Presumably then Mode S is effectively telling the controller what the programmers have dialed into their computers (pilots into the autopilot!)?
Re: Stage 1
Didnt go too bad, a lot depends on the pass mark.
The ATC motivation test was a piece of cake, with the comments on the nats website and here being particularly prudent. If you know everything in that document you wont have a problem, though there are a few calculations (all very simple!) and some distances to guesstimate.
Spatial Awareness is, i imagine, the one most would fail on. I dont think theres time to do every question, even if there wasnt an option E throughout the test (i.e. one of the shapes was correct every time!). I completed about 70-75% of them if i remember correctly, with a few educated guess's within those. A quick glance round when i popped to the toilet post test suggested most had completed around 50 - 75%. Afterwards most agreed that it was the most difficult test, not so much with the questions, more because of them time. This wasnt helped by the examiner not giving any indication of a test end time (written on the board or something) or a indication when time was almost up. I suppose this stops people guessing the remaining questions to an extent.
Oh, re Spatial Awareness, i didnt help myself by downing a bottle of lucozade pre event. By midway through the spatial awareness test i was desperate for the toilet and lost concentration for a minute which, during a 20 minute test, is a lot of time. The advice therefore is to go before you go into the room. I suspected we'd have a video to sit through first and therefore didnt and almost regretted it.
Diagramming, not too bad, easier than above though there were some tricky commands and at times it was easy to get confused. Completed about 80%. Key is to work down the columns, but also to check for any cancel commands before you start, saves a bit of time.
With both of the above the NATS document isnt much of a help, they are both much harder.
Final test was numeracy and this i found relatively simple, completing it just in time. There was only 1 question i wasnt 100% sure of, had a choice between 2 which seemed fair enough. If you can get used to figuring out distance per minute based on a specific mph it will help you, and remembering the simple ones (360mph = 6 miles a minute, etc!)
So i think im close, but that depends on the pass marks. My friend did the test today also and struggled with the spatial awareness, evidently thinking he had much more time and thinks he's failed as a result, but we'll see.
Good luck to the others that were there today
