The ICGP Situational Judgement Test (SJT) is a 45-scenario, 90-minute online exam (plus 2 minutes of reading time) that decides 40% of your GP training ranking. For the 2027 intake it is sat on Wednesday 4 and Thursday 5 November 2026, alongside the CPST. It does not test clinical knowledge; it tests whether your professional judgement in realistic workplace scenarios matches what an ICGP expert panel considers correct.
Plenty of strong, capable doctors underperform on this test, not because they don’t know how to be good doctors, but because they prepare for the wrong thing. They open a clinical textbook when they should be opening a scenario bank. This guide covers what the SJT actually is, how it’s scored, what the six competency domains mean in practice, and what preparation that actually moves your score looks like.
The SJT is a structured read on whether your professional instincts, under pressure, in realistic workplace situations, line up with what the ICGP considers the values and behaviours of an excellent GP trainee — not a test of whether you know the “right” answer to a moral dilemma. Get that distinction and it changes how you should prepare.
What Is the ICGP SJT?
Each SJT scenario puts you in a situation a hospital doctor will genuinely run into: a difficult colleague, a patient safety concern that’s easy to brush past, a communication breakdown, a professional boundary that’s suddenly not so clear. Fictional, but not far-fetched. You’ve probably lived a version of most of them already.
The ICGP weights it this heavily because it measures something clinical exams don’t: how you actually behave when the ward is busy and nobody’s watching closely. SJT scores also correlate with how people actually perform once they’re working, which is why it now carries more weight than anything else in GP training selection.
The SJT has a reassuringly learnable logic. An expert panel builds these scenarios and agrees on what a good response looks like, and that agreement isn’t random guesswork dressed up as consensus. It reflects a consistent set of professional values, applied the same way scenario after scenario.
45 scenarios in 90 minutes (plus 2 minutes of reading time), taken online under live proctoring · Wed 4 – Thu 5 November 2026, alongside the CPST · worth 40% of your final ranking score · two question formats: ranking and multiple choice · partial credit on ranking items · benchmarked against expert panel consensus.
Source: ICGP 2027 Recruitment Process, Key Dates. Dates may be subject to change; always confirm on icgp.ie.
The scoring logic is learnable. Learn it, and your score moves.
— Why the SJT rewards preparation
What Are the Two SJT Question Formats?
Two formats show up on the SJT, and they’re scored differently, which matters more than most candidates realise going in.
Ranking Items
Format A · RankingHow it works
- You get five possible responses to a scenario and rank them from most appropriate (1) to least appropriate (5). Every position has to be filled: no blanks, no ties.
Example prompt
- “A patient tells you she has been taking twice the prescribed dose of her blood pressure medication. You are the SHO. Rank the following responses from most to least appropriate.”
Partial credit is awarded for near-correct rankings. Getting positions 1 and 2 right but swapping 4 and 5 still scores better than getting the whole ranking wrong. Every position matters, not just the top choice.
Multiple Choice Items
Format B · Multiple ChoiceHow it works
- Eight possible responses, and you pick the three most appropriate. Order doesn’t matter here, only whether each individual choice you made is right.
Example prompt
- “You witness a senior colleague speaking dismissively to a patient. Choose the three most appropriate responses from the following options.”
Each of your three selections is marked independently and earns its own point, so a correct pick counts even if the other two are wrong. Get 1 of 3 right and you score 1 point; get 2 right and you score 2; get all 3 right and you score 3. There’s no bonus for a perfect set and no penalty for a wrong one, so never leave a pick blank or guess at random: every correct selection banks a point on its own.
Most candidates lock in on finding the single best response and treat the rest of the ranking as a formality. That habit costs marks. Partial credit runs through the whole ranking, so positions 2 through 5 are worth real fighting for, not just position 1. A candidate who works through all five positions carefully will out-score someone who nails the top answer and guesses the rest.
How the Scoring Works
Every SJT response gets benchmarked against a panel: experienced GPs, GP trainers, and ICGP educators who sit down and agree on what the correct answer looks like for each scenario. There is a correct answer.
It’s asking whether your response lines up with what a panel of Irish GP selectors agreed was the most professionally appropriate move, not for your personal ethics or your individual take on a dilemma. That doesn’t mean the answers are arbitrary or designed to trip you up, either. Read enough of these scenarios and a handful of consistent principles start to show through:
- 1Patient safety always comes first
Actions that protect the patient are ranked above actions that protect the doctor or the team.
