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UCAT Situational Judgement (SJT UCAT) is the final subtest in the current four-section UCAT ANZ exam. The situational judgement test UCAT format gives you 69 questions in 26 minutes, so it rewards professional judgement as much as speed. For full section timing, see UCAT timing.
This UCAT ® Situational Judgement guide explains SJT timing, question types, how the separate 300-900 SJT score works, what a good SJT score looks like, and how to practise scenario-based ethics, confidentiality, safety, teamwork and role-boundary questions. For broader study planning across all four subtests, start with how to prepare for the UCAT ® ; for percentiles and university cut-off context, see UCAT ® scores.
The Situational Judgement Test is the fourth and final subtest of the UCAT ® exam. UCAT ® Situational Judgement measures your capacity to understand real-world situations, identify critical factors, and choose appropriate behaviour. The scenarios are hypothetical but familiar: clinical settings, medical or dental training, university teamwork, patient communication, professionalism, confidentiality, honesty, and safety.
SJT UCAT questions are not asking for medical knowledge. They are asking what a responsible future health professional should do, not simply what someone would do under pressure.
There are many situations in medicine and dentistry that test judgement beyond academic ability: how to respond when a colleague makes a mistake, when patient confidentiality is at risk, when a team member is struggling, or when a patient is unsafe. The official UCAT ANZ test format says SJT assesses integrity, perspective taking, team involvement, resilience and adaptability.
These skills sit alongside professionalism and ethics, as described in the Good Medical Practice guidelines supplied by AHPRA (Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency). Universities may use Situational Judgement differently from cognitive UCAT ® scores, but a low SJT result can still matter where a school applies minimum thresholds, interview ranking rules, or professional-attributes weighting.
The current UCAT structure sets Situational Judgement at 69 questions in 26 minutes of test time, with a 1 minute 30 second instruction section. Each UCAT ® SJT scenario describes a situation where a person needs to decide how to act or what matters most.
Each scenario may have up to six related questions. These may involve judging the appropriateness of suggested actions, judging the importance of different considerations, or selecting the most and least appropriate actions from a short list.
Each candidate is given 26 minutes of test time and about 1 minute 30 seconds for the instruction section. With 69 questions, that averages around 23 seconds per question.
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| Subtest Subtest |
Test Time Test Time |
Number of Questions Number of Questions |
Average Time per Question Average Time per Question |
|---|---|---|---|
| UCAT Situational Judgement UCAT Situational Judgement |
26 minutes 26 minutes |
69 questions 69 questions |
23 seconds 23 seconds |
UCAT ® Situational Judgement questions usually fall into three practical formats. The official wording groups these as rating the appropriateness or importance of statements, plus choosing the most and least appropriate action from three options.
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| SJT question type SJT question type |
What you decide What you decide |
Main trap Main trap |
|---|---|---|
| Appropriateness rating Appropriateness rating |
How appropriate one response is How appropriate one response is |
Comparing responses instead of judging each one independently Comparing responses instead of judging each one independently |
| Most and least appropriate Most and least appropriate |
The best and worst actions from three options The best and worst actions from three options |
Choosing a decent action that does not address the core issue Choosing a decent action that does not address the core issue |
| Importance rating Importance rating |
How important a consideration is How important a consideration is |
Overweighting intentions while missing safety, honesty or confidentiality Overweighting intentions while missing safety, honesty or confidentiality |
Each UCAT ® situational judgement question type is explained below with example questions and answer-sheet assets.
Appropriateness rating questions give you a scenario and several possible responses. Treat each response separately: two responses can both be appropriate, both be inappropriate, or sit close together on the scale. Ask whether the action addresses the central professional issue, whether it creates harm, and whether the person is acting within their role.
Explain to Harry the reasons why his surgery will not happen today
Mr. Tan is a 66 year old man who has come into the hospital with worsening shortness of breath and exercise tolerance. He has not seen his physician in well over a year. After some investigations, he is diagnosed with end stage pulmonary fibrosis for which the treatments are quite limited and the median survival for his condition is 2 years. Yusuf is a junior medical officer who has just been notified of these results and arrives at Mr. Tan’s bedside to inform him of the diagnosis and prognosis. Mr. Tan’s wife is present at bedside and both of them are visibly anxious. Mr. Tan does not speak English but his wife is fluent, and so Mr. Tan’s wife is the first to ask Yusuf what the results of the scan were.
