Foundation Programme SJT Preparation Course

Course Details

All our courses for FPAS 2019 are finished. We will have courses for FPAS 2020 starting from October 2019.

If you are sitting the SJT in January 2019, you can purchase access to the video recording of the course we ran in November 2018 for £89. You will receive instant access for 14 days. Includes FREE access to 125 Foundation SJT questions to practise afterwards (worth £20).



Key Points:

• Intensive preparation for the Foundation Programme Situational Judgement Test
• Key tips and techniques to boost your SJT score and help you get one of your top choices
• Understand the SJT domains and attributes being tested
• Comprehensive coverage of the FP Situational Judgement Test
• Both sections covered: ranking and selection SJTs
• Includes details of all the new format ranking and selection subtype questions - fully updated for 2019 entry
• Key topics for the SJT exam - GMC guidance, ethics, confidentiality, consent, capacity
• Realistic mock Situational Judgement Test with detailed explanations
• All questions on the course specifically targeted to the Foundation SJT competencies
• All questions are unique to this course - not available online or in any books
• Ideal for final year medical students who want to boost their SJT exam scores for FP 2019 entry
• 9.30am - 5.30pm
• FREE access to our online Foundation SJT revision service after the course - 125 SJT questions with detailed explanations (usually £20)

This intensive 1 day course is dedicated to helping you boost your scores in the Foundation Programme Situational Judgement Test.

We have helped students from every UK medical school prepare for the SJT since 2012, with excellent results.

In 2018, they reported a mean SJT score of 42.37 - way above the national average! This meant that 98% got a place in one of their top 3 choices. We also have a lot of high scorers - 11.8% scored 46.00 or over. Our best performer in 2018 was Sarah Levy, who scored 49.16 SJT points!


in 2017, our mean was 42.40 (6.6% above the national mean), and 97% got a top 3 choice, 10.9% scored 46.00 or over, compared to 4.4% nationally.

in 2016, our mean was 41.75 (8.5% above the national mean), and 94% got a top 3 choice. 6.2% scored 46.00 or over compared to 1.2% nationally.

In 2015, our mean was 40.96 (6.4% above the national mean), and 93% got a top 3 choice. 5..7% scored 45.01 or over compared to 2% nationally.

In 2014, our mean was 41.5 (6.5% above the national mean), and >91% got a top 3 choice. 7.0% scored 45.01 or over compared to 4% nationally.



The course covers key theory as well as important tips and techniques to help you boost your SJT score. We hope this will maximise your chances of getting your first choice Foundation Programme / Foundation School for FP2019.

This course is aimed at final year medical students at any university applying for entry in the UK Foundation Programme 2019 - you will be sitting the SJT exam in December 2018 or January 2019. The course covers:

Situational Judgement Tests in Foundation Programme Entry - Background, development, piloting for Foundation programme entry. How your SJT score is calculated / used. Why the SJT score is more important than your EPM in ranking.

Key Theory and Techniques for SJT exams - Key attributes and domains tested in the Foundation SJT exam. Differences in how to approach ranking SJT questions vs. selection SJT questions. Understanding how the SJT exam is marked. Key tips and techniques to boost your scores.

Core Knowledge for the FY1 SJT - Medical ethics, confidentiality, capacity, consent, GMC Good Medical Practice, child protection, raising concerns, prescribing, end of life care and advance directives, Do Not Attempt Resuscitation (DNAR) orders, personal beliefs and medical practice, maintaining boundaries. Fully updated to take account of changes to GMC guidance in 2017 and the recently updated DNAR and consent guidance.

SJT Mini Mock Exam Mock SJT paper with the same timings per question as the real exam. This includes both ranking and selection questions in the same proportion as the real exam. Detailed answers and explanations with discussion of WHY the best responses are correct, mapped to the Foundation Programme SJT attributes / person specification. All questions have been written specifically for the Foundation SJT exam in the same way as the real SJT questions - with a consensus panel including a subject matter expert (SME).

Questions and Answers - Dedicated question and answer session on SJT questions and Foundation programme entry. 1 to 1 clinic at the end of the day if you wish to discuss anything privately.



The course will be taught by Dr Mahibur Rahman - the author of the first article on Situational Judgement Tests in medical recruitment (Tackling Situational Judgement Tests - BMJ Careers 2007). Dr Rahman is a Portfolio GP and a consultant in medical education - he is an expert in medical careers, and has taught over 29,000 delegates since 2005.

