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Eurocontrol Testing and Interviews

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Eurocontrol Testing and Interviews

Old 27th Jan 2010, 13:28
  #301 (permalink)  
 
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Yeah I know, only one shot at it in Sweden! Regarding that I didn't pass the interview at Eurocontrol I don't think that will be a problem since I passed the FEAST part (which they were most interested in). They said I can basically skip all parts of the application and go directly to an interview with them so that's cool. Also now I know that I have to prepare a lot more than I anticipated.

I also tried to call for some feedback and had the same problem as you Erikk. Told me to call next week as well.
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Old 27th Jan 2010, 13:33
  #302 (permalink)  
 
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SO... For those, who are waiting for the test now...
This is really hard, serious, NOT FUN and you cannot prepare for the test that much. You can prepare for the Cubetest and the Coordinate system test, but for the others... No way. And the other problem is STRESS. I'm not that nervous type, so I was pretty calm and exited at the same time, but they make you stressed, it's for sure.
It's all about the time. You have to make decisions in a few seconds, because you won't have time to get throgh the whole exercise. It keeps your mind harassed. You do things, what you normally do not, sometimes, you cannot coordinate your fingers and you push the wrong button, sometimes you're just not able to do anything because your brain is overloaded. The English part is also hard, harder than I expected for. It's not just about your comprehension, it's also for checking your short term memory.
The afternoon stage is also hard. You have to learn the exercise in 1,5hrs, which seems to much, but finally you have just a few minutes to go back and repeat the more complicated tasks.
Then you have a big excel in front of you with tonnes of data, you receive the audio messages constantly, so you cannot search for conflicts and pay attention for the other 3-4tasks.
The entire day is just depressing, and your brian is just sucked out at the end.
BUT!
It's a very useful experience, even if you didn't pass. This test is just professional, it's made by the best psychologists, and controllers, and it's really to see if you are able to do the job or not (on the basic skill level). If you are not, then accept it. You probably could have much more complicated and stressful situations during the job. And that's not a computer game.
Anyways, I'm not in Phase 2 yet, they will invite 18 people at all, so I have a good chance to NOT get in.
Good luck to you guys, hope to see you in Maastricht sometime!
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Old 27th Jan 2010, 14:03
  #303 (permalink)  
 
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So do any of you guys have any suggestions, regarding, where could I apply next, every suggestion is welcome.
I visited Austrocontrol.at, but they only accept candidates from EU, but my country still isn't in the EU.
Thanks in advance

PS: Have you got the confirmation by email that you were no successfull in the interview

Last edited by sgt_raven; 27th Jan 2010 at 14:20.
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Old 27th Jan 2010, 19:11
  #304 (permalink)  
 
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My EUROCONTROL FEAST experience-phase 1

