Family Medicine Residency Mock Interview
Excel in 38 Family Medicine Residency interview questions covering patient care, continuity, and your clinical philosophy.
Question 15 of 38
Tell me about a time during medical school where you had a setback or failure? How did you respond to that setback?
Example Answer
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Example Answer 2
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"One time I did poorly on an anatomy exam. As someone who has always achieved excellent grades this was very surprising. That bad grade motivated me to study harder and I improved on every test during the remainder of the anatomy class."
Your interviewers are trying to understand and predict how you will deal in the face of adversity that will most certainly happen at some point during your residency. They want to know that they are going to choose a candidate that when the going gets tough, you will rise to the occasion.
It is important that you are able to give a concrete example of a failure and then show how you were able to improve your circumstances. You should be able to show that you learned from the failure and that you won't make the same mistake again.
"My first board exam score was not as high as I had hoped. After reflecting, I realized that reading many textbooks was not the most effective way to study for me. I adapted my study plan for my next board exam to focus instead on doing practice questions instead. I was able to dramatically improve my step 2 score by doing this."
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Anonymous Answer
I remember that I was about to fail biochemistry in med school. I set myself down and thought about what brought me to this point and how I can improve myself in this subject. I always remind myself of my goals and what motivates me whenever I face any hard situation, whether in my career life or my social life. I tell myself that this is temporary, I can handle it, and I usually do.
Marcie's Feedback
This is an excellent example of a setback and near failure. I suggest adding what you did to keep from failing biochemistry and what you learned from that experience.
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