Aptitude tests
Situational judgement test practice
Work scenarios, with rate, most-and-least and rank-order formats.
Sample question: ranking format
Scenario
On a quiet Tuesday afternoon you finish all your tasks early. Your team has a large pitch next week, and your associate is in back-to-back calls until 5pm. Nobody has given you anything else to do. It is 2.30pm and you cannot think of any urgent job that belongs to you. A couple of other analysts are also at their desks, looking at their screens.
Which action would you be most likely to take?
Why: It makes it easy for the associate to say yes and directs your time to the team's priority.
Close second, option B. Useful preparation that builds understanding, but it is not coordinated with what the team needs.
10 scenarios. Rank the actions from the one you would be most likely to take to the one you would be least likely to take. Untimed.
Practise this format
Choose a format
- Graduate scenarios, rate the actions (SHL-style)14 workplace scenarios. Rate how effective each action is. Untimed, about 25 minutes.
- Situational judgement: most and least likely10 scenarios. Choose the action you would be most likely to take and the one you would be least likely to take. Untimed.
- Situational judgement: rank from most to least likely10 scenarios. Rank the actions from the one you would be most likely to take to the one you would be least likely to take. Untimed.
- Situational judgement: rate each actionA shorter set of 8 scenarios. Rate each action from counterproductive to effective. Untimed.
Need extra time or a different format? Every timed practice has 1.25x and 1.5x options. See reasonable adjustments.
About this test
A situational judgement test describes a work scenario and asks how you would respond to a set of options. You might rate how effective each action is, pick the one you would most and least likely do, or rank them. Finance employers mostly ask what you would, or are most likely to, do.
Our scenarios are set in fictional firms and written by us. Keys come from consensus among independent solvers, and each comes with a rationale. Scoring uses the only fully public model, the partial-credit 'near-miss' grid from NHS selection, so close answers earn partial credit. There is no negative marking.
What we know about this format
Each point carries a badge showing where it comes from. Where only candidates have reported something, the badge says so.
What do the confidence badges mean?
- Vendor-published Stated in the test publisher's own document or practice site.
- Academic From peer-reviewed research.
- Official employer Stated on the employer's own page.
- Near-official Near-official: an employer-run practice portal, or a vendor or employer-quoted press release naming the employer.
- Candidate-reported Reported by candidates. Treat as likely but unconfirmed.
- Third-party From prep sites, press or forums. Not confirmed by the employer or publisher.
- Official employer
KPMG asks you to rank how you would think, feel or respond. It is untimed, and the firm suggests allowing about 20 minutes.
- Official employer
Deloitte asks you to rank actions from most to least likely. There is no overall time limit, but some questions are timed and speed contributes to your score.
- Official employer
EY asks you to rank most to least likely, plus slider and written items.
- Official employer
NatWest (SHL-style): 14 scenarios where you rate statements as more or less effective, untimed, about 20 to 25 minutes.
- Vendor-published
SHL-style Graduate Scenarios: 14 scenarios with 70 rating items, untimed, about 25 minutes.
Source · Publisher fact sheet.
- Academic
NHS-style near-miss scoring: each option scores 4 minus its distance from the keyed position, with a floor of 0; ties score 0. No negative marking.
Source · Public scoring guidance from NHS Scotland, 2024.
- Academic
'Would do' wording is linked more to personality, and 'should do' wording more to cognitive ability. Prediction of job performance is similar either way.
Source · McDaniel et al. 2007.
- Academic
Correcting ratings for each person's overall leniency and spread improves validity.
Source · McDaniel et al. 2011. We apply this in our reports.
Graduate scenarios, rate the actions (SHL-style)
- Vendor-published
14 scenarios, 70 rating items, untimed, about 25 minutes
Source · Kvanta scenarios may have four or five actions, so the item total can differ.
- Official employer
NatWest describes 14 scenarios where you rate each statement as more or less effective, untimed, about 20 to 25 minutes
- Official employer
Four-point effectiveness scale: Counterproductive, Ineffective, Partially effective, Effective
Source · The Civil Service version says Fairly effective. The vendor's own labels are not published, so Partially effective is Kvanta's wording.
