. Um So, yeah, I think the main thing is actually have a good idea of, of what you would want to do during your med ed block or your research block and, and how you would plan that out. So, you know, during the first few, during the first two months, I would do this and the second two months of, of my academic block, I would do this and then I would obviously continue it, you know, here and there over the rest of my clinical rotation, the second academic where I would aim to complete a lot more of the study or, or whatever. Um But just have some sort of an idea about how you would use your time in the first academic block, how you would bridge that to the second academic block and then what you would do during the second academic block. So, yes, have an idea of what different research methodologies there are. So, you, you, you probably will have an idea of if you have, if you're doing research, what research method that's going to be, but just be open minded, um, they might suggest some other stuff and, and, and sort of bounce ideas off them. Um, because that's absolutely fine. Um And yeah, I'd say that's the most, most important thing, but don't, unless they specifically said clinical stuff, I wouldn't exclude it. So just go through your clinical stuff as you normally would and for any other interview and hopefully that makes sense. That makes sense. Cool. So I don't think we've got any more questions on the chat. Um So yeah, thank you everyone for joining us um for this session. It's our last session of the whole teaching series. So hopefully you found it useful um for those of you with interviews coming up all the best. Um you've done well to get so far. Um So, you know, I think it's easier said than done, you know, with interviews, but everyone will feel nervous um for interviews. Um But I think the key is to, you know, prepare beforehand and try to keep calm during the interview itself. Um So will be, there will be an automated email sent out about feedback. Um We would really appreciate it if people could fill it in. Um Because I think we're planning to sort of, you know, hand this over to the next S FP um F ones when we become F twos and, and hopefully we'll be able to continue this teaching series for, you know, medical students in the future. So I think your feedback as to how the sessions were run are very valuable and because it will, you know, help us, you know, decide which sessions should be included and which shouldn't and what extra sessions we should do. Um So yeah, um feedback, we would really appreciate that. Um But otherwise you're free to go. Thank you so much, everyone for joining us. All the best for your interviews. Yes. Good luck as well. All the best. I'm sure you'll be absolutely fine. I'm gonna leave the call now. I kid. No, no worries. See you later. See you, see you.