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Situational judgement tests for train drivers

16 August 2026 · 5 min read

A situational judgement test, or SJT, is a set of short work problems. A signal, a fault, a passenger, a colleague. You pick what you would do, or you rank the options. There is usually a safer answer under the dramatic one.

This is often the first filter, before you ever sit a vigilance screen. It is not a trivia quiz about the rule book. It is whether your instincts look like someone who would stop, tell someone, and not make the incident worse.

What “good” looks like here

Protect. Inform. Do not pass a danger signal because it would be inconvenient. Do not hide a mistake. Do not pick the option that sounds heroic if it skips the boring step that actually keeps people alive.

  • If you are not authorised, you do not go.
  • If something is wrong with the train or the road, you stop and tell the right person.
  • If you made an error, you say so. Covering it is worse than the error.
  • Passengers matter. So does not creating a second incident while you help them.

How to practise without memorising a script

You cannot learn every scene. You can learn a default: slow down the story, find the risk, pick the option that reduces it. If two answers both look safe, pick the one that also tells someone. Silence is a common trap.

Timed operational questions help, because the pressure is part of the test. Untimed philosophising is not. On the day, the wording will not match a practice set. The default should still hold.

No site, including this one, is the official paper. Practice is for the type of decision. It is not a preview of the exact items you will sit.

Independent practice notes. Not an official test, and not affiliated with train operators or RSSB.

Practise on the web

Further reading

OverviewTrain driver psychometric tests, explained6 minVigilanceThe vigilance test (WAFV)5 minConcentrationGroup Bourdon, the concentration test4 minVisual searchThe visual search test4 min
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Made in the United Kingdom. Practice scores are not official assessment results.