[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']Hello to everyone on this forum. It s my first time I am writing but I’ve been following it and read all the threads. I hope I’ll not upset anybody with what I will write. I just took the phase 1 of the FEAST test also the afternoon part and I am waiting for the answer.First of all my ‘’short story’’ will begin since I got to Maastricht untiI i left,cause I know that all of you,future applicants for Eurocontrol,that you will be nervous maybe streessed,I had a lots of questions also before the exam like those around here,and UNFORUTUNETELLY NOBODY WAS ABLE TO ANSWER OR TO GIVE MORE DETAILS. Altghout there were lots of applicants who finished all the test,passed,failled them,work there already ,maybe they think that the future one ‘s will take the working place for Eurocontrol so they keep the details? Or maybe if the failled why to share for others ,why not others faile like them also??? Please do not be angry cause I know there are persons around here THAT HELPED AND GAVE TIPS,SO I AM THANKING YOU!!! And for others , this is what I think and I’m telling it loud and clear! Anyway…[/font]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']So you get your date for phase 1,it is coming,you arrive in Maastricht,by plane,car doesn’t matter.For those who take the train from Brussels-the ticket it is around 18 euro,until Maastricht Central Station,takes about 1 hour 15 minutes.BE CARREFUL TO CHOOSE THE ONE WITH --NO CHANGE-!!! You arrive at Maastricht and now you must go outside to take bus number 59,and I will put in a next thread the hours cause I stayed 1 hour to wait for it!!! In the evening it is usually from hour to hour I took it at 19.50. The ticket is 4 euro until airport. KEEP ALL RECEIPTS ( the bus ticket they know the price so they said they will give the money for both ways and for the train you need to have just one and same they calculate and said for both ways). It will take about 15-20 minutes to arrive at te hotel,which is near the airport. Don’t be surprised about it,cause it is….no offense….awfull! I mean it seems to me like that! The rooms from ground floor I understood from others that it is very cold inside them, I stayed at the first floor,it was warm,but the smell inside killed me. I couldn’t sleep all night!!! I was thinking that somebody is smoking near my bed, and even the ****s and pillows smelled like ciggarettes and like old!!! And you can hear all the air planes...actually not so many but it is 500 meaters from the window to the runway.The bathrooms groose,3 beds in the room. Oh if you stay ground floor ,you must go out from reception and walk to your room,there is no hall way! Then in the morning,don’t expect for a yellow cab-taxi to come pick you up! It is a white van with 20 places inside( we were around 18) maybe if you will be less…I don’t know. At 8 :10 ,10 minutes till Eurocontrol,prepeare your id you will leave it at the security desk outside they will give a visitor card,DON’T LOSE IT! Then you go inside where they give you a pass card also DON’T LOSE IT.Then the person from human resources will come collect you all and invite you in the buffet. You will give her the bank account paper completed and the plane/train ticket( in any case take also the bus ticket with you) and she will give 2 meal vouchers for breakfast an lunch. Then you will eat,try to relax speak with others,make friends don’t think about test to much. After that you will go up with the person and you go inside where the test will take place,you will see your name on each pc,she will start explain all rules pay attention! [/font]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']Be carreful! The Test starts as soon as you put your hand on that mouse and click continue[/font]J [FONT='Arial','sans-serif']i don’t remember the exact order. [/font]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']1.the english part--- first it was with numbers…big ones…a woman was talking she said a number the again talking after the answers….TRY TO REMEMBER THE NUMBER IMAGINE IT IN YOUR MIND,DON’T LISTEN TO WHAT THE WOMAN IS TELLING YOU! ----second it was the small phrases with the beep tone,and another word after. Actually you must the choose from4 choices the word with closest meaning to the word after the beep.----third part it was a small story and after questions about what the story was about(there are different subjects) PAY ATTENTION TO ALL DETAILS NUMBERS NAMES EVERYTHING [/font]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']2.i think it was with the heading,you will be shown some figures with squeres made by lines vertically called 1 2 3 and horizonatlly called A B C,points with names and some small circles with directions.you will be asked how many degrees must plane 76 turn to get to poin A3 and what is the distance.Don’t worry cause in the beginning they will teache you the compass with the degrres like 360,045,090,135,180,240,270,330,just a few of them and the distances of the length of the square. And they will give the answers like: turn 135 left/right 40 nm or other option.It was easy one![/font]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']3.the instructions for landing : some black and white drawings with points A B C D E F…. 2/3 air planes with number up,down the flight level,in the beginning they will give some rules,be sure you memorize them perfectlly cause without them it will be very hard. You must land the plane through the point to the opened runway,and on the direction the arrow is showing you ,on th bottom of the scren sometimes you will see a message which you must read carrefully like:e.g. you are not allowed to use points ABCDE and plane 55 is not allowed to use point F.You must find the easiest path to the runway and choose it from the answers. [/font]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']4.the exercise with the line and the small square :first you have 1 small screen(each of them have the numbers down in the right corner) until 4, each time the square comes out and collides with the line you must press the button in which the screen happened. [/font]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']5.the geometry[/font]J[FONT='Arial','sans-serif'] you have square circle diamond and triangle ,they are colored;on the bottom you have the answers sometimes they are also colored(the answer)when you must sort them by color: for example the circle is blue and down the answer are diamond blue circle green etc…you will put the blue circle in the blue diamond category. sometimes the answers are without color and you must sort them by shape. And on the right side you will see also another image same figure which sometimes is the same with the one on the left and you must press the M button which is MATCH. And to be harder they put also rules on the top so you must check also them cause they come an say: sort this as a triangle and you have the figure circle.Then it will come with numbers which it is most of it the same thing but it is a little bit harder cause the rules sometimes include small arithmetic: the sum >5 sort 0-299 like that.or if you have 1 in the number shown sort it as 299-599.[/font]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']6. the cube test…the terror for me!!! 25 minutes 36 cubes.1 cube per page 2 answere 1 none button.the cube is with 2 colors and 2 or 3 arrows on each side,and the cube also rotates!!! So be carreful( search on internet for games like FOLD THE CUBE) I was like last 4 minutes done 22 maybe 23 cubes,until 36 I put all by luck!!!![/font]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']Bettwen the first part and second( sorry but I can’t remember exactly the exercises in which part they were) you will have break.[/font]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']Then you will go down at the security ,go for lunch and wait for results.[/font]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']For the Flight strip,you go back in the room, you have for real 1 hour and 30 minutes where the pc is teaching you all about Flight strips,then they say you have 3-5 minutes of practices,I had maybe 11/2 minute. The test last about 40 minutes. What you must do: find local and opposite conflict,put the new strips in order discard the old ones( you will see a clock on the left side of the screen you must guide by that to know when to discard the strips)and use the headphones listen to what the lady is telling you cause you must change either the time or the flight level or both of them. Difficult one,it seemed to me.[/font]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']That’s all,of course, the response comes in about 1 week.The small bus will come to pick you up and go to hotel! [/font]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']Some tips: try to make some friends cause it will relax you to talk about different stuff not just FEAST.[/font]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']-about the sleep or room can’t say nothing more[/font]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']-you can find similar exercises on the internet that helps you a little bit[/font]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']-play reaction test,folding the cube listen to english and answer to questions and also get used to big numbers[/font]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']If i made some mistakes or i said something wrong that offended anybody sorry,or if i gave to much info...sorry again![/font]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']Good luck![/font]
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Old 27th Jan 2010, 20:56
  #305 (permalink)  
 
