Table 1 Common instruments for selection into medical specialist training programmes [14, 20]
Instrument | Description |
|---|---|
Interviews/Multiple mini-interviews | Includes standardised and non-standardised interviews, which may be supported by psychometric evidence, although frequently involve subjective judgements. |
Academic records | Particularly school results measured against a year-cohort, but may include other information, such as extra-curricular activities, awards, etc |
Standardised exams/aptitude tests (including SJT/CPST) | Includes exams which test general medical, not specialist, aptitude: • Standardised exams used for selection into medical school or licensure for practice, such as the United States Medical Licensing Exam(s) and the UK’s Multi-Specialty Recruitment Assessment And exams designed for particular specialties, including: • OSCE format interviews • Situational judgement tests which assess non-cognitive characteristics by presenting workplace-based scenarios requiring non-clinical decisions • Clinical problem-solving tests (CPST) which involve multiple-choice responses to clinical scenarios requiring clinical reasoning |
Curriculum vitae | Structured or free-form document(s) provided by candidate outlining their education, training, and work experiences. |
Letters of recommendation | Structured or free-form letters expressing an opinion on the candidates’ specific or general capacities, often weighted for the perceived expertise or prestige of the undersigned; for example greater weight may be given to a LoR by the Dean of a prominent medical school than a consultant in a medical specialty. |
Personal statements | Structured or free-form statements by the candidate usually addressing specific criteria such as motivation, priorities, and personal circumstances. |
Referees reports/references | Structured or free-form reports by referees with knowledge of the candidate addressing specific selection criteria. |
Locally defined criteria | The criteria used for selection into individual specialist training programmes may not be precisely defined. Locally defined criteria may involve algorithms weighting various of the instruments described above, and may or may not involve objective thresholds or subjective judgements |