Royal Air Force Assessment Tests

Royal Air Force (RAF) Situational Judgement Test

1. Question 1 of 10

   You are a training safety marshal. Three times this month a group has started a stand before the safety brief was given, and each time you have stopped them and given it. The stand instruction says the brief comes first. Different groups each time, same stand. The site office holds the instruction. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Print your own version of the brief and pin it at the stand so groups can read it themselves and start when they are ready without waiting for you.
   2. Speak to the three group leaders individually about starting before the brief, so each of them knows for next time what the instruction says.
   3. Tell the site office today that it has happened three times this month at the same stand, so that whatever is letting groups start early can actually be looked at.
   4. Carry on stopping groups and giving the brief as you have been, since it has worked three times and the brief does end up being given every time.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Tell the site office today that it has happened three times this month at the same stand, so that whatever is letting groups start early can actually be looked at.

   Least effective: A. Print your own version of the brief and pin it at the stand so groups can read it themselves and start when they are ready without waiting for you.

   A: Breaches the instruction while appearing to solve it: the instruction says the brief is given, a pinned notice is not a brief being given, and groups are now formally starting without one.

   B: Corrects the three and not the cause: it was different groups each time and the same stand, so the thing they have in common is not the people.

   D: Absorbs a recurring failure: it depends on you being at the stand at the right moment, and the fourth time may be a stand you are not standing on.

   The most effective response is telling the site office today that it has happened three times this month at the same stand, so whatever is letting groups start early can be looked at. Three times in a month at one stand with different groups points at the stand rather than the groups, and the office is where that gets changed. It beats carrying on stopping groups and giving the brief yourself as you have been, because it depends entirely on you being there. It beats speaking to the three group leaders individually so each knows for next time, because the groups are the part that keeps changing. The least effective response is printing your own version of the brief and pinning it at the stand so groups can start when they are ready: groups then start without a brief being given at all, with the instruction formally unmet, which is a different kind of wrong from failing to fix the cause. The principle: three of the same thing is a cause, and the fix goes to whoever owns the arrangement.

2. Question 2 of 10

   You are an adventurous training assistant. Fourteen people leave for a week’s expedition on Friday, and the provider has just told you that one of the two minibuses has failed its inspection. They will know by Thursday whether a replacement can be found. The expedition leader is planning Friday’s timings today, and the group has been told nothing. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Wait until Thursday and tell the expedition leader once the provider has confirmed whether the replacement is coming, so the conversation happens once with a complete answer.
   2. Record the transport as complete for Friday, with a replacement expected, and change the entry on Thursday if it has not been found.
   3. Tell the expedition leader today what you know and what you do not, so Friday's timings are planned against the possibility of one vehicle rather than against two.
   4. Tell the whole group today that transport is uncertain, so that everybody can make their own arrangements to reach the start point if it comes to that.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Tell the expedition leader today what you know and what you do not, so Friday's timings are planned against the possibility of one vehicle rather than against two.

   Least effective: B. Record the transport as complete for Friday, with a replacement expected, and change the entry on Thursday if it has not been found.

   A: Delays the decision: Thursday is the day before departure, and the timings the leader is building today are exactly what a missing vehicle would change.

   B: Records something that has not happened: the entry is what the leader and the provider both plan against, and putting a vehicle into it that may not exist is not a forecast, it is an untrue record.

   D: Tells the wrong audience first: fourteen people cannot act on this and the leader can, so it produces alarm in the place where a decision was needed.

   The most effective response is telling the expedition leader today what you know and what you do not, so Friday is planned against the possibility of one vehicle rather than two. He is planning today, and an incomplete picture is still the picture the planning has to survive. It beats waiting until Thursday for the provider to confirm whether the replacement is coming, because that leaves a day to rebuild timings that were built on two vehicles. It beats telling the whole group today that transport is uncertain so everybody can make their own arrangements, because the group cannot act on it and the leader can, so the alarm lands where the decision does not. The least effective response is recording the transport as complete for Friday with a replacement expected: a vehicle that may not exist is written into the record two other parties plan against, and an entry saying complete when nothing is complete is not a forecast. The principle: tell the person who can act, tell them what you do not know as well, and never let the record run ahead of the facts.

