visit
 

Hi

I have my stage 3 in a fortnight and have just tried to arrage a visit to a Nats establishment, and spoke to someone who said that visits were not allowed by any Nats establishment, and couldnt give me any numbers to call. (I spoke to someone in general enquiries)

I am currently in Manchester and if anyone has any advice for me on how I could possibly arrange something it would be greatly appreciated.

Lemony

check ur pm's lemony

Site visit
 

Hi,

Like lemony I have my stage 3 in a few weeks and I have been trying to arrange a site visit. I had a similar experience with not being able to get anywhere on the phone. I am staying in Glasgow at the moment so I would prefer to visit Prestwick but I am happy to travel in I need to.

Anyone got any ideas on how best to arrange something?

Thanks.:)

Got my invite for S1 today :) So clearly not a problem with my eyesight.

Booked for the 12th in Prestwick so fingers crossed!

3rd stage
 

balsamico whens ur 3rd? mines 17th at bournemouth

Manchester visit
 

I went for a visit at Manchester tower before my stage 3. After getting passed through many numbers I finally found who I needed to talk too. Call 01614995348
I started with manchester airport switch bored, got given the control tower number, then the watch commander number then finally this number, carnt remember her name but she sorted it out strait away from me. I only needed to bring a copy of my e-mail asking me to interview for stage 3 and a form of I.D.

Stage 1 on the 7th of April! Cant wait! :ok:

lowlevelowl..that me, u and lemoney so far then

Hope today's stage 3 interviews at Bournemouth went ok... I was the jibbering/giggling idiot on the automated training assistant sim! :)

Automated Training Assistant
 

What is automated training assistant?

It's a training simulator which uses voice recognition so that it allows students at the college to do a simulator run without real people playing the role of pilots and driving the radar simulation (as is normally the case) - quite a clever bit of kit!

Just wanted to book my S3 for 17th as well though it's gone now. Probably there's a limit of applicants per day. Need to wait till 1st of April now :(.

I wish I had booked it when I got an email though that just gave me an extra time so I could possibly try to visit one of nats units before the actual assessment. Any advice how to manage that would be appreciated. ;)

Any way, good luck lads, fingers crossed :ok:.

ah so you were the one giggling away, put me right at ease if you got through..... ;)
now it's just the waiting game, hopefully not too long

I'm a bit worried that I'm going for my stage 3 a little too soon, as I have stupid amounts of coursework to do in uni and wont have much time to make visits and do prep. None of the later dates work for me either :{

I could sacrifice a grade, and if I passed the interview I would be more than happy I did so. Decisions decisions...........:confused:

Thank you for that number jking101, I have a visit arranged now :}

Stage prep
 

Lemony,

My advice would be to contact HR and opt for a later date (more dates become available)

Don't go into Stage 3 unprepped because if you fail it's another 12 months to wait. Concentrate on your C/W and most importantly don't stress! :ok:

There's no real timescales when completing the stages, I took at least a month in between mine since there is no rush

Good luck!
S :)

Thanks
 

Hi folks,
Just to say I've been quietly observing for a while and found out yesterday I passed my Stage 3 (2nd attempt), so likely starting at the college in October... can't wait! There's some good advice on the forums and it certainly helped calm my nerves if nothing else. Anyone else going to be on that course? Think it will be 225 but not sure.
As far as advice for Stage 3 goes there's really nothing to be said that Nats doesn't tell you beforehand, just think of example questions for each competency and think of specific examples from work/home/hobbies etc. I wrote down about 4 or 5 possible questions and answers for each and just kept reading them, then when the interview came round I was never in the situation where I had to blurt out the first answer that came into my head! And don't worry about technical stuff, as long as you have a basic understanding, because they only technical questions they will ask are about points that YOU have brought up.
So thanks again to all the helpful posters and I'll hopefully be seeing some of you in October!

congrats bigbadgav:ok: day 1 waiting for my S3 results, 14 potential working days to go!!!

Cheers, good luck! I had my Stage 3 last Tuesday and got results the following Thursday, so about 7 working days. Having said that my friend got his answer on the 15th day a few months back! Don't know why it takes so long as they make the decision on the same day as the interview, must just be admin stuff.

