Situational judgement tests (SJT): scenarios, scoring, and strategy

Situational judgement tests (SJTs) do not measure how smart you are. They measure how you behave — specifically, whether your instincts align with the competencies the employer values. They are used by banks (DBS, HSBC, JPMorgan), consulting firms, and the public sector.

How SJTs work

You read a scenario (a difficult colleague, a tight deadline, a customer complaint) and see 4–6 possible responses. Depending on the test, you either:

• Rank all responses from most to least effective.
• Rate each response on a scale (very effective → counterproductive).
• Pick the best and worst response.

The competencies behind the scenarios

Every SJT scenario is designed to test one or two competencies. The most common:

• Teamwork & collaboration — do you involve others and share credit?
• Decision making — do you act decisively with available information?
• Stakeholder management — do you balance competing interests diplomatically?
• Risk awareness — do you escalate appropriately, or do you wing it?
• Integrity — do you follow the ethical path, even when inconvenient?

Scoring nuances

SJTs use partial credit. If the model answer is A > B > C > D and you answer A > C > B > D, you get most of the points because A is first and D is last. The middle rankings are worth fewer points. This means: get the extremes right. Best and worst matter most.

Common mistakes

• Overthinking. Your first instinct is usually right for SJTs. Spend 60–90 seconds max per scenario.
• Being too aggressive. Responses that “confront”, “demand”, or “refuse” almost never rank first.
• Confusing what you would do with what you should do. SJTs test the ideal response, not the realistic one.