Hi
I sat my stage 1 tests at Fareham last Friday (24th July) and thought i'd post about what they were like and how i got on.
I was booked in for 12:30. At approx 12:00 I arrived and spoke to reception about why I was there. They gave me a personality questionnaire of 99 questions(i think) which I completed, and then another woman signed us in and took us to a classroom to sit the tests. There were 9 of us although the woman said she'd been expecting something like 60! The woman we had was very nice and gave us plenty time to go to toilet etc before we began.
First test was the ATC motivation paper. This test is
20 questions and you get
18 minutes to complete this paper. It is multiple choice. I managed to complete the paper and check back over it and still had a few minutes to spare, so if you read the information then you should be fine.
Second paper was the cubes. I would agree with other people when they say this is the hardest test of the four. This was
40 questions in
20 minutes. Again it is multiple choice. I completed 32 of the 40. There are three cube nets, one t-shape, the other two are more awkward to assemble in your head. Some of the patterns are quite complicated as well. Key thing is not to open the booklet and panic, just concentrate and do as many as you can.
Third paper was the diagramming. Same concept as the practice leaflet they give you but with more 'operations' or 'commands' that can be applied to the object. They can also ask you to reverse the column or put it in a certain order. This test was
50 questions in
20 minutes. Multiple choice. I managed 48, gutted not to get the last two and complete it!
Last paper was the mental arithmetic, or D/S/T questions.
20 questions and
15 minutes to complete. I found this a reasonable paper which I completed and checked over in the time allowed. Typical questions involve aircraft heading towards one another, descent rates, distance to a beacon.
During the tests we had opportunity for toilet breaks and to get a drink of water. After tests we were thanked for attending, wished the best of luck and sent on our way. I am waiting to hear my results!
Note for anyone going to NATS CTC from Southampton Airport
There is a free shuttle bus(more of a van) that runs from the
car park at the train station next to the airport. The van is blue with 'Airlynx' written on the side in yellow. When exiting airport, turn left, walk to road, cross road to train station and turn left. Walk alongside platform to other end of station where car park is.(as you crossed the road look left and you should see a bus stop on the oncoming traffic side of the road, the car park is just next to this, entrance should be visible next to bus stop.)
Times for shuttle bus
I got a timetable from the driver of times from the CTC, however I am not 100% sure if these were just for that day or are permanent times. The journey from CTC to airport and vice versa is around 15-20 minutes, although slightly more at peak traffic times.
These times are:
leaves CTC 0810, 0840, 0855, 0920, 0945, 1545, 1615, 1640, 1700, 1740, 1815.
Add approx 20 mins to these and that is when bus should arrive at airport. If it is the case these times are altered or bus arrives early and so departs early, as you can see it is not too long a wait until the next bus.
Patty
Patty/Patricia,
I spoke to you on the 24th July at CTC when we sat stage 1 together, if you happen to be on here and read this then let me know how you did when you get your results.
