# Practising for Neurosurgery (ST1 & ST2) with MedMock

Canonical page: https://medmock.com/exams/neurosurgery-st1-and-st2

## What is the Neurosurgery ST1 & ST2 interview, and how do you practise for it?

Neurosurgery ST1 and ST2 national recruitment interview (National Recruitment Office for ST1 & ST2 Neurosurgery, NHS England), held online: four 15-minute stations — Clinical, Management, Telephone Referrals, and Motivation and Understanding of Specialty. Before each station there are 5 minutes of reading time when a document is shared. The applicant handbook names the stations but does not describe their content, so the practice questions here are MedMock's own. Applicants are appointable at 65% of the marks available at ST1 and 74% at ST2. Here one examiner voice speaks for the panel. MedMock lets you practise it out loud against an AI interview panel, with examiner-style feedback on any station you finish.

## About Neurosurgery (ST1 & ST2) recruitment (official sources, checked 2026-10-13)

- 2025 recruitment round, NHS England figures for Neurosurgery ST1: 561 applications for 21 posts, a competition ratio of 26.71.
- The National Recruitment Office for ST1 and ST2 Neurosurgery is NHS England North East and Yorkshire. It recruits to posts across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
- For 2027, the Neurosurgery interview is split into four 15-minute stations: Clinical, Management, Telephone Referrals, and Motivation and Understanding of Specialty. Each has 5 minutes of reading time first.
- All 2027 Neurosurgery interviews are held online via Qpercom VIDs.
- Neurosurgery applicants are shortlisted on a combined score of their validated self-assessment score and their MSRA score. The MSRA accounts for 40% of the total shortlisting score.
- Applicants answer multiple-choice self-assessment questions in the application form and upload evidence. A panel of clinicians verifies the responses against that evidence.
- All Neurosurgery ST1 and ST2 applicants must sit the MSRA in the first recruitment round of the recruitment year, with no exceptions or exemptions.
- For 2027 recruitment, a new self-assessment process is being introduced into shortlisting for national Neurosurgery ST1 and ST2 recruitment.

Sources: https://medical.hee.nhs.uk/medical-training-recruitment/medical-specialty-training/competition-ratios/2025-competition-ratios https://www.yorksandhumberdeanery.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/2027_national_neurosurgery_applicant_handbook_final_0.pdf https://www.yorksandhumberdeanery.nhs.uk/recruitment/national_recruitment/national_neurosurgery_st1__st3_recruitment/

Recruitment dates: Applications 22 October 2026 to 19 November 2026 (national Round 1); Interviews within the national Round 1 window, 11 January 2027 to 2 April 2027 (source: NHS England Medical Specialty Recruitment, checked 2026-09-24).
All Neurosurgery (ST1 & ST2) dates: https://medmock.com/exams/neurosurgery-st1-and-st2#dates

## Stations you can practise

- **Clinical Station** — A written clinical scenario read during the reading time, then a 15-minute discussion with the panel. Here the panel asks about your interpretation of the case, differential diagnosis, investigations and initial management.
- **Management Station** — A written management scenario read during the reading time, then a 15-minute discussion with the panel. Here the scenario asks you to prioritise and manage competing clinical and organisational demands.
- **Telephone Referrals Station** — You are the neurosurgical SHO on call taking a telephone referral from another hospital's doctor: gather the key information, give safe interim advice, and decide on transfer and escalation.
- **Motivation and Understanding of Specialty Station** — Questions on your motivation for neurosurgery and your understanding of the specialty: the training pathway, the realities of the job, your experience and your resilience.

## Sample Neurosurgery (ST1 & ST2) questions

- *Clinical Station:* A 28-year-old man fell from height 1 hour ago. GCS 15 but complete sensorimotor loss below T1 dermatome, priapism, hypotensive 86/50 mmHg, HR 52. Cervical CT shows a C5 burst fracture with retropulsion. Discuss the case.
- *Management Station:* You are the on-call neurosurgical SHO. An FY1 colleague on your team has been observed by the anaesthetist to look exhausted, has snapped at theatre nursing staff, and has missed a routine VTE prescription on the ward. Walk me through how you handle this.