How appropriate are each of the following responses by Yusuf in this situation?
Question 1Ask Mr. Tan and his wife what they understand about Mr. Tan’s prognosis at this point in time.
Ask Mr. Tan’s wife to leave the room before informing Mr. Tan of the results with the use of an interpreter.
Speak to Mr. Tan about his results and prognosis with the help of translation by his wife.
Use an interpreter to ask if Mr. Tan would like his wife present as they discuss the results of the scan.
10 downloads
Most-and-least appropriate UCAT ® SJT questions give you three possible actions and ask you to select both extremes. Start by identifying the least appropriate action: the option that ignores the core problem, breaches confidentiality, acts dishonestly, escalates poorly, or creates avoidable risk. Then choose the action that best resolves the central issue without overstepping the person's role.
Choose both the one most appropriate action and the one least appropriate action that Caryn should take in response to this situation.
You will not receive any marks for this question unless you select both the most and least appropriate actions.
Michael is a year 12 student leading a group project with three other team members. One of his group members has not completed their part or responded to their group chat in a week and the project deadline is approaching next week.
Choose both the one most appropriate action and the one least appropriate action that Michael should take in response to this situation.
You will not receive any marks for this question unless you select both the most and least appropriate actions.
10 downloads
Importance rating questions ask how much a factor should influence the response to the scenario. A factor is very important when it changes what the person should do next, especially around patient safety, consent, confidentiality, honesty, supervision, fairness or institutional policy. A factor is less important when it explains behaviour but does not reduce the professional duty to act.
The potential risk of infection that the liquid presents to patients in the hospital
Axon is a third year medical student who is on placement with his classmate Maxwell. Axon notices Maxwell has been posting a lot of pictures on social media lately whilst on placement. The photos usually consist of him on placement, being in uniform, as well as containing patient names and identifiable information in the background. This has been going on for a few months.
How important to take into account are the following considerations for Axon when deciding how to respond to the situation?
Question 1Maxwell didn’t have the intent of leaking patient information in his photos.
Maxwell’s social media account is private and can only be seen by close family and friends.
The hospital policy states that no photos are to be taken whilst in uniform.
Maxwell was posting about controversial topics whilst wearing the hospital’s uniform.
That most of the patients gave consent to have their photos taken.
8 downloads
UCAT ANZ reports Situational Judgement as a separate 300-900 scaled score. It is not added to the cognitive UCAT ® total, which is the sum of Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making, and Quantitative Reasoning (900-2700 total). This means your SJT score can be considered by universities separately from your cognitive percentile.
The official UCAT ANZ scoring page confirms there is no negative marking. Full marks are awarded when your response matches the agreed answer, and partial marks are awarded when your response is close to the correct answer. That is why adjacent options matter: confusing “very appropriate” with “appropriate but not ideal” is less damaging than choosing the opposite end of the scale.
Some UCAT UK resources describe Situational Judgement in Bands 1-4. For UCAT ANZ, use the current official 300-900 SJT scaled score unless a university's admissions guide explains its own interpretation. For broader percentile and cut-off context, use our UCAT scores guide.
A good UCAT ® Situational Judgement score depends on the university and course. Some schools may use SJT as a hurdle, some may include it in ranking, and others may weight it less than the cognitive total. Treat the latest official UCAT ANZ statistics as a benchmark, then check each university's admissions guide before making decisions.
In the official UCAT ANZ 2025 summary statistics the mean SJT score was 586, the median was 593, and the 9th decile was 672. The Consortium states that UCAT ANZ 2026 test statistics will be available in late August, with percentile lookup available in early September.
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| Benchmark Benchmark |
2025 SJT scaled score 2025 SJT scaled score |
|---|---|
| Mean Mean |
586 586 |
| Median / 5th decile Median / 5th decile |
593 593 |
| 7th decile 7th decile |
629 629 |
| 8th decile 8th decile |
649 649 |
| 9th decile 9th decile |
672 672 |
| Decile | 2025 UCAT ANZ SJT Score |
|---|---|
| 1st decile | 489 |
| 2nd decile | 529 |
| 3rd decile | 554 |
| 4th decile | 575 |
| 5th decile | 593 |
| 6th decile | 611 |
| 7th decile | 629 |
| 8th decile | 649 |
| 9th decile | 672 |
A UCAT ® SJT score of 500 is below the 2025 mean and between the 1st and 2nd decile in the 2025 ANZ statistics. It may not automatically rule you out, but it is unlikely to be ideal for universities that use SJT as part of ranking or minimum requirements. Check each medicine or dentistry program directly because SJT weighting changes by school and year.
