PrepSurgExcel in Surgery

ST1

Neurosurgery ST1 Interview Question Bank & Course

Neurosurgery ST1 Interview Preparation Platform | Prepare for every station of your neurosurgery ST1 interview 64 interview stations across clinical, telephone, management…

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Included with enrolment

More than a question bank

Everything your enrolment includes.

Premium learning tools

Ask the tutor

Ask about any lesson and get a clear explanation with a short clinical example.

Live mock interviews

Get matched with another candidate and practise stations on a video call.

National study groups

Join candidates across the country to share tips and plan practice sessions.

Personal lesson notes

Write notes on each lesson and find them all again in your dashboard.

How your practice works

  1. Step 1

    Learn the stations

    Work through worked scenarios with model answers and previous interviewer tips.

  2. Step 2

    Practise live

    Join a national mock night or get matched on demand, with a built-in station timer.

  3. Step 3

    Get scored

    Your partner marks you on a five-area examiner sheet so you know exactly what to fix.

About this course

Neurosurgery ST1 national selection

Prepare for every station of your neurosurgery ST1 interview

64 interview stations across clinical, telephone referral, management, and motivation and understanding of the specialty, each with expert advice, model answers, high-yield knowledge and stretch questions. Then practise them out loud with candidates from across the country.

Try a sample station
Your interview, four stations Online

Station 1: clinical

Read5 min
Clinical15 min

Station 2: telephone referral

Read5 min
Telephone referral15 min

Station 3: management

Read5 min
Management15 min

Station 4: motivation

Read5 min
Motivation and specialty15 min

Every station has its own set of scenarios in the bank, timed the same way.

What's in the question bank

64 stations covering all four parts of the interview, from the emergencies you'll be expected to know cold to the topics that catch people out.

22 stations

Clinical

Head injury, hydrocephalus, subarachnoid haemorrhage, spinal emergencies, tumours and more, each with a full reading document, the imaging and results you'd be given, and the priorities panels look for.

18 stations

Telephone referral

Realistic calls from emergency departments, other hospitals and GPs, with a role-player brief and a call script, so you can practise taking a structured history and giving clear advice.

14 stations

Management

Consent, capacity, patient safety, speaking up, fatigue, complaints, governance and service pressure in realistic neurosurgical workplace situations.

10 stations

Motivation and understanding of the specialty

Why neurosurgery, the training pathway, resilience, ethics, current evidence and your own portfolio, with guidance on building strong answers from your own experience.

Throughout

High-yield knowledge

The guidelines, classifications and trial evidence each station needs are explained inside it, so you don't need a separate knowledge course.

Throughout

Scoring that mirrors the panel

Each station ends with examiner-style scoring across the person specification domains, so you can see how a panel would mark your answer.

How every station is built

Each one follows the same structure, so you learn what a complete answer looks like and how it sounds out loud.

  1. A realistic reading document

    Written and timed like the real station, with the observations, results and imaging findings you'd be given on the day.

  2. Expert advice

    What the panel is testing, and where candidates usually lose marks.

  3. Standard and stretch questions

    The questions a panel is likely to ask, then harder follow-ups for when they want to see how far you can go.

  4. Model answers

    A model opening answer, then a full answer to every question, written to be spoken in the time allowed.

  5. Notes framework, high-yield knowledge, tips, scoring and references

    A framework to copy onto your paper notes, the key facts, interviewer tips, scoring mapped to the person specification, and the guidance behind each answer.

Knowing the answer isn't enough. You have to say it well.

The question bank sits inside a platform built for practising out loud, getting help when you're stuck, and keeping track of what you've learned.

Live mocks

Practise with another neurosurgery ST1 candidate and run real stations under interview timing. Take turns as candidate and examiner, so you learn from both sides of the table.

  • Practise with a different partner each time
  • Telephone referral stations include a role-player brief and call script for your partner
  • Each station's scoring guide helps the examiner give useful feedback

National study groups

Join a group of candidates preparing for the same interview, from units across the UK. Compare approaches, share what you've been asked, and work through difficult stations together.

  • Hear how trainees in other units manage the same problems
  • Organise mocks with people from your group
  • Keep each other on track in the weeks before the interview

Ask the tutor

Stuck on a station, or unsure whether your answer would score well? Send a question to a PrepSurg tutor from any station, and get a reply you can come back to.

  • Ask about the clinical content, the structure of your answer, or the evidence
  • Your question stays linked to the station it came from
  • Useful when you need a definitive answer rather than another opinion

Notes

The real interview lets you use handwritten notes you have prepared yourself. Write your own notes against any station as you revise: the phrases that work for you, the points you keep forgetting, and what your mock partners told you.

