What is a situational judgement test?
A situational judgement test, or SJT, is a psychometric test that presents
hypothetical workplace scenarios and asks how you would respond. Unlike
aptitude tests that measure a concrete skill such as numeracy or verbal
reasoning, an SJT assesses judgement and behaviour: how you handle a
difficult colleague, a demanding client, a missed deadline or an ethical
dilemma.
There is rarely one perfect answer. Your responses are compared against the
behaviours the employer values for that role, usually drawn from an internal
competency framework, which is why understanding the employer and how the job
works in practice matters as much as the scenario itself.
An SJT does two things at once. It shows the employer how your judgement is
likely to hold up in the situations the role involves, and it gives you a
preview of the kinds of decision you would face if you took the job.
What do situational judgement tests assess?
SJTs assess the behavioural competencies a role depends on, not academic
ability. The exact list varies by employer, but the following come up most
often:
- Communication: listening, asking before acting, adapting your tone to
the audience, and resolving issues without blame.
- Teamwork and collaboration: supporting colleagues, respecting other
views, and resolving conflict constructively rather than ignoring or
escalating it.
- Customer focus: empathy, accountability, timely action, and escalating
to the right person when needed.
- Decision-making and analytical thinking: choosing a proportionate
course of action from limited information, weighing consequences before
acting.
- Integrity and professionalism: prioritising ethics and honesty, even
when an easier option exists.
- Planning and prioritisation: telling urgent from important, and
communicating early about deadlines.
- Commercial awareness and leadership: relevant to more senior or
client-facing roles, including cost and business impact, and influencing
without authority.
A useful habit in practice is to ask, for each scenario, which competency it
is really testing. The wording usually points to one.
What does a situational judgement test look like?
SJTs are almost always computer-administered and multiple choice. A test
typically presents between 25 and 50 short scenarios, each followed by a set
of possible responses. Some use text only, others add short videos to set up
the situation, and paper versions still exist but are now rare.
There is usually no strict time limit, but you are expected to work quickly
and instinctively, which in practice means around a minute per scenario. A
30-scenario test therefore takes roughly half an hour. All the information you
need is contained in the scenario itself, so you never need outside knowledge
to answer.
What are you asked to do in each question?
Each scenario is followed by an instruction, and reading it correctly is half
the battle. The common formats are:
- Choose the most effective response, or the one you would most likely do.
- Choose the least effective response, or the one you would least likely
do.
- Rate each response on a scale, from very effective to very ineffective.
- Rank the responses in order from best to worst.
The single most common avoidable mistake is answering “most” when the question
asked for “least”, or the other way round. Under time pressure it is easy to
skim the instruction, so confirm what each question is actually asking before
you weigh the options.
How do you choose the best response?
Judge each response against the competency the scenario is testing, and
against the behaviours a professional employer rewards. Certain kinds of
response are almost never what the employer is looking for, and spotting them
quickly narrows the field:
- Unethical responses, or anything dishonest or that shifts blame.
- Responses that go against the company’s stated values.
- Passive responses, the equivalent of doing nothing and hoping the
problem resolves itself.
- Responses that rely on workplace politics rather than on addressing the
issue directly.
Strong answers tend to be proactive without overreacting: they gather
information when it is appropriate, involve the right people, take
responsibility, and keep the interests of the team, the client and the
organisation in view. When two responses both look reasonable, the better one
is usually the one that resolves the issue most directly while respecting
everyone involved.
How are situational judgement tests scored?
Most SJTs are scored against a normative group rather than a fixed pass mark.
Your responses are grouped by the competency they measure, and your combined
score is compared with the answers of people who have already shown they are
suited to the role.
Because the comparison is relative, your result is usually presented as a
ranking alongside other candidates, which keeps things fair when one year’s
test is harder than another. There is rarely an official pass mark, but a
practical target is to answer at least 80% of the questions in line with the
employer’s preferred behaviours. Individual competency scores may also be
passed to the employer, so consistency across every scenario matters, not just
your overall total.
Which employers use situational judgement tests?
Situational judgement tests are used wherever an employer needs to compare
large numbers of candidates fairly, especially when grades, CVs and interviews
do not separate them well. They are most common in:
- Graduate schemes and internships, where application volumes are high.
- Professional services, including the Big Four business services firms,
PwC, KPMG, Deloitte and EY.
- Banking, finance and law firms, and the Civil Service Fast Stream.
- Healthcare training pathways, including some medical and dental
selection processes.
SJTs are often used alongside other exercises rather than on their own, such
as e-tray exercises, the Watson Glaser critical thinking test, group exercises
and presentations, each testing a slightly different competency.
Which publishers produce situational judgement tests?
Most employers license their SJT from a specialist publisher, and the format
and focus vary between them, so it helps to know which one you are facing:
- Pearson TalentLens produce the IRIS situational judgement test, often
used for graduate roles. It takes around 30 minutes and focuses on workplace
dilemmas and interpersonal scenarios.
- SHL, one of the most widely used providers globally, usually build their
SJT into a broader behavioural and personality assessment tailored to the
role.
- AON (formerly cut-e) offer highly interactive SJTs that simulate real
workplace situations, used across finance, retail and technology.
The invitation email often names the publisher. If it does, look up that
provider’s format before you practise, because it changes what good
preparation looks like.
How do you prepare for a situational judgement test?
Prepare by researching the employer and practising under realistic
conditions, because an SJT rewards familiarity with both the format and the
behaviours a specific employer values.
A preparation sequence that works:
- Read the competencies in the job description. These are the behaviours
the test is quietly scoring, so know them before you start.
- Take a full practice test, like the one on this page, and for each
scenario identify which competency it is assessing.
- Read every scenario carefully, and never confuse “most effective” with
“least effective”. Skim reading is where most marks are lost.
- Review your answers against the explanations, and note any pattern in
the scenarios you find hardest or slowest.
Do not try to guess a single model personality the test wants. Answer as a
professional who is honest, proactive and considerate of others, and stay
consistent across every scenario, because SJTs are designed to detect answers
chosen to impress rather than to reflect how you would really behave.
