Help for becoming an ATCO
Well, after years of dreaming and doubting I've decided to finally try and get into the aviation industry, starting with Air Traffic Controlling. The opportunity seems great - I've achieved well at school, have a perfect (at least I think) medical health and good enough vision and am young enough (18), so I've applied to take a test to determine whether I'm suitable for an ACTO trainee position. I have three questions though:
1: Where can I find more resource material on which there are practice papers, common interview questions etc? The NATS has sent me an 8-page .pdf document with three questions - that's right: just three single questions... The three have the following tests - basic checking (identifying duplicate digits), spatial reasoning (visualising what shapes would appear on a box in three dimensions when shown a two dimensional plan) and diagramming (calculating what shapes go in what boxes). My question is where can I get more of this test material?
2: Since the pay appears good, would it be wise to save up while working as an ATCO for a PPL before perhaps moving up to a CPL? Does anyone have any experience doing this, and does the experience in ATC help towards securing any jobs?
3: Any general advice when taking the test? Spatial reasoning looks quite difficult at a glance
Thanks in advance to anyone helpful enough to reply to my questions - it'd mean a lot to me; it's the first step in achieving my dream of being a part of the aviation industry (I dream I thought I would never realise)