As promised, here's a summary of my experience:
Aptitude tests:
*Keeping two lines moving independently in horizontal and vertical planes centred on a cross while they attempt to move.
This is done with a joystick (something I'd never used before). I would simply say on the basis of how I found it that it's as well to keep calm if possible and also, if you spend a lot of time using a mouse as I do, bear in mind that moving the hand back to go up and forward to go down may feel a bit counter-intuitive at first.
*Three pictures of a man in the same pose but four different orientations - facing you, facing away and the same two but upside down. In one hand is a square, the other a circle. This leaves 2 options for each of three variables - left hand/right hand (from his point of view), square/circle, and literally 'is' or 'isn't'. So a statement like 'positive left square' means there IS a SQUARE in his LEFT hand. You then have a period of time to decide how many of the images this combination of statements is true for. In each of the three rounds, this period of time gets shorter.
Once I'd established a system, this was more straightforward. I always worked out what should be in the right hand then concentrated at the right hand. So if it said 'positive left square', I'd look for the ones that had a circle in the right hand. You have a few seconds after hearing the statement before you see the image, during which time you can sort out in your head what you're looking for. I also found it helped to put myself in the man's position in my brain and 'feel' which hand the shape was in if I got confused. But finding a system that works for you is the key, I think.
*Looking for a shape in an image composed of lines. A shape is shown to you and there are two sqaures divided into patterns by straight lines. You have to say whether the shape can be found amongst the shapes that these lines form (same size and orientation) in neither of them, one of them, the other, or both.
I found that this got easier as my eye got tuned into it. The thing that made it easier was realising that I could look at the bit of the shape that is not perpendicular, study the angle of the slope and length of the line, and then transfer my eye into the images above. Much easier to pick out a shape or say for sure that it isn't there if a slope of the same depth is sought. I think most people realised you need to identify a distictive bit to narrow your search.
*Guiding an 'aeroplane' through a series of boxes (like an ILS apparently - not that I've ever flown an ILS!).
The only thing I would say here is they really mean that the joystick is sensitive - they emphasise it lots of times. The first time I did it, I overreacted and it went all over the place, totally out of control. You are not given a chance to try out the response of the joystick beforehand on this one. The aim is to improve each time. I have never used a joystick before (deprived childhood!
) and I think this is where I really fell down. I got the hang of it subsequently, but my score was still low. While these are natural abilities, etc, etc, maybe an hour or two in an arcade might just help you get the feel for this sort of thing, I don't know!
(Others mentioned rudder pedals on this thread, but they seem to have done away with these.)
*Identifying shapes within a grid that are identical to the shape shown at the beginning of the row and the colour at the head of the column in which they appear.
I didn't find this too bad, but I did accidentally click where I didn't mean to once or twice; a daft, avoidable mistake! I found it easiest to scan the images and look at the colours first: keep scanning, keep checking that they don't match. When a colour does match, you can then check the shape. Seemed to work OK for me, apart from the daft moments... but then, I didn't get through! (
)
*Finally, back to centering the two lines again. However, this time, you are given other tasks to do simultaneously. The first is hearing a sequence of numbers, counting backwards, and you identify moments when the sequence changes. The second is to hear a shape and colour read out and key into the pad the colour and number superimposed on it if you see it appear.
With the number counting, it seems to help to hear the next in the sequence in your head before it comes, then if it's anything different you can hit the button before working out what the new sequence is.
With the shapes, I tried to keep an eye out for the colour in my peripheral vision and look properly when the colour came up. Actually keying it in means taking your eyes of the two lines, which is hard (there was usually an accompanying wobble when I did it!
).
Finally, you are asked to do all three at the same time. This is just overload really and, for the first time, most people's 'misses' seemed to outnumber their 'hits' (judging from chats afterwards). I decided to concentrate primarily on centering the two lines and just do my best with the other two and I think it could have been worse. Might turn out I'm wrong when I get the feedback, but it helped me not get fixated on one thing to do it that way.
This was my experience of the tests. I didn't get through and suspect did quite badly on some, but nonetheless I hope it is an interesting read for people that have not yet taken them.
The maths questions, 15 in 15 minutes, were fine for a numerate grown-up (again, pending feedback!). I practised this and I think that helped. Long division, long multiplication and proportions/conversions are particularly handy.
Group discussion was a little frustrating because people were focussed on appearing to be impressive interactors and not actually too concerned with the nature of the discussion itself. On a couple of occasions it felt to me that things I said were not really picked up on, because people were trying to jump in with reasoned argument! And as we HAD to reach a consensus, of course, it became a muddy compromise!
Good luck to 1pudding1 in the next stage (I was in the red group btw) and to everyone else.
