quantized

I recently attended Oxford's skills assessment for their APPFO program and I'm pleased to say I passed. However on the personality test known as '10FP'. My score came out as negative. I received some helpful information as to why this may have been the case in the debrief (I was not thinking of a 'typical day' when I answered my questions) but my search for similar online tests has so far not netted anything. Does anyone know of any online tests on which I could practice? Despite having got on to the course it's worth me trying to improve my score since some airlines such as BA won't let you in the door unless you come out with a favourable score on one of these tests.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

quantized

Absolutely, the problem was not that my personality was bad in some way, simply that my answers were contradictory to each other. I had not been trying to skew my answers to what I thought they were looking for. Instead, my responses were based too much on previous events of my life instead of on 'a typical day'. For instance, when asked

'Do you get angry when you are stuck in traffic?'

I answered 'Agree', since on the morning of the test I was nearly late and was getting quite apprehensive when I was sitting in traffic. However on a day to day basis this does not happen; it has probably happened a handful of times in 7 years of driving. My debrief officer said that therefore I should have responded 'Strongly disagree'.

Now that I know more or less why I went wrong, I want to do a sample test to see what it says regarding my true personality profile.

Ollie268

just adding my two pence worth...

i agree with the above that the trick to them is to do them quickly so you dont have time to think about the answer. If you respond with your initial thought then you wont have time to think "hmm, well 3 days ago this happened, what if i was doing that.." you get the picture!

SkyCamMK

More like a potential to pay!

David Horn

If it helps, I was told by Nick Mylne that you have to be instinctive and quick when it comes to answering the questions, without thinking too hard about them. The examples he gave were:

1) Do you take risks? Yes. Everyone takes risks, even when they cross the road. Obviously, you judge the risk as to whether it's worth it first.

2) Do you get angry when stuck in traffic? No. You might be a bit frustrated, but you're not leaning on the horn and nudging the back of the car in front.

It came out as moderately positive for me, and I don't think they set too much store by it.

Joffyh

Why does there always have to be one bloody comment about how integrated courses are easy to get onto if you've got the money. Surely if they just wanted money then they wouldn't have the assessment process would they!

If someone is asking specifically about an integrated course just accept it and stop all the pointless comments which don't help anyone!

99jolegg

Because OAA cadets aren't sponsored, CTC cadets are. Therefore, the chances of getting a job through CTC is supposedly 100%, whereas it's nearer 80% for OAA. Also, a lot of OAA cadets get jobs off their own backs, not necessarily through the contacts of OAA.

poss

Those that keep saying about the ease of getting onto intergrated if you've got the money really need to think about that for a second... each FTO wants to have the best students with the best scores, how can they achieve that if they let just anyone onto the course?
The difference between CTC and OAA is the line training. CTC students do line training, which in turn if you work hard you get a job offer at the end.

SkyCamMK

Of course selection is important and psychometric tests help to ensure that you fit the profile. It is fortunate for OAA that they can choose their students to some degree due to having Edit built up End Edit a good reputation. They also have massive overheads and in recent years made many redundancies. For a business to work it must have turnover and working capital. Lumps of cash do not guarantee that you will be an edquate flyer. They want to ensure that they get paid by your finishing the course on target and not becoming a burden too. If you get through in minimum hours to a high standard everyone wins. Regardless of reputation it is a business. Not everyone completes their courses Edit at FTO's generally End Edit and many don't find jobs easily or quickly Edit broadly speaking not specifically OAA who are one of if not the leading FTO IMHO End Edit. This is not likely to change for the better in the very near future. Be careful before you hand over a life-changing sum of money - it has to be repaid from earnings!

tom775257

Someone once told me to go into the test as a positive person with a positive state of mind, and answer as per that person. Obviously as already stated consistency is important too. I did that, worked for me. The whole personality multi choice test thing seems like a load of crap to me, I think you could learn more by getting them down the pub for a few cheeky pints and a chat, but hey, I don't work in HR.

One thing I will say, certainly the expat pilots at the company from which I just resigned, have the same overall personality in my opinion. Generally they seem quite two sided, a very professional side at work, but almost immature when it comes to life outside of work. Everyone seems to enjoy partying, drinking, shallow relationships with women (don't ask!), good sense of humor etc. but a geek at heart. Most of the guys seem to have scuba dived, had some link with computers and play a musical instrument. My friends say they are shocked when they met all the pilots in my group and went out for a night on the town. They said we were all so similar. Hey ho, thats my experience anyway.

Good luck.