Achieving the top 1% UCAT score, and being one of the 17% who achieved a Band 1 in the Situational Judgement (SJT) Section in my cohort, I can vouch for the importance of solid UCAT preparation for your SJT.
The SJT presents you with real-life ethically challenging scenarios and asks you to judge the importance of particular considerations, and the appropriateness of certain actions.
Situational judgment tests are used to evaluate your capacity to make ethical decisions which align with the core values of the GMC and your ability to understand what is expected of a future doctor.
Using our SJT Tips Guide in your UCAT Preparation, you’ll learn everything you need to ace this section of your exam.
Want to further strengthen your prospects of becoming a medic and getting into a UK medical school? Consider integrating your studies with a 1-1 medical UCAT tutor to take your scores to the next level.
15 Tips To Prepare You For The UCAT Situational Judgement Summary:
Learn The Principles In The GMC’s Good Medical Practice
Know The Situational Judgement Test Structure Inside Out
Learn The Types Of Situational Judgement Questions And What They Mean
Break Down The Scenario
Remember How The SJT Is Marked
(Educated) Guess, Guess, Guess
Learn Your Medical Ethics Principles
Understand How Confidentiality Works In a Clinical Context
Get A Strong Grip On The Principles Of Informed Consent
Social Media & Being A Doctor
The Patient Comes First
Be Prepared For Non-Medical Ethical Scenarios
It’s Not A Personality Test
Keep Track Of Common Themes
Try Writing Your Own SJT Practice Question Scenarios
How Is The Situational Judgement Section Scored?
Unlike other sections of the UCAT where you’ll receive a score out of 900, the SJT is awarded in scoring bands. To receive an interview offer for most UK medical schools, you are expected to achieve at least a Band 3 in your SJT. This is the cut-off score for most UCAT Universities in the UK.
The UCAT Consortium defines these scoring bands as:
Band 1 - The best score you can achieve.
“Demonstrated an excellent level of performance, showing similar judgement in most cases to the panel of experts.”
Band 2 - A good score.
“Those in Band 2 demonstrated a good, solid level of performance, showing appropriate judgement frequently, with many responses matching model answers.”
Band 3 - A passing score
“Those in Band 3 demonstrated a modest level of performance, with appropriate judgement shown for some questions and substantial differences from ideal responses for others.”
Band 4 - A poor score
“The performance of those in Band 4 was low, with judgement tending to differ substantially from ideal responses in many cases.”
When practising mock exams and preparing for the UCAT, students should aim to achieve band 2 SJT scores and above. If you’re struggling to achieve this or want some more help, check out the tips below!
👉🏻 Read more Free UCAT Tips In Our Ultimate UKCAT Guide
SJT Tip 1: Learn The Principles In The GMC’s Good Medical Practice
The General Medical Council’s Good Medical Practice is a document created for doctors, which sets out the principles, standards and professional expectations of doctors in the UK.
As of 30th January 2024, a new updated Good Medical Practice pdf has been released, with updated guidelines for doctors.
This document sets out the principles that doctors should uphold during ethically challenging scenarios, such as the ones you will be presented with in your SJT questions. Therefore, this is an invaluable resource to help you frame your studying for the SJT.
We especially recommend taking a look at the updated General Medical Council GMP sections, such as guidance for doctors regarding their use of social media.
👉🏻 Read more about The New Good Medical Practice.
Situational Judgement Practice Tip 2: Know The Section Structure Inside Out
The Situational Judgement Test is the last section of the UCAT that you will face on your exam day and understanding the section structure will help you gain the best situational judgement score you can!
It consists of 69 scenario-based questions, which need to be completed within 26 minutes, giving you approximately 22 seconds per question.
This makes it one of the most time-pressured sections in the UCAT, which is commonly misperceived, and so many students miss out on vital marks in this section as they run out of time!
👉🏻 Read more about what to expect on the day of your UCAT exam
SJT Tip 3: Learn The Types Of SJT Questions And What They Mean
There are 2 main types of questions in the Situational Judgement subtest.
Type 1 - Appropriateness Questions
In these questions, you’ll face a clinical scenario with a short sentence describing an action which could be taken.
The question will then ask you to rank the action as
A very appropriate thing to do
This action addresses at least one aspect of the situation and abides by ethical principles set out by the GMC
This action should be constructive, appropriately timed and professional.
Appropriate, but not ideal
This action still has a positive outcome and is a good thing to do, but only addresses some of the situations, and could create further problems.
Inappropriate, but not awful
This action should not be done, but won’t have terrible consequences
A very inappropriate thing to do
This definitely should not be done and would make the situation worse
Type 2 - Importance Questions
Very important
This must be considered in the scenario
Important
This should be considered in the scenario
Of minor importance
This barely has relevance to the scenario
Not important at all
This is not relevant to the scenario
Situational Judgement Question Tip 4: Break Down The Scenario
When reading a SJT scenario, it’s important to draw the main features from the case.
This includes:
The Dilemma - What sort of ethical challenge are you facing?
Who you are acting as - This will affect how appropriate the action you take is. It is inappropriate to act outside of your scope of practice, and this will vary as to who you are in the scenario.