  • Your notes sit alongside the station they belong to
  • Build a personal revision sheet for the night before
  • Private to you

Try a sample station

These are the standard questions from one of the clinical stations. Read the stem, answer each question out loud, then open the key points and model answer.

Station 1: clinical

You are the neurosurgery ST1 on call at 02:20. A 34-year-old man collapsed at work after a sudden severe headache. For a year he has had headaches that were worse lying down. His GCS was 14 on arrival and is now 11, and he has vomited twice. CT shows a 12 mm hyperdense lesion at the foramen of Monro with markedly dilated lateral ventricles and transependymal oedema. Your registrar is 30 minutes away.

GCS11
Heart rate52
BP168/94

What is happening, and what is your immediate management?

Key points

Acute obstructive hydrocephalus from a colloid cyst, with a Cushing's response and impending herniation.

  • Secure the airway if GCS falls to 8 or below; head up 30 degrees; avoid hypotension
  • Hyperosmolar therapy as a bridge only
  • Call the registrar, consultant and anaesthetics now; prepare theatre
  • No lumbar puncture
Model answer

"He has acute obstructive hydrocephalus from a colloid cyst blocking the foramen of Monro. The falling GCS, bradycardia and hypertension are a Cushing's response, so this is a neurosurgical emergency."

"I'd check his airway and call anaesthetics if he can't protect it, position him head up at 30 degrees, and give hypertonic saline or mannitol as a bridge. I'd call my registrar and the consultant now, rather than waiting for the registrar to arrive, and prepare for an emergency external ventricular drain. I would not do a lumbar puncture."

How is an external ventricular drain placed, and what are the risks?

Key points
  • Consent where possible, or emergency treatment in his best interests
  • Kocher's point, about 11 cm behind the nasion in the mid-pupillary line, 2 to 3 cm from the midline
  • Catheter aimed at the medial canthus and the tragus, about 5 to 6 cm deep
  • Release CSF slowly and set the drain height
  • Risks: haemorrhage, misplacement, infection, blockage, over-drainage
Model answer

"I'd position him supine with the head elevated, prepare the skin, and enter at Kocher's point, passing the catheter towards the ipsilateral medial canthus in one plane and the tragus in the other, to about 5 to 6 centimetres."

"I'd release CSF slowly and set the drain height, because rapid drainage risks bleeding and upward herniation. The main risks are haemorrhage, infection, blockage and over-drainage. Because the cyst can block both foramina, one drain may not decompress the other side, so I'd reassess and discuss a second drain or a septostomy."

After the drain, he improves. What are the definitive treatment options?

Key points
  • Removal of the cyst, which is curative
  • Endoscopic resection: shorter stay and less retraction, but a risk of incomplete removal
  • Transcallosal microsurgery: wider exposure and more complete removal, but a risk of memory deficit
  • A shunt or septostomy only if hydrocephalus persists
Model answer

"Once the hydrocephalus is controlled, the definitive treatment is removal of the cyst, which is curative and lets the drain come out."

"The options are endoscopic resection, which has a shorter stay and less brain retraction but a higher risk of incomplete removal, and transcallosal microsurgery, which gives a wider view and a more complete resection but carries a risk of memory deficit from fornix injury. My consultant would choose with the patient. If hydrocephalus persisted, he might need a shunt."

The full station continues with how to explain the diagnosis to the family, and stretch questions on why a lumbar puncture is dangerous, what to do when one drain is not enough, which cysts can be observed, and how to answer a partner who asks whether he could have died.

What the interview involves

The interview is held online and has four stations: clinical, telephone referral, management, and motivation and understanding of the specialty.

Clinical

Read the document shared with you5 min
Questions on the scenario15 min

Telephone referral

Read the document shared with you5 min
Take the referral and give advice15 min

Management

Read the document shared with you5 min
Questions on the scenario15 min

Motivation and understanding of the specialty

Read the document shared with you5 min
Questions on your motivation, experience and understanding of neurosurgery15 min

Based on the 2026 applicant handbook. You may use handwritten notes that you have prepared yourself. Always check the current person specification and interview guidance for your recruitment round.

How to prepare with PrepSurg

Learn the stations

Work through the bank by station. Read the expert advice, answer out loud, then compare with the model answer.

Talk them through

Bring the hard ones to your study group, and ask a tutor when you need a clear answer.

Practise out loud

Run live mocks under interview timing, swapping between candidate and examiner.

