Situational Judgement Tests (SJTs): What They Are and How to Pass

A practical guide to situational judgement tests in the UK: who uses them, the main question formats, a worked example, how they are scored and how to prepare well.

By Tony Musso on Sat Oct 17 2026

A situational judgement test, usually shortened to SJT, shows you realistic work scenarios and asks how you would respond. There are no maths or verbal reasoning questions. Instead, the test measures your judgement: how you prioritise, treat people, handle pressure and follow the values of the organisation.

SJTs are common in UK recruitment. Graduate schemes, the Civil Service, police forces, the NHS and medical and dental training, banks, retailers and large employers all use them, often as an early online stage to narrow a big field of applicants. This guide explains how they work and how to prepare.

What a situational judgement test looks like

Each question describes a short scenario, often a paragraph, sometimes a video or animated clip. For example, a colleague misses a deadline that affects your work, a customer makes a complaint, or you notice a mistake in a report your manager has already sent.

You then see a set of possible responses and have to judge them. The scenarios are written for the job, so a police SJT feels different from a retail one, but the skills being tested overlap: teamwork, integrity, customer focus, communication, resilience and good judgement.

The main question formats

Format	What you do
Most and least effective	Choose the best and worst response from a list of four or five
Rank the responses	Put all the options in order from most to least effective
Rate each response	Score every option on a scale, for example from very ineffective to very effective
Pick the best	Choose the single best response
Choose several	Select the two or three most appropriate actions

Read the instructions carefully, because the same scenario can be scored very differently depending on the format. Some tests are timed, others are untimed but expect you to finish in a set window.

How SJTs are scored

The employer has worked out the "best" answers in advance, usually by asking experienced staff how they would rate each response. Your answers are compared with theirs.

In ranking and rating formats you usually get partial credit for being close. Putting the best option second rather than first costs a little, not everything. That is why extreme answers can hurt: if you rate a reasonable option as "very ineffective", you lose more marks than if you had been slightly off.

There is rarely a pass mark you can look up. Most employers set a cut-off based on how everyone performs, or combine the SJT score with other tests.

A worked example

You work in a busy office. A colleague you get on well with has made an error in a spreadsheet that is going to a client tomorrow. They have gone home for the day and you cannot reach them. Your manager is in the office. Rate the effectiveness of each response: A. Do nothing, because it is your colleague's work. B. Correct the error yourself and send the spreadsheet without telling anyone. C. Tell your manager about the error and suggest how it could be corrected before it goes out. D. Email your colleague so they see it first thing tomorrow, and check with them before it is sent.

How an employer is likely to see it:

C is most effective. It protects the client, involves the person responsible for the work going out and offers a solution.
D is reasonably effective if there is enough time tomorrow, but it risks the error going out if your colleague is late or off sick.
B is less effective. You fix the problem, but making unchecked changes to someone else's work without telling anyone can cause new mistakes and hides the issue.
A is least effective. You knowingly let an error reach a client.

Notice the pattern: the best answers solve the problem, involve the right people and are open about what happened.

What employers are looking for

Most SJT scenarios reward the same things:

Acting, not ignoring. Doing nothing is rarely the best answer.
Using the right channels. Raise concerns with the right person, rather than going over heads or acting alone without authority.
Putting the customer, patient or public first, especially where safety is involved.
Honesty and integrity. Owning mistakes, never covering them up.
Respect for colleagues. Supporting people, having a quiet word before escalating where it is appropriate.
Following policy, while being sensible and proportionate.

The organisation's values are your best guide. If a police force lists integrity and public service as its values, the best answers will reflect them.

How to prepare

Read the employer's values and competencies. They are usually on the careers site and shape what counts as a good answer.
Learn the formats. Many employers publish practice questions or a short practice test. Use it.
Answer as a sensible employee, not as yourself on a bad day. Picture how a respected, experienced colleague would act.
Read every option before deciding. The best answer is sometimes the last one.
Avoid extremes in rating formats unless an option is clearly excellent or clearly wrong.
Take practice tests in quiet conditions to get used to the length, which can be 30 minutes or more.
Don't try to memorise answers. Scenarios differ, but the judgement behind good answers is consistent.

SJTs and the rest of the process

The SJT is usually one stage. It may be followed by ability tests, a video interview, an assessment centre or a competency-based interview. Many employers use the same competencies throughout, so the thinking you do for the SJT helps later.

See how you like to work Work Personality shows how you naturally approach people, pressure and decisions, so you can spot the scenarios where your instinct and the employer's expectations differ.

Take Work Personality

If you are applying for public sector roles, our guide to Civil Service behaviours explains the framework many government SJTs are built around.

Frequently asked questions

What is a situational judgement test?

An assessment that shows you realistic work scenarios and asks you to judge how effective different responses are. It measures judgement, values and how you deal with people, rather than numeracy or verbal reasoning.

Can you fail a situational judgement test?

Yes. Employers set a cut-off, often based on how all candidates perform, and only those above it move to the next stage. Scores may also be combined with other tests.

How do I prepare for an SJT?

Read the employer's values and competencies, try any practice questions they publish, learn the question formats, and answer as a sensible, experienced employee would. Avoid extreme ratings unless an option is clearly right or wrong.

Are SJTs timed?

Some are and some are not. Untimed tests usually still expect you to finish within a window, so check the instructions before you start.

Who uses situational judgement tests in the UK?

Graduate employers, the Civil Service, police forces, the NHS and medical training bodies, banks and many large retailers, usually as an early online stage of recruitment.