We are experts in helping people improve their performance in medical SJT exams - our SRA Crammer course has featured comprehensive teaching on the Situational Judgement Tests used for GP ST Entry since 2007, and we were the first to offer a dedicated Situational Judgement Test online revision service. We have helped doctors succeed in SJT exams for GP entry in the UK and Australia, Public Health specialty training recruitment and Core Medical Training. Since 2012, we helped students from every UK medical school as well as several international graduates succeed in the Foundation SJT and enter Foundation training 2013-2017, with the majority getting one of their top choices.

Course Programme

09.30 Registration
09:45 Welcome and Introduction
09.50 Foundation Programme Entry - SJT overview
10.00 Key Techniques for SJT exams
11.30 Break for Refreshments
11.45 Core knowledge for the FY1 SJT
13.00 Lunch Break*
13.50 Situational Judgement Test Mini Mock Exam
14.40 SJT Mock: Answers, explanations and feedback Part 1
15.45 Break for Refreshments
16.00 SJT Mock: Answers, explanations and feedback Part 2
17.15 Questions and Answers
17.25 Summary and final tips
17.30 Close

*Please note that lunch will not be provided. There are local eateries nearby, or you will be able to bring your own lunch. There will be refreshments available at registration and at the breaks.

Course Feedback

Here is some feedback from our Foundation SJT Prep Course:

"Great course all around and very professional. Expert speaker and good questions. Would definitely recommend to colleagues in the years below me."

"Structured approach and explanation to the SJT"

"Very informative. Helpful to understand why the order was as it was. Speaker was funny and had my concentration the whole way through, which is a great achievement! Good to practice the questions using the actual grids."

"Mock exam was really helpful. Speaker took time to explain every answers & he was really funny hence the talk wasn't that dry."

Great course, thank you very much! Helped me secure my first choice Deanery

S L - University of Glasgow 2018 Entry (49.160)

Plenty of worked examples of SJT questions and explanations of all the domains. It really got me thinking about how to answer the questions, how to identify the key themes and also the layout of the exam and answer sheet which prior to this course I was completely unfamiliar with!

A C - Leeds University Medical School 2018 Entry (48.575)

Very interactive and well-organised. The booklets given were useful and doing practice paper and going through answers was helpful.

D E - University of Scotland2018 Entry (46.166)

Clear, concise and organised. Good starting point to help with my preparation for the SJT

D G - University of Leeds 2018 Entry (46.035)

'The explanation of the different exam sections and the rationale behind these was really helpful. The practice questions were brilliant, and the booklet provided was also really useful.

S W - Cardiff University 2018 Entry (46.026)

It was well structured, concise and covered the main topics.

University of Bristol 2018 Entry (44.9)

A brilliant course everyone should take. It goes beyond the generic outline of general tips for the SJT and actually shows you how the examiners think and the strategy of thinking of the scenario as a real life situation. I also liked that we went through a difficult mock exam together because it allowed us to see the gaps in our knowledge. Great course.

N - Imperial College London 2018 Entry (44.822)

I scored 44.148. I'm so happy with this and would like to thank you for all your help. I would really recommend the course to my peers in the year below. I found it useful to go on the course at the beginning of my SJ preparation as it allowed me to guide the rest of my studies.

L K - Foundation SJT 2018 Entry (44.148)

The questions were great and doing a timed practice exam really did put the pressure on and made me consider how it was going to be on the actual exam day. Dr Rahman was engaging and had great tips that made me think about scenarios in a different way.

K S - University of Liverpool 2018 Entry (43.823)

Very good practical advice that was so helpful and the speaker was very effective.

A D - University of Southampton 2018 Entry (43.778)

Alhamdulillah I managed to score 43.236 this year. I managed to get my first-choice deanery, Birmingham. I wanted to thank you and your team for providing such a fantastic course. It really is an amazing course, that has no doubt helped hundreds of students over the years.

N C - Foundation SJT 2018 Entry (43.236)

The run through of common pitfalls in common scenarios was great. Having a strategy for approaching all of the different styles of question was really useful in the exam. Thanks!

A C - Foundation SJT 2018 Entry (42.5)

The whole structure was very systematic and made sense. Excellent day!

A B - Sheffield 2018 Entry (42.09)

I liked the tips given on how to approach the exam and the quality of the questions was excellent.

M A - North west of England 2018 Entry (41.069)

The session was very interactive and the speaker was able to engage with the students well.

N M - South Thames 2018 Entry (40)

The course had great content and was delivered very well. I really valued the discussion of rationale behind correct answers. The mock test was very useful and all the PowerPoint slides that were given to us as a handout were great as well.

