Come and rejoice with me!!! (NATS STAGE2)

[BigBoeing]

oh my god, oh my god! just found out i passed the aptitude tests for NATS, I have been crapping myself for 2 weeks waiting! I wanted it so badly! Anyway, now ive calmed down a bit, i'd really like some recent info about the stage 2, i know pretty much everything about it so just anything you think would be helpful to me. I heard for the comp test that u must sort out collisions first before you do any of the sums, is this still true? Also I would like to now arrange a visit to Manchester centre and tower, Id really appreciate anyone telling me how to go about this or giving me advice, just PM me with any info. I was also thinking of trying to arrange a visit to Newcastle ATC since they are a non NATS airport I thought it may give me a different perspective. Any info (and congratualtions! :D ) sincerely appreciated. Cheers

BB

[runtobarlu]

Got a feeling that sorting out the collisions might be closing the stable door after the horse has bolted... is this really a serious posting.... ?????

[BigBoeing]

er, are you serious? I think most people will manage to understand what Im saying.

[cdb]

Think about it this way mate...

if you were in one of those planes, what would you want the ATCO to do first?

1) Stop the little dots colliding

or

2) Do some maths

[runtobarlu]

I rest my case..

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

I don't know anything about the new-fangled tests but I wish BigBoeing all the luck in the world.

35 years ago when I found I had passed the interview (Civil Service in those days) I went totally berserk so I know how BB feels..

Hope the next bit goes OK...

[Quincy M.E.]

Hi BB

I think I know what you meant. Passing a selection test is different to carrying out the job in real life. For all we know they may not care about the sums as long as the dots don't 'merge' but presumably as they are in the test they are important. To what extent I think BB was enquiring.

I had my app tests on Wednesday. Someone there (who had got through to stage 2 before) mentioned that the sums were bloody difficult and that you only get half a second to work them out so I dont know how you are meant to do them anyway!

Good luck BB

[The Many Tentacles]

When I did the tests back in 2002, the word then was that they pay more attention to you stopping the numbers on the screen banging into each other than doing the maths at the bottom of the screen.

Plus like someone else said, they're bloody hard and you get very little time to do them.

Well done for getting through the aptitude tests and have fun with the next bit

[athene]

If its any help at all, when I did the tests I didn't try to work out the maths, but I did hit a button every time I saw the question change... by the law of averages I must have got some right. I concentrated on sorting the conflictions, but I figured if I did something for each eqution then at least I was acknowledging they were there and changing. It seemed to do the trick, but I'm sure many others had different methods of tackling it. I think the whole idea is to try to distract you, but then again as a controller you have to be aware of everything thats going on and not get too focused on just one thing.

That turned out to be not very helpful reading it back, but maybe it will give you something to think on.

Good Luck :)

[Quincy M.E.]

athene

I love the tactics! I think I will have to do the same thing ;)

[chimpie]

Hallo

Now rumour has it that the computer simulated test of preventing dots from colliding is not as important as the first couple of computer tests which involved sorting shapes, numbers, colours and knowing your left and right. all i can say is brush up on your maths and make the most of the practice sessions. and with the dots going across the screen, prevent as many collisions as you can but think everyone has a couple (i stand back if anyone managed to have none!) but think it is there more to see how you cope with a collision - as in go to pot and be useless for the rest...

with the personnel one - well its not very nice. the technical one, just try to learn as much as you can. i did - i literally spent hours and hours on it and in the end managed to prove my knowledge on all kind of crazy things.

best of luck and if you want any futher aid just let me know...

[VectorLine]

The point of the 'collision avoidance' test is to remove as few tracks as possible in order to have no collisions.

e.g. - 3 tracks (A, B & C).
A & B running parallel and C coming at an angle that could pass through both A & B.

Best answer - Remove C
Second best answer remove A & B
Answer I wish I could use at work - remove them all!

I didn't have any collisions, but I did remove more than half of the tracks on a couple of occasions!

Good Luck!

[VRB03KT CAVOK]

The stage 1 test results are meant to be e-mailed out after 15 working days.

If 3 weeks have passed and nothing is heard is that a good or a bad thing?

Are the HR department always slow in getting these results out?

Ta.

[Dances with Boffins]

15 working days. NATS HR only work 5 days per week, so they should be being posted now.

Plus it takes a bit longer to get to Australia!

[SATCO]

BigBoeing I hope you won't mind if I don't PM you and instead post this on the main thread; that way anyone looking in and also receiving good news and wanting more information can be party too! Thanks.

The point with the Manchester visit is... there IS NO POINT!

Being ex-Manchester myself I have just tried to tee-up a visit to the tower and the sub-centre for a mate who is also just waiting on his result.

The word from the DWS is that there are NO visits at this time owing to the sensitive security state prevailing in the UK.

Can't speak for other locations but I wish you well.

SATCO

[VRB03KT CAVOK]

Thanks Dances with Boffins, the 15 working days passed a week ago (a month in real terms).

Are results sent by post or e-mail?

Up until now I've only had e-mail correspondence with HR. Someone in the UK will be checking my post next week...

[Nedstar]

I've got my Unit Visit next week. Got bored of waiting for Manchester so decided to journey all the way to Prestwick (from Manchester) cos I really want to get moving on this - looks like a wise decision if they are not allowing Manchester visits.

To top it off, the Manchester interviews are 3 days later when im in Portugal so having to treck all the way to Birmingham the day after I return for my interview/computer tests.

FYI VRB03KT Cavok results seem to be sent via e-mail if you have been going thorugh the online recruitment. Mine arrived a few weeks after the aptitude tests.

[REVOLUTION]

A wise move to visit Prestwick as that's where Manchester centre is being moved to in a few years. Make sure you soak up the local environment and ensure you can handle lots of ****e weather!