JAC Critical Analysis Test: Using the Pre-Reading Week

The JAC qualifying test usually has two parts. The critical analysis test is the part where you answer multiple-choice questions on a written document, such as a speech or a judgment, and it carries 40% of the composite score. You get the document before the test day: the JAC says it emails you at least one week before the test with the instructions, any pre-reading, the links and the test times. In the three JAC evaluation reports we read (2023, 2025 and 2026), the text was sent one week before the test.

Our approach splits your preparation into two stages: close reading during the pre-reading period, then the timed questions (50 minutes in the 2025 and 2026 reports, 40 minutes in 2023). This guide covers the first stage: what arrives, what past texts and questions looked like, a reading plan for each day of the week, and two worked questions on a short extract we wrote. The format and the scoring of the whole test are in our JAC qualifying test guide. Independent practice. Not affiliated with the Judicial Appointments Commission. ProSyllabus is an independent study site; the JAC did not write and does not endorse our questions.

JAC About online tests and Practice qualifying test tool pages; evaluation reports ref 184 (2023), 289 (2025) and 00326 (2026). Read 11 November 2026.

The JAC's About online tests page says you will get an email at least one week before your online test, with the instructions for the test, any pre-reading material, the links you need and the test times; if it does not arrive by the expected date, contact the selection exercise team. Its Accessing online tests page adds that the situational judgement test and the critical analysis test then appear separately in your account in the days leading up to the test date. The Qualifying test page describes the critical analysis document as, for example, a speech or a judgment.

The JAC evaluation reports name the text each time. Here are the three we read:

Sources: the JAC reports for Deputy District Judge (ref 184), the Immigration and Asylum Chamber (289) and Recorder (00326). Each says the questions and answer options were based on the content of that text. Two points stand out (our reading). First, the text fits the role: a tribunal decision on late evidence for tribunal judges, a speech on judicial independence for Recorders. Second, a text can be very recent: the 2023 Deputy District Judge speech was given on 9 November 2023 and, by the report's account, sent one week before the test, so you cannot expect to have read it already.

What the averages mean for you (our reading): the average critical analysis score ranged from 79% to 88.4% in these three exercises, and each report picks out easier and harder questions. Candidates are ranked on a 60/40 composite of standard scores. These averages alone do not show how strong the field was or how many places one mark is worth. Our aim for the week: make the harder questions more manageable and cut avoidable errors on the easier ones.

Live test material is confidential (the JAC practice tool has its own practice questions). But each evaluation report describes some of its easier and harder critical analysis questions by topic:

What we take from this (our reading): the summaries give topics and difficulty, not the questions themselves, so they cannot show exactly what reasoning each question needed. The Deputy District Judge report describes the question on what a phrase ("failed at home") meant as apparently the hardest, and the tribunal report names harder questions on permission to appeal and on rule 17(2). Our reading is that interpreting phrases and applying principles are useful areas to practise. Our advice is to anchor every answer in the text. The JAC practice tool page says, of its practice version, that all the information you need to answer the questions is in the text.

From that, these are the question types we prepare for in our own practice. The labels are ours, not the JAC's:

This is our plan for the seven days between the email and the test, written for the critical analysis text only (the qualifying test guide has the preparation for the whole test). It assumes the text arrives a full week before the test and takes about an hour a day; if yours arrives later, keep the order and merge days. Do all of it yourself: the JAC's AI guidance says you must not enter any selection material into an AI tool, so do not paste the pre-reading into one to summarise it or to generate questions on it.

The extract below is our own, invented for practice; it is not from any JAC text. The two questions practise two of our types: "what the author means" and "goes further than the text". These are our practice choices; the reports do not say which question types best separate candidates. Try them before reading the answers.

What these show: both answers came from a sentence-by-sentence map of the extract (for a real text, your paragraph map), not from knowledge of the law on open justice. A candidate who knew the law well but had not mapped the limit in sentence [4] could read D in question 2 as a fair summary and pick another option instead. Our recommendation: spend the week mostly on close reading and mapping, and add background research only if it helps you understand the text.

Our list. None of it is JAC guidance:

The JAC practice tool page says that in its practice version you get the text just before the questions, can take as much time as you need to read it, can keep a copy with you during the practice test, and the timer starts only when you move on to the questions. The JAC pages we read do not say what you may have with you in a real qualifying test, so follow the instructions in your own email on that point (Practice qualifying test tool).

In the three evaluation reports, each critical analysis question had one correct answer. The JAC's Accessing online tests page says you choose one answer, and that you can skip questions and return to them at the end if you have time left. Our advice: answer the questions you can locate quickly first and skip the "what does the author mean" questions. Consult the text or your notes only if your exercise instructions allow it; otherwise rely on what you remember from your week of preparation. For the scoring, the 30% minimum and the 60/40 composite, see the qualifying test guide.

The week of reading prepares you for one text. Practice on other texts prepares you for the questions. Our JAC qualifying test practice has full mocks in which the critical analysis part is 20 questions on its own invented text (a judgment or a speech) in 50 minutes, with our answer key and the reason for every option, alongside a situational judgement part. The free sample below is 3 situational judgement questions, which can be taken once; the critical analysis parts are in the full mocks. Independent practice. Not affiliated with the Judicial Appointments Commission. ProSyllabus is an independent study site; the JAC did not write and does not endorse our questions.