Hey everyone,

I've been lurking this site for a while and been working on a NATS FAQ that can answer a lot of repeating questions you may have about the process.

I have only just begun and have finished the very first portion of the process all the way to the register online and test....it goes step by step what to do as far as I understand it. If there are suggestions on what could be added or what not, that would be great.

I would also like to start working on S1 - S3 for the hiring process and then I will work on what it is like at the training academy and also at your job.

Would anyone be willing to forward me some information about S1 - S3 so I can get the ball rolling on these areas. It won't take me long to get it taken care of as long as I have the information.

I didn't have any information when I started the first portion so I actually went and applied for NATS online and went through that whole process so I could write a detailed summary of what to expect. Now I can't continue through S1 and so on because I live in the United States and work for the FAA as a controller so this is where I need everyone's help to create the other portions.

I will also be working on a Eurocontrol one as well when I get some time.

Hope you like what I've done so far. The link is below and it is only two pages long at this point: You can hit the next page button once you get on page 11 if you would like.

Air Traffic Control - ATC Information - Page 11

Air Traffic Control - ATC Information - Page 12

stage 3
 

I thought stage 3 involved a team-work exercise and the interview however, you guys are talking about a simulator and having stage 3 in bournemouth.

Has something changed? Are there no more team work assessment?

Skytest Nats Atco Screening Disc
 

Hi Ginnersam,

Check thread 245 for an answer!

SKOS,

As far as I know, if your Stage 3 is held at the college in Bournemouth, you get a look round the college afterwards - I was being 'watched' on my simulator a few weeks back and I think the same happened to Jonathan!

Sorry if I misled you - the sim is not part of stage 3, I just happened to be doing a run (I'm on an Area course) while some stage 3 applicants were being shown around the college after their interviews.

SHL Tests
 

Ah pap.

I've just completed my online tests prior to my S1 on Friday, and while I think I got almost everything right on the first section (except 2 that I know of, cos I was too trigger happy with the mouse :/ ) I think more than half the questions on the second section are going to be wrong. :(

For those of you with the same gutted feeling, finding Sean's post cheered me up a bit :p

So hopefully it'll be fine!! Can anybody else who's been successful at S1 confirm this?

Who else has their S1 on Friday 12th at 1300?

bulletsamurai: I know the feeling!! Also on the 12th at 1300 :)

I was just doing the practice tests online and the standard/question level seems to be much higher than the sample questions in the NATS documents!

It's not really encouraging me to sit the SHL exam for real :bored:

Can anyone who's been through S1 shed some light on this please? IS the standard in the SHL practice tests and online test harder or broadly in line with the S1 exam (I'm specifically referencing the tables of raw data and calculations in the practice test)

Thanks a million :)

sorry but..
 

just got my response to stage 3, sadly i'll not be at the college this year, fingers crossed for everyone else, 12 months and counting till reapplication :ugh:

got my stage 3 back as well didnt get in either :( never mind

hey guys,

sorry to hear that :(

But look on the bright side: the next time you apply you'll have way more experience than the others. So don't be sad as I've heard loads of guys and gals didn't make it for the first time and now they are atcos/trainees.
May I ask you where your interviews were?

we were inteviewed at Bournemouth, got to look around the college which really got my hopes up, even if there were people giggling at the workstations :rolleyes:good luck to all still applying

Jengajen
 

Unless stage 1 has changed massively since I did it last year then it's hard to compare the online test with SHL as on the test day you are only timed to do 40 odd questions and not on acomputer. Therefore you will have longer to do the ones you get stuck on and then fly through the others. I passed stage 1 last year and given the time pressure in the online tests I found them more tricky than the tests at nats. With regards to calculations , I would say they are more to prepare you for what is to come. I did no such calcs last year just relatively simple dst questions. Rather than back calculating to find that bloomin " ? ".
As probably said before I would say that to learn the ATC stuff backwards. If you score ok in the maths type questions and do poorly on the motivational stuff, I guess it won't be a great result. I don't think stage 1 will be as bad as you think if you have done enough prep.
Good luck to you and all stage 1 people. May see some of you at whiteley on 19th am session

Stage 2
 

I have am doing stage 2 tomorrow.