Where it is happening - The setting will further determine how appropriate the action may be. The action should be proportionate to the dilemma and the setting, to uphold professional standards.
👉🏻 Read more: Answering Ethics Medical Questions
Top Tip 5: Remember How The Situational Judgement Questions Are Marked
Unlike the previous UCAT sections, where questions were marked either correct or incorrect, in the SJT is it possible to achieve half marks.
Students will be awarded half of the mark for being on the correct side of the answer e.g. if a student answers “very appropriate” when the answer was “appropriate but not ideal”.
This means that it is possible to achieve highly in the SJT, through using educated choices to determine whether an action would have a negative or positive effect on the scenario given.
This leads to our next tip….
👉🏻 Read more: UKCAT Key Dates in 2024
SJT UCAT Questions Tip 6: (Educated) Guess, Guess, Guess
Given that there is no negative marking in the UCAT, when you finish the exam, you should aim to have left no answer blank.
In the SJT section, even through guessing you have a 25% chance of getting the answer right.
If you can figure out which side of appropriate/inappropriate the answer sits on, you have a 100% chance of achieving half marks and a 50% chance of scoring full marks.
Those are favourable odds, therefore if you’re running out of time, we recommend racing through the last few questions and choosing an answer from the correct side, rather than focusing on getting full marks on only a few questions.
As the final section of the UCAT, many students lose momentum and run out of time, so make sure that you answer the questions you have time for, before guessing the rest. You never know, you might choose the correct answer!
👉🏻 Read more: Top Tips For UCAT Quantitative Reasoning
SJT Tip 7: Learn Your Medical Ethics Principles
Like the principles seen in Good Medical Practice, the principles of medical ethics, such as the 4 Pillars of Ethics, will help you in choosing which side answers fall onto.
Remember that doctors should ensure that their actions uphold:
Autonomy of patients - this is the patient's right to make their own choices and take actions based on their values and beliefs.
Beneficence - actions taken by doctors should prioritise what is in the patient's best interests
Non-maleficence - This is the value that doctors should not take actions which may bring harm to the patient
Justice - this refers to the principle that healthcare should be fairly distributed, and all patients should have equal access to healthcare.
When considering ethical SJT scenarios, consider how they link to the above principles, and whether the given action helps to uphold them.
👉🏻 Read more: Medical Ethics Interview Tips & Questions
SJT Tip 8: Understand How Confidentiality Works In a Clinical Context
Whilst you might be aware of confidentiality as a concept, for your SJT it is important to understand how medical confidentiality works.
This relates to how doctors communicate with members of staff, the patient, and their relatives to uphold the patient’s right to privacy.
This is a common SJT concept, and so it is expected that you will face at least 1 question about confidentiality in your SJT, so it is worth practising this during your UCAT practice.
👉🏻 Read more about Confidentiality In Healthcare and The NHS
SJT Tip 9: Get A Strong Grip On The Principles Of Informed Consent
Informed consent is a crucial ethical and legal requirement in healthcare.
It describes how patients must be provided with adequate information to understand their condition, the risks and benefits of procedures, and all available options before consenting to a medical treatment.
Assessing the capacity to give consent is also vital. You should be aware of Gillick's competence rules and Fraser's guidelines.
Scenarios in the ucat situational judgement subtest may involve balancing patient wishes with recommended plans, respecting minors' involvement in decisions, or addressing barriers to effective informed consent like language or mental capacity.
👉🏻 Read more: Top Tips For UCAT Quantitative Reasoning
👉🏻 Read more: Top Tips For UCAT Decision Making
SJT Tip 10: The GMC's Guide To Social Media & Being A Doctor
In your SJT you may be faced with questions relating to a doctor’s use of social media, and patient contact through social media.
Common scenarios include patients attempting to “friend request” a doctor through social media, and the question will ask you how appropriate certain actions may be.
Suitable responses will demonstrate awareness of social media policies and the impact of posts as a healthcare professional.
Situations will likely emphasise exercising caution about sharing details, maintaining appropriate boundaries with patients online, and considering how posts could be perceived.
Questions on social media are also commonly asked during the medicine interview.
👉🏻 Read more: Top Tips For UCAT Verbal Reasoning
👉🏻 Read more: Top Tips For UCAT Abstract Reasoning
SJT Tip 11: The Patient Comes First
As a doctor, the patient should be at the centre of your decision-making. The best answer options in the SJT will reflect patient well-being, even when family members, colleagues or organisational pressures may make this difficult. The forefront of the NHS is patient safety, and this should be considered in every one of your answers.
This should reflect the ethical pillars of beneficence and respect for patient autonomy.
👉🏻 Read more: Capacity in Medicine
UCAT SJT Tip 12: Be Prepared For Non-Medical Ethical Scenarios
Although primarily set in the healthcare contexts, some SJT scenarios could reflect general ethical dilemmas beyond the clinical environment.
Examples might include situations related to integrity, responsibility and reliability in the private life of a student. Common scenarios feature medical school dilemmas such as students asking you to sign in their attendance inappropriately, or dealing with interpersonal conflict.
