Applicants often wonder what is in the head of the person marking. The short version, from how Arvin Ardakani marks, is that strong answers are easy to recognise and the same few things keep separating them from the rest.
Did you show your thinking, or only your decision?
The first thing Arvin Ardakani checks is whether the answer jumps to a conclusion. Many first answers state a decision and stop. Raters mark your perspective, your emotional maturity and the depth of your reasoning, so the thinking that leads to the decision is where the marks are.
Did you answer the task you were given?
Task focus comes first. Read the task verb and your role, then stay there when the follow-up questions push. Task focus means answering exactly what was asked, from the right role, and staying on it when pushed.
Did you reason, or only list?
Reasoning means weighing real options and explaining why your choice is proportionate. Arvin Ardakani looks for a choice: listing values without choosing between them leaves the question unanswered. The question is never only “what matters here?” but “given that, what do you do, and why that?”
Did you see everyone fairly?
Perspective means seeing every person in the scenario without assumptions. The strongest answers describe the person who looks wrong fairly, not as a villain, and show real curiosity about why they acted as they did.
Did you stay in your role?
As an applicant you do not diagnose, prescribe or make legal rulings. You notice, care, act and involve the right person. Answers that overreach lose marks as surely as answers that do nothing.
Did you follow through?
An action is practical, within your role, and owned. Then comes what happens next and how you would check it worked. That follow-through is what makes an answer feel like a plan.
Did you update when the facts changed?
Follow-up questions often change the scenario. Adaptability means you update and explain why, without folding at the first push and without refusing to move at all.
What is holding you back specifically?
Beyond the six skills, Arvin looks for the one pattern costing each student the most. For one it is too many examples, for another a polished answer that leaves no lasting impression, for another thinking they cannot yet put into words. Finding that pattern is the point of personal marking, because the fix is different for each.
And for personal questions
Real, specific stories, an honest result, and a reflection that names what changed afterwards and where. See why Arvin Ardakani teaches personal stories over templates.
Arvin Ardakani scores each station on the six skills from 1 to 5, and the aim is a solid 3 or higher in every skill across unseen stations. For how that feedback is delivered, read why he marks every answer himself, and for the scoring of one real format, how the early-phase MMI is scored.
Written by the ExperienceMED team. Reviewed by Arvin Ardakani.