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Question regarding 8 minutes of MMI


Heisencat

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For the MMI, should you use the entire 8 minutes to state and discuss your answer, or would it more prudent to not use up the entire time and leave a few minutes at the end for the interviewer to ask you prompt questions?

 

I've heard some say that you only ought to use the first 2-3 minutes to state your answer and wait for prompts from the interviewer, and if they have none, to continue to elaborate with your answer, but I'm not sure if this is a good approach.

 

Thoughts?

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I believe prompts are generally used to further assess the scenario or points that the interviewee missed if there is time permitting. If you can answer a prompt in ~5 minutes but the interviewer feels you may have missed something, or is interested in a similar situation but different circumstances (i.e. stealing clothes vs. stealing food), then you may be asked follow up questions. If you're worried about this, I think you're worrying too much.

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For the MMI, should you use the entire 8 minutes to state and discuss your answer, or would it more prudent to not use up the entire time and leave a few minutes at the end for the interviewer to ask you prompt questions?

 

I've heard some say that you only ought to use the first 2-3 minutes to state your answer and wait for prompts from the interviewer, and if they have none, to continue to elaborate with your answer, but I'm not sure if this is a good approach.

 

Thoughts?

 

I've been wondering about this as well, and I haven't gotten a clear answer. I think 2-3 minutes seems short (not sure how you develop a full argument), but the majority of people I've spoken to, including a number of people who interviewed and got in, have told me that prompts are pretty much always asked, and you shouldn't take up the full 8. Specifically, they may ask you a follow-up that wasn't necessarily a logical follow up to the initial question, but a completely different angle that you'd have no way of knowing about.

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When I interviewed, I spoke for almost the entire 8 minutes with a summary of my comments at the end, leaving about 30 seconds if the examiner had any questions and to shake their hand and thank them for their time. I found that if the examiner had any questions they specifically wanted to ask you, you can tell by their body language or they would simply interject. Sometimes it can feel awkward if you stop to allow the interviewer to ask you a question but they have none. I think if you feel comfortable discussing the question for about 7 minutes, then do so (as long as you are not repeating yourself and you pay attention to their body language or allow them to interject if they want to ask you something). That being said, many of my classmates had a different approach and only spoke for about 5 minutes and still did well in the interview. So basically I don't think there is one correct way to answer an interview station, and that either stopping to ask if they have any questions a few minutes in, or continuing on until 7 minutes in, would both be perfectly acceptable to the interviewers.

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Don't overthink it. There are a hundred different ways to answer an MMI question, and there's no single strategy that is definitely better. You will find that some questions need the full 8 minutes to answer while others will be much shorter, with several follow-ups. If you've got 8 minutes worth to say on the subject then by all means use it. You won't be judged more harshly for doing so unless you're clearly rambling to kill time.

 

In most MMIs, there is a seven minute warning bell. This could be your signal to wrap up your answer and inquire if the interviewer has any questions.

 

Some people actually try to take up as much time as possible so that they can avoid being asked follow-up questions, which can be harder to answer since you're being put on the spot. On the other hand, follow-up questions can be a good chance to develop rapport with the examiner, since you're interacting directly with them.

 

My advice would be to focus more on what you are saying (and on how you are saying it) than on the length of your response. The interviewer will be paying much more attention to the former.

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When I interviewed, I spoke for almost the entire 8 minutes with a summary of my comments at the end, leaving about 30 seconds if the examiner had any questions and to shake their hand and thank them for their time. I found that if the examiner had any questions they specifically wanted to ask you, you can tell by their body language or they would simply interject. Sometimes it can feel awkward if you stop to allow the interviewer to ask you a question but they have none. I think if you feel comfortable discussing the question for about 7 minutes, then do so (as long as you are not repeating yourself and you pay attention to their body language or allow them to interject if they want to ask you something). That being said, many of my classmates had a different approach and only spoke for about 5 minutes and still did well in the interview. So basically I don't think there is one correct way to answer an interview station, and that either stopping to ask if they have any questions a few minutes in, or continuing on until 7 minutes in, would both be perfectly acceptable to the interviewers.

 

Don't overthink it. There are a hundred different ways to answer an MMI question, and there's no single strategy that is definitely better. You will find that some questions need the full 8 minutes to answer while others will be much shorter, with several follow-ups. If you've got 8 minutes worth to say on the subject then by all means use it. You won't be judged more harshly for doing so unless you're clearly rambling to kill time.

 

In most MMIs, there is a seven minute warning bell. This could be your signal to wrap up your answer and inquire if the interviewer has any questions.

 

Some people actually try to take up as much time as possible so that they can avoid being asked follow-up questions, which can be harder to answer since you're being put on the spot. On the other hand, follow-up questions can be a good chance to develop rapport with the examiner, since you're interacting directly with them.

 

My advice would be to focus more on what you are saying (and on how you are saying it) than on the length of your response. The interviewer will be paying much more attention to the former.

 

Agreed. In my MMI, most of the interviewers asked me further questions related to the prompt (or to follow up on what I had said) since I usually did not use the full time allotted (in my case it was 6 min). At one station, the interviwer and I just sat silently (which was a bit awkward...) while in another one, the interviewer just chatted with me casually (asking about the weather and such, lol). The other few I was asked follow up questions. There's no right or wrong way to answer them, just don't ramble endlessly for the sake of filling up time. But use it if you have something worthwhile to say.

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