The principles assessed remain relevant to medical practice even if scenarios depict non-clinical environments occasionally, and therefore the same ethical values should be portrayed in your answers.
👉🏻 Read more: How to Avoid and Get Over UCAT Burnout
Situational Judgement Test Tip 13: It’s Not A Personality Test
A key aspect to remember is that the SJT is assessing your ability to answer questions as an ethical decision-maker, not as yourself. The SJT is not a personality test, answers should reflect the most professionally and ethically appropriate response, not what you would do instinctively.
Even if you disagree with a response, you must evaluate the option against the objective standards like the GMC’s GMP, and choose the option which you think fits this best.
SJT Tip 14: Keep Track Of Common Themes
As you revise for the SJT, you will begin to recognise patterns between the questions, especially in terms of the themes which come up.
We recommend making a note of these common themes, and the most appropriate actions given in each case. This will help you practise reflective revision and will help familiarise you with common actions or approaches which are generally very recommended by the GMC.
For instance, in the SJT there are several questions which reflect a scenario where you have noticed an undesirable behaviour from a colleague.
The most appropriate action in this scenario is to have a conversation with the colleague in private and discuss their behaviour, raising your concerns to them, and giving them a chance to explain themselves.
Inappropriate actions may include premature escalation of the situation to their educational supervisor, or the GMC.
👉🏻 Looking for more tips for UCAT exams? Read about reflective revision to optimise your UCAT score
SJT Tip 15: Try Writing Your Own Practice Question SJT Scenarios
One of the most active ways to revise is through the creation of your own practice questions, and build up a practice question bank.
Creating detailed practice scenarios which depict ethical dilemmas, communication problems or professionalism issues within a healthcare setting can reinforce your knowledge of medical ethics topics.
In addition, by putting yourself in the shoes of the SJT examiners, and trying to understand what they are looking for when they write SJT questions, you will gain a greater understanding of what nuances to expect when you sit your exam.
👉🏻 Read more: Comprehensive Guide for Making a UCAT Revision Timetable
UCAT Situational Judgement Test Practice Question And Model Answer
Have a go at this practice UCAT SJT scenario:
SJT Practice Question 1:
Malik is a medical student on a ward round with the consultant and other doctors. During the round, the team examines Mary, an elderly patient. The consultant makes several dismissive comments about the patient’s weight and seems irritated with Mary’s slow responses. After the team leaves, Mary is in tears.
How appropriate is the following response by Malik?
Tell Mary not to worry about the doctor's comments as he was just trying to help.
Very appropriate
Appropriate but not ideal
Inappropriate but not awful
Very inappropriate
Answer:
Very inappropriate
This action dismisses Mary's concerns and wholly disregards her perspective. It is unlikely to make the patient feel any better,
If you chose inappropriate but not awful, you will have achieved partial marks.
UCAT SJT Examination Frequently Asked Questions
How is the Situational Judgement Test (SJT) section of the UCAT scored?
The SJT is scored in bands, unlike other UCAT sections that provide a numerical score out of 900. Achieving at least a Band 3 is typically required for interview offers from most UK medical schools.
What are the scoring bands for the SJT, and what does each band signify?The scoring bands are:
Band 1: Excellent performance, similar judgement to experts.
Band 2: Good, solid performance, appropriate judgement.
Band 3: Modest performance, with some appropriate judgement.
Band 4: Low performance, substantial differences from ideal responses.
Why is achieving at least a Band 3 in the SJT important for receiving interview offers from most UK medical schools?
Achieving at least a Band 3 is typically the threshold for interview offers, indicating a modest level of performance with some appropriate judgment.
Can I receive half marks in the SJT, and how is the scoring different from other UCAT sections?
Yes, half marks are possible in the SJT. Unlike other UCAT sections marked as correct or incorrect, the SJT allows for half marks, rewarding candidates for being on the correct side of the answer.
What are the two main types of questions in the SJT, and how are they structured?
The two main types are Appropriateness Questions and involve ranking actions based on appropriateness, considering ethical principles outlined by the GMC.
How much time is allocated for the Situational Judgment Test, and why is time management crucial in this section?
The SJT consists of 69 questions to be completed in 26 minutes, making it time-pressured. Efficient time management is crucial to avoid missing out on vital marks
How does marking in the SJT differ from other UCAT sections, and what is the significance of educated guessing?
Unlike other sections with binary marking, the SJT allows for half marks. Educated guessing is encouraged, as even a guessed answer has a 25% chance of being correct, leading to potential half or full marks.
What ethical principles, as outlined by the GMC, should candidates be familiar with for the SJT?
Candidates should be familiar with principles such as autonomy of patients, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice, as outlined in the GMC's GMP.
Why is understanding medical confidentiality and informed consent important for success in the SJT?
These concepts are common in SJT scenarios, and candidates are expected to understand how medical confidentiality works and the importance of informed consent in healthcare.
How does the SJT assess a candidate's ability to prioritise patient well-being and make decisions in challenging scenarios?
The SJT evaluates candidates as ethical decision-makers, emphasising the importance of choosing responses that align with professional and ethical standards and prioritising patient well-being over other considerations.
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