For the 2027 GP training intake, the ICGP interview has been replaced by the Scenario Based Competency Assessment (SBCA): three separate role-play stations, sat live rather than answered as a Q&A. Each scenario puts you opposite a different counterpart — a patient, a patient's family member, or a work colleague — and you respond as the situation unfolds. The SBCA is worth 50% of your final ranking, the single largest component, ahead of the SJT's 40%. It is sat on 3 and 4 February 2027.
If you prepared for the old interview format, most of that groundwork still applies: the same professional judgement is being tested. What has changed is the delivery. You are no longer telling a marker about a past situation from a chair. You are acting the current one out, in real time, opposite an actor.
A candidate who has memorised a perfect STARR script but has never said it out loud to another person will freeze the moment the “patient” says something unscripted. The SBCA cannot be crammed the way a knowledge test can. It has to be rehearsed as a live conversation, out loud, with someone playing the other part.
What Is the SBCA?
Every ICGP selection cycle has ended with some form of assessed conversation, and the name and format have shifted more than once: multiple mini-interviews with a single marker per station in some years, simulated patient stations in others. The 2027 cycle brings both a new name and a real format change. The SBCA is built around live role-play rather than a candidate narrating a past example to a panel.
The three scenarios are deliberately different from each other. A patient scenario tests your clinical communication and bedside manner under pressure. A family-member scenario tests something harder: managing someone else's distress, expectations, or anger about a situation that isn't fully in your control. A colleague scenario tests how you handle disagreement, escalation, or a difficult professional conversation with a peer. Together, the three cover most of the working relationships a GP navigates daily.
The marking is blind in a way worth knowing before you walk in: the interviewer scoring each station has no knowledge of what you wrote on your application form, and no knowledge of your SJT or CPST results. Whatever happened on the tests earlier that week, or whatever you wrote months ago on Application A, buys you nothing here. Each station is judged purely on what the interviewer sees in those fourteen minutes.
Three stations (patient, relative, colleague) · 1 minute reading + 10 minutes live + 3 minutes silent scoring each · actor visible, marker hidden · stations run back to back automatically · Wed 3 – Thu 4 February 2027, randomly allocated.
Sources: ICGP, 2027 Recruitment Process and the ICGP 2027 GP Training Prospectus selection flowchart.
Three conversations, three different pressures. Prepare for all three separately.
— Why the format matters
Does the SBCA Count Towards Your Ranking?
Yes — more than any other component. The ICGP's official Guide to Applicants states the SBCA (previously the interview) is worth 50% of your final ranking, against 40% for the SJT and 10% for the CPST. The 2027 selection flowchart confirms the same structure: SBCA sits inside Rank & Match as a scored input, right alongside the SJT and CPST.
Like the CPST, the SBCA also has to be passed before that 50% means anything. The flowchart shows a Minimum SBCA Requirements checkpoint: fall short of it, and you are removed from the process regardless of how strong your SJT or CPST scores were. There is no compensation between components. Each one is assessed on its own terms.
| Component | Weight | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| SBCA | 50% — largest | Three role-play stations; also a pass/fail hurdle before the 50% counts |
| SJT | 40% | Situational Judgement Test — a strong score cannot cover a weak SBCA |
| CPST | 10% | Clinical Problem-Solving Test — must pass, smaller ranking weight |
| Minimum SBCA Requirements | Hurdle | Fall short and you are removed regardless of SJT/CPST — no compensation |
Table 01 — Where the 50% sits
Because it is worth 50%, the SBCA is not a component you can under-prepare the way you might the CPST. A strong SJT cannot cover for a weak SBCA the way it can absorb a merely-passed CPST. Treat it as the single highest-priority component: unlike the SJT, it rewards a skill — live conversation under pressure — that most candidates have not deliberately practised since medical school.
The Three Scenarios
Each scenario tests a genuinely different working relationship. Preparing for one does not prepare you for the others — the pressures involved are not interchangeable.
The Patient Scenario
Station A · PatientWhat to expect
- You face a patient, played by an actor, in a pressured clinical conversation.
- Typical pressure: a difficult diagnosis, a disagreement about management, or a safety concern the patient is minimising.
What the marker watches
- Bedside manner and clarity under pressure — can you hold trust while doing the clinically right thing?
- Rapport as much as content: do you talk to the patient, not at them?
Talk to the patient, not at them. The marker scores how you build rapport as much as what you say.
