Situational judgement tests describe a realistic situation at work and ask how you would handle it.
What a question looks like
A short scenario, then several possible responses. You choose which you would be most likely to do, and which least.
The scenarios are ordinary rather than dramatic: a colleague missing a deadline, a customer who is unhappy, competing priorities, something you have been asked to do that you disagree with.
There is no clever answer
Every option usually sounds reasonable. That is deliberate. The test is not checking whether you can spot an obviously wrong answer; it is asking which of several defensible approaches is yours.
Answer as you would actually behave. Trying to work out what the employer wants to hear tends to produce a picture of a person who does not exist, and it performs worse than honesty, because a consistent set of real answers is what the scoring is built to recognise.
Reading the scenario properly
- Note your role. The scenario tells you whether you are the manager, the colleague or the new starter, and the right response differs.
- Note what you are told. Do not add facts. If it does not say the deadline is immovable, do not assume it is.
- Most and least are separate decisions. The one you would least do is not simply the opposite of the one you would most do.
What the employer sees
They see how you approach situations, not a right or wrong score in the way a numerical test produces one. It is used to understand how you would work with their team.
The time limit
These are usually timed, and the limit is shown before you begin. They take longer per question than other tests because there is more to read, which the time limit already accounts for.