I had 5 MMI II, got rejected at 4 and deferred at another (2 are my top choices). I either practiced scenarios with my friends or watch youtube videos on how to approach the question. 2 of the 5 MMI I walked out feeling pretty good...but then straight out rejected.
I am just at loss because I had few traditional interviews too and I either got waitlisted or accepted...instead of straight out rejected. I know I am fortunate to have acceptances already but I just want to see how other candidates approach their MMI. Obviously, 4/5 straight rejections and 1 deferral mean I did something wrong.
Well congratulations for your acceptance! I think it's awesome that you are still seeking to better yourself. Why don't you just ask others for your feedback. When I did, I was told I can be really awkward/formal when talking and I realized that for me, it gets worse when I'm under pressure. I think that's more of a traditional interview problem though so towards the end Id like to say I relaxed a bit more. For you, if I were to venture a guess on your problem, I think. You over prepare and came off as too rehearsed. I think MMIs are suited for people who are good at thinking on their feet as opposed to those who plan each move out. (Not that those people are less intelligent, I just think the MMI favors the former).
As for MMIs, which I actually prefer, I excelled. I think the key to them is just being knowledgeable about important issues/current events (especially in medicine) and to have good critical thinking/reasoning skills. I personally felt no pressure because I had responses for every scenario and I'm generally a sensitive, introspective, and empathetic person so when it came to empathizing in the role play scenarios or evaluating my strengths and weaknesses after an activity, I was pretty good.
One big thing that helped me going from my first MMI (actually in college when I applied unsuccessfully to be an RA) to my other two were a knowledge of how they worked. If you haven't figured it out after 5, you should know that in the 8 stations, there's always going to be 1-2 where the person purposefully tries to make life hard for you. They'll challenge your views in a seemingly off-putting manner, pretend to be an adamant patient, or just continually ask you to defend your position while maintaining a stoic face. You can generally recognize these right off the back by the expression the standardized person reciprocates to you when you enter the room and smile. The key to doing well in these scenarios is to just be calm, maintain your position, be polite, and don't say anything stupid NO MATTER WHAT. Also, if you're generally a happy, super bubbly person and the person is being super stoic, don't match his or her attitude...but like tone your friendliness down a bit. (One stupid interviewer thought I was unable of recognizing the seriousness of the event when he was being super stoic and challenging the whole time while I maintained my cheerful demeanor...I was like no, you were just being a rude person for some reason and I wasn't going to let that effect me). As for the tough MMIs though, I'm always surprised at the number of people who I talk to after the MMI is over who fail at this and start complaining that one of their MMIs was a nightmare. I'm like, they were testing you!!!