Refine before the day

Use your notes and mock feedback to build your handwritten revision sheet, and finish with the stretch questions.

Frequently asked questions

Which parts of the interview does the course cover?

All four stations: clinical, telephone referral, management, and motivation and understanding of the specialty.

Do I need a separate knowledge course?

No. Each station explains the high-yield knowledge it relies on, including the relevant guidelines, classifications and evidence, so the bank works on its own.

How are the model answers written?

Each station has a model opening answer and a full answer to every question, written to be spoken within the time allowed. Each one ends with a list of references.

How do the telephone referral stations work?

Each one gives you a reading document, then a call. The bank includes a role-player brief and a call script, so a practice partner can play the referrer and you can practise taking a structured history and giving clear advice.

How does the course help with the motivation station?

This station asks about your own motivation and experience, so there's no single right answer. Each one explains what the panel is looking for, then shows how a strong answer is built, with space to add your own examples from your portfolio.

What are stretch questions?

Harder follow-ups that panels often use with stronger candidates, such as complications, ethical twists or a change in the patient's condition. They're marked separately, so you can master the core questions first.

How do live mocks work?

You practise with another candidate and take turns as candidate and examiner on a station from the bank, under interview timing.

Who answers my questions in Ask the tutor?

A PrepSurg tutor replies to your question, which stays linked to the station you asked it from.

Are my notes private?

Yes. Your notes are visible only to you.

How long do I have access?

You have full access to the question bank and all platform features for 356 days from the date you enrol.

Course curriculum

4 topics · 64 lessons

01

Telephone referrals

18 lessons

Head injury in an older patient on apixaban
Extradural haematoma needing time-critical transfer
Suspected cauda equina syndrome before an MRI
Metastatic spinal cord compression
Aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage
Suspected shunt failure in a child
A junior referrer with incomplete information
Cerebellar haemorrhage when your registrar is unavailable
A GP referral that doesn't need emergency neurosurgery
Severe head injury when there's no ICU bed
A patient who seizes during the call A patient who seizes during the call
Relaying a decision not to operate
An infant with a subdural haematoma and a worrying history
Sudden headache, visual loss and a pituitary mass
Back pain, fever and new leg weakness
A chronic subdural in an older patient: can he go home?
A relative phones you directly with a concern
Papilloedema conundrum
02

Clinical

22 lessons

Head injured trauma patient in the resuscitation room
Interpreting an emergency CT head
A drowsy patient with headache, vomiting and enlarged ventricles
An anticoagulated older patient with an acute subdural
A cervical spine injury
A new deficit six days after a subarachnoid haemorrhage
Deterioration eight hours after a craniotomy
Fever, headache and a ring-enhancing lesion
A first seizure and a lesion in the frontal lobe
A spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage
Clumsy hands and unsteady legs in a 62-year-old
Headaches, bitemporal field loss and a pituitary mass
Gait, memory and bladder problems with big ventricles
A child who fell from a climbing frame
Sudden back pain and leg weakness on warfarin
Posterior fossa surgery
A cervical fracture
Venous infarct in a young woman
A new seizure and a solitary mass
Headache and failing vision in a young woman with papilloedema
Sudden severe headache and drowsiness with a third ventricle lesion
Sciatica with a new foot drop and no cauda equina features
03

Management

14 lessons

A discrepancy between the consent form and the operating list
Asked to stay on after a long night shift to cover a rota gap
A senior colleague berates a nurse in front of patients
Five competing tasks at once on a busy on-call evening
Delay to theatre for extradural haematoma: audit and improvement
A patient who needs a craniotomy refuses blood products
A CT scan with a patient’s name posted in a social messaging group
You realise you requested a CT head on the wrong patient
Giving feedback to a foundation doctor who is struggling
A bereaved daughter makes a complaint about her father’s care
A colleague who appears impaired before an operating list
One critical care bed and two patients who need it
A discrepancy in a colleague’s data and an authorship request
A new device, an enthusiastic consultant and an industry representative in theatre
04

Motivation & Understanding of the Specialty

10 lessons

Why neurosurgery, and why you?
The training pathway and the realities of a neurosurgical career
Evidence of commitment: audit, research, teaching and experience
Resilience, bad news and coping with poor outcomes
Ethics in neurosurgery: futility, best interests and decompressive surgery
Current developments and evidence in neurosurgery
Teamwork, the MDT and non-technical skills
Manual skills, operative experience and learning to operate
Why now, why this region, and what if it does not work out?
Qualities of a neurosurgeon, patient focus and closing questions