- 2Escalation is appropriate, not a failure
Seeking senior support is a sign of good professional judgement, not weakness.
- 3Communication before confrontation
Addressing concerns directly and calmly beats going over someone’s head immediately.
- 4Transparency with patients and colleagues
Honesty, even when uncomfortable, is consistently ranked higher than avoidance.
- 5Acting within your competence
Recognising the limits of your role and knowing when to involve others is rewarded.
- 6Documentation matters
But it is rarely the first or most urgent action in a scenario.
Stuck on an unfamiliar scenario? Ask yourself what a GP trainer would be proud to see you do. It’s a surprisingly reliable shortcut to the correct response.
What Are the Six ICGP Competency Domains?
Every scenario on the SJT maps back to one or more of six core competency domains. Get familiar with what each one actually means in practice, not just the textbook definition, and your pattern recognition improves fast.
Professional Values and Behaviours
Domain 01What it covers
- Integrity, honesty, accountability, self-awareness, and the ability to maintain professional standards under pressure. This domain covers ethical conduct, recognising and managing personal limitations, and behaving professionally in all circumstances.
What it looks like in a scenario
- You make an error. A colleague asks you to cover something up. A patient offers you a gift. You witness something that feels wrong but is not clearly illegal. The test is whether you respond with transparency, accountability, and appropriate action, or avoidance and self-protection.
Choose transparency and accountability over avoidance or self-protection, every time.
Communication and Consultation Skills
Domain 02What it covers
- Listening effectively, explaining clearly, breaking bad news with empathy, checking understanding, and making decisions with patients rather than for them. This domain is about how you interact, not what clinical decision you make.
What it looks like in a scenario
- A patient is angry. A family member wants information you cannot share without consent. A colleague misunderstands your clinical reasoning. The test is whether you choose responses that open dialogue, demonstrate empathy, and maintain patient dignity, or responses that are dismissive, defensive, or premature.
Open dialogue and empathy outrank dismissive, defensive, or premature responses.
Clinical Knowledge and Expertise
Domain 03What it covers
- Applying clinical reasoning appropriately, recognising the limits of your knowledge, seeking help when needed, and ensuring patient safety through sound clinical judgement. This is not a test of clinical facts; it is a test of how you apply and seek knowledge.
What it looks like in a scenario
- You are asked to perform a procedure you have not done before. A patient’s deterioration falls outside your experience. A colleague is making a decision you think is wrong clinically. The test is whether you act within your competence, escalate appropriately, and prioritise patient safety over ego or convenience.
Act within your competence and escalate: patient safety beats ego or convenience.
Managing Medical Complexity
Domain 04What it covers
- Dealing with uncertainty, managing patients with multiple conditions, making patient-centred decisions when there is no clear right answer, and thinking holistically about care. This domain rewards nuanced, non-binary thinking.
What it looks like in a scenario
- A patient with multiple comorbidities needs a decision that involves tradeoffs. A social situation complicates a clinical one. A patient refuses treatment you believe they need. The test is whether you engage with the complexity rather than defaulting to a simple rule, and whether you keep the patient at the centre.
Engage with the complexity and keep the patient at the centre — don’t default to a simple rule.
Working with Colleagues and in Teams
Domain 05What it covers
- Collaborating effectively, supporting colleagues, escalating concerns through appropriate channels, managing conflict professionally, and contributing positively to the team. This domain covers everything that happens in the workplace between colleagues.
What it looks like in a scenario
- A consultant is rude to a nurse. A colleague is struggling and making errors. A junior doctor asks you for help you cannot fully give. A team disagrees on a management plan. The test is whether you respond in ways that maintain team function, support your colleagues, and address problems through constructive rather than destructive channels.
Address team problems through constructive channels that maintain team function.
Community Orientation
Domain 06What it covers
- Understanding the role of the GP in the broader community, thinking beyond the individual patient to public health, health inequalities, and the social determinants of health. This domain is less frequently tested but important to understand.
What it looks like in a scenario
- A patient’s housing situation is affecting their health. A notifiable disease presents and you need to consider public health implications. A patient from a marginalised community faces systemic barriers to care. The test is whether you think beyond the consultation to the wider context of the patient’s life and community.
Think beyond the consultation to the patient’s wider life, community, and barriers to care.
What Mistakes Do Candidates Make on the SJT?
