The Core Surgical Training (CST) Interview

The Virtual Interview: What to Expect

Once successfully shortlisted you will need to book your interview slot on the oriel website. The slots will be spread over a number of days at various times throughout the day.

Plan in advance whether you want a slot on an early or late day, and what time would work best for you.

Be sure to consider that your examiners will have long days, and fatigue may affect their concentration towards the end of the morning and afternoon. Typically morning slots on the first few and last few days get booked quickly, so make sure you are quick.

The interview will be held on the Microsoft teams platform. Make sure this is downloaded and updated prior to your interview.

Your interview will last 20 minutes and you will have the same two examiners for the entire interview. There will be an administrator and possibly an independent reviewer for quality assurance in the Microsoft teams meeting as well.

When you are invited to interview you will receive an email which contains two links to Microsoft teams meetings. You will be able to test these links in advance, but not on the day as they may be used for other candidates.

The first link will take you into a room with an administrator. You will have you ID checked, so be sure you have this prepared. They will ask you to scan your camera around the room to ensure you are alone and they are happy with your surroundings. They will talk you through the process and answer any questions you may have. Once these checks are completed you will be asked to leave the meeting and join a separate meeting using the second link in your email.

On clicking the second link you will enter a Microsoft teams waiting room.

Once admitted, this is the start of your interview.

Your examiners may or may not introduce themselves, don't be thrown off if they promptly start the questions. Typically you will start with the management station leadership presentation and progress to the management scenario and finish with the two clinical scenarios.

The Virtual Interview: How to Succeed

It is important not to underestimate the importance of the technique to delivering answers in the virtual interview format. Even if your content is perfect, you will sadly lose marks if your delivery is poor, or the audio-visual technology prevents the faculty from hearing your answers.

Read our full guide on virtual interview technique below:

How is the Interview Marked?

New to the 2023 round of recruitment, the MSRA will contribute 10% of your overall score.

The Clinical and Management stations are both equally weighted making up 60% of your overall score. The portfolio makes up a further 30% of your overall score.  

For each station you will receive a mark out of 72, which are combined to give a total score out of 144 for the interview. This will be combined with your portfolio and MSRA scores to give an overall score for the application. This overall score is used to assign your rank. Often for people with tied scores, the person with the higher score in the clinical station is ranked higher.

For the stations assessed during interview (clinical and management) you will be examined by 2 people who score you independently.

You will receive two separate scores for both clinical scenarios, the management scenario and the leadership presentation.

Clinical Station:

Each examiner will score you independently for both clinical stations using the above grid. Those four scores will be combined to give your total out of 72 for the clinical station.

Management Scenario:

Both examiners will score you independently for the management scenario and both those scores will be combined with your scores for the leadership presentation to give the total for this station.

Leadership Presentation:

Both examiners will score you based on your presentation and your answers to the follow-up questions. These marks will be added to your scores for the management scenario to give a total out of 72 for this station.

Get Practicing: Core Surgical Training Mock Interviews

Ultimately, there is no substitute for extensive preparation and practice if you want to do well in the Core Surgical Training interview. Our question banks will give you simulated content and model answers that will guide your practice and refine your answers. If you want to take your practice to the next level you can join us for a full mock interview. Our team achieved a 100% score at interview, and we would love to show you how.

Find out more about our Core Surgical Training Mock Interviews: