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All final year medical students in the UK applying for entry to the foundation programme (junior doctor posts) in 2013 will be required to sit a situational judgement test (SJT) in December 2012 or January 2013. Performance in this assessment will be important in determining where students will work for the first two years after graduation.
Moving to an SJT
SJT questions have been used in medical recruitment since 2007, as part of the national GP recruitment process. They have since been piloted or used for recruitment to other specialties, including public health and core medical training. The use of SJT questions was piloted in 2010 and 2011 for final year medical students applying for foundation programme entry. The pilots showed that the SJT was capable of differentiating between applicants and that it was a reliable selection method. 1
The SJT assessment
The SJT assessment will consist of 70 questions, with 2 hours and 20 minutes allowed to complete the paper. Sixty of the 70 questions will contribute to the SJT score; the other 10 are pilot questions. Pilot questions will not be identifiable, so every question should be treated as "live."
There will be two types of SJT question in the assessment-ranking (part 1) and selection (part 2). In a ranking question, candidates will be presented with a scenario and five options-the options need to be ranked from best (1) to worst (5). Selection questions have eight options, and candidates should select the three options that, taken together, make the best response to the scenario.
Ranking questions make up about two thirds of the paper, with selection questions making up the remaining third. Ranking questions carry a maximum of 20 marks, and selection questions a maximum of 12 marks. This means that ranking questions carry over 75% of the marks in the paper. Sample questions for each type are given in box 1.
Box 1: Sample foundation programme SJT questions
Ranking question
While working on the medical wards as a foundation year one doctor you are asked by a nurse to complete the discharge paperwork for a patient you are not familiar with. This includes a summary of the admission as well as drugs to be taken home when discharged. You are in a...