2nd Interview Prep/Books

[WMIM]

For those of us with upcoming 2nd interviews, are there any books that might help in preparing for the math/reasoning test?

Any other tips for the group exercises, psych test and any other multiple choice exam Cathay may throw at us?

Good luck to all! :ok:

[Ozavatar]

G'day mate ,

Firstly congrats for the second interview.When r u r getting to HK.I will be there on the 09th.

I am in the simialr situation as you.I really dont know much about the math test .It would be great to find out from guys who have previously been through the interview and can shed some lights on the actual math test for CX and sorta guide us as to what we can prepare for ??

[VFE]

The maths test is split into 2 parts - the 1st part is 'simple' maths questions like:

84 x 123 =

...then ramps up a bit with stuff such as:

0.5 x 0.999999 x 9.999 x 1/9 =

This is really more a test of your maths theory as if you don't know how to move decimal places etc then you'll struggle.

The second part deals more with aviation orientated concepts and is multiple choice:

"You fly west for 600 miles and then north for 800 miles - what is your distance back to where you started?". They range from straight forward to very hard and with only 45 minutes and no calculator you've got your work cut out!

I would revise trigonometry, long mulitplication/division/fractions and maybe know square roots and the odd sine/cos but to be frank, I don't think CX expect people to ace this test. Nobody in my group finished the paper and everyone agreed that they could only guess at half the questions. I suspect that this is just another classic CX way of ruffling candidates feathers up to see how they can bounce back after a jolt to the system. But be aware - if you're weak on maths the technical interviewer will probe deeper so know your standard aviation maths stuff like the one in sixty rule, temp deviation calcs, and speed/distance/time stuff. Seen some guys walking out of their interviews looking like changed men/women!

Maths is hard here. The standard is high. CX are a punchy outfit, snooze and you lose. To anyone who may doubt their aptitude for this scheme I would suggest you think hard before putting yourself through their mincer.

PS: To all those who say that this scheme is attracting weak candiates - think again. Ex airforce, biz jets and experienced instructors the norm - not seen any low calibre individuals getting through the gates and even if they did they won't last long I can assure you.

VFE.

[Ozavatar]

Thank You VFE.Really appreciate your comment here.Now i know what to study for maths.Would you happen to be working for CX at all ??

[ReverseFlight]

A look at VFE's post shows that you do not use conventional methods to solve these problems i.e. do not try any long multiplication or division.

For example, 0.5 x 0.999999 is resolved as 0.5 x (1-0.000001) which becomes (0.5 - 0.0000005) etc and you don't need a calculator for that. Likewise (9.999 x 1/9) is immediately resolved as 1.111

You fly west for 600 miles and then north for 800 miles You immediately recognise that's Pythagoras and the 2 shorter sides have been multiplied by 200 times, so the answer is 1000. Bingo.

I'm no maths wiz but you just need to think laterally with these type of questions. Good luck to all.