Glossary
The acronyms and terms used on this site and in the dental Situational Judgement Tests, in plain English. Each explanation is our own summary for practice purposes, not official guidance.
B
- BDS — Bachelor of Dental Surgery
The usual undergraduate degree for dentists in the UK. Some dental schools give the equivalent degree a different name, such as BChD.
See also: GDC
- Blueprint — Paper blueprint
The plan for how a paper is made up: how many questions of each format and domain it has, and how long you get. Every paper in this app is built from the blueprint for its exam.
See also: Mock paper, Domain
C
- Choose-three question — Choose-three (select-three, multiple-choice) question
A question where you pick the three most appropriate options from a longer list. Each correct pick earns marks; the order you pick them in does not matter.
See also: Ranking question, SJT
- COPDEND — Committee of Postgraduate Dental Deans and Directors
The group that brings together the leaders of postgraduate dental education from across the UK, to coordinate training such as Dental Foundation Training.
D
- DCP — Dental Care Professional
A registered member of the dental team who is not a dentist: a dental nurse, dental hygienist, dental therapist, dental technician, clinical dental technician or orthodontic therapist.
See also: GDC
- DCT — Dental Core Training
Training posts for dentists who want further experience after foundation training, mostly in hospital or community dental services. Recruitment to these posts also uses an SJT.
- DFT — Dental Foundation Training
Supervised training for newly qualified dentists, usually spent working in a general dental practice that provides NHS care. Places are filled through national recruitment, which includes an SJT.
- Domain — Domain (attribute)
A broad area of professional behaviour that a question is written to test. Your results show your score in each domain, so you can see where to focus.
See also: Professional integrity, Resilience and coping with pressure, Empathy and communication, Working effectively as part of a team, Working under pressure
E
- Empathy and communication — Empathy and communication (domain)
Understanding how patients, colleagues and others feel, and sharing information with them clearly and appropriately while listening to what they say.
See also: Domain
F
- FD — Foundation Dentist
A newly qualified dentist who is doing Dental Foundation Training, treating patients in a training practice with the support of an educational supervisor.
- Flag for review
Marking a question during a paper so you can find it again from the review screen before you submit. A flag never changes your answer or your score.
G
- GDC — General Dental Council
The regulator for dental professionals in the UK. Dentists and dental care professionals must be registered with it to work, and it sets the standards they are expected to meet.
- GDP — General Dental Practitioner
A dentist who works in general practice, the everyday dental surgery most patients visit, rather than in a hospital or specialist service.
See also: GP
- GP — General Practitioner
A family doctor: the doctor most people see first about a health problem.
See also: GDP
H
- HEE — Health Education England
The body that led the education and training of the health workforce in England until it became part of NHS England in 2023. Older guidance about dental training often mentions it.
See also: NHS England
M
- Mock paper — Mock paper (mock)
A full-length, timed practice paper. Each mock is drawn from questions you have not seen before, for as long as the question bank allows.
See also: Sample paper, Question bank, Blueprint
N
- NHS — National Health Service
The publicly funded health service in the UK. Most dental foundation training takes place in practices that provide NHS dental care.
See also: NHS England
P
- PDP — Personal Development Plan
A written plan of what someone wants to learn or improve, and how and when they will do it. Dental professionals use one to plan their CPD.
See also: CPD
- Percentile
Where your score sits among others: the 70th percentile means you scored higher than about 70 in every 100 papers compared. In this app, a mock is compared with other mocks submitted for the same exam.
See also: Provisional percentile
- Professional integrity — Professional integrity (domain)
Acting honestly and with integrity, within the standards expected of a registered dental professional, including owning up when something has gone wrong.
- Provisional percentile
A percentile shown while fewer than 50 papers have been submitted for an exam. Until then it is blended with a reference distribution, so it may move as more people take papers.
See also: Percentile
Q
- Question bank
The full set of practice questions that papers are drawn from. Once you have seen most of it, you can choose to let mocks include questions you have answered before.
See also: Mock paper
R
- Ranking question
A question where you put every option in order, from most to least appropriate. In this app, each option earns marks for how close your placing is to the model order, so a near miss still scores.
See also: Choose-three question, SJT
- Rationale
The explanation of why each option is more or less appropriate. You see it for every question when you review your answers after a paper.
- Resilience and coping with pressure — Resilience and coping with pressure (domain)
Staying effective through setbacks, uncertainty and difficult situations, looking after your own wellbeing and knowing when to ask for help.
See also: Domain
S
- Sample paper — Free sample paper
A shorter, timed paper in the same format as a mock, so you can try the test before buying anything. Each account gets one, and it is not compared with other candidates.
See also: Mock paper
- SJT — Situational Judgement Test
A test that describes realistic situations at work and asks how appropriate different responses would be. It looks at professional judgement and behaviour rather than clinical knowledge.
See also: DFT, DCT, Ranking question, Choose-three question, Domain
U
- UK — United Kingdom
England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
W
- Working effectively as part of a team — Working effectively as part of a team (domain)
Working well with the rest of the dental team: supporting colleagues, sharing the load and dealing with disagreements constructively.
- Working under pressure — Working under pressure (domain)
Handling a heavy workload and time pressure: prioritising, managing your time and keeping patients safe when there is more to do than time to do it.
See also: Domain