F2 (FY2) Standalone Programme 2026 Application – a comprehensive guide

Candidates who meet the longlisting criteria are required to complete the Situational Judgement Test (SJT) as part of the recruitment process. Applicants who achieve the highest scores on the SJT will be invited for an interview, where a more comprehensive assessment of their clinical skills will take place.

The SJT is a professional dilemma paper assessing how you would respond to various professional dilemmas based on the GMC Good Medical Practice. It assesses if you have the attributes of a doctor working in the UK. The test lasts for 45 minutes and the highest scoring applicants will be invited to interview.

The assessment consists of 20 different scenarios – with you usually ‘rating’ different actions or options. You are awarded a maximum of 4 marks per option, and there will be a maximum of 32 marks per scenario. 

We have plenty of FY2 SJT practice questions in our Question Bank – part of our FY2 SJT+ Preparation Package. An example question can be seen below:

You are an FY2 doctor on a busy colorectal ward. One of the FY2 doctors on your ward has called in sick today for his day shift and is meant to be on annual leave from tomorrow. However, later that evening on social media you see from a mutual friend’s Facebook photos that he is now on holiday in France. 

Rate the following action from a) Extremely desirable to e) Extremely undesirable. 

1) Comment immediately on the post sarcastically stating he does not look sick in the photos 

This is a slightly undesirable option as it does nothing in the immediate setting to escalate this to your consultant or find out more about when he travelled.

2) Ensure you take a sick day yourself in this rotation to leave your colleague with a greater workload

This is an extremely undesirable option as you fail to act on his unprofessional behaviour and also lack any integrity yourself by doing the same thing. It has the greatest risk to patient safety as by calling in sick you are also leaving the ward potentially understaffed

3) Inform your consultant about the post the following day

This is a slightly desirable option as it escalates his behaviour in a timely manner to the consultant, who is in an appropriate position to commence disciplinary procedures. However, it would have been better to confirm what took place by discussing with your colleague in the first instance.

4) Take a picture on your phone of the post in case it gets deleted, and message your colleague stating you are aware of his lie and are considering reporting it

This is slightly desirable as although you are making your colleague aware that his behaviour has not gone unnoticed and keeping the photo as evidence; you fail to escalate this to your consultant and only ‘consider’ reporting it. 

5) Report him directly to the GMC for unprofessional conduct 

This is neither desirable or undesirable as you are acting directly on your concerns but they are drastic. It would be better to escalate this initially on a local level, so your team are aware of his wrongdoing. Escalating to the GMC would be more appropriate if you were certain that he travelled during his working hours and had not felt that the department locally dealt with the issue.

We offer live teaching using sample questions in our live SJT course – this is also part of the Arora FY2 SJT + Preparation Package.

Watch-back recent FY2 SJT Booster Webinar here

If successful in the SJT assessment, applicants will be invited to book for an interview. This is carried out virtually via Microsoft Teams. 

Applicants will need to ensure they have adequate facilities to undertake the interview as technical issues will not be excusable and they will not be allowed to rebook the interview. It is advisable that applicants are available 20 minutes before the interview to allow time for registration and identification processes. 

The interview itself will last approximately 20 minutes. There will be two people in the panel who are familiar with the assessment process and curriculum for the Foundation programme. At least one person on the panel will be a clinician.

The interview usually consists of a discussion around the applicant’s CV, a clinical scenario and a general discussion about you as an individual. It is therefore advisable to know your CV inside out prior to the interview.

Following the interview, those with satisfactory scores will then be invited to preference the individual Foundation programmes across the Foundation schools.

We run one-to-one Mock FY2 Interviews in the few weeks before the real interviews run. Contact us if you would like more information or if you would like to book. 

Clear Teaching Built for Busy Doctors

If you want a guided path, our FY2 Standalone resources help you build confidence at each step. Everything is created by senior UK doctors with experience in the exam and in teaching.

You can choose:
– FY2 SJT+ – a full FY2 SJT preparation system with question banks, mocks, live teaching and flashcards.
– A live FY2 SJT Crammer course held a few weeks before the exam.
– FY2 Mock Interview held a few weeks before the FY2 interviews.

Each option follows a clear plan that helps you stay organised and focused. Explore these more here.

Also:
– Get FY2 Updates and Teaching Emails here.
– Register for next Free FY2 Webinar here

Given the exams that you have passed already, you have enough skills and knowledge to pass the FY2 assessment. Like any exam, however, it does need a focused approach and appropriate practice.

We’re always happy to answer questions so feel free to get in touch if needed. We hope that the Arora FY2+ package can help in your preparation and wish you every success in your application

Finally we would like to wish you every success and hope we can help you prepare for success in the F2 standalone programme!