General Internal Medicine (GIM) Interview Question Bank

The Medibuddy General Internal Medicine BST Question Bank includes over 70 scenarios that closely mirror the real interview, each with a model answer written and edited by high-scoring candidates who sat the General Internal Medicine BST interview.

However, knowing a strong answer isn't the same as delivering it well under pressure, which is why we provide:

Study Groups with candidates across the country
Unlimited Live Mocks with real people
Peer Feedback on your mocks from a wide range of candidates

Preparing doctors for interviews

Users of the Medibuddy General Internal Medicine BST Revision Platform have secured competitive training places in recent rounds. Ask around, there's a good chance the trainees in the year above you used us too.

Always up to date

Did you know the interviews change from year to year? That's why we review and update every Question Bank on the platform regularly, so you know you're always practising with scenarios based on the latest interview structure.

Network and practise real interview scenarios with other candidates

Question Bank

See every scenario, and how to answer it well

Over 70 scenarios across every interview theme, which tell you exactly how to respond to each question.

Study Groups

Connect with candidates across the country

Most people only ever practise with one or two friends. Study Groups connect you with candidates right across the country sitting the same General Internal Medicine BST interview.

Live MocksBeta

Practise interview technique with different candidates

Arrange or get matched on demand with other candidates and run real scenarios out loud under interview conditions. Those who practise with the widest range of people tend to score the highest.

Peer FeedbackBeta

Reviewed by candidates across the platform

Submit your recorded mocks to candidates across the platform and get honest, varied feedback. Reviewing other people's mocks teaches you just as much.

The question bank, and other candidates to practise with, all in one platform.

What candidates say

Scored well, secured their post

A few of the candidates who prepared with us for the General Internal Medicine BST interview.

Verified candidateInterviewed 2026

"The clinical scenarios were pitched exactly right. Having a structure ready meant I could work through an acute medical emergency and hand over calmly under pressure."

Secured first-choice post

Verified candidateInterviewed 2026

"Practising the ethical and motivation questions out loud with other candidates was the single most useful thing I did before the day."

Ranked highly

Part 1 • See the questions

The Medibuddy General Internal Medicine BST Question Bank

The interview is tightly timed, so you have a limited window to deliver the high-scoring answers you need to do well. That means every point has to land, and knowing how to structure each answer is essential. That's why each of our 70-plus scenarios comes with a model answer, written by candidates who scored highly in the General Internal Medicine BST interview, so you know exactly how to approach every question the interviewers throw your way.

What's inside

What's included in the General Internal Medicine BST Question Bank

There's nothing worse than getting to the interview and being handed a scenario you've never seen before. The panel draws on clinical, ethical and motivation themes, so the safest approach is to revise across all of them. We provide scenarios for every part of the interview, including the common ones and the more unusual cases that have come up before, so you don't get caught out.

Clinical Scenarios

Acute medical scenarios where you play the SHO on the take: assess, reason and manage safely with an A to E approach, each with a worked answer showing how to structure your response, hand over clearly and know when to escalate.

Ethical Scenarios

Realistic situations covering ethics, consent and capacity, confidentiality, patient safety and working within a team, with structured model answers built on clear principles.

Motivation & Career Goals

Your chance to introduce yourself, show your motivation for medicine and your understanding of BST, and speak to your career goals and achievements, with example questions and model answers.

Reflecting how General Internal Medicine BST is really assessed

Our scenarios and model answers are written to reflect the current interview structure, across the clinical, ethical and motivation themes.

Try it

Try an example General Internal Medicine question

You are the medical SHO on the acute take. A 72-year-old woman has been referred with shortness of breath that has worsened over two weeks, with increasing leg swelling.

Her history includes hypertension, a previous MI with three stents, atrial fibrillation and a previous DVT, and she is a smoker. The nurse calls you because she looks breathless on arrival.

Her observations: blood pressure 164/97, heart rate 117, respiratory rate 28, oxygen saturations 85% on air, temperature 36.9.

How would you approach this?

Question

How would you approach this patient?

Example answer

She is hypoxic and unstable, so I would start with a structured A to E assessment and call for help early.

Call for help: a hypoxic, tachypnoeic patient needs senior input, so I would tell my registrar and the nursing team early. A safe SHO knows when to escalate.
Airway: ensure it is patent. Breathing: high-flow oxygen to target saturations, listen to the chest, and take an ABG.
Circulation: heart rate and blood pressure, intravenous access and bloods, and a 12-lead ECG given her cardiac history and AF.
Disability and exposure: conscious level, glucose, temperature, and her legs for oedema or signs of DVT, reassessing frequently.