Four mistakes come up again and again in candidates who don’t score where they should. Spot them in yourself before test day and you’re already ahead.
Treating it like an ethics exam
Mistake 01The mistake
- Autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, justice: if you’re reaching for that framework, put it down. The SJT isn’t rewarding philosophical reasoning. It wants practical professional judgement, the kind a GP trainer would actually recognise.
The fix
- Ground every response in one question: “What would a GP trainer be proud to see a trainee do here?” That instinct beats any ethical framework you learned in med school.
Swap ethical frameworks for practical judgement: ask what a GP trainer would be proud to see.
Answering as the doctor you are, not the doctor you should be
Mistake 02The mistake
- Experienced doctors often rank responses based on how things actually happen on their ward: the workarounds, the shortcuts, the “that’s just how it’s done here.” The SJT isn’t interested in that. It’s testing aspirational professional behaviour.
The fix
- Bracket your real-world experience when you answer. The question is what you should do, not what you’d probably do at 4pm on a Friday. Answer as the thoughtful, values-driven trainee, not the time-pressured SHO.
Answer as the thoughtful, values-driven trainee — not the time-pressured SHO.
Neglecting positions 3, 4, and 5 on ranking items
Mistake 03The mistake
- Find the best answer, then guess the rest: it’s the most common shortcut candidates take, and it’s expensive. Partial credit runs through the whole ranking, so that guesswork is leaving real marks on the table.
The fix
- Rank all five positions deliberately. Find your top choice, then find your worst and put it at 5. Work inward from both ends. The middle two or three usually sort themselves out once the extremes are anchored.
Anchor both ends first — best at 1, worst at 5 — then fill the middle deliberately.
Doing a week of practice and calling it prepared
Mistake 04The mistake
- A single intensive week doesn’t build the automatic response instinct this test rewards. Candidates consistently underestimate how coachable the SJT is, and how much of that coaching only shows up after sustained practice, not a cram session.
The fix
- Start 8–12 weeks out. 20–30 scenarios a week, with a full review of every explanation. The jump from week 4 to week 8 is usually bigger than the jump from week 1 to week 4: the improvement is back-loaded, so don’t quit early.
Start 8–12 weeks out: the improvement is back-loaded, so don’t quit early.
Build the instinct. Practice the logic.
Work through ICGP-style SJT scenarios with full expert explanations and scoring breakdowns. The difference between understanding the test and scoring well on it is practice.
— GP Journey · SJT Practice
How to Prepare: A Structured Approach
The SJT is coachable, and that’s worth sitting with, because a lot of candidates quietly assume professional judgement is something you either have or you don’t. It isn’t. The scoring logic is learnable, the patterns repeat, and deliberate practice genuinely moves the needle.
Real practice happens in the explanation, not just the question. Notice the word deliberate. Grinding through 200 scenarios and just checking right-or-wrong won’t get you there. The real work is reading the expert explanation on every single question, including the ones you got right, and understanding why that ranking is correct.
Run this runway
- 12 weeks out — read the six competency domains. Understand what each one means and what it looks like in a scenario. Write one concrete example from your own clinical experience for each domain.
- 10–8 weeks out — begin scenario practice at low volume. 15–20 scenarios per week, full review of every explanation. Focus on understanding the reasoning pattern and identify which domains you find instinctively harder.
- 7–5 weeks out — increase volume and focus on weak domains. 25–35 scenarios per week. For domains where you are consistently off, go back to the competency description before another domain-specific set.
- 4–2 weeks out — timed practice under exam conditions. Full 45-question sets within the 90-minute window. Practise the “anchor from both ends” technique on ranking items until it is automatic.
- Final week — light review only. Re-read the six competency domains. Do 10–15 scenarios per day. Do not attempt to cram new concepts.
- Test day — trust the instinct you have built. Read each scenario fully before looking at the options. Identify your clear top choice first, your clear worst choice last, then fill in the middle. Do not change answers without a strong reason: first instinct is usually right.
The Single Most Useful Habit to Develop
The single most useful habit to develop would be reading the topics within GP Journey and the Good Medical Practice guidebook. Not to relearn clinical medicine, you already know that, but to pick up how the profession talks about itself. The more fluent you get in that language, the more naturally you’ll spot what the SJT is actually looking for.
For a deeper walkthrough of this timeline — including a diagnostic to find your weak domains first, what an actual practice rep looks like step by step, and the mistakes that quietly cost marks — see the full SJT study-plan guide.