The Family Scenario
Station B · FamilyWhat to expect
- You speak with a patient's family member — distressed, frustrated, or pushing for information or action you cannot fully give.
- Rarely about clinical facts; almost always about managing someone else's emotion while protecting the patient.
What the marker watches
- Boundary-setting and empathy under pressure — can you de-escalate without conceding what you shouldn't?
- Whether you acknowledge the emotion before addressing the content.
Acknowledge the emotion before the content. Family members who feel unheard rarely calm down, whatever facts you offer next.
The Colleague Scenario
Station C · ColleagueWhat to expect
- You face a colleague — peer, senior, or team member — over a disagreement, a performance concern, or a professional boundary.
- The scenario most candidates practise least, and it shows.
What the marker watches
- Whether you raise a difficult professional issue directly and respectfully — neither avoiding it nor escalating unnecessarily.
- How fast you get to the point: circling wastes the time you need to resolve it.
Be direct early. Circling a difficult topic for the first half of the scenario wastes the time you need to actually resolve it.
Structuring Your Response
The STARR framework — Situation, Task, Action, Result, Reflection — was built for interviews where you narrate a past example to a panel. Unlike that format, the SBCA has you act the scenario out rather than narrate it. STARR still has a place, but its job changes from a script you deliver to a mental checklist you carry into a live conversation:
- 1Read the Situation Fast
One minute of reading time; don't speak until it elapses. Identify who you're talking to, what they want, and what's at stake. Full-minute readers walk in oriented; skimmers spend the opening catching up.
- 2Know Your Task Before You Speak
Reassure, inform, de-escalate, escalate, set a boundary — decide before your opening line, because the actor responds to whatever you signal first.
- 3Act, Don't Recite
Respond to what the actor actually says, not what you rehearsed. The strongest candidates sound like a real conversation, pauses included — because it is one.
- 4Reach an Honest Result
Aim for the natural resolution — an agreement, a next step, a boundary that holds — rather than talking until time runs out.
- 5Reflection Happens After, Not During
Three silent scoring minutes follow each station: camera on, no interaction, marker invisible. Nothing here changes your score — stay composed and don't explain yourself into the silence.
Building Your Example Bank
Even though the SBCA is role-play rather than narration, drawing on real memory still matters. The candidates who perform best in the moment are usually the ones who have lived through something similar and can pull genuine instinct from it, not just technique.
Before you start rehearsing scenarios, write down three or four real situations from your own clinical experience for each of the three scenario types: a patient conversation that was genuinely difficult, a family interaction that tested your patience, a colleague disagreement you actually had to navigate. You are not going to recite these in the room. You are building the emotional and practical memory that makes your improvised response sound like it is coming from someone who has actually done this before — because you have.
A candidate with no real reference point performs a version of “what a good doctor would say,” which sounds hollow under pressure. A candidate drawing on a real memory responds with instinct rather than guesswork the moment the actor deviates from what they expected.
The Most Common Mistakes
Preparing a script instead of a skill
Mistake 01What goes wrong
- Candidates write out word-for-word lines, then freeze when the actor responds off-script.
- A memorised script is brittle — the SBCA tests what happens when the conversation goes elsewhere.
The fix
- Practise the scenario type, not a script — same category, different partners playing it differently each time.
Build adaptability, not memory. Improvise the same category until the unexpected feels normal.
Treating all three scenarios the same
Mistake 02What goes wrong
- One default register — overly clinical, overly soft, overly formal — underperforms wherever it doesn't fit.
The fix
- Practise each type separately; give the most time to whichever feels least natural.
Rehearse the uncomfortable register most, not the one you already trust.
Only ever rehearsing alone
Mistake 03What goes wrong
- Silent run-throughs build false confidence that collapses against a real, unpredictable person.
The fix
- Every session needs a live counterpart — someone willing to improvise and push back.
No solo rehearsal counts. If nobody pushed back, it wasn't practice.
Avoiding the colleague scenario in practice
Mistake 04What goes wrong
- Patient and family scenarios feel familiar, so the uncomfortable peer confrontation gets skipped — exactly why it needs rehearsal.
The fix
- Schedule colleague practice explicitly; it's where good preparation stands out most.
Put the colleague scenario in the calendar first, not last.
Starting preparation the week before
Mistake 05What goes wrong
- Conversational skill under pressure doesn't improve overnight the way memorised facts can.
The fix
- Start structured role-play at least six weeks out — the curve is gradual, not a cram.
Six weeks of reps beats six days of scripts, every cycle.
