Hi RobStob,
If you trawl back in this thread there are loads of posts similar to yours with some pretty detailed answers.
Basically, phase 1 is essentially being asked to come to an assessment. CTC look at you application and decide whether you meet the minimum entry requirements.
Phase 2 is when you are invited to Bournemouth to take part in the pilapt computer based assessment . This is quite simple if you've into computer games! You have a joy stick and a pad with four buttons. The early testing is using just the joy stick for example flying what looks like a plane through squares over a course. Another one I remember involved keeping a dot in the centre of some cross hairs. This involves using the joystick to try and keep the dot as close to the centre of the crosshairs. As you advance through the different 'games' it gets more tricky, involving you to listen for certain words and react to them whilst doing these earlier tasks at the same time. Eg you will hear something and have to press one of the four buttons whilst doing the crosshairs game. There's a memory game too, anywhere up to 6 or 7 digits and your given like 10 seconds to remember them.
And then.........you will do the maths test.
15 questions in 15 minutes. These can all be done with basic GCSE maths. You will not have a calculator and unless you can remember how to do long division, long multiplication, decimal division etc you will struggle...I am very much of the calculator era and I had to do some serious brushing up!!
I think it was multiple choice, but all the answers are pretty similiar unfortunately.
Stage 3 is pretty good.
Before you attend you are sent a set of questions which you must return to CTC prior to your visit back. Things like..Why do you want to be an airline pilot etc... When I was there, I was part of a group of eight sat around the board room with three assessors. There's a short presentation giving you more information about CTC, the course, funding and to congratulate you all on getting this far etc. Once that is over you are divided into two groups of four or so and each team does a number of different exercises. The main one was a discussion exercise about a hypothetical situation i.e. being stranded on a desert island . You must discuss and agree with your team how to best get rescued, but you are only allowed to carry a number of items with you. Other things happen along the way but it was fun. Just remember not to over dominate but make sure you contribute!
The other task we had involved some LEGO type stuff, and we were asked to build a vehicle which would 'drive itself'. Using rubber bands we succeeded....well kind of. Again acting as part of a team...contributing...you get the idea.
The final part of the day is the interview. Mine was with a current training captain and a member of the HR team. I had no flying experience so they asked some basic aircraft questions for example: What does an aileron do? Explain how an aircraft generates lift? Also be prepared for questions about the partner airlines...what aircraft they fly, their main bases etc. Show that you know what you are talking about and have done some research. There are also some general HR questions...give me an example of a time when you had to work as part of a team....what would you say are your poorer qualities...usual things. Rehearse these sort of questions before you go in, otherwise you will be umming and aahhhing the whole time.
99jolegg gave a good description of stage 4.
Pprune has a LOAD of information about CTC so here is a good start for revision. Wikipedia.org is good for airline info. It worked for me.
Hope this info helps. Good luck with your selection
Nev.