Anticipation Over!!!
 

Got my S1 results and its bad news again.. 3 and out for me which leaves me hugely dissapointed, but this time i decided to make sure i got feedback of HR by asking in polite manner.

Credit to HR, they gave me my test scores which kind of suprised me... 83% in the motivation... 84% in the diagramming... 50% in the cubes (i always did hate them cubes) and 50% in the SDT!!

Quite obvious were i went wrong but a few positives were i only answered 25 cubes and 14 SDT so in terms of accuracy, i was quite high... just wish i would have realised NATS did not mark negatively!!

Good luck to all current and future applicants... this forum has been really helpful, just wish i had found it 3 years ago!!!

Sorry on the news Ian, it seems this week is a good week to hear back from stage 2 results but not for stage 1 results :(

Have you tried getting feedback before? did you email or ring them up, as I would very much like to get back what you achieved. Also I'm sure you know but if you're under 25 why not give Eurocontrol a try?

cheers

Joining in with the good news for stage 2, I just found out I passed stage 2! woop woop! I had (again) convinced myself that I'd failed, but I can't believe I heard back so quickly. I only did it on Wednesday and for stage 1 I had to wait the full 15days which was driving me crazy. I did kick myself today because I got the e-mail about 3pm, and only just saw it... 7 hours later... after checking once an hour all yesterday and this morning.

Ok, I'm rambling now, but it's because I'm home alone and so have no one else to tell right now!!

Thank you everyone here for helping (and being here for me to ramble at!!)

PS 82, Lizplt, Lemmingsjump
 

Congrats to you all!
So have any of you booked a stage 3 date yet?
Lizplt, what sort of info is in your Radio Nav book that is beneficial for stage 3?
PS 82, I to have been asked to do the online tests, although if i remember correctly it's nothing to worry about and has no bearing on whether you get through the selection process or not.
Have any of you emailed Clare yet or heard back from her?

To anyone else,

Is the stage 3 interview just based on the competencies listed, or do they throw in other things as well and is there any 'revision' that can be done, other than knowing what examples your gonna talk about?

How long is the interview and group exercise, and how long do you spend sitting around?

All help and advice greatly appreciated!:ok:

What's all this talk about a personality test (100 questions) for stage 1? I had my stage 1 yesterday and nobody was given this test! I'm a bit concerned it could have a negative effect on us all if we were supposed to fill something in.

Hey all, congrats to everyone who has recently had good news and commiserations to those who have not. Just booked my Medical for 27th Nov, so hopefully will have a bit of good news for xmas. Anyone who has had their medical I'd be interested to know how long it takes etc and what it incurs. Much appreciated! X x

Hello - NATS medical consists of Eye Test, Hearing Test, ECG, Lung Output, Urine Test (For Drugs etc) reflexes, eye\ear exam, for us fellas the cup 'em and cough test, nice! Height and Weight also measured.

Think it takes less than an hour at CTC (I can't remember exactly)

Wear what you want as it'll take them less than 5 mins to get you out of your clothes and into a fetching robe! The ladies were very helpful and will put you at ease during the process.

Just a note on the Urine test, they'll ask what medication you have been taking for the last week, including paracetemols\Ibuprofen etc - So unless you have have a good memory, write it down during the week prior to your medica! Good luck

Adam, the book I have is actually the ATPL book for Radio Navigation so I figured it would be useful for the kinds of things that ATCOs use on a regular basis. I think the interview involves asking you questions about things you know about ATC so I just want to make sure I'm showing that I'm motivated enough to look into these things.
Ive booked my S3 for 10th November. Short timing as I come back from Aus on the 23rd!! I cant wait though!

i dont care if you moan and call me lazy or whatever you like..... but...... in Stage 3, can somebody give me an example of how they explained 'different behavioral traits'? also, how long can one be expected to sit through the interview?
This is my first interview and I can't search 'stage 3' in this thread, so any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Generic interview preparation?
Read the previous, lets say, 20 pages??
Buy/borrow generic interview books?

:eek::ugh::ugh:
Generic interview preparation/common sense = as long as it takes? Have you seen the NATS pdf for stage 3 competencies? Maybe as long as it takes for you to answer?

:\

oh gee thanks! maybe my motivational speech will be how i trawled through 20 pages for info on this lark. or am i even that bothered?

If your not that bothered then withdraw your application. You can't expect the job to be handed to you on a plate, you have to be willing to put yourself out a bit. And if you aren't willing to do that for one interview, then you're not going to last 5 minutes when you get to the college.

20 pages? I know applicants (myself included) that've read the whole thread. But thats because they want to be an ATCO.

This lark? If thats how you perceive the selection process, why are you participating in it? As Leanne says above, why not withdraw your application?

You sound particularly aggreived that you have to participate in your stage 3 interview, you're not obliged to attend, are you even at stage 3? I would've thought the OPQ would prevent unattractive traits and characters like yourself from progressing to the interview.

:hmm::bored:

Lizplt: Congratulations!

Adam28: Check out 'Air Traffic Control' by Graham Duke, I picked up the 10th edition for about a tenner on amazon. It's a really useful book to have a read through!

Think i'm booking mine for the 18th, gives me time to prepare and get a tower visit in.

I know what ye mean. You are right, I'm not disagreeing with you one single bit, I still don't even know if i really want it, it's not ideal, but i'll do the stage 3 and if i get it, i get it and will do a good job, trust me, and if i dont, then, grand.

Lotis88,

If you're not sure if you really want it, have you been to visit a tower and/or one of the area centres? That might help...

thanks, i just need to get over myself. :*

the initial online test
 

with the initial online test, how long does it take usually to get a result back ? I have been booked in for the stage 1 day already but it said to do the test before attending.. if someone does bad enough in the online test do they get told not to come to their booked stage 1 ?

