# Practising for Plastic Surgery (ST3) with MedMock

Canonical page: https://medmock.com/exams/plastic-surgery-st3

## What is the Plastic Surgery ST3 interview, and how do you practise for it?

Plastic Surgery ST3 national recruitment interview, run online by NHS England: three 10-minute sections with no breaks, 30 minutes in all. OSCE and Communications is a 5-minute consent task, then a 5-minute communication task, with a role-player; Clinical Scenario is a discussion of two cases; the Structured Interview asks two or three questions on your achievements beyond clinical practice. Every section is scored from 0 (no evidence) to 5 (outstanding), and the final score weights the OSCE 30%, Clinical Scenario 25%, Structured Interview 25% and your portfolio 20%. 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 Plastic Surgery (ST3) recruitment (official sources, checked 2026-10-13)

- 2025 recruitment round, NHS England figures for Plastic Surgery ST3: 281 applications for 42 posts, a competition ratio of 6.69.
Most of the following describes the previous recruitment round; the official pages have not yet been updated for the next one.
- The Plastic Surgery ST3 interview was one 30-minute station with multiple panel members and three sections, with no break between questions.
- The first Plastic Surgery interview section combined two 5-minute OSCE tasks, consent and communication; the second was a 10-minute section with two clinical scenarios, and the third a 10-minute structured interview of 2 or 3 questions.
- Plastic Surgery interview sections were scored from 0 (no evidence) to 5 (outstanding).
- The weighted Plastic Surgery score was made up of the structured interview (25%), clinical scenario (25%), OSCE (30%) and portfolio (20%).
- For 2026 entry, Plastic Surgery reduced the number of self-assessment domains from 17 to 11, with reduced surgical components for Skin, Hands and Burns.
- Plastic Surgery consultants verified the self-assessment evidence to produce a verified evidence score, and the highest scoring applicants were then invited to a remote interview.
- Plastic Surgery ST3 recruitment in England, Scotland and Wales is a nationally coordinated process hosted by the London Recruitment Office.

Sources: https://medical.hee.nhs.uk/medical-training-recruitment/medical-specialty-training/competition-ratios/2025-competition-ratios https://medical.hee.nhs.uk/medical-training-recruitment/medical-specialty-training/surgery/higher-surgery/plastic-surgery/overview-of-plastic-surgery/interviews https://medical.hee.nhs.uk/medical-training-recruitment/medical-specialty-training/surgery/higher-surgery/plastic-surgery/overview-of-plastic-surgery/overview-of-plastic-surgery https://medical.hee.nhs.uk/medical-training-recruitment/medical-specialty-training/surgery/higher-surgery/plastic-surgery/overview-of-plastic-surgery/how-to-apply

Recruitment dates: Applications 19 November 2026 to 10 December 2026 (national Round 2); Interviews within the national Round 2 window, 11 January 2027 to 9 April 2027 (source: NHS England Medical Specialty Recruitment, checked 2026-09-24).
All Plastic Surgery (ST3) dates: https://medmock.com/exams/plastic-surgery-st3#dates

## Stations you can practise

- **OSCE and communications** — 10 minutes: a 5-minute consent task scored on operative environment and anaesthesia, technique, post-operative regime, risks and complications, and overall communication; then a 5-minute communication task scored on introduction, history, examination, investigations planned and management plan. Here the same role-player plays the patient in both tasks: consent for the operation, then that patient back in clinic after it.
- **Clinical Scenario** — Panel discussion of two clinical scenarios drawn from the FRCS Plast syllabus (hand trauma, burns, breast, head & neck oncoplastic, lower-limb open fracture, paediatric / craniofacial), each scored from 0 (no evidence) to 5 (outstanding).
- **Structured Interview** — Two or three questions on achievements and skills beyond clinical practice — audit and quality improvement, research, teaching, leadership, management and ethics — answered reflectively. Worth 25% of the final score.

## Sample Plastic Surgery (ST3) questions

- *OSCE and communications:* Mrs G, a 60-year-old retired teacher, has a basal cell carcinoma on her left temple measuring 1.5 cm. She has been listed for wide local excision and full-thickness skin graft from the supraclavicular fossa. Consent her for the procedure.
- *Clinical Scenario:* A 19-year-old man with 60% TBSA mixed-depth burn from a chemistry-lab explosion. Walk me through your initial management and ongoing burn-shock resuscitation.

## Example scenarios

- *OSCE and communications:* Mrs S is a 38-year-old who has been listed for bilateral breast reduction. Take her through the consenting process — Montgomery-anchored material risks, BAPRAS leaflet, BDD screen, two-stage consent.
- *Clinical Scenario:* A 35-year-old man with a 30% TBSA full-thickness flame burn presents two hours post-injury. Walk the panel through your EMSB-anchored primary survey, modified Parkland resuscitation titrated to urine output, and onward referral to the regional burns centre under the National Burn Care pathway.

## 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, £69 per month for 350 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 Plastic Surgery ST3 stations?

Yes. You can pick any of the 3 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