Test Day: What to Expect
You’ll sit the SJT online under live proctoring, a human keeps an eye on your webcam feed the whole way through. Quiet room, reliable internet, a working webcam, and a government-issued photo ID: sort those in advance, not the morning of. The mandatory pre-test technical check happens 3 days before the test window, and it isn’t optional: miss it and you’re out of the process.
For the 2027 intake, the SJT and CPST fall on two separate days: Wednesday 4 and Thursday 5 November 2026. Treat both as full test days. Don’t schedule anything for either afternoon, and don’t assume day two will feel lighter just because you’ve already sat one exam. It won’t.
Pacing: 45 scenarios in the 90-minute solving window works out to exactly 2 minutes each. That’s enough room to read carefully, but not enough to sit deliberating over every option. Practise under timed conditions beforehand and the pace stops feeling like a threat. If you get stuck, move on: burning several minutes on one hard scenario is a net loss every time.
Whoever writes these scenarios cares about GP training in Ireland. They’re trying to find the doctors who’ll make good GP trainees, not catch you out, and that means the test has a coherent logic running through it. The more of it you understand, the less alien the whole thing feels, and the better you score.
SJT = 40% of your final ranking score · SBCA (Scenario-Based Competency Assessment) = 50% · CPST = 10% · 45 scenarios, sat in 90 minutes · sat Wed 4 – Thu 5 Nov 2026, alongside the CPST · 6 ICGP core GP competency domains assessed.
Source: ICGP 2027 Recruitment Process, correct as of July 2026. Always confirm current dates on icgp.ie.
How GP Journey Helps You Pass the SJT
Everything in this guide points to the same conclusion: the SJT is learnable, but only if your practice is structured around its actual logic, not generic advice or UK-focused content that doesn’t match how the ICGP scores things. That’s the specific gap GP Journey is built to close.
The scenario bank is Ireland-specific, built around ICGP selection criteria rather than adapted from UK Foundation Programme material. Every scenario runs in the real exam formats: ranking items with partial credit, and multiple choice items with independent marking, so the mechanics feel familiar long before test day.
Every question comes with a full expert explanation, not just which answer was correct but the reasoning behind the ranking, tied back to the competency domains. That’s the difference between memorising outcomes and actually building the instinct.
Analytics track your performance by domain, so you can see exactly where you’re weakest and put your remaining weeks toward the areas actually costing you marks, rather than re-practising what you’ve already got right. SJT, CPST, and interview prep all sit on one synced timeline, and it’s HSE TSS eligible, so for most candidates the cost isn’t a barrier either. See full pricing and plans.
You’ve read the theory. Now build the instinct.
Start with real ICGP-style scenarios, full expert explanations, and domain-by-domain analytics that show you exactly where to focus.
— GP Journey · SJT Practice
Frequently asked questions
The ICGP Situational Judgement Test (SJT) is an online test of 45 scenarios assessing the professional values and behaviours expected of a GP trainee. It counts for 40% of your final ranking score and is sat in November as part of the ICGP GP training application process.
The SJT uses two question formats. Ranking items ask you to rank five responses from most to least appropriate; partial credit is awarded for near-correct rankings. Multiple choice items ask you to select three appropriate actions from eight options, and each selection is marked independently. Scores are benchmarked against an expert panel consensus.
The SJT tests professional values and behaviours, not clinical knowledge. It assesses alignment with the six ICGP core GP competency domains: Professional Values and Behaviours, Communication and Consultation Skills, Clinical Knowledge and Expertise, Managing Medical Complexity, Working with Colleagues and in Teams, and Community Orientation.
The most effective preparation is working through ranked scenario banks with expert explanations, understanding the six competency domains, and learning the scoring logic. Consistent daily practice over several months outperforms a last-minute cram. The SJT rewards familiarity with the pattern of reasoning selectors are looking for, not clinical knowledge revision.
The ICGP SJT consists of 45 scenarios and takes 90 minutes, plus 2 minutes of reading time beforehand. It is sat online under live proctoring.
For the 2027 GP training intake, the SJT and CPST are sat over two days, Wednesday 4 and Thursday 5 November 2026, per the ICGP’s published selection timeline. Dates are subject to change; always confirm on icgp.ie.
The SJT counts for 40% of your final ranking score. The interview (Scenario-Based Competency Assessment) counts for 50% and the CPST counts for 10%.