3. Question 3 of 10

   You are an adventurous training assistant. You have spent three weeks building the programme for a hill walking week that starts in ten days. This morning you find that the site the whole programme is built around needs a booking confirmed twenty working days in advance. The provider has one alternative site free. The expedition leader is away until Thursday. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Wait for the leader on Thursday and put the whole thing to her then, since the decision about which site the week uses is hers and not yours.
   2. Rebuild the programme around the alternative site over the next two days, so the leader comes back on Thursday to a finished plan rather than a problem.
   3. Hold the alternative site with the provider today, and put both options in writing to the expedition leader for Thursday so that the choice is made with the twenty day rule in front of her.
   4. Tell the provider that the original booking has been arranged for weeks, and sort the paperwork out with them once the leader is back on Thursday.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Hold the alternative site with the provider today, and put both options in writing to the expedition leader for Thursday so that the choice is made with the twenty day rule in front of her.

   Least effective: D. Tell the provider that the original booking has been arranged for weeks, and sort the paperwork out with them once the leader is back on Thursday.

   A: Delays the decision: the alternative site is free today and may not be on Thursday, so waiting can remove the only option the leader has.

   B: Decides it and then presents it: two days of rebuilding assumes an answer the leader has not given, and the original site may still be reachable by another route.

   D: Asserts a booking that was never made: the provider stops holding the site open for anybody else on the strength of it, and Thursday arrives with the twenty day rule still unmet.

   The most effective response is holding the alternative site with the provider today and putting both options in writing to the expedition leader for Thursday, so the choice is made with the twenty day rule in front of her. Holding a site costs nothing and preserves the choice, and the choice itself belongs to the leader on Thursday. It beats rebuilding the programme around the alternative over the next two days so she comes back to a finished plan, because it rebuilds around an answer nobody has given. It beats waiting for her on Thursday and putting the whole thing to her then, because the alternative may be gone by Thursday. The least effective response is telling the provider that the original booking has been arranged for weeks and sorting the paperwork out later: the provider is told something untrue, acts on it by releasing the hold, and the week is then built on a booking that does not exist. The principle: protect the options, hand the decision to whoever owns it, and never buy time with a statement that is not true.

4. Question 4 of 10

   You are an expedition support assistant. An external participant has paid for a week’s expedition believing it carries a walking qualification. It does not, and never did; the provider’s old brochure said it would. She leaves in twelve days and has told you she booked it for the qualification. The provider answers the telephone all week. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Leave it with the provider to put right, on the grounds that the brochure is theirs and correcting what it said is not yours to do.
   2. Tell her the week does not carry it and give her the provider's number so that she can take the brochure up with them herself.
   3. Tell her today that the week does not carry the qualification, then ring the provider to ask what they will do about a brochure that says it does.
   4. Ring the provider first and find out what they intend to offer her, so that when you speak to her there is something on the table besides bad news.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Tell her today that the week does not carry the qualification, then ring the provider to ask what they will do about a brochure that says it does.

   Least effective: A. Leave it with the provider to put right, on the grounds that the brochure is theirs and correcting what it said is not yours to do.

   A: Declines to act because the fault is somebody else's: the brochure is indeed theirs, and the one person who knows she is twelve days from a disappointment does nothing with it.

   B: Hands her the argument as well as the news: the mistake is between the provider and the office that booked through them, and she is sent to make the case alone.

   D: Holds the bad news until it is packaged: she is twelve days out and every day she keeps believing it is a day she cannot use to decide about the week.

   The most effective response is telling her today that the week does not carry the qualification, then ringing the provider to ask what they will do about a brochure that says it does. She is twelve days out and the thing she needs first is the truth, after which the brochure is a matter between you and the provider. It beats ringing the provider first to find out what they intend to offer her so there is something on the table besides bad news, because the days she loses believing it are days she could use. It beats telling her the week does not carry it and giving her the provider’s number to take the brochure up herself, because she is sent to argue a case that is not hers to make. The least effective response is leaving it with the provider to put right on the grounds that the brochure is theirs: it is accurate about whose brochure it is, and the only person who knows does nothing while twelve days run out. The principle: whose fault it is has nothing to do with who is best placed to act.

