Prepare for the UCAT SJT- The Most Important Part of the Test

The UCAT SJT assesses one’s ability to comprehend realistic situations medical practitioners face, recognise important factors, and appropriately cope with respective situations. Specifically, the ability to make rational and moral decisions involving patients, medical staff, and the general public is evaluated.

The UCAT Situational Judgement test focuses on two sets of competencies: your interpersonal skills (how you relate to others around you) and your ethical competencies (how you relate to medical ethics).

The Situational Judgement section is comprised of 69 questions (associated with 20 scenarios) to be completed in 26 minutes (plus one minute for instructions).

 Official UCAT practice tests will provide you will some understanding of the test format, but that's not enough when you have 22 seconds per question.

Get the full UCAT Preparation Pack, which comes with JobTestPrep's 10 Doctor's Principles method of training for and passing the SJT!

The UCAT SJT is meant to answer one important question: Can you behave as a doctor needs to? And it's so important because not everyone can. Even generalised practice can help you with the cognitive section somewhat, but to make sure you pass the SJT you need specific practice material aimed to teach you the principles a doctor acts according to.

In order to be able to become a doctor, you must embody strong values that have guided medical practitioners since the dawn of time. Our preparation shows those principles and teaches you how to act according to each of them.

You can learn more about the Ucat Situational Judgment Test on our dedicated video:

In order to help you master the UCAT SJT, JobTestPrep developed its Doctor's Principles method. This is a set of 10 principles ordered from most to least important, which are used to decide the correct response by a medical student/practitioner facing a professional dilemma. 

As mentioned, the SJT section contains 22 scenarios. Each one has up to 6 questions for a total of 69.

There are 26 minutes to complete this section: This gives you about 22 seconds per question. 

Why are you getting such short times? Because the test wants to illicit a natural response, to see how you would act in the heat of the moment, in reality- when you would not always have a long while to decide your course of action, as a doctor. This is given especially serious importance since the split-second decisions of a doctor can save or ruin lives.

The UCAT SJT is comprised of scenarios and potential considerations and actions. Prior medical knowledge is not required. There are two sets of questions in this section:

In the first set of questions, a scenario is presented and you need to rate the suitability of a series of potential responses to that scenario. The ratings are as follows:

1. A very appropriate thing to do – This means the response deals with at least one facet of the scenario.
2. Appropriate, but not ideal – This means the option is not necessarily good.
3. Inappropriate, but not awful – This means the option should not really be used, but it would not be awful.
4. A very inappropriate thing to do – This means the response should definitely not be taken and that it would worsen the situation.

It is possible the action described in a response is not the only action being taken. In other words, there may be multiple steps not noted in the response option. If a wrong medication, for example, is given to a patient, there are several things that need to happen, including medically assessing the patient and ensuring that he or she is okay. Thus, a response such as 'ask the patient if he or she is okay' is still an appropriate response, as you should consider that this is not the only step being taken.

The answer options 'a very appropriate thing to do' and 'appropriate, but not ideal' indicate that a positive decision has been made. Clearly, 'a very appropriate thing to do' suggests that this is the most accurate decision in the given scenario, whereas 'appropriate, but not ideal' suggests the decision is good but that it does not fully address every issue raised in the scenario.

'Inappropriate, but not awful' indicates the correct decision was not made, but that it is not an irreversible or tragic mistake. In contrast, 'a very inappropriate thing to do' highlights that the decision is an extremely poor one, as it does not address any issues raised in the question.

In the second set of questions, you need to rate the importance of a series of considerations for how to respond to a scenario. These are the options for rating:

1. Very important – This means the option is something critical to consider.
2. Important – This means that while the option is important, it is not crucial for consideration.
3. Of minor importance – This means the option could be considered, but it does not make a difference if it is or is not considered.
4. Not important at all – This means the option should definitely not be considered.

The last type of question asks you to rate 3 responses in order of appropriateness to the scenario. This means you must rank each response differently, from most to least appropriate.

The Situational Judgement section is comprised of 69 questions (associated with 20 scenarios) to be completed in 26 minutes (plus one minute for instructions).

Here are some UCAT situational judgement questions for you to try:

For more UCAT Situational Judgement test samples, please see our free UCAT practice test.

You might think to yourself this section should be a walk in the park comparing to the other UCAT sections, but the truth is that the SJT section is the blind spot of A LOT of students.

Our UCAT PrepPack™ offers comprehensive UCAT Situational Judgement practice questions. Our pack also contains a complete guide to the UCAT, featuring specific tips for the Situational Judgement subtest as well as a full-length mock test. Start practising now and beat the UCAT on your first try.

Scoring on the SJT section is different from other sections of the UCAT. The raw score is provided in one of four UCAT situational judgement bands, with one being the highest band and four being the lowest band. If you answer correctly, you will receive the full amount of points for your answer. If your response is close to the correct answer but is not correct, you will receive a partial amount of points. You will be provided with an explanation as to what each band means: