Sentry Page Protection

Prioritisation Task 3


​You are isolated on an uninhabited island; a raging fire has just erupted. Choose 5 of the 10 individuals to join you on the island, explaining your preferences:
 
Details regarding the individuals respective age, gender and profession are provided.
​
47
Male
Secretary
 
14
Female
Student
 
50
Female
Policeman
 
67
Male
Head teacher
 
25
Male
Unemployed
​
85
Female
Retired Judge
 
32
Female
Maternity leave – 36 weeks pregnant.
 
78
Male
Doctor
 
35
Female
Accountant
 
60
Female
Lecturer

Average Candidate Response
  • Many students often feel pressured into providing instant answers and don’t use the time provided to assess the options available before providing a response. This often leads to hesitation and pauses between sentences and selection of subsequent tasks. Additionally, a lack of planning may cause candidates to change their prioritisation order half way through the task.
  • Additionally, whilst this case states the need to prioritise the tasks, many students will stop at this alone. It is essential to not only prioritise, but also justify each prioritisation.

Excellent Candidate Response
‘BlackStone Tutors 5 Step Approach to Prioritisation Tasks’
  1. Review the options available
  2. Identify your 5 preferred items/the ideal order to complete the tasks
  3. Explain why you have chosen these options/this order (making your explanations as specific as possible to the task, eg. Why some tasks are ranked highly)
  4. Explain why you did not choose the other options/why they are ranked lower
  5. Possible further mentions:
                If additional item/options were permitted, I would also consider taking….
                Alternatively, if the task were based in ………….I would prioritise taking……….