The purpose of the Foundation Program is to prepare doctors who are fresh out of medical school to deliver the most effective and safest patient care possible. The Foundation Program aims to close the gap between what a newly qualified doctor may hope to specialise in or take into general practice and medical school. It is a continuation of medical education.
The Foundation Programme has been set in place to help ensure newly qualified doctors can develop their existing skills as well as their professional skills both in the workplace and in general practice or their specialty.
The Foundation Program has a rigorous application process, and the exams can be very tough. You will be required to take the Situational Judgement Test (SJT) as part of the Foundation Program. This article will discuss some steps you can take to improve your Foundation Program SJT score.
This might seem like a very basic point to cover, but there are multiple different types of questions you can be asked in your SJT, so it is highly important that you read questions carefully so you can perform the most appropriate action.
The most common type of question you can get asked on the SJT is to rank responses from most appropriate to least appropriate. However, there can be other types of questions, such as ranking tasks in order from 1 to 5.
By reading the question a few times, you can better understand what the question is asking you to do, and you will be more likely to answer appropriately.
An obvious tip, but as the saying goes, fail to prepare, then prepare to fail. The SJT is heavily based on your understanding of good medical practices. By studying the GMC guidelines, you can get a better grasp of what is entailed. You can also do practice papers as well as study the answers to practice questions to help with learning how to better answer questions when you go to the SJT.
By preparing for the SJT early, you give yourself valuable learning time, which can really come into play when you sit your SJT examination.
The SJT is designed to put your decision-making skills to the test in order to predict what kind of behaviour you will display on the wards when you are a fully qualified doctor. It is designed to test your ability to make the right decision in a short amount of time, ensuring you adhere to protocols.
The SJT will assume that you have already spent significant time on the ward, so it is very useful to spend an appropriate amount of time shadowing any FY1s that you can. This will allow you to get a better grasp of their working life and will enable you to better perform in the SJT.
By implementing the above three tips, you can hope to achieve a better score in your Foundation Programme SJT examination. Good luck.
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