How the Clevry SJT works
Each scenario describes a fictional situation at work, followed by several ways of handling it. You mark the one you think is most effective and the one you think is least effective. You get 15 scenarios, drawn from a bank of 28, in 30 minutes. It runs in English, Turkish, Spanish, Dutch and Portuguese.
The instruction page shows the time limit and the number of questions, and the timer starts when you press Start test. Clevry has no practice questions for its situational judgement tests.
What it measures and how it is scored
The scenarios cover five areas: Thinking, Achieving, Influencing, Collaboration and Teamwork, and Commercial Awareness. Clevry’s SJT report rates your responses for each competency and overall, in the same bands as its ability tests, from low to outstanding, and prints your time beside the average with a note that time is not an indication of ability.
Clevry sells other off-the-shelf SJTs: Leadership (12 scenarios in 30 minutes), Contact Centre (9 in 20) and Warehouse Operatives (6 in 15). Clevry also builds bespoke SJTs for individual employers, and Message Me works like a scenario test set out as a messaging app. Check which one your invitation names.
How to choose the most and least effective response
Two picks per scenario, so work out both:
- Find the real problem in the scenario and decide what your role lets you do about it.
- Read every response before you mark either.
- The most effective response usually deals with the problem itself, stays within your role, and involves or informs the people affected.
- The least effective usually ignores the problem, breaks a rule, misleads someone, or acts without telling the people it affects.
- Do not pick the most cautious answer by default. Escalating something you could sort out yourself is rarely the best response.
Worked example
You are a graduate trainee at a retailer’s head office. Your manager needs a sales summary for a 2pm meeting. At noon you notice the figures you were sent are missing one region.
A: Send the summary without the region and say nothing. B: Ask the region’s analyst for the figures now, and tell your manager the summary may be late or will flag the gap. C: Fill the gap with last month’s figures and present them as this month’s. D: Ask your manager to postpone the meeting.
Most effective: B. It tries to fix the problem and keeps your manager informed in time to plan. Least effective: C. Presenting estimates as real figures misleads the meeting, which is worse than A’s incomplete report. D gives up before trying the obvious fix.
Tips for the real Clevry SJT
- Allow about two minutes a scenario.
- Clevry advises picking the approach you would really take, not the one you think the employer wants.
- Your least effective pick counts as well, so give it the same thought as your best one.
- Do it in one sitting somewhere quiet. Clevry says the test works best that way.
- Research the job beforehand, as Clevry suggests, so you have a sense of what good work looks like in it.
- Do not dwell on one scenario. Give your best answer and move on.
Practise the Clevry SJT on CogniPrep
Our version gives you 15 scenarios, drawn from 28 originals set on graduate schemes and placements, on one 30-minute clock. Each has four responses, our choice because Clevry does not publish its number. You mark one Most effective and a different one Least effective, Next unlocks when both are chosen, and there is no Back. Each pick earns one mark, 30 in all, and the result breaks down by Clevry’s five competencies, shown as a Clevry-style sten against other CogniPrep players with time not scored. A review of every scenario follows.