Queen's: Supplementary video response (Commerce / Health Sciences / Nursing)

2 minutes prep, 2 minutes delivery, recorded live

Record a spoken answer to a randomly assigned prompt: 2 minutes to prepare, 2 minutes to deliver, no script visible on camera.

What it’s really asking

After the written response, you record a short video answering a second random prompt. You get two minutes to think and two minutes to speak. There is no retake unless the system assigns you a fresh question, and you cannot read from a script.

Why they ask it

The video rubric rewards initiative, appreciation for others' perspectives, and 'maturity, self-direction, and creativity or composure under pressure.' It is testing whether you can think and speak like a calm, real person, not whether you memorized lines.

Three ways in

Plan three beats

Use your two prep minutes to pick one example and three beats: point, example, takeaway.

Slow down to seem calm

Speak slightly slower than feels natural. On camera, a measured pace reads as composure.

Look at the lens

Look at the camera lens, not your own image, so you actually connect with the reader watching.

✕ Weak opening

“Um, that's a really good question, let me think about that for a second.”

✓ Strong opening

“The clearest time I changed my mind because of someone else was during a group project last spring.”

✦ Annotated example · Timed video: a time you adapted (spoken, ~2 min). Written by EssayLens to teach, not a real applicant’s essay. Tap a highlighted line →

Thanks. The moment I'd talk about is the night our debate partner got sick two hours before a regional final, and I had to take both sides of the case alone. ¹We'd spent weeks splitting the work. She ran the economic arguments and I ran the ethical ones, so when she dropped out I suddenly had a whole half of the case I'd never actually argued out loud. ²My first reaction was honestly a little panic. But I had about ninety minutes, so I did what I could control. I pulled her notes, found the three strongest economic points, and rehearsed transitions out loud in the hallway so the two halves would sound like one person, not two stitched together. ³We didn't win the final, but two judges said it was the most coherent case in the round, which honestly meant more, because it came from the part I built under pressure. ⁴What I took from it is that I'm steadier than I assume when a plan falls apart, as long as I focus on the next concrete step instead of the whole mountain. ⁵So if something goes sideways at Queen's, in a group project or a lab, that's the version of me you'd get: the one who finds the next step and starts moving. Thanks for listening.⁶

1For a live 2-minute spoken answer with no visible script, you open conversationally ('Thanks') and name the moment immediately. Spoken delivery rewards a clear, spoken-sounding first line the camera can latch onto.
2Sets concrete stakes in plain spoken language. Short clauses are easier to say smoothly under pressure than long written sentences, which matters when nothing is scripted on camera.
3Shows adaptability and composure through action. Admitting brief panic, then pivoting to what she could control, is honest and demonstrates persistence, which is what the prompt is really testing.
4A realistic, non-perfect outcome lands better on video than a flawless win. Reflecting on why the partial result mattered shows the reflection-over-narration Queen's values.
5States the lesson plainly in the first person. In a timed video you want one clean takeaway the assessor remembers, not a list.
6Closes by connecting the trait to campus life and signs off cleanly, leaving buffer before the 2-minute cutoff. A warm, definite ending reads well on camera and respects the time limit.

Stuck? Start here

When did someone else's view change my mind, and can I tell it in two minutes?
What are the three beats (point, example, takeaway) I want to hit out loud?
How do I sound when I am calm and clear, rather than rehearsed?

Before you submit

I answer the prompt in my first spoken sentence.
I include one concrete example and one honest reflection.
I finish comfortably inside two minutes without rushing or reading.

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