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Successful at the FEAST, but I will receive more details next week.
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Old 27th Jan 2010, 21:39
  #306 (permalink)  
 
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hey ALEXA,

thanks for the detailed post! How do you feel, will you be happy when you'll be given your scores?
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Old 28th Jan 2010, 11:12
  #307 (permalink)  
 
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I was logging on to do just what Alexa has done so well above, so thanks to her!

Just to add to her experiences and answer the questions that I myself was worrying about before I went:-
don't stress about getting to the 'Hotel'- I made all my connections from Brussels easily enough, and the bus runs from right outside the station at 13 mins past the hours, although during the day there is another service at 49 minutes. It costs around 4 Euro for a single (ask for Airport), and there are cashpoints at the station if you need them!
The hotel is awful- you will need earplugs and a face-mask thing if you're a light sleeper. Bring some food as well or get some in Maastricht if you have time- although they do a 'Eurocontrol Menu' at the hotel its not exactly cheap (12-13 euros). There's nothing in the way of a gym or pool, in case you were expecting 5* luxury! I optimistically brought some sports kit!
The taxi is free, both to and from Eurocontrol so dont worry about that. Also you get breakfast at Eurocontrol so dont order it at the Hotel when they offer it to you.
The tests themselves- I've read on here a few times that you can;t prepare for them. I think that's only half true. Certainly if you're brilliant at this sort of thing and your mind works this way you wont need practice; conversely if you're useless no amount of practice will help you. But for the majority of us in between there practicing to think quickly and in 3D will buy you time in the tests- and time is something you dont have a lot of.
So anyway- English tests. OK you need to be almost fluent- if your comfortable with English you'll be fine, although you really need to concentrate. I'm English and I found the memory side of it tough. The passages they read can be quite long in parts, but the questions ar relatively broad so concentrate on the general overview of what the voice says. Also, if they state figures in the passage try to remember them- they usually aren't there just as padding! If you want to practice, get someone to read you a paragraph or to, preferably from a verbal reasoning test, and then try to parrot back to them the story.
Cubes- everyone hates cubes, and yes if your mind doesn't work that way its tricky. My advice is either buy a practice book or trawl the internet for as much practice material as you can find. But I believe it is something you can train yourself to be better at.
Headings- familarise yourself with the compass headings and giving vectors, and also to help guesstimate the distances involved. Many of the questions involved giving vectors from one fix to another and estimating total distances. Pythagoras would help here as well.
Sorting shapes/numbers- an exercise in reactions and quick decision making. There is stuff on the internet (try searching brain training) which is worth practicing. Same for the reactions test.
In the afternoon, the Strip Management test is difficult, especially if you are not used to strips or anything like that. Not a lot you can do to practce here- maybe air traffic control games help but Ive never played one so couldnt tell you. I guess a knoweldge of the strip system would help make it less scary to start with.
In general, any games, exercise, or practice that involves you thinking about more than one thing at the same time must help. If your brain is used to thinking like this it does make it easier in my opinion. The wikipedia FEAST page tells you all about the test stages.
So whilst the 'if you havent got it, you havent got it' mentality is true, there is no harm in making sure you are able to give the best account of yourself.
6-7 of us from the original 18 got through to the afternoon. There is no interview or anything like that. We finished about 4- remember this in case of booking transport back. The bus leaves outside the airport at 29 past, and there's not another for an hour. It takes roughly 25 mins to the station so I would recommend making sure you don't have a connection before half 5.
But anyway, just go, enjoy the experience. The tests make your brain bleed but time goes quick doing them. I definitely gained something from taking part, whatever the result!
Any questions then PM me- I'll see what I can do. best of luck to all going in the future!
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Old 29th Jan 2010, 09:26
  #308 (permalink)  
 
