found this online may help stage 1 applicants
 

Download Numerical Computation Practice Tests

has various downloads that might be worth trying.

Stage 1 stuff
 

Hi,

Anyone who fancies them can download all the "top trump" style cards about the aircraft spec from NATS stage 1 documents on the following link, They are formatted to add to photos on an ipod touch/iphone or print and cut out as flashcards. Also you will find some psycometric tests and some MP3 files of the NATS data (i listen to it on way to work) from the document of stage 1. Also some info i was given on NAts and the environment (maybe a talking point ???) PLus some other bits, will upload more if i find or do anything helpful
If anyone feels they wish to upload anything of interest, tests etc... then please feel free to do so.
Enjoy
Free File Hosting Made Simple - MediaFire

Thanks for the response Jimmy780! :)

Had S1 yesterday in Prestwick (1pm session) so fingers crossed it's good news in three weeks time...

Hope it went well for everyone else!

Had my S1 at Prestwick yesterday at 1pm too! Hope it goes well for everyone.

Personality questionnaire after stage one
 

First let me say I have read many pages of this forum and I have found it to be an incredible source of information.
My question is about the personality questionnaire after stage one. To my horror I have discovered many people have passed stage one only to fail the personality questionnaire. This is despite NATS saying that there are no incorrect answers. Well obviously there are wrong answers if you can fail and they are looking for some specific personality traits. Does anyone know what these are? Also surely using an online questionnaire is a bad method to determine personality when NATS conduct a 2 hour plus interview at stage 3 which must give much more conclusive results about ones personality.
Please let me know your thoughts.

there are no 'wong' answers...
 

in fact there arent any 'wrong' personalities. There are just indicators that certain types of individual are not suitable for the job or training. Lets face it, you are who you are and even if you can fudge your base reactions for the test, you are likely to come unstuck later down the line.

It may not be perfect, but NATS have tested tens of thousands of applicants and have a decent set of data that corrolates the information gained at S1,2 and 3 plus those that have been put through to courses togther with later additions to the process such as the personality test after (rather than during) S1.

In my opinion (and it is only that but I have been through the process) one of the worst things you will do is try and second guess what NATS are looking for at any stage of the process. No-one knows the metrics NATS use, but I suspect that with the PQ they are looking for consistancy as much as the 'right' type of person. If you answer against your instinct on question 1, will you remember how you deviated when the same question is asked in a different format around question 30? Be yourself, answer honestly and the consistancy will be there. Try to fudge it and I suspect, although maybe completely wrong, that you are more likely to become unstuck.

There is a ton of info on this thread, some of it useful, some incorrect, and some out of date. Its worth remembering what is stated at the bottom of every single page on this forum:

As these are anonymous forums the origins of the contributions may be opposite to what may be apparent. In fact the press may use it, or the unscrupulous, or sciolists*, to elicit certain reactions

Best of luck with your application, I hope it goes the way you want it too. There is no point questioning if NATS have the right process for deciding on candidates. Flawed or not, its their process and you just need to work with it, not fight against it because you arent going to change a thing.

Stage One
 

I've been reading this thread for a while now and I'm a little bit confused....

I've gathered by now that there are SDT questions but I'm getting from somewhere that there is a numeracy part to the motivation paper and then there is also a separate numeracy test. Is this correct? If so, what are the differences in the questions between the two papers?

Visual Standards
 

I've read the ATCO visual standards on the NATS website and wondered if anyone has had corrective eye surgery before applying. It seems that its the 'pre-operative' correction that is considered by med staff - so I guess that correcting your eyes with surgery would be to no avail?

Also, people have mentioned start dates of Aug and Oct in recent posts. Are we talking 2010 or 2011?

Thanks

Nat stage 1 interview
 

Hi guys, I am about to do my stage one interview but I am scared to death regarding to questions asked. Is there any one who just done stage one interview recently(this year) who can tell me exactly nature of questions regarding spatial awareness and diagramming. I would really appreciate any help.

Kritzeen: The numeracy questions on the ATC motivation paper are broadly the same as those in the numeracy paper itself, though if anything slightly easier. Its things like 'if your travelling at x knots, how long will it take to travel y nautical miles'. If you can do speed/distance/time calcs you will be fine.