Question

What is the likely diagnosis, and what investigations would you arrange?

Example answer

The two-week history, leg swelling and cardiac background point to pulmonary oedema from decompensated heart failure, though I would keep a broad differential.

Differentials by time course: sudden onset such as PE or pneumothorax, or over hours to days such as heart failure, pneumonia or an exacerbation of COPD, weighing her previous DVT and MI.
Bedside: an ECG for ischaemia or arrhythmia, and an ABG.
Bloods: full blood count, urea and electrolytes, CRP, and a troponin if the history suggests an ischaemic trigger, with a BNP if available.
Imaging: a chest radiograph looking for interstitial oedema, upper lobe diversion, pleural effusions, Kerley B lines and cardiomegaly.

Question

Your assessment confirms pulmonary oedema from decompensated heart failure. How would you manage her?

Example answer

I would manage her in a monitored area with resuscitation facilities, and escalate if she does not respond.

Sit her upright and give high-flow oxygen unless contraindicated.
Secure intravenous access and give a stat dose of intravenous furosemide, and consider nitrates if her blood pressure allows.
Catheterise to monitor urine output, start a fluid restriction, and monitor her closely with repeat observations and an ABG.
If she does not improve, escalate for senior review and consider non-invasive ventilation and an HDU or ICU bed.

Question

What might have caused this decompensation, and how would you hand her over to your registrar?

Example answer

Chronic heart failure usually decompensates for a reason, and a clear handover is part of the station.

Likely triggers: acute coronary syndrome, an arrhythmia such as her AF, infection, uncontrolled hypertension, or non-adherence to medication or fluid restriction.
I would look for and treat the precipitant alongside the acute management.
Hand over using SBAR: a 72-year-old woman with decompensated heart failure and pulmonary oedema, with saturations of 85% at presentation, on a background of previous MI and AF.
Assessment and plan: treated with oxygen and intravenous diuretics, investigations under way, and I would state clearly what I need from the registrar and her current level of monitoring.

That's one scenario. There are over 70 more.

Actively maintained

How we keep our Question Banks up to date

The General Internal Medicine BST interview changes from year to year, and the biggest fear for any candidate is getting to interview day and realising you've revised with a question bank that's totally outdated.

That's why we review and update every Question Bank regularly, so you know you're revising with scenarios that are likely to come up, aligned with current Irish medical practice and the BST recruitment process.

Our scenarios and model answers are kept aligned with the current interview structure, across the clinical, ethical and motivation themes, so you always practise with the format the panel is using now.

Updated for the latest interviews

Part 2 • Practise them live

The only interview resource where you can practise live with other candidates from across the country

Our General Internal Medicine BST Question Bank tells you exactly how to answer real interview scenarios. But how you practise with them will determine how many marks you score. Simply reading answers off a screen won't prepare you for the intense scrutiny you'll face in the interview. And only practising with the same few colleagues or friends limits the amount of feedback you'll get. Medibuddy gives you unique access to General Internal Medicine BST candidates across the country, so you can learn from a variety of perspectives and hear a far wider range of feedback than your own circle could ever give you.

Study Groups

When you prepare in isolation, you're relying on your own interpretation of the interview process, which is one of the quickest ways to get found out on the day. Study Groups connect you with other doctors across the country who are also applying to General Internal Medicine BST, so you can engage and network with people preparing for the same interview as you. Everyone brings different experience from different hospitals, meaning you won't ever miss out on the key bits of information that could swing the interview in your favour.

Live MocksBeta

Candidates who don't take part in mocks often struggle to adapt to the pressure of the interview. Your knowledge might be correct, but without convincing delivery the interviewers will score you poorly. The best way to improve your delivery is to take part in as many live mocks as possible, which is why we haven't put a cap on how many you can do. We also know how difficult it can be to organise mocks with other people, so all you have to do is join the waiting room and we'll match you with a different General Internal Medicine BST candidate each time. Take turns as both the interviewer and candidate on real Question Bank scenarios, so you can see exactly how other candidates perform in real time, while refining your own interview technique.

Peer FeedbackBeta

Preparing alone means you won't know how you're coming across during the interview. And preparing with the same few candidates means you'll miss opportunities to improve, which is why it's so important to get as many opinions as possible on your performance. With Medibuddy, you can record a mock and submit it for feedback from other candidates on the platform, so you receive a wider range of feedback and refine your answers with each person you practise with. Reviewing other people's mocks is just as valuable, as it shows you how strong candidates handle the same scenarios, which is one of the fastest ways to improve.

The interview