5. Question 5 of 10

   You are a personnel office assistant. Two colleagues are away and you have taken on their leave applications as well as your own work. Forty have to be checked against the leave record before Friday and you are managing about fifteen a day. Checking one properly takes ten minutes. The office reports on Friday how many were checked. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Work later every evening this week so that all forty are properly checked by Friday, and raise nothing about the volume with anybody since the two colleagues are back again next week.
   2. Mark the applications you have not looked at as checked so the Friday figure holds up, and go back over them properly next week once the two colleagues have returned.
   3. Say now to the person who runs the office how many you can properly check by Friday, so the shortfall is a decision they take rather than a number they read on Friday.
   4. Check the twenty five most urgent applications properly and leave the rest until the colleagues return, deciding the order yourself from the dates on them.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Say now to the person who runs the office how many you can properly check by Friday, so the shortfall is a decision they take rather than a number they read on Friday.

   Least effective: B. Mark the applications you have not looked at as checked so the Friday figure holds up, and go back over them properly next week once the two colleagues have returned.

   A: Absorbs the overload silently: forty is beyond what the hours allow, and the office plans on the belief that one person can carry three people's applications.

   B: Records work as done that was not done: the Friday figure is how the office knows whether leave has been checked at all, and it becomes a number that means nothing.

   D: Substitutes own judgement for the office's: choosing which fifteen people wait is a real decision, taken quietly by the person under the most pressure to take it quickly.

   The most effective response is saying now to the person who runs the office how many you can properly check by Friday, so the shortfall is a decision they take rather than a number they read on Friday. The arithmetic is already known on Monday, and the only person who can decide what gives is the one who does not yet know it. It beats working later every evening this week and raising nothing about the volume, because a silent rescue leaves the office planning on a capacity that does not exist. It beats checking the twenty five most urgent applications and deciding the order yourself from the dates on them, because whose leave waits is a real decision taken alone and unseen. The least effective response is marking the applications you have not looked at as checked so the Friday figure holds up: the report says forty were checked when they were not, so the one signal the office has about its own leave records is destroyed. The principle: when the volume does not fit, the number you cannot reach is information somebody needs, not something to absorb or to paper over.

6. Question 6 of 10

   You are a welfare office assistant. Three times in two months a family has arrived for an appointment that the online booking system took but never showed in the office diary. Each time you have found somebody to see them. A fourth family is booked in that way for Thursday. The office manager reviews systems monthly. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Tell the office manager about Thursday's booking on its own, and leave the three earlier ones out of it since each of those was dealt with at the time.
   2. Tell the office manager today about all three, so that the booking system can be looked at before Thursday rather than after a fourth family turns up unexpectedly.
   3. Ask the booking system's supplier directly whether bookings can be made to appear in the diary, and go to the office manager only if the supplier says they cannot.
   4. Carry on catching them as they arrive without mentioning it to the office manager, because it has worked three times and no family has actually been turned away.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Tell the office manager today about all three, so that the booking system can be looked at before Thursday rather than after a fourth family turns up unexpectedly.

   Least effective: D. Carry on catching them as they arrive without mentioning it to the office manager, because it has worked three times and no family has actually been turned away.

   A: Reports the case and not the pattern: one booking that slipped is a nuisance, three in two months is a system fault, and only the first of those gets looked at.

   C: Goes to the supplier before the owner: the manager is the person who reviews systems and holds the contract, and Thursday arrives while a supplier query is open.

   D: Withholds a recurring fault from the person who reviews systems: three times in two months is the evidence a review needs, and the only person holding it has decided it does not count.

   The most effective response is telling the office manager today about all three, so the booking system can be looked at before Thursday rather than after a fourth family turns up. Three in two months is a pattern, the manager can have the system looked at, and Thursday makes it four. It beats telling her about Thursday’s booking on its own and leaving the three earlier ones out because each was dealt with at the time, since a single slipped booking does not evidence a fault. It beats asking the supplier directly whether bookings can be made to appear in the diary, because the supplier is approached before the person who owns the system. The least effective response is carrying on catching them as they arrive without mentioning it at all: the evidence sits with the one person who never passes it on, so nothing is fixed and the fourth family is already booked. The principle: three of the same thing is information somebody else needs, and catching it yourself is not the same as reporting it.