The numeracy paper then adds in a few more questions, requiring you to divide, multiply, add and the likes, fractions were briefly on there if i remember correctly. Personally, i found the atc motivation and numeracy tests very easy and would be surprised if i got more than 1 or 2 questions wrong.

Dankla: Find the example questions on the NATS website, they are exactly like that, only with trickier cube nets and more 'functions' in the diagramming test. You have 20 minutes to do (i think) 40 questions, about 10-15 per net. Each question has 4 cubes, though sometimes none of the cubes will fit. The first net isnt too difficult, the later ones though get quite tricky!

You could probably practice by drawing some cube nets on paper, with a pattern on each face. Dont do the standard cross shaped net, thats easy, but try some of the others on here;

http://www.pleasanton.k12.ca.us/plea...etAnswers1.JPG

then once you have a net drawn out, on another piece of paper draw, as quickly as possible all the various face arrangements (there should be 24 in total). Afterwards, cut out the net, stick it together and check that what youve drawn are correct.

Your biggest problem in both tests though is time but NATS keep saying that number of answers is not that important, but ACCURACY of answers is!

Tesla40 RE: Personality Questionaire
 

Hi Tesla,

This has been discussed before, but to go over it briefly:

As NATS say, there are no specific right or wrong answers, you will not fail based upon how you answer any individual question and its not like you get a score which is either a pass or a fail. These tests are a lot more complicated than that!

I know someone who is trained in conducting these kind of personality tests and have had some interesting insight into how they work. Believe it or not, based upon your answers to as little as 50-100 of these kind of questions these tests are actually extremely accurate at profiling what kind of a person you are, even down to your behaviours and habits relating to issues which apparently have no direct connection to any of the questions you may have been asked during the profiling process. I have had numerous of these tests conducted on myself and, on the occassions where I have had access to the results, have always found them to be extremely accurate and have never felt the results failed to be a precise reflection of the kind of person I consider myself to be.

Exactly how NATS use these tests is not known, but presumably through their considerable experience recruiting, training and employing ATCOs for more or less as long as the profession has existed they now have enough data to be able to identify certain personality types which may not necessarily be suitable for the role or may suggest that an individual is significantly unlikely to be successful at training (and thus a waste of everybody's time and money).

As Whitelighter has said, the worst thing to do is try and second guess what NATS might be looking for. Any attempt at dishonesty is often quite clear to the assessors as this undoubtedly also leads to inconsistency and I would imagine this would be as good a basis as any on which to "fail" a candidate. Be honest and be yourself - if your personality is suitable you'll be fine, if it is unsuitable then it is in everybody's best interests (including your own) that this is identified sooner rather than later.

It is worth remembering that no-one has a pre-ordained right to be an ATCO - it is a serious job with serious responsibilities and the simple fact is that some types of people would not be suitable for it, either because they may not be suitably competent or responsible or because they would not be able to cope with the demands of the role. That's not intended to demeen or criticise such people or be all high and mighty - they probably have other strengths in areas where I would consider myself wholely incompetent - its just being realistic.

Strasner

This is just a quick note to say that Ginnersam who is a member of this forum and myself have our stage 1 at Fareham in the same timeslot so I look forward to seeing you there and I wish you the very best of luck.

RichardJCF and Ginnersam i will see you both there, keep going revising. I have two packed days of revising ahead of me, hope i get enough in my head before the tests.

i have been doing the speed/distance/time practice tests on this website "Speed Distance Time | OASC: RAF Officer and Aircrew Selection Centre" which i found from a couple of pages ago and ive been getting progressively better and quicker. which is a good sign. i was wondering if the calculations in the S1 tests were any more complex than these?

S1
 

Absolutely!! but the basic principles remain the same - find examples below:

An a/c is flying at 540mph at FL320, and starts descending at 800feet per minute. How many miles will it travel before it reaches FL250?