## Example scenarios

- *Clinical Station:* You are the on-call neurosurgical SHO. A 62-year-old man on apixaban arrives with GCS 10, a fixed right pupil, and a 14 mm right acute subdural haematoma with 8 mm of midline shift. Walk me through your differential, investigations, and immediate management.
- *Management Station:* You are the on-call neurosurgical SHO at 21:00 with one emergency theatre, one anaesthetist and no HDU bed. Rank the following five patients in order of priority and justify: a Hunt-and-Hess II subarachnoid haemorrhage, an open depressed skull fracture with CSF leak, an intracerebral haemorrhage at GCS 9, a cauda equina with retention, and an anticoagulated chronic-on-acute subdural.
- *Telephone Referrals Station:* An emergency department registrar at a district general hospital calls about a 70-year-old on warfarin with a falling GCS after a fall. Take the referral and advise.
- *Motivation and Understanding of Specialty Station:* What have you done to test that neurosurgery is right for you, and what do you understand about the realities of training?

## How a practice session works

1. **Choose a station** — Choose the kind of question or scenario you want to rehearse — ethics, motivation, a role-play, and more.
2. **Have the conversation** — Speak naturally, out loud. The AI interviewer listens and asks the demanding follow-ups, just as a real interviewer would.
3. **Get instant feedback** — The moment you finish, you get specific, examiner-style feedback and a score — what you did well, what cost you marks, and precisely what to fix before the next attempt.

## Price

Start with a one-off £5 taster: 30 credits (30 minutes of speaking practice), not a subscription. After that, or instead, £45 per month for 300 credits. One credit is one minute of spoken practice, or two typed exchanges, and where the examiner or patient speaks first, that opening line is free. Examiner scorecards, mark schemes and model answers for finished sessions are included at no extra credit cost. Cancel at any time. Full details: https://medmock.com/pricing

## Frequently asked questions

### How does the feedback work?

When you finish a station you can have it marked, and the scorecard comes back in seconds — what you did well, what cost you marks, and exactly what to work on next. Scorecards, mark schemes and model answers are included at no extra credit cost.

### Can I practise specific Neurosurgery ST1 & ST2 stations?

Yes. You can pick any of the 4 stations to drill a weak area, or run a mixed set to simulate the real interview.

### How much does it cost?

You can start with a one-off £5 taster: 30 credits, which is 30 minutes of speaking practice, with no subscription. After that, or at any time, you can choose a monthly plan, which includes a monthly credit allowance. Current prices are on the pricing page.

## About MedMock

MedMock is a web app for practising the spoken parts of UK medical and dental exams and interviews out loud. The candidate talks; an AI patient, examiner or interview panel answers in real time by voice; and when the station ends MedMock marks the performance against that exam's assessment domains and shows the model answer.

It covers 104 spoken exams and interviews — OSCEs, vivas, structured oral exams, simulated consultations, and specialty-training and consultant interviews. It does not cover written or multiple-choice papers, and it is not a question bank.

It was founded by Mr Sam Nahas, MBBS BSc MEd FRCS (Tr & Orth), a practising consultant orthopaedic surgeon in the UK, with co-founder and CTO Arjan Jandu. It is operated by VirtualPatients Ltd (company no. 16303492).

Pricing: a one-off £5 taster of 30 credits to try it (not a subscription, one per account), and a monthly subscription from £20 to £129 depending on the exam (student exams cost least, fellowship exit exams and consultant interviews most), or £199 to £275 for the Intensive plans, which carry more credits. One credit is one minute of spoken practice, or two typed exchanges, and where the examiner or patient speaks first, that opening line is free. Examiner scorecards, mark schemes and model answers for finished sessions are included at no extra credit cost. Subscriptions can be cancelled at any time.

It runs in a web browser on a laptop or phone; spoken practice needs a microphone. There is no public demo: practice needs an account with credits, usually from the taster or a monthly plan.

MedMock is for adults aged 18 or over. Sign-up asks every new account to confirm it.

MedMock is a revision tool. The patients, examiners and cases are fictional and AI-generated; it is not clinical guidance and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any Royal College, the GMC, the GDC or any examining body.

Start with the £5 taster: https://medmock.com/auth/signup