7. Question 7 of 10

   You are a duty roster clerk. Next Saturday has nobody down for the front gate between six and ten in the morning, and the standing instruction is that the gate is not left unstaffed. The person who used to build Saturday left last month and nobody took the task over. The officer who approves roster changes is in tomorrow. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Message the two people who are free to ask whether either would take the Saturday, and put the roster change to the officer once one of them has agreed.
   2. Put the gap in writing to the officer who approves changes, with two names who are free, so that Saturday is filled tomorrow and somebody owns Saturday from now on.
   3. Ask around the office to find out who took Saturday over when the previous person left, and raise the gap once you know whose task it now is.
   4. Put a name into Saturday yourself and let the approval catch up: the instruction is clear that the gate is staffed, and this is only a name in a box.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Put the gap in writing to the officer who approves changes, with two names who are free, so that Saturday is filled tomorrow and somebody owns Saturday from now on.

   Least effective: D. Put a name into Saturday yourself and let the approval catch up: the instruction is clear that the gate is staffed, and this is only a name in a box.

   A: Substitutes own judgement for the approver's: asking first is sensible, and it hands the officer a commitment already made to two people rather than a decision still to take.

   C: Waits for an owner to appear before acting: the standing instruction is about the gate rather than about whose task the roster is, and Saturday arrives either way.

   D: Breaches the approval that exists for roster changes: a name in a box commits a real person to a Saturday, and stopping that from happening unseen is the entire point of the approval.

   The most effective response is putting the gap in writing to the officer who approves changes, with two names who are free, so Saturday is filled tomorrow and somebody owns it from then on. The gap is real, the instruction is stated, and the officer is in tomorrow with days to spare. It beats asking around to find out who took the roster over when the previous person left, because the gate is unstaffed whoever owns it, so that spends time the gap does not have. It beats messaging the two who are free to ask whether either would take the Saturday, because two people have been committed before the person who approves it has seen the change. The least effective response is putting a name into Saturday yourself and letting the approval catch up: the gate does get staffed, and the approval that exists so nobody is committed unseen is stepped round by the one person whose job is to operate it. The principle: fill the gap by putting it in front of whoever can close it, not by closing it with authority you do not have.

8. Question 8 of 10

   You are a families office assistant. A local company gives the office ten tickets each year for a family event, and the standing rule is that they are drawn by ballot. This year eleven families asked and one ticket is unaccounted for after the draw. You keep the list, nobody else has seen it, and your own family asked for a ticket. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Keep the spare ticket for your own use, since eleven families asked for ten, the list is yours and nobody else will ever know how the last one was allocated.
   2. Give the spare ticket to the family who asked first and was not drawn, and note on the list why it went to them.
   3. Run the draw again from the start so that all eleven families have another chance, and treat the ticket that is unaccounted for as a fault in the first draw rather than as a spare.
   4. Tell the person who runs the office today that the count is out by one, and ask them to decide what happens to it rather than settling it from the list yourself.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Tell the person who runs the office today that the count is out by one, and ask them to decide what happens to it rather than settling it from the list yourself.

   Least effective: A. Keep the spare ticket for your own use, since eleven families asked for ten, the list is yours and nobody else will ever know how the last one was allocated.

   A: Takes an advantage the role forbids: the ballot exists precisely because more families asked than there are tickets, and the person holding the list is the one person who must not benefit from a gap in it.

   B: Acts on assumptions without checking: first to ask is a rule nobody agreed, and it quietly replaces a ballot with a criterion invented by the person who keeps the list.

   C: Substitutes own judgement for the office's: rerunning a ballot takes ten allocated tickets back from the families who won them, which is not a decision the list keeper makes alone.

   The most effective response is telling the person who runs the office today that the count is out by one, and asking them to decide what happens to it. A ballot that does not reconcile is a fact somebody else has to know, and a decision about a spare ticket belongs to the office rather than to whoever holds the paper. It beats running the draw again from the start so all eleven families have another chance, because ten families have already won and that takes it back. It beats giving the ticket to the family who asked first and was not drawn, because it invents an allocation rule in place of the one everybody agreed. The least effective response is keeping the spare ticket for your own use because nobody else will ever know: the one person with sole sight of the list takes the benefit of a gap in it, which is a different kind of wrong from deciding the gap badly. The principle: when you are both the record keeper and a candidate, the decision is never yours to take.

