Free Situational Judgement Test (SJT) Practice Questions

SJT tests are a popular psychological tool used to evaluate your behavioural and cognitive abilities when presented with hypothetical work-related situations. You will be required to choose the best course of action from a list of actions.

The tests are designed to measure your fit for a company and role based on cognitive abilities, personality traits and social skills.

Situational Judgement Tests do not have a specific format and often have different criteria. They are often tailored to a company's specific needs, like assessing leadership skills using Korn Ferry Tests. 

Pre-recorded video interviews often have SJT questions but do not follow the classic multiple-choice structure. Instead, you are presented with predetermined questions to assess your fit for the job, as you would in a regular interview. Read more about these video interviews on our dedicated page.

Employers want to make sure they hire suitable employees, because hiring the wrong people is expensive and time-consuming. Being well-qualified for the job isn't enough—you also need the right temperament and interpersonal skills. Situational judgment tests give employers an idea of your ingenuity, sociability, integrity and other crucial traits. They do this by observing your conduct in a simulated work scenario.

Unlike aptitude tests, situational judgment tests do not have answers that are 100% correct or incorrect due to rules of logic, maths or language. Rather, you must demonstrate the knowledge, experience and intuition necessary to respond to situations according to the employer's corporate culture and priorities.

The skills and abilities the SJT evaluates are formally termed Competencies. These divide into 2 groups: Core Competencies and Secondary Competencies.

The core competencies are considered to contribute to professional success and essentially include:

1. Cognitive ability
2. Social intelligence
3. Specific job-related skills and knowledge
4. In managerial SJT leadership skills are also examined

Secondary competencies are essentially practical skills, abilities and personality traits that are linked to certain core competency like shown in the diagram below.

So, to sum it up, you can expect each scenario on the test to assess you on one core competency while examining at least one secondary competency.

Your answers should therefore reflect a certain secondary competency or a balance between two or more.

We go much more into this in our in-depth Study Guide that you get access to as part of your full prep pack

The general test format is made up of 3 question types:

1. Scenarios – where you’re faced with a hypothetical problem in a work environment
2. Responses - where you are faced with 4 alternative courses of action that require you to exercise judgment in evaluating their desirability
3. Instructions – this bit differs between companies (this is why we made you tailored solutions). Generally, this type of questions have 2 sub-types: Behavioral Tendency and Knowledge. In the first you will be asked to identify how you would be likely to behave in a given situation; and in the second you will need to evaluate the effectiveness of possible responses to give situations. Fun stuff.

If you are still uncertain by the paragraph above, check out a few of our SJT practice test example along with our answer explanations:

1. Before taking the test, read about the employer. Companies usually publish an agenda or highlight their views of service and sales in their publications. Try to determine the competencies that are highly valued by the employer in the position you are applying for.
2. Know what personality traits the employer is looking for. In reality, the situations that appear on a situational judgement test questionnaire don't have right or wrong answers, however, there are preferable answers. Remember that you are being asked to choose the response that best suits the situation and demonstrates competencies that are valued by the employer.
3. Keep in mind the context of the test and the scenario. Choose the answer that best suit your position and the situation described.
4. Assume that the optional answers are all possible; you will not be presented with impossibilities.
5. The solutions listed may not reflect all potential responses. What you believe is the best or most appropriate may not be listed.
6. Explanations may only be appropriate in the short term versus the long-term or vice versa. It is important to consider your response regardless of the timeframe as a response may be appropriate, even if it is something that cannot be done right away.

• Administrative
• Civil Service
• Civil Service Fast Stream
• Customer Service
• Dilemmas Series
• European Union EPSO
• Generic SJT
• Graduate
• Management
• Police & Law Enforcement
• SHL-style Graduate & Executive
• UKCAT (UCAT) SJT
• UK Fire Service

These 5 general test-taking tips can help you succeed on both SJTs and other exams you may be asked to take:

1. Choose only the MOST appropriate answer. Read each of the given scenarios and each possible response carefully before answering. Though one answer choice may seem correct, there may be another one that is more appropriate.
2. Use only the given information and do not assume any information that is not provided in the question.
3. Treat each response individually. Think about what each response says about you as an employee and consider whether choosing it represents your qualities.
4. Use the SJT to present your best self. When responding, choose what you should do and not what you are likely to do.
5. Be sure to read all instructions carefully, as with any important test. If there is a question you are unsure of, mark it and move on. If you have time at the end of the test, you can return to it.

X3 Your Chances of Getting the Job 

Our latest user report shows that people who prepare with our materials 3X their chance of getting the job compared to job-seekers that chose not to prepare.

Understanding your test results vary depending on the company you are applying for. It is recommended to look at your chosen company and compare their core values and see how your answers line up.

In this way, you will further drill how to score correctly according to the company's policy.

The results basically tell you where you stand in comparison to other test takers. This is measured on a great number of people and the score you receive reflects the place (or percentile) where your results fall on the distribution curve.

Sounds complicated but its easy to understand. Just take a look at the 2 following examples based on scoring feedback reports from real test providers.

Here is an example of a candidate’s feedback report adapted from TalentLens

Overall performance - your score is as follows:

Your responses were scored, and you result was compared with that of other UK graduate and junior managers. In comparison with this group, your test score suggests tour awareness to judge the appropriateness of responses to situations is average. Your percentile score means you equal to or greater than 36% of UK graduates and junior managers.

Here is another example from a feedback report adapted from Saville Consultancy

We can help you get the score you need in order to get the job. We've helped countless job-seekers before.

We at JobTestPrep find the assessment tests world highly diverse and fascinating. If you are looking to deepen your knowledge in the aptitude tests world, or you want some extra practice before your test, we've got you covered!

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