How to Prepare
Because the SBCA rewards a live skill rather than recalled knowledge, the preparation curve looks different from the SJT or CPST. Progress is gradual and comes from repetition with a real practice partner, not from reading.
Run this runway until it's reflex
- 6 weeks out — build your example bank. Three or four real situations per scenario type. Capture memories, don't script dialogue yet.
- 5–4 weeks out — low-stakes role-play. One scenario of each type per week. Stay in the moment rather than getting it right.
- 3–2 weeks out — volume, weakest type first. Usually the colleague scenario. Your partner should genuinely improvise and push back.
- Final week — full mocks, then rest. All three types back to back, timed, at least twice. Then stop drilling.
- Test days — arrive rested, not rehearsed. No mock the morning of. Presence beats last-minute cramming.
Test Day: What Actually Happens
The SBCA is held online on 3 and 4 February 2027, with candidates randomly allocated to a day and time and notified in advance. Plan for either day; you do not get to choose.
The sitting itself runs on rails. You enter the interview link, complete an identity verification process that takes around 15 minutes, then move into Station 1. From there, the three stations run back to back automatically — 14 minutes each, roughly 42 minutes in total — before you exit the link. You do not control the pace and cannot linger on a station that went well or rush one that didn't; the system moves you on regardless.
- 1Enter the link, verify identity
Around 15 minutes. Camera and sound on from the start — they stay on for the whole sitting.
- 2Station 1 — read, play, hold
1 minute silent reading, 10 minutes live with the actor, 3 minutes silent scoring. Don't speak in the reading minute; don't perform in the scoring window.
- 3Station 2 — auto-advance
Same structure. The system moves you on — use the scoring silence as your reset between stations.
- 4Station 3 — finish clean
Same structure. End with a clear next step where the scenario allows one; don't trail off.
- 5Exit the link
Roughly an hour after you started. Leave the last station behind you — no post-mortem until you're offline.
Camera and sound must stay on for the full sitting, including every silent scoring window. Station timing per GP Journey's review of the current SBCA candidate briefing.
Because the stations run automatically with no break beyond the built-in 3-minute scoring window, carrying frustration from one station into the next is the single most avoidable way to underperform on a station you were prepared for. Use the silent scoring minutes as your reset, not as a chance to keep making your case. Build that discipline into every practice run so it is automatic on the day.
Practice the SBCA as role-play, not recitation.
— GP Journey · SBCA Practice
Frequently asked questions
The Scenario Based Competency Assessment (SBCA) is the renamed final stage of ICGP GP training selection, replacing what was previously called the interview. It is worth 50% of your final ranking and is sat as three separate scenario stations, each a role-play with a different counterpart: a patient, a patient's family member, and a work colleague. For the 2027 intake it is sat on 3 and 4 February 2027.
Yes. Per the ICGP's official Guide to Applicants, the SBCA is worth 50% of your final ranking, alongside 40% for the SJT and 10% for the CPST. It is also a pass/fail hurdle first: the ICGP's own selection flowchart shows a Minimum SBCA Requirements checkpoint before Rank and Match, so candidates who do not meet the standard are removed from the process regardless of their SJT or CPST scores.
The SBCA is structured as three stations, one each with a patient, a relative, and a colleague. Each station runs 14 minutes: 1 minute of silent reading time, 10 minutes of live interaction where you play the doctor, and 3 minutes of silent scoring where you stay on camera but do not interact further. Stations run back to back automatically.
Including identity verification, expect around an hour online. Verification takes roughly 15 minutes, then the three 14-minute stations run automatically back to back, about 42 minutes, before you exit. You do not control the pacing between stations.
The SBCA is the renamed and reformatted successor to the interview. Earlier cycles used formats such as multiple mini-interviews with a single marker per station; the SBCA moves to live role-play across three scenario types. The underlying purpose — assessing your professional competencies in realistic situations — is unchanged, but the format and name are new for the 2027 cycle.
For the 2027 GP training intake, the SBCA is held on Wednesday 3 and Thursday 4 February 2027, per the ICGP's published selection timeline. Candidates are randomly allocated a day and time. Dates may be subject to change; always confirm on icgp.ie.
Build a bank of real, specific examples from your own clinical experience for each of the three scenario types, then rehearse them as live role-play, out loud, with another person playing the counterpart. The STARR framework (Situation, Task, Action, Result, Reflection) helps structure a response, but because the SBCA is role-play rather than a Q&A interview, practising the actual conversation matters more than writing the perfect script.