MOCK interviews have been taking place at Kingsbridge Community College to help prepare students hoping to undergo further study in the areas of veterinary nursing, medicine or dentistry.

The interviews took place on Wednesday and saw students that are hoping to apply for these courses at university experience an interview environment to better prepare them for the tough interview conditions these courses require.

The interview process for these professions are known to be gruelling, testing students on a variety of topics, and this extra support is really important to help them feel more comfortable in their actual interviews.

Dr Molly Parkinson from Torbay hospital was one of the visitors conducting these interviews, in the hopes that it would make students feel more confident when it comes to the real thing.

She expressed the importance of implementing these mock interviews in comprehensive schools, to ensure students get the same opportunities as private school students, saying: “I was really pleased to be able to organise and offer this experience to the students.

Coming from a comprehensive school background myself I had minimal help with my application and spent a silly number of hours researching and trying to work out the nuances of the application process myself, so I feel very passionately about widening access and offering help and support to students from all backgrounds.

These mock interviews tend to happen a lot at private schools but not so much in rural comprehensive schools! I’m hopeful they all gained something from it.”

Oliver Dudley, one of the students that took part in the process, is considering attending either the University of Birmingham, Leicester, Nottingham or Liverpool. He said the interviews were “a bit stressful to start” but ended up being “a lot of fun”, and a great experience to help students prepare for the application process.

Hopefully this aids students in feeling more prepared as they approach their next academic milestone.