How Oriel Scores Work: SJT, Numeracy and Your National Rank

How Oriel ranks foundation trainee pharmacist applicants: your SJT score sets your national rank, numeracy breaks ties and flags support needs, and offers follow your preferences. Plus how to improve your rank.

By Umar Majid · 9 Nov 2026

Your national rank on Oriel comes from your situational judgement test (SJT) score. The 2026 NHS England applicant handbook says your numeracy score isn't added to your total. Instead, it's used as a tie-breaker and to flag applicants who may need extra support. Offers are then made in rank order, matched against the order of your programme preferences.

You might see older updates and LPC news posts describe the SJT and numeracy scores as being "combined" before ranking. The current applicant handbook is clearer, so we've followed it here. The method can change, so always check the handbook for your own cycle.

How do the two tests compare?

	SJT	Numeracy test
Questions	52 scenarios	10 questions
Time	104 minutes	20 minutes
Format	Rank five responses, or choose the best three of eight	Free-entry numerical answers, no units
What it tests	Professional judgement against five attributes	Basic pharmaceutical calculations, without clinical context
Role in your rank	Sets your rank	Final tie-breaker, and a support threshold

You sit both on the same day at a Pearson VUE test centre, numeracy first. In 2026 the test window ran from 21 September to 1 October.

How is the SJT marked?

The SJT is marked against a fixed scoring key, and there's no negative marking.

Question type	Maximum marks	How marks are given
Rank five responses	20	Up to 4 marks per response. Near misses get partial credit, so a response one place out still scores.
Choose three of eight	12	4 marks for each correct response chosen.

Two rules catch people out. First, never give two responses the same rank. If you tie them, you score zero for both. Second, answer every question. A wrong answer costs you nothing, but a blank scores nothing.

Why your score might not match your marks

Not everyone sits the same SJT paper. To keep it fair, NHS England equates the scores, adjusting for differences in difficulty between papers. So your score may not match a simple count of your marks.

Which attributes does the SJT test?

Five, all taken from the Foundation Trainee Professional Attributes Framework:

Person-centred care
Professional integrity and ethics
Problem solving, clinical analysis and decision making
Multi-professional collaboration and leadership
Communication and consultation skills

How is numeracy marked?

Numeracy is marked out of 10, and the handbook is explicit that it does not count towards your total score. It matters in two other ways.

It's a tie-breaker, used only if all the earlier tie-breakers can't separate you from another applicant.

It's also a support flag. Each year NHS England sets a minimum threshold based on how the whole cohort performs. Falling below it doesn't stop you getting an offer, but your school of pharmacy gets a breakdown so it can offer targeted support before training starts.

A few format rules from the handbook: answers are numbers only, with no units, and questions that need a whole number won't accept a decimal. You can bring an approved calculator, and there's an on-screen one too.

What if two people have the same SJT score?

Everyone needs a unique rank. When two applicants have the same SJT score, Oriel works down this list until they're separated:

Total score on the SJT trial items (scenarios being tested for future papers, which don't count towards your score)
Person-centred care attribute score
Professional integrity and ethics attribute score
Problem solving, clinical analysis and decision making attribute score
Multi-professional collaboration and leadership attribute score
Numeracy test score

So numeracy really is the last resort. You can't tell which items are trial items, so treat every scenario as if it counts.

How does your rank become an offer?

Once everyone is ranked, offers go out in rank order. When your turn comes, you're offered the highest programme on your list that still has a place.

You sort programmes into three categories. Your Preference list holds the programmes you rank 1, 2, 3 and so on, and Oriel works through these first. No Preference is for programmes you'd accept but haven't put in any order, and they're only used once your Preference list is exhausted. Anything you mark Not Wanted will never be offered to you.

For the 2026 cycle:

You have 48 hours (excluding weekends) to respond to an offer.
Declining removes you from the process.
Accepting with upgrades means you can be moved automatically to a higher-ranked preference if a place frees up. Once you've been upgraded, you can't go back to the earlier offer.
If you don't have an offer yet, enhanced preferencing lets you change your preferences until the upgrade deadline.

In 2026, first offers were released on 4 November and the upgrade deadline is 25 November. If you're in the middle of that now, our guide to Oriel offers and what to do next sets out each step.

What counts as a good score?

There's no published pass mark or target score. Your SJT score only matters compared with everyone else in your cohort, and what it gets you depends on how popular your preferences are.

A high rank means more of your preferences are still open when your turn comes. A middle rank can still get you a strong offer if you preference a sensible spread of programmes, including some less competitive ones. And a lower rank doesn't mean no offer. In 2024 there were 4,732 places for 3,687 eligible applicants, so people are competing for particular places, not for any place at all.

Your individual feedback, including your SJT score, numeracy score and a breakdown by attribute, appears on your Oriel dashboard. For the 2026 cycle it's due by 30 December 2026. Scores aren't carried forward to future cycles.

How can you improve your rank?

If you're applying in a future cycle, put your effort where the marks are, which is the SJT.

Learn how it's marked. Because near misses get partial credit, getting the best and worst options right is worth a lot, even if you're unsure about the middle.
Answer as a safe, professional trainee, not the way you've seen a busy pharmacy run. Patient safety comes first.
Know when to escalate. Lots of scenarios hinge on whether you should act within your role or refer to the pharmacist.
Practise against the clock. 104 minutes for 52 scenarios is about 2 minutes each.
Use the official sample papers, which include rationales, and the sample test on the Pearson VUE site.
Don't ignore numeracy. It won't raise your rank, but a low score flags you for support and could decide a tie. Daily calculations practice also sets you up for Part 1 of the GPhC exam.

For when each stage happens, see our Oriel timeline.

Common questions

Is the numeracy score added to my SJT score? No. The 2026 applicant handbook says your rank comes from your SJT score, and numeracy is used as the final tie-breaker and to flag applicants for support.

Is there negative marking in the SJT? No. Wrong answers don't lose marks, so always put something down.

What happens if I tie two responses in a ranking question? You score zero for both of them.

Can I fail Oriel? Not in the sense of a pass mark. Applicants below the minimum thresholds are still eligible for an offer.

When will I see my scores? On your Oriel dashboard. For 2026, feedback is due by 30 December 2026.

Start on calculations now

Numeracy may only be a tie-breaker on Oriel, but a year later calculations make up 40 marks of the GPhC exam. Create your free Pre-Reg Shortcuts account to unlock the first lesson of every chapter in our Calculations, Therapeutics, Law and Ethics and OTC Courses, and get a daily calculations habit going early.

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