Aircraft 40 nautical miles away, at 30,000 ft descending at 3000ft per minute and travelling at 240 knots.. can it make it?

folks, I've got my S1 looming and frankly having not had to do any mental arithmatic for many years I could with cracking on with some revision sharpish, online access is limited so has anyone come across any books that have been helpful, same goes for things like cubes etc. ta

Tallguy, theres a book called Get A Head For The Sky that is highly recommended. Its meant for wannabe pilots but the principles are the same for ATC. Whats more the interview advice is brilliant. Within that there are loads of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division examples, as well as percentages, conversions etc.

Other than that, doing mutliplication tables is never a bad thing.

Re: cubes, see my post from a couple of days ago!

what...?????:bored:

LTS - much appreciated, thanks very much

I just recieved this email from HR at NATS about a change in the S1 tests

Dear Candidate

We are writing to advise you that with effect from 1 April 2010 we are making some changes to our TATC Stage 1 assessment process.

The Stage 1 tests will in future be in two parts. The initial invitation is to come along to part one where you will take two tests, the ATC test, which is based on the information already available to you to learn and a Numeracy test which involves straight forward speed and distance calculations, climb and decent rates. These tests will take approximately one hour to complete and will be scored immediately.

If you score well on these tests you will be invited to remain with us for the second part to take two further tests – Spatial Reasoning and Diagramming. The second part will also last approximately one hour.

Candidates whose scores on the first two tests are below our required level will not be invited to take the second part and will be free to leave after part one.

In view of the above we would like to stress the importance of making sure that you are fully prepared before attending the assessment, in particular making sure that you thoroughly studied the ATC material.

Best regards

Specialist Recruitment
HR Services
NATS


This happens to take effect the day that i switched my interview date to.
Better get cracking on learning speed and distance calculations, climb and decent rates.

Could you help me with theese:
 

I would like to ask those of you who have already been thru theese:

1) At the ball on the wall test I was trying to imagine that if there are 4 screens (2 in the upper, 2 in the lower row) it must be really hard to give correct inputs as the numbers (1,2,3,4) are next to each other on the keyboard... Or is it possible to operate it with buttons that are in two rows (like for examp buttons R,T and FG on the keyboard)?

2) In the Strip Management Display did it ever happen to you that you should have put more strips below one checkpoint than available space is so it got full not leaving any place to put new strips in?

3) Is there any rule or tip how opposite conflict detection should be done? How can I recognize it???

4) When am I allowed to remove a strip? When the system time passes by the time on the strip?

I know these questions seems stupid for those of you who are familiar with strip management, I didnt do anything like this before...

Thanx in advance! http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/sr...lies/smile.gif

Got an email today advising of a change to the Stage 1 selections, deleted it before I thought of posting it on here sorry.

It will now be split in 2 parts where you sit the maths and literacy part (i think) first and if you pass that you will be invited to stay on and do the diagramming and spacial awareness.

Takes effect from 1st April.

amanda, the tests are the ATC test and the numeracy test, if you pass them you have to do the Spatial Reasoning and Diagramming tests.

part 1 will be scored immediatelyso no more 15 day wait.

In terms of how well you have to perform to progress to stage 2 it doesn't really sound like these changes at stage 1 will make a significant difference. As a candidate the actual tests and level of performance required don't sound like they are changing, the changes just mean that if you fail on either of the first two tests you'll find out much much faster and don't have to waste your time doing the other two for no reason.

My take on the recent e-mail about S1 changes is that they're probably responding to the number of candidates who withdraw on the day of the test, especially with regard to the ATC paper.

I took stage 1 in the last few weeks and I think there were 4 (out of about 40 candidates) withdrawals on the morning because they asked if everyone was 'familiar with the NATS website' and the ATC content for the paper.

If this is broadly in line with what's happening at other S1 test sessions then that's roughly 10% drop out on the day so for oversubscribed test dates they end up with empty seats.

Either way, I'm waiting on S1 results atm and was out for a few Paddy's Day drinks yesterday and thought that's what the email was! The wait continues :)

Hey guys, i have got my Stage 1 at 09:00 on 31st March at Whiteley. I am a bit worried as i have left it a bit late for revision as i haven't done any yet :ugh: Do you think i still have enough time to cover everything? Also, can you remind me what exactly is included in the Stage 1 tests? Thanks.

stage 1
 

You dont have to do go for a test you are ill prepared for. It's a whole 12 months wait before another opportunity. You can ALWAYS change or re-arrange your test date to suit you so no need to rush it.

