PYB300 Chap.10 Selection Criteria and the STARL Model
Selection Criteria and the STARL Model
The final examination is a job application written by hand. Worth 35%, it gives you 1 hour 40 minutes without perusal to answer three selection criteria using the STARL model: one set for everyone on working well in a team and two picked from a list of five. This chapter explains the five moves, turns the exam page's eight tips into checks, works a full teamwork response, and plans the writing time.
What this chapter covers
- 01
What selection criteria are and why graduate roles use them
- 02
The five moves: Situation, Task, Action, Result, Learning
- 03
The exam format: three criteria, one compulsory on teamwork
- 04
Eight tips from the exam page turned into checks
- 05
What is and is not marked
- 06
Choosing criteria and examples, and reusing a role
- 07
Planning 100 minutes with no perusal
- 08
Preparing with real job advertisements
Worked example · free
Diagnose and rebuild a weak STARL answer
- 1Situation: replace the generalisation with one setting a stranger can picture, such as writing the evidence section of the PYB300 prospectus for readers without a psychology background.
- 1Task: name your own responsibility, not the team's, for example turning technical studies into plain language within the word limit.
- 1Action: describe the steps and their reasons, such as rewriting each finding as a plain sentence and asking a non-specialist to explain it back.
- 1Result: tie a specific outcome to those actions, such as the reader's accurate summary or tutor feedback on readability.
- 1Learning: state what you now do differently, echoing the criterion's words about written communication.
Key terms
- Selection criterion
- A statement of a required skill, knowledge area or attribute in a job advertisement, which an applicant addresses with a specific example.
- Situation
- The first STARL move: the context of the example, written for a reader who knows nothing about you, including your role and its requirements.
- Task
- The second STARL move: what you personally were responsible for or had to achieve in that situation.
- Action
- The STARL move that carries most detail: the steps you took and the reasons you took them.
- Result
- The STARL move that states what changed because of your actions, as specifically as possible, such as a grade or an amount raised.
- Learning
- The final STARL move: what the experience taught you and how you apply it, linked back to the criterion.
Selection Criteria and the STARL Model FAQ
Can I use the same example for more than one criterion?
The exam FAQ allows the same role or example if it genuinely fits each criterion, but each response must be written separately and its actions, results and learning tailored to that criterion. Using different experiences is encouraged, for instance the team project in one answer, a job in the next and volunteering in the last.
Should I use headings for each STARL letter?
No. The exam FAQ says headings are not a requirement and are not normal formatting for a job application. Write each response as connected prose, usually one paragraph with two to four sentences per letter, and no more than one page. Spelling and formatting are not marked, though legible writing helps the marker.
Do my examples have to come from paid work?
No. The exam FAQ says examples can come from study, work, volunteering or extracurricular activities, for instance captaining a sports team. What matters is that the single example you choose is the best match for the criterion and that you can describe your own actions and a specific result.
How should I prepare for the examination?
The exam page suggests reviewing the careers STARL and panel workshops, looking up behavioural science and related positions on job sites such as Seek or Indeed, reading their selection criteria, and writing short STARL responses. Generative AI may help you unpack practice criteria and critique practice answers beforehand, but it is not permitted in the examination.
Exam move
Prepare four or five situations you know well, including the PYB300 team project for the compulsory teamwork criterion, and for each note your role, two or three actions with reasons, one specific result and one learning. Collect criteria from real behavioural science job advertisements and match each to your best situation.
Write one response a day by hand in about thirty minutes, then check it against the exam page's tips: context for a stranger, actions with reasons, a result tied to your action, the criterion's own terms, and every sentence about you rather than the team.
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