I'm kind of frustrated as their doesn't seem to be any way to prepare for it - unlike stage 1 where we had to learn the ATC document and knew there were DST questions involed. I've read what FEAST tests are - but obviously I don't know exactly which tests NATS use. Also what are SDM tests - which was mentioned on their email?

Does anyone who has recently gone through stage 2 have any advice?

Thanks!

SDM = Strip Display Management

The test is basically a simulation of a control environment where you have to conduct a number of tasks such as updating flight progress strips. It's all explained very thoroughly before you begin the test and you get up to about an hour (if I remember correctly) to study the training material before you start. I really enjoyed this part of the day when I did mine, was good fun.

Basically you can't really prepare for stage 2, I believe that is part of the point - presumably allowing NATS too assess how quickly and efficiently you can pick up and learn new tasks, particularly whilst under pressure. Try not to worry about it and just be relaxed and focused on the day, everyone is in the same boat so you won't be the only one who is perhaps feeling a little under prepared.

Thanks Pat42!

You advice was helpful. It's a relief to know that we get a good amount of time to study the material on the day before doing the actual assessment.

Fingers crossed for tomorrow!

I applied last year, and didn't make it further than Stage 1...so i'm already doing better this year!

Just, really want to get to interview stage!

Good luck to everyone else going through any stage right now!

SHL tests and ATC knowledge paper
 

Hi all, i have my stage 1 tests in prestwick on friday. I hope this is not a stupid question but regarding the shl online tests you have to complete prior to stage 1, do you just follow the link to the shl practice tests on the page where you booked your stage 1 timeslot? Then follow the link to try the free 3 trial tests?...are these the tests they are talking about?

Also, regarding the atc knowledge paper provided by NATS, there is quite a few details of aircraft specifics.....do you need to know those inside out for the stage 1 test?

I appreciate any feedback at all, thanks.

KFM
 

I just followed the link they give you in that email and then you have to register. Then simply follow the instructions.

With regards to the aircraft specs, it has been covered before, but you will need to know the basic info such as which aircrafts can do a transatlantic, rough speeds as they may ask what aircraft is likely to travel at x knots etc...
Hope this is helpful

@kudos_ni, you get one and a half hours to study the material for SDM Test, then you get couple of minutes for practice it and then you entitled to a break which after you undertaking actual SDM Test which lasts for about 38min. It's quite fun, though I found the voice of the woman which tells you the instructions quite annoying :}

Apart from that you will do 3 NATS tests and FEAST test which involves 6 other tests. I won't tell you what they are about cause that will miss the point of the computer tests.

@KFM, you supposed to get another email with a details to SHL online test.

# just realised that kudos_ni is having a S2 today :suspect:. Any way, info might be helpful for the other in the future.

stage 3
 

I am not convinced letting others know about these tests 'will miss the point of the computer tests' as you put it and my reason is this; When NATS tell you about cubes, diagrammatic, motivational paper and SDT as tests to expects in stage 1, are they also compromising the effectiveness of the tests?

Letting candidates know of what to expect interms of the style of questionning or type of tests I believe is very different from telling them what the answers to these are (I think that is exactly what NATS do at stage 1).

You are probably right, though in my point of view, just as Pat42 has mentioned, the point of the computer tests is to assess how quickly and efficiently you can learn new task, while the S1 is rather testing things like your knowledge, spatial reasoning etc. JBoth of them though are testing your ability to do very important job so I think you should be honest with yourself while doing them.

That's why I thought letting people know what tests exactly they are going to be doing spoils the point. Anyway, if someone is really curious, the details of them can be found even in this thread, but I actually enjoyed the fact of going for the S2 just with the basic overview of it and undertake the tests as they went, trying to do them the best it could have done after being given the instructions.

No offence to you, it's only my humble opinion :ok:

heathrow house
 

i take it Nats is still not running S1's at Heathrow house yet?