The best way to prepare for UCAT ® Situational Judgement is to combine practice questions with a repeatable decision process. Real-life experience can help, but the exam rewards the professional ideal: the response that best protects safety, honesty, confidentiality, fairness and appropriate escalation.
Use these five habits to get better at UCAT ® Situational Judgement:
Before choosing an answer, identify four things: your role in the scenario, the main risk, the people affected, and the professional principle being tested. Then ask whether the response directly addresses the problem without creating a new one.
In practice, strong SJT UCAT answers usually prioritise patient safety, truthful communication, confidentiality, consent, teamwork, speaking to the person directly where appropriate, and escalating to a senior when the issue is serious or outside your role. Weak answers often ignore risk, conceal information, blame others, breach privacy, act beyond competence, or delay when immediate help is needed.
UCAT ® Situational Judgement practice questions train you to recognise scenario patterns and answer scales quickly. Start untimed while learning the logic behind each question type, then move to timed sets so you can make decisions in about 23 seconds per question.
Use the official UCAT ANZ preparation resources for calibration, then add extra practice to build range. Full mocks are useful because SJT is the final subtest, so fatigue can affect judgement.
The ethical and professional values tested in UCAT ® Situational Judgement are consistent with AHPRA's Good Medical Practice expectations for Australian doctors. You do not need to memorise a legal code, but you should understand recurring duties: put patient safety first, be honest, protect confidentiality, communicate respectfully, recognise limits, and seek help when needed.
Common SJT issues include confidentiality, cheating, alcohol and drug misuse, bullying, discrimination, unsafe practice, consent, workload pressure, patient distress, social media, and team conflict. Name the issue first, then decide what action best addresses it.
For example, posting a ward photo with identifiable patient information is not made acceptable because the account is private or the intention was harmless. The core issue is confidentiality and professionalism, so the best response should protect patient privacy and escalate appropriately.
The same action can be appropriate or inappropriate depending on the person's role. A medical student should notice hazards, communicate concerns, ask questions, and seek supervision; they should not independently make decisions that require a qualified clinician. In school or university scenarios, the same logic applies: resolve minor issues directly where safe, but escalate serious safety, honesty or wellbeing concerns.
The fastest way to improve UCAT ® SJT is to review why an answer was one step away or completely wrong. Group mistakes by principle: confidentiality, honesty, escalation, patient safety, role boundaries, fairness, or communication. This makes patterns visible and stops you from memorising individual scenarios.
UCAT ® Situational Judgement is less calculation-heavy than the cognitive subtests, but it still rewards disciplined timing. You need to read carefully, avoid overthinking adjacent answer options, and keep applying the same professional standard under fatigue.
It may seem that 69 questions in 26 minutes is tight, but each scenario is short and many questions are answered from the same stem. If you cannot decide between two adjacent ratings, choose the better-supported option, flag if useful, and keep moving. There is no negative marking, and partial marks mean you should avoid spending too long chasing perfection.
SJT scenarios deliberately contain moral, professional or interpersonal friction. Choose the ideal professional response, even if you have seen people behave differently in real life. The best answer is usually calm, honest, proportionate, patient-centred and within the person's role.
Some rules are strong anchors: protect confidentiality, avoid dishonesty, do not ignore immediate safety risks, do not act beyond competence, do not cover up errors, and escalate serious concerns. If an option breaks one of these principles, it is rarely appropriate.
In appropriateness and importance rating questions, do not force the answers into a ranking. Two actions can both be appropriate, and two considerations can both be very important. Judge each statement against the scenario and the professional principle being tested.
Meaning, who needs UCAT ANZ, registration overview, and how the exam fits undergraduate applications.
Four subtests, question counts, subtest times, and scoring overview (900–2700 cognitive total).
Booking windows, concessions, and the 2026 testing period.
Scaled totals (900–2700), percentiles, and what universities treat as competitive.
UCAT preparation strategy, study plan, timelines, and tips across all four current subtests.
Free practice and reading links to start without a paid course.
Question types, timing, and preparation tips for the first subtest.
Question types, timing, and preparation tips for the second subtest.
Numerical reasoning strategy, timing, and practice approach.