UK medical selection: lottery or meritocracy?

Clinical Medicine 2015;15:40-6.

A correction to Box 1 was missed under ‘Most likely score if guessed’. The corrected box is printed below.

Box 1.

Why guessing pays dividends.

Format:

SJT paper = 70 questions in 2 hours 20 minutes 60 questions are ‘live’ and 10 ‘pilot’ questions are not included in the participant's final score

Approximately two-thirds of questions are ranking questions and one-third are ‘select three from eight’ MCQs.

Job application score scaling method:

SJT converted score = (SJT raw scoreA × 0.154) − 90.1

Formula from the UK Foundation Programme Office

Ranking question:

Maximum raw score per question = 20/20 marks − (20 × 0.154) = 3.08 job application marks Most likely score if guessed = 12/20 − (12 × 0.154) = 1.848 job application marks No attempt = 0 job application marks

‘Select three from eight’ MCQs: Maximum raw score per question = 12/12 marks − (12 × 0.154) = 1.848 job application marks Average raw score if guessed = 4.5/12 − (4.5 × 0.154) = 0.693 job application marks Minimum score per attempt/no attempt = 0/12

AStrictly test equated raw score across sittings.

Available online at www.foundationprogramme.nhs.uk/pages/home/how-to-apply/SJT-FAQs#answer379K

MCQ = multiple choice questions; SJT = situational judgement test.