I done my Stage 2 ADAPT test in March 2019. Here's what I would tell myself if I could go back in time, or tell someone else about to do it:
- Don't be nervous - of course you will be - but everyone will be just as nervous as you!
- You DO get a calculator for the maths test and the physics test. If you don't bring your own they give you one. If this is the case, don't wait until the test starts to try it out, find out where all the buttons are that you will need. This sounds like a pointless tip but they gave me a weird calculator that gave answers as fractions and you could only change it to integers and decimals with a very small inconspicuous button.
- Use the calculator to your advantage as much as possible. If you are quick, you could try and use it for the numerical reasoning, but as this is measuring reaction time - i'm not recommending this, just throwing the idea out there
- Take your time with the introductory pages of the test, there are a lot of pages but dont rush!. It's there to help you!. I heard a lot of people clicking through the introductory pages and there was a lot of helpful stuff on there, like specific examples of the questions yiu are about to get asked, and you are not timed on this, so try out the example question, so when the real one comes you are prepared
- If you finish a test early, go back and check, you may have submitted a dumb answer! I did. Found it, corrected it. It was asking me to subtract a total fuel amount from an initial amount, NOT give the amount burnt. Go back and check.
- They actually give you the equations! Don't pass this one up - write them down, re arrange them solving for different variables, e.g. speed=distance/time / fuel burn rate = fuel burnt / time write these down and solve for all three - so when a question comes just look to what you wrote down and plug in the numbers.
- The "FAST" test is hard. No way around this one. Latest Pilot Jobs and PilotAptitudeTest have good practice software, but really you can practice as much as you want but it's about how you do on that day. But don't worry if you don't nail it, the test is to measure your capacity to learn, so you get two tries, I think its more about your ability to learn from what you got wrong on your first try. So without just giving away answers that might change, I'll say - Pay Attention! Nothing is not important enough!
like, what the cockpit looks like for example.
- The fixed wing assessment is weirdly different from the FAST test you just took. There's no mental quick reaction times and quick thinking, but instead, you have to slowly, calmly keep your plane at a given altitude and a given speed and heading using the joystick and throttle. It's easy to let your mind wonder, so don't get cocky, the speed can get high, your altitude can drift, and you can't trim the plane, so you will have to monitor your very fine inputs on the joystick. Also just because your concentrating on your speed and altitude, make sure you're heading in the right direction...
- We got a chance to speak to a current student and get a tour, but not everyone took it. Dumb idea, take the tour!! Not only was it fun to see the place, we learnt so much about the course and what we might expect, and got to ask any questions we liked. And it did make a difference having a student do it as to not be intimidated. He was great.
Now I have my own question. I took the Stage 2 on Thursday and I am getting a mini-heart attack every time I get some random email... How long till I hear back?!? I'm going nuts!
If anyone has any questions about stage 2, post here I'll try to answer you