ATC IssuesA place where pilots may enter the 'lions den' that is Air Traffic Control in complete safety and find out the answers to all those obscure topics which you always wanted to know the answer to but were afraid to ask.
Hello everyone, I practiced SDM(Strip Display Management) test for about 1 hour in skytest.com and i found it easy, even in the hard levels. I also tried DART which is so different from SDM but i found it difficult and I stopped. The problem was that I couldn't set the correct heading to a/cs so it was difficult to manage them. I recently heard that in second phase of the actual feast test the SDM test is now replaced by DART. I am very disappointed because i was hoping for the SDM. I don't understand why everybody say that SDM is difficult and DART is easy, for me it's the opposite. Can anybody explain me about changing the heading (find the correct heading to pass the checkpoints)? I assume the heading is based on the a/c you control, so its quite difficult to find the correct heading from the first attempt. Should I wait for the a/c to get near the checkpoint and then change the heading?
Congratulations to all Cypriots that past FEAST I - i passed and i am happy because i followed the instructions that eurocontrol send and also what some atcos here like BeT where instructing, and its true - No practice would ever help me to pass Feast test - you either can follow the brain wave or not - some tests were so fast that i thought that they were trying to fry my brain Wishing good luck to everyone going for DART and to believe to ourselves - because even if you have it but you are the leader of negativity - it will not help at all.
I passed the feast test and now I am getting ready for DART. Andriko, first of all congrats for your success on part1. You passed with no practice at all?? I practiced at feast.com, just to at least get an idea of what to expect. And I passed. I found the tests slightly more difficult and with a few differences.
I keep reading in this forum that practicing will not get you anywhere and stuff like that and I was wondering, how come you guys are so sure that it's either "you have what it takes or not", when Eurocontrol itself allows you to retake the exams after initial failure?
Paraskevoula - Thanks and Congrats to you too. The reality of how my brain worked was that i know is a very stressful and demanding job and i want to see if i just can do it without trying too much because i had many positions that were stressful in the past. The question is even if you pass DART and you get selected, if you are willing to make so many sacrifices e.g i will see my income going down if i follow this job.
You go on and on preaching how some people are born with the abilities required to become controllers. And i ask you, if eurocontrol thought that was the case, then wouldn't a failure be a pretty good indicator that you simply don't have what it takes? Why do they allow you to retake the exams? You are all very narrow minded. You should maybe consider the possibility that a person has the abilities but may simply need some practice to enhance what's already there. If there's nothing there, there's nothing to enhance. That simple.
As has been said (many, many times) - you have a certain opinion, we (as qualified controllers, working at Eurocontrol) have ours.
Ultimately, its impossible to say who is right and who is wrong.
However (and its a BIG however), we make comment and opinion after having gained relevant experience in the subject area...... you and others make comment based on emotion and a desire to succeed, which I suppose is perfectly understandable.
What is very frustrating is when after having given our advice (over and over and over again) individuals try to dismiss it as 'rubbish' or innacurate, yet have no meaningful basis to do so. Dont confuse your emotions with reality.
We gain nothing by posting on here, in fact we only stand to lose - our advice is well intentioned and will hopefully allow others to join us in a career we love. When the advice of 'dont practice' is given; its not to upset you, or counteract you in some way, or to make an argument. Its simply the BEST advice.
On a more basic level when individuals appear on the thread and ask the same question for the 1000th time, it becomes tiresome and annoying. If people cant be bothered to read or research, then this is not the career for you.
On an even more basic level, it looks like Eurocontrol are putting a semi-permanent halt on training (3yrs or so) - so none of you will be joining us anyway........
Thanks for the advice. You are so kind. You have your opinion, i have mine. Yet you did not answer my question. Does eurocontrol think that within 2 years a person magically gains the abilities to be an air traffic controller thus he is able to retake and pass the exams? If you fail now, you will fail after 2 years if you dont have what it takes right? So why do they allow you to take feast again? Its a simple question really, I'm surprised you don't get it. As an atc you are not as sharpminded as i thought. Wow! I may have a chance as well after all!!
Unfortunately they dont allow me to reply in this forum. Anw Paraskevoulla dont have arguments with them. My opinion Is that you passed the test because you have what it takes for Feast I. I cant believe that someone with practice can trick that bombarding of questions especially in the last part. BeT - we have our own school since we have many smart and successful Atcos. Eurocontrol is only providing the tests. So yes we are not joining you - we are joining us
the thing is, it may help you go through the feast but in any way it will help you through the selection proccess. Congrats, you're through stage 1, let's see if you can go through the psychological tests and the interview as well. And please keep us updated as I think none of you guys who practiced in feast.com ever posted here your final result. Maybe i'm wrong, but no one got to the end?
Anyway, i still dont understand why people come to this thread when they're not applying to eurocontrol. This thread is not called feast... :o
If they didn't want us to practice then they wouldn't tell us the name of the test. They also told us we can find information on the internet so that we know what to expect.
what i said is what eurocontrol told me. and the psychologists of the german air traffic control said exactly the same, that you either have the skills or not and that it is not practicable.
and why do they allow you to take it again after two years? because the test is only a test, it is not the real training, so it is possible that applicants who passed the test fail the training as well as applicants who failed the test could have passed the training. but the chances with the test are higher to succeed.
if you really think so, why don't you send an email to eurocontrol and ask how you can prepare? and what are the best preperation tools?
"It is understandable that people want to be successful in these tests, but preparing for them is not the same as the kind of preparation you might have made in the past for school examinations. In reality, you have to be confident in your skills and ability. Even though similar tests are available on the market, it would not be of any help to be successful in the testing procedure, because you have been able to practise, if you don’t feel really at ease with the cognitive and behavioural requirements. In these circumstances, even if you started the training, you might well fail later on. Therefore, we recommend that you do not focus too much on the psychological tests."
Eurocontrol suggested feasttest.com as a preparation tool. And the people who called to invite us for part 2 suggested that we search the internet for prep tools on DART.
Anw, there is no point in arguing about this. All I am saying is that you may have the skills and that practice will improve those skills. You may pass with no practice whatsoever, but with practice you will definitely, in my opinion, achieve better results. On the other hand, if you don't have the skills, no amount of practice could make any difference, so practice or no practice, you will fail. These are not skills that can be taught. No one can teach you how to fold a cube, you just have to be able to envision it. And since most of us do not have a hobby of folding cubes, practice will improve someone's spatial awareness. I do not agree that "practice makes perfect" but it sure makes "good", "better" and this is what I am aiming for.
(I haven't figured out how to work the "quote" function on this forum).....
Why havent I directly answered your question?
1. I wrote a reasonably lengthy and what I hoped to be a helpful reply, im so sorry (not) if it didnt specifically address the point you are for some reason trying to make.
2. Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, and it doesnt flatter you.
3. Honestly the question to your answer is; I couldnt give a shit! I've been through the process, I made it, im successful. The rules are the rules. Like it or leave it - your choice.
4. If your attitude in real life matches your attitude on the internet give up now (although I bet it doesnt because people find it easy to hide behind keyboards) - you will not succeed ANYWHERE in ATC with a smart arse attitude.
5. As metioned, this is NOT a FEAST thread, its a Eurocontrol thread.
You can make veiled (and not so veiled) insults all night long, I literally couldnt give a rats ass - ill drink a beer to you now, good luck with your applications - ill enjoy my time at the radar again tomorrow, you know, over here in the real world.........
