Situa­tio­nal Jud­ge­ment Test (SJT)

A situational judgement test (SJT) presents realistic workplace scenarios and asks how you would respond. Employers use it to see whether your instincts match the behaviours and values a role needs — it measures judgement, not knowledge.

What the questions look like

You are shown a scenario — a difficult colleague, a deadline clash, an unhappy customer — and several possible actions. Depending on the publisher you either:

• pick the most and least effective response (the traditional SHL style);
• rate each option on a scale from highly effective to counterproductive (common with Aon / cut-e); or
• rank all the options in order (used by Cappfinity).

How they are scored

Each option is pre-scored by occupational psychologists against the employer’s competency framework, so your answer is judged by how close it is to the expert-agreed response. There are no purely “right” or “wrong” answers, but there are clearly preferred ones, and there is no universal pass mark — employers set their own bar (a strong band or percentile).

What they are measuring

Common competencies are integrity and professionalism, teamwork, customer focus, decision-making under pressure, and taking responsibility — which is why the same scenario can have a different “best” answer for a caring role than for a sales one.

How to prepare

Answer as the organisation’s values would, not just as you personally might. Read the competencies the employer publishes, and practise choosing the response that is professional, safe and constructive rather than merely assertive. PassNova’s SJT practice explains the judgement behind every answer — 100% free, no sign-up.