Y S - Glasgow Medical School 2018 Entry (35.803)

"The course was well organised and excellent value for money. There was advice given that you could not find anywhere online. Also good to be able to practise a realistic mock with good reasoning given for the answers. Would highly recommend."

I S - Wales 2017 Entry (47.48)

"The lecture itself was very concise and all of the information was useful and relevant. The timed practice paper and discussion was probably the highlight of the day. Thank you for the very useful course. I believe it played an important role in the score I received."

C B - Yorkshire 2017 Entry (46.3)

"The course was well set out during the day and great in letting me know exactly how to tackle the exam and how to focus my preparation for it. I ended up getting my top choice foundation school."

A G - North West of England 2017 Entry (46.26)

"Very engaging speaker, who was very receptive to answering questions. Clearly explained the format of the SJT."

S - South Thames 2017 Entry (45.73)

"Good course structure and I found the practice questions under timing very useful. I actually really enjoyed the day and found the course entertaining as well as informative."

L H - North West of England 2017 Entry (44.79)

"Really good tips for exam technique made me feel very prepared. Lots of practice on the day and afterwards to help prepare."

L G - Oxford 2017 Entry (44.01)

"Good structure to the day, explained the exam clearly and made it easy to follow."

S T - Queen Mary's University of London 2017 Entry (42.89)

"Very professional and motivating. Brilliant exam tips and good access to practice papers after."

A T - North West Thames Foundation School 2016 Entry (46.73)

"Good advice - made all the difference to me."

C A - South Thames Foundation School 2016 Entry (43.67)

"An extremely knowledgeable and helpful teacher who gave time for us to ask questions. He highlighted to me just how few SJT points could separate you from the rest of your colleagues which gave me the motivation to study well."

S L - North West of England Foundation School 2016 Entry (45.1)

"Amazing course- improved my score from 22 the year before to 44 this year."

F B - Wales Foundation School 2016 Entry (44)

"Clear, well organised, good opportunity to practice questions, good detailed explanations, it gave me somewhere to start my revision from and gave me an idea of how I was doing and where to work from. I appreciated the tip that many of the other SJT resources are conflicting, which led me to stick to just official sources and led to me being more confident with my train of thought than if I had used lots of different books giving different advice."

S A - South Thames Foundation School 2016 Entry (41.64)

"The course really set up the rest of my revision for the SJT. It gave a good framework to approach both revision and how to start doing practice questions and to the exam itself."

T L - South Thames Foundation School 2016 Entry (45.6)

"Excellent course, I am sure it made a difference to my final score. Wouldn't hesitate in recommending."

R H - Academic Emergency Medicine - Yorkshire & Humber Deanery (42.6)

"Clear explanation on structure of exam and the various lead ins for questions. Also, given the experience of the team, advice on how to approach it was helpful and well thought of. I got allocated to my first choice deanery - thank you for all your help!"

N A - North East Thames Foundation School 2016 Entry (45.12)

"The mock exam was really useful. It really made me understand what the SJT is all about and how best to prepare for it. Total value for money!"

GG - North West Thames Foundation School 2016 Entry (44.8)

"I found the Emedica course Excellent! The best part was the mock examination and working through the answers. This helped me identify a successful exam technique."

I D - Foundation SJT course - South Thames Foundation School 2015 Entry (48.26)

"An excellent course, I particularly liked the tips given at the start, the mock test and knowing the importance of sticking to time."

L R - Foundation SJT course -Thames Foundation School 2015 Entry (47.7)

"The course itself was excellent and gave me both the confidence and knowledge to know how to prepare for the exam. Emedica explained the different types of question styles, how to go about structuring your time (in what was an extremely time pressured exam) and to rank each option for the question at face value. The mock test at the end of the day was a good insight into the process of the exam and the mark obtained was translated into points like in the real SJT."

N R - Foundation SJT course - Northern Ireland Foundation School 2015 Entry (45.2)

"The Foundation SJT Course was excellent. There was a good length lecture on exam tips and techniques followed by a well written and prepared practice paper. The exam tips on timing and how to maximise marks were very useful. The method of only showing questions in the mock exam for as long as should be spent on each question was also very useful."

B M - Foundation SJT - South Thames Foundation School 2015 Entry (45.01)

"The course was Excellent. The discussion of what the markers look for was really useful. Also the discussion of the attributes in the Monograph and how to apply them was invaluable!"

K B - Foundation SJT - Severn Foundation School 2015 Entry (43)