I wouldn't worry too much about the online tests before Stage 1. The first year I applied it said we "could" do them if we wanted to for practise but although this year they tell you to do it NATS don't actually get the results, it's just so SHL can test one of their tests that they'll eventually sell. Probably so NATS can get some money off their SHL tests. You can put any name or any email address on them so don't worry hugely about it.

Is anyone else doing S3 on the 10th? It's really early but it was either then or two weeks later (i only get a day off in the week every 2 weeks) and I didn't really want to wait that long. Quite excited about the whole thing!

Also, has anyone else got that personality test thing? SHL haven't sent it to me. I just emailed NATS to let them know but I just spent loads of money getting this booth in an internet cafe in Australia so I could sit down and do it and realised it's not there. V annoying. Anyone heard back from Clare the ATCO?

Liz x

xinebessa,

Just to echo what lizplt says, I don't think that the online tests have a major bearing (if any at all) on your results at stage 1. Although NATS don't usually offer feedback various posters on this forum have managed to obtain a small amount of detail regarding where they failed, but I've never read anything by anyone who has been told that they failed due to the online tests.

Lizplt,

I am also still waiting for SHL to email me with the personality test. I got an email on the 13th telling me that I would have to take it and to await a further email from SHL, but nothing since. It seems a bit odd because the email also said, "Once we have received the completed questionnaire a further e-mail will be sent to you regarding the next stage of the process." But I then got an email inviting me to stage 3 almost immediately.

Apparently NATS had some problems with their email system the other week so maybe this is a result of that. I've not got my stage 3 until November 4th so I figure I'll wait until a bit closer to then and if I still haven't had anything a week or so before then I'll contact HR.

I emailed HR for the reason why I failed stage 1, and it was due to 'spatial reasoning' those damn cubes, haha! In many ways it's a relief to find out it was due to that and my maths therefore must have been ok, so it time to train my brain with spational reasoning ready for next year...

but to those who would like to get the reason why they failed I'm sure if you write NATS a polite email they will atleast give you something to those that would like to know, cheers

pat42, i'll be seeing you on the 4th so! i sent HR and email about it, they got back to me today, just gonna do the test now. :cool:

Reading the whole thread doesn't make you a better applicant. What it does do is make you a better informed candidate. Now whether this is a fair or unfair advantage..

..anyway, good luck everyone

S88 (about to sit S2 :uhoh:)

I would have to agree. The truth is that in hindsight, although it may not seem like much at the time, the info available from NATS in their emails and website is actually more than enough to prepare you for every stage and I don't feel that this thread adds a lot to it.

What I have found this thread very helpful for though is helping me feel more prepared. Having read up extensively on this forum about both stages 1 and 2 I don't think I did any better at either stage than I would have had I only been given the info from NATS. But I did feel a lot calmer and more confident on the day of both stages having spoken on here with people who had been through the process ahead of me about their experiences. Perhaps that extra confidence offers a small advantage, but having recently sat stage 2 I must say that I doubt it. Once the tests start you just have to focus and get on with it and the every finds it pretty tough regardless of how much info they had before hand.

No one ever said reading the whole thread did? :\

You're right T250, no one said that. I'm just expressing my opinion that you don't need to read the whole thread to become an air traffic controller.

S88

Got my S1 on thursday down in prestwick at 9am! The joys of a very early start to get down there for that time lol

Just a quick question, Do you get many questions about the aircraft that they have told you about in the guideline document?

Many thanks

Just booked my stage 2 for 26th November at CTC, anyone else going to that one?

Reefie,

I did my S1 earlier this year and didn't get many - to be honest the ones I did get I could have answered without reading the document so if you're a bit of a whizz when it comes to planes you'll be fine!

S88

Reefie,

A very common question, so worth reading back through the thread for a more thorough answer, but....

They only ask a few questions on the aircraft, but you don't know what they will be (and I'm not going to tell you), so well worth learning as much of it as possible or you'll risk missing out on a few marks.

Ok thanks, been revising like mad since i booked interview and that's the only thing i'm worried about lol :-D

Don't get too hung up on it. As I say they only ask a few questions on that stuff. It's worth knowing so you don't throw away good marks, but it's not worth getting horribly stressed over. The motivation paper is generally pretty straight forward, as long as you have read the document through thoroughly and are clear about everything in it then you should do fine :)

where can I go for practice for the Nats test?
 

Hi,
I have an interview next week,it is my first one to sit the test,I have the documentation and the practice test paper but I feel I need to practice more on the shapes(spatial reasoning) and diagramming where can I get books or similar exercises to practice,i am a private pilot but it seems that I need to prepare my self,can you advise?

Thank you

Competencies?
 

Hello. Where is this competency questions list on the website? I didn't get any link with my invite to stage 3 and i can't find it anywhere. or am i just being dim? :confused:

Click into apply, then application process.

Once here, click on stage 3 and there is a purple/blue link near the bottom of the page.

???
 

thanks but which website is it you are refering to? could you put up a link? thanks

Or alternatively click :- http://atcocareers.co.uk/pdf/Hints-a...-Day-Three.pdf

!!!!!
 

Thanks! Roll on November the 6th!

Ahh Mint Miver Ill be there too!!! I'm really looking forward to it :D

Are you guys finding it tough to think of examples for all those competencies? I've been looking at this on and off for a week now and am still a little stumped for some of them. I mean, I'm fairly sure I have the right competencies, but thinking of specific examples for some of those are really hard. Numerical awareness for example, I use numbers all the time every day - I'm good with math and I've already displayed that at stages 1 and 2 - but I'm really struggling to think of a specific example to display this compentency. Spatial awareness and information processing capacity are also quite tough to think of examples for.