Not sure I agree entirely...
The ability to perform mental arithmetic and quick calculations easily is a pre-requisite - otherwise how would you work out top-of-descent points, distances to fly along arcs, fuel burn calcs... the list is endless. Aeroplanes - especially modern jet airliners - fly on numbers.
Whether you're tested on fundamentals like this or not is irrelevant, take the career seriously and if you feel you have a weakness in an area like mental arithmetic then improve it. You are going to need it at 35,000ft blasting towards Geneva at Mach 0.85 more than sitting behind a desk at CTC being tested. That's why they test you.
Last edited by Antilles; 10th Apr 2006 at 16:18.