It's just not worth it. Remember, these tests are designed to test even the most capable to for the ill prepared, ur chances are slim.

Only take it if you are confident otherwise choose another date for stage 1 which allows you more time to prepare

Numeracy Test (Compass Headings & Directions)
 

richard and strasner
 

Hope the test went well for you both, i was the only 1 of the 2 girls that was there felt a bit out of place. But good luck to you both. And i just keep checking my emails now to see if they have sent me the results. Let me know how you get on

Hi Tim,

I've recently been allocated onto the August area course, but I think I might have been one of the last ones as I've also read posts here from people being allocated onto courses in October/November.

As a rough indicator I'd factor in about a 6-9 month wait between successful completion of selection (which can take around 3 months itself) and a likely start date at college. You'd have to speak to HR about the possibility of deferal, but I think that as long as you are clear about when you will be free to start at your interview (they will ask you about this) then they will do their best to allocate you to a course that will accomodate this.

I too have heard rumours of the college possibly moving to Whiteley. Not really sure how much truth their really is in this yet, but realistically it isn't going to make a huge difference - it's only about 30 miles away from Hurn and I doubt that if such a move did occur it would have anything less than a positive effect on NATS training and recruitment.

Stage 1
 

Hi everyone,

I'm going to sit for the exam on 31st March and in desperate need to practice compass headings/climb & descent rate questions!!

Sadly, haven't found any sources yet and was wondering if anyone out here is kind enough to help me.

Many thanks!

Thanks for the reply SKOS. I am going to put my Stage 1 date back as i don't think 10 days is enough time to revise from scratch, having not done any so far. This means i will now be doing the tests in the new format. What does everyone think is a suitable amount of time to give yourself to revise from scratch for Stage 1?

i gave myself 2 months but i would say 1 month is enough time

Ginnersam
 

Hi,

How helpful was the Skytest Nats Atco Screening Disc when you sat stage1?

Other than the fact that there's next to no accommodation in Whiteley for someone on a TATC's wage, you'd be trying to get into Whiteley at the worst time and out again and there's next to no public transport.

They said the college was moving when I was there in 2004 and it still hasn't so I wouldn't get too concerned

Moving college
 

At my stage 3 interview at bournemouth during the tour they said that part of the building is condemed and they have to be out by next year so definitly moving!

I had to choose the earliest Stage 1 date offered to me so I only gave myself 2 days to revise and I passed the Stage 1 last month. I am good at cramming to be honest though as that is how I'm getting through Uni!

It is all down to how you learn personally to be honest, some people need more time than others and people learn in different ways.

I have scheduled my Stage 2 for early April and I am under the impression that there is no preparation that can be done for the computer tests. Is this the case? I have read a lot of this thread and I haven't really come across any information to the contrary, except for the link posted a couple of pages back.

What do you think?

Skytest disc
 

The disc was very good. Don't think i would have done as well as i think ive done without it. Just got to wait on my results now. The s/d/t questions i found really helpful to keep practicing on. As i couldnt find anything on the internet that does s/d/t in the same way that they do. I improved alot on my diagraming, spatial reasoning, and compass headings too with the disc. Hope this helps anyone who is thinking about buying it. I think it is a bit of a rip off really but it is worth it if your a bit rusty in some areas and want to practice. You can buy it from this website SkyTest® - Trainingssoftware für: DLR-Test (Lufthansa, AUA, DFS), Swiss, Air Berlin, FEAST (Eurocontrol), Austro Control, Skyguide

As a current TATC at the college, I can confirm that the college is definitely moving to the CTC. The date is not yet confirmed but will be in the second half of 2011.

Consultations about hours etc to avoid traffic jams and long travelling times are already underway - final details like that haven't yet been sorted out, but there will certainly be no TATC training at Hurn after 2011.

Hope that helps a bit.