To prepare or not to prepare?
I have been reading this forum for some time and I am always surprised at the kind of responses that SOME members give to someone who is a) new to the forum b) is genuinely worried about the forthcoming assessment (usually Stage 1) and requests information as to how to best prepare for it.
The usual response is something along the way…”know the ATC material they send you inside out, practice your mental arithmetics...apart from that there is not much you can do”. Often this is followed by the statement “…you’ve either have it (to be an ATC!!!) Or you don’t”.
I can not help but notice that there is something slightly imbalanced with this “you either have it or you don't” statement. To me, it sounds like an elitist approach which implies that you are either “chosen” (by virtue of character, inclination or perhaps god’s grace) to be an ATC or not. Besides personally finding this an elitist (and slightly arrogant and offensive to other less privileged souls) approach, it totally disregards the fact that human beings are also capable of constant change, learning new skills or adapting to new situations provided that enough (self) motivation, effort, perseverance (and perhaps luck) are applied to the project/endeavour at hand. If this is not the case then we would all still be living in the cave because no-one would ever learn anything unless they were innately endowed with the qualities that would ensure survival.
Going back to the ATC, I acknowledge that some people may be more geared (by natural inclination, previous experience and practice etc) towards a job in ATC and perhaps may excel at passing through the stages without much preparation or study. Others however and perhaps the majority (and I include myself here, too) may have to prepare longer and harder in order to reach the required standard for passing the assessment stages (and ideally being competent in the job). You may not “have it” but you can still develop it with enough effort, hard work etc; you may not have the innate or through-experience-developed advantage as others (unfair as life it is) but you can build it up and that should perhaps not be disregarded, just as “having it” is not failsafe for being a good ATC.
There also evidence from neuropsychology that learning new skills (even trying to maintain a positive outlook towards life if you are a pessimist!) creates new neurons and neuronal connections within the brain that account for those new skills/aptitudes learnt. So there is hope.
I offer this views not to create strife here, but perhaps to offer a more balanced approach to those new ones here who may feel there is not much they can do to prepare (at least for Stage 1/Stage 3; Stage 2 may be a totally different thing as admittedly there is not much to do to prepare unless you have €50.00 to spare) Of course any healthy debate is welcome.
@Abby_bwfc
@WbATC
Feel free to PM if you need any information about preparing for the exam. Happy to pass to you my notes, cube/diagramming templates and answer any questions .