- Academic
Partial credit by distance from the keyed answer: each option scores 4 minus its distance from the key, never below 0, with no negative marking
Source · This is the public near-miss method from medical selection. No employer publishes its own marks.
- Academic
Correcting ratings for how lenient or varied a person's answers are improves how well the test predicts performance
Source · Kvanta shows both the raw and the corrected score.
Situational judgement: most and least likely
- Academic
Situational judgement tests use three response formats: rate each option, rank the options, or pick the most and least likely
Source · A large study found the format changes what the test measures.
- Academic
Asking what you would do relates more to personality, asking what you should do relates more to ability; both predict performance about equally
Source · Finance employers ask what you would do, so these items use that wording.
- Academic
Scoring: 2 points for matching the keyed choice, 1 for a neutral choice and 0 for picking the opposite end, for each of the two choices
Source · Kvanta's adaptation of near-miss partial credit. No employer publishes marks for this format.
Situational judgement: rank from most to least likely
- Official employer
KPMG asks you to rank how you would think, feel or respond; untimed, about 20 minutes
- Official employer
Deloitte asks you to rank actions from most to least likely; some questions are timed and speed counts towards the score
Source · This Kvanta set is untimed.
- Official employer
EY asks you to rank actions from most to least likely, and also uses slider and written items
- Academic
Rank-5 items: maximum 20, a fully reversed order still scores 8, a tie scores 0, and there is no negative marking
Source · The public near-miss method from medical selection.
- Academic
Asking what you would do relates more to personality; finance employers use this wording
Situational judgement: rate each action
- Vendor-published
Rate-each-action is the format of the 14-scenario graduate test; this set is shorter, at 8 scenarios
Source · Kvanta's own length.
- Official employer
The Civil Service judgement test uses a four-point effectiveness scale and is untimed
- Academic
Rating formats relate more to personality and less to cognitive ability than ranking formats, with smaller group differences
Questions people ask
What is a situational judgement test?
It is a test where you read a realistic work scenario and judge a set of possible actions. It is used to see how your judgement lines up with what the employer values.
Is there a right answer?
Each employer's key is private, built by experts. Ours is built by consensus among independent solvers, and every item comes with a rationale so you can see the reasoning.
Should I answer what I would do or what I should do?
Read the question wording. Finance employers usually ask what you would do, or what you are most likely to do. Answer honestly in that frame, and notice how the firm's published values point the same way.
What is the difference between rate, most-and-least and rank formats?
Rate formats ask you to score every action for effectiveness. Most-and-least asks for just two picks. Rank asks for a full order. Different employers use different formats, and we have all three.
How do you score partial answers?
We use a near-miss grid. Each option scores 4 minus how far your placement is from the keyed position, never below zero, so a fully reversed ranking still earns something. Tied placements score zero, and there is no negative marking.
Is an SJT timed?
Often untimed, as KPMG and NatWest state, though Deloitte says some questions are timed and speed contributes to the score. Check your invitation.
How do I prepare?
Read the firm's published values and competency lists, then practise noticing which values each option serves. The firm pages link to these frameworks where the firm publishes them.
Do you use real firm scenarios?
No. All scenarios are original and set in fictional firms.
Where this appears in firm processes
- Deloitte UK Official employer
- KPMG UK Official employer
- Barclays Official employer
- HSBC Official employer
- NatWest Group Official employer
- Lloyds Banking Group Official employer
- UBS Official employer
- Bank of England Official employer
- Aviva Official employer
- Deutsche Bank Official employer
- Legal & General (L&G) Official employer
- M&G Official employer
- RSM UK Official employer
- Schroders Official employer
See all firm pages. Check your own invitation, because processes change each cycle.
Independent practice. Not affiliated with or endorsed by SHL, any employer or test provider and Cappfinity.
Practice builds familiarity. Reasoning scores improve with practice, though the gains level off after a few sittings, and nothing here predicts a real score. Our results are shown against Kvanta users only, never as an official score.
Use Kvanta to practise and learn. In a live assessment, do not use AI tools, notes or another person unless the employer says you may. Read our approach to integrity.