1. Immediate safety
Who could be harmed, how seriously, and how soon? Prompt action carries more weight when the risk is credible and current.
UCAT SJT tips
Judge the risk, role and route
The strongest answer usually follows from a small set of professional checks. Apply them to the precise situation and rate every response independently.
Apply it to one scenarioDecision sequence
Six checks that cover most scenarios
2. Role and competence
Can this person act safely within their role? Asking for supervision is usually stronger than pretending to know or taking unauthorised control.
3. Consent and confidentiality
Has the patient agreed? Could the information identify somebody, even without a name? Use the least intrusive route that deals with the concern.
4. Honesty and correction
When something goes wrong, acknowledge it, correct what can still be corrected, and tell the appropriate person.
5. Proportionate escalation
Deal with immediate risk first. Raise concerns clearly and objectively. Public exposure, personal attacks and silence are usually weak routes.
6. Respect and teamwork
Support people without concealing risk. Preserve dignity, invite their choices where possible, and describe conduct rather than assigning character labels.
Rating scale
Keep the four points distinct
Directly addresses a central concern, or carries decisive weight in the situation.
Useful and broadly sound, with a limitation in timing, clarity, completeness or route.
A weak or poorly handled response, or a factor that deserves little weight without being irrelevant.
Creates or conceals risk, breaches a clear principle, or has no proper bearing on the decision.
Two useful habits
Judge each option on its own terms
A scenario can contain more than one highly appropriate action or more than one very important factor. Do not force the four responses into a ranking. Also separate the intention from the route: a person may raise a legitimate concern through humiliating, dishonest or disproportionate behaviour.
U Tiger’s ratings are training judgements. Use the official UCAT question bank and practice tests for final familiarisation with live wording and scoring.
Official UCAT question tutorials · Official UCAT practice tests
Use the method
One scenario, three judgements
The explanation appears after each response.