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Is there another date next week?
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Old 31st Jan 2010, 18:00
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Hello to all ! wow ! awesome replies ! Thanks Alexa_Sasha & RobUK !!!!! I found them really helpful.
Last week I mailed Eurocontrol HR and they told me that I had to wait, because next PHASE 1 testing will take place during March. I will continue being patient... Eurocontrol deserves it !!!!!!!
Cheers !!!!!!!!
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Old 1st Feb 2010, 12:10
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Just one day guys...
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Old 2nd Feb 2010, 13:27
  #311 (permalink)  
 
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Finally I'm invited for phase 2...

If anybody has suggestions, more than welcome...
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Old 2nd Feb 2010, 22:40
  #312 (permalink)  
LIM
 
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Smile

Hey!!!!
Nice to find you all here! I've passed to phase 2 too!!!
Hope we succeed!!!!!!
I've got the Advanced Level in English, would i need the Proficiency Level if i'd join the training course????
Thanks a lot!!!!!!!!
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Old 3rd Feb 2010, 07:52
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Hey LIM,

What's your date for phase 2?
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Old 3rd Feb 2010, 08:20
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-

sorry, not here
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Old 3rd Feb 2010, 18:54
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Phase 2 consists mainly of comunication and team work tasks, there is also an element of stress management involved as there are 4 current eurocontrol controllers/management present during the test. the tests involve speaking, planning, comunication and listening. There is also a team work and reasoning task where your team work skills are assesed. I found phase 2 alot more enjoyable than phase 1 as you get to interact and speak to people,and not just stare at a pc screen all day! Just stay calm, and if english is not you mother tongue practice alot!!
Im on phase 1 training in toulouse now, and trust me guys and girls it is most definatley worth it, so try hard!! .
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Old 3rd Feb 2010, 22:14
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Hey Irs33,

Thanks for the post, it's very useful, appreciate...
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Old 4th Feb 2010, 13:50
  #317 (permalink)  
 
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Passed to stage 2! Amazing! Was convinced I had failed the SDM test as I didn't spot any of the opposite conflicts!

Alexa_Sasha- if you mean expenses then mine came through today, so if you havent got them then maybe get in contact with them?
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Old 7th Feb 2010, 20:02
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Well done to everyone that has passed phase 1 or 2 recently, congratulations and keep us updated.

@RobUK: No envelopes of cash anymore for expenses?
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Old 11th Feb 2010, 12:15
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i passed the 1 and second day in august that passed the 3-rd day in September 2008 and failed the interview....

i want to retry in September 2010 ..........


did somebody passed from the second chance?
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Old 12th Feb 2010, 07:16
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The first time I did the tests I failed at ph.2, the second time I failed at the interview...
And now because of my age no chances left....

Did you get any feedback on your interview in 2008? I think it is important to improve yourself while you're waiting for your next attempt. That was also one of the questions they asked at the interview...
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