9. Question 9 of 10

   You are a course member. Your syndicate’s practical assessment has moved to a field site with no shelter and rain is forecast. The one of the five who organises kit has told everybody he will bring what is needed. He said that last time and turned up short of half of it. The staff want the syndicate’s kit list by five. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Tell the staff the syndicate's kit will be there, then work out with him afterwards what is actually going to be brought on the day.
   2. Tell the staff the syndicate cannot be relied on for its own kit and ask them to supply it, so that nobody is standing in a field in the rain without shelter.
   3. Tell him before five what was missing from last time, go through the list with him item by item, and send it to the staff once the two of you have checked it.
   4. Send the staff a list based on what he brought last time, and leave him to fill in whatever else is needed on the morning of the assessment.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Tell him before five what was missing from last time, go through the list with him item by item, and send it to the staff once the two of you have checked it.

   Least effective: A. Tell the staff the syndicate's kit will be there, then work out with him afterwards what is actually going to be brought on the day.

   A: Gives an assurance nobody has checked: the staff stop worrying about a syndicate that turned up short last time, on the strength of a list that does not yet exist.

   B: Escalates over a colleague before speaking to him: he has never once been told his last list was short, and the first he hears of it is from the staff.

   D: Acts on assumptions without checking: last time's kit is the thing that was short, so the list repeats the very fault it was supposed to catch.

   The most effective response is telling him before five what was missing from last time, going through the list item by item with him, and sending it to the staff once you have both checked it. There is a fact here, which is what was missing last time, and it turns an awkward conversation into a checkable list before five. It beats sending the staff a list based on what he brought last time and leaving him to fill in the rest on the morning, because it repeats last time’s list, which is where the gap came from. It beats telling the staff the syndicate cannot be relied on for its own kit and asking them to supply it, because that goes to the staff about him before anybody has gone to him. The least effective response is telling the staff the syndicate’s kit will be there and working out afterwards what is actually being brought: the staff are told the problem is handled when nothing has been handled, so the one group who could supply shelter stand down. The principle: an unwelcome fact reaches the person who can act on it, and the colleague hears it from you first.

10. Question 10 of 10

    You are an adventurous training assistant. You booked the climbing wall for Thursday and told the group. This morning you find the booking has been moved to the following week by a colleague who wanted Thursday for his own group and did not tell you. The group have already arranged transport for Thursday. He is in the office now. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

    1. Ask him now why Thursday moved and what he needs, and settle between you today which group goes when, so that the transport can be changed if it has to be.
    2. Move the booking back to Thursday yourself, since it was confirmed first and his group have made no arrangements that anybody has told you about.
    3. Tell the group Thursday is off and rearrange their transport, and take the question of how the booking moved up with the office next week.
    4. Raise it in front of the office by blaming him for moving a confirmed booking behind your back, so that everybody knows what he has done and it does not happen again.
    Show the answer

    Most effective: A. Ask him now why Thursday moved and what he needs, and settle between you today which group goes when, so that the transport can be changed if it has to be.

    Least effective: D. Raise it in front of the office by blaming him for moving a confirmed booking behind your back, so that everybody knows what he has done and it does not happen again.

    B: Answers a unilateral change with another one: the wall now has two groups believing they have Thursday, and neither of you has spoken to the other.

    C: Absorbs the cost and defers the cause: the transport is unpicked for a change nobody has justified, and the same thing can happen again before next week.

    D: Personalises the conflict in public: the group's transport is exactly where it was, and a colleague has been accused in front of an audience who can do nothing about Thursday.

    The most effective response is asking him now why Thursday moved and what he needs, and settling between you today which group goes when. He is in the office, the transport is arranged, and one conversation settles both the order and whether the transport has to change. It beats moving the booking back to Thursday yourself because it was confirmed first, since a second unilateral change leaves two groups booked. It beats telling your group Thursday is off and rearranging their transport while you take it up with the office next week, because it unpicks their arrangements before finding out whether it needed to. The least effective response is raising it in front of the office by blaming him for moving a confirmed booking behind your back: the booking is no closer to settled and a private problem has an audience. The principle: take a reversed decision back to the person who reversed it, on the day, and out of the room.