Start date
 

@Azabeth

?? They told me that the start dates will probably be next summer! When did you pass your stage 3 and how long ago did you do your medical? I was under the impression that there was a huge backlog for the aero courses. Cheers.

start dates
 

i completed my medical in April this year and was informed at my interview that i would be most likely starting in January 2011. With this in my mind, i booked a holiday for this september...I then got a phone call a few days ago offering me an aerodrome course starting 2 days after im due to fly out...NIGHTMARE!
Since then ive been in contact with HR, explained whats happened and they were more then happy to allocate me the course starting in January - just incase anyone else is in the same boat!

starting the process....AGAIN!
 

I applied for NATS about 18 months ago and failed on the personality questionnaire which left me gutted, as it does to everyone else. you find yourself asking....how can my personality fail me? as far as the stage one tests went, i really dont think I could of did anymore than i did...learnt everything they sent my way and i feel they went well.

the time has come that im thinking of applying again however need to make sure that i am prepared for absolutely everything, including the personality questionnaire. this seems although it could be a hurdle again as not only am i now terrified of it as thats what failed me last time, im going to be sub conciously answering what i think they want to hear which obviously i need to avoid doing!

I would appreciate any help or advice on this part of it. im going to prepare for a month or two then apply again and hopefully will manage to be successful this time.

this thread helped me SO much so for any first timers, i would recommend a good read of this thread start to finish and take note!

Claire :) x

Evenin' folks. Gonna say thanks for all the info in this thread.

I'm doing my 3rd stage in 4 days, slightly freaking out as it was the interview that got me last year (though that was stage 2, before they switched to the FEAST system, though I've done that before when I applied to Eurocontrol, didn't reach the interview because I was apparently too 'cocky')

I'm working on my answers to the interview to show off my aptitude for the position, as well as trying to get myself in the right mindset for the Team Exercise.

I'll have to hope that all I've done over the past year has made me better prepared to do this the second time around.

Any extra advice anyone can give me would be more than welcome, and I'm also able to give advice about Stages 1 & 2 if people want them.

Excellent thread going here guys - wish I had bothered to take note and utilised this 9 years ago when I initially applied to NATS! Back in 2001 I got to stage 2 of the process;from what I remember I passed aptitude tests at the first stage then got invited to computer based tests and 2 interviews at the 2nd stage - pretty sure I failed the interviews as I failed to prepare.

Nine years later I am now re-applying having gained a lot of experience in aviation in different roles - I am hoping that this experience will give me a good platform to build on but there will certainly be no lack of prep going in. I'm fairly happy with the maths side of things assuming that they are fairly basic SDT calcs! In terms of ATC knowledge, I have read the PDF on the web-site and familiarised myself with CAP493 and some other docs I've got my hands on; could anyone with recent experience confirm if this is worthwhile or is it a bit of overkill at this stage? Any help would be gratefully appreciated as I just want to do myself justice this time as I can accept it if I don't have the aptitude but not because I was ultimately lazy.:ok:

hey folks, thanks for all this information.

Just a a quick question, do they still ask random city distances in the motivational paper at stage 1 and if so, is it better to know them in miles or nautical miles?

I know you cud convert them but just for handiness which would be better?

Thanks very much :)

hi guys

could some one help me with stage one....i know there are 2 tests when we start and if we dont pass we are asked to leave. i have learnt the pdf they have sent me i am just worried about the second test is it similar to the tests they had sent before being invited to stage one any kind of help would be really appreaciated.

kind regards
tushar

Hi tkolekar

the second part of stage I contains Diagramming and Spatial Reasoning, juz like the exmaples provided in the NATS site. Practising some cubes could b very useful.... for the diagramming part... practise is not a must :):)

Well, just found out I didn't get through. Really annoying as I know I aced three of the tests, but I thought I might have failed the cubes and it looked like I did. Ah well, I hadn't done any cubes practice going into the test, guess I know what to prepare for next year!

Guys/Girls,

Currently busy brushing up on some bits and bobs for a stage 1 at Prestwick next month - could anyone rec a good book that would be good to use for prep(ie shapes etc)? Also, with regard to questions such as distances between destinations, do people generally give their answers in statute or nm and do you take the direct "air" route? I'm also assuming that these questions will be multiple choice - is that correct?
Any help/pointers appreciated.
Thanks :cool:

Joe,
Never assume anything in ATC. :ok:
mingmong, sincere commiserations. If you are really keen, stick at it, but consider having something else up your sleeve, (just in case).

mingmongaloo,

oh am so sorry for you.. well anyways.. you always have a next time.. juz kep your spirits up.. wishing you the best..

Revision for stages 1 and 2
 

For anybody interested. I have seen this advertised on here: www.skytest.de Has anybody purchased the relevant software for the NATS assessment and if so did it help?

repeat over and over.
 

It amazes me that through 300+ page and 6000 posts, about 80% represent the following question (in different variations of course) : How should I prepare for S1? Statistically withough failing those that ask do fail. There are a good number of responses on how to prepare, you just have to go through the posts. Ideally go to page 109 and you will find the necessary links. If you do want to pass, plan-prepare-act. A round of applause for those that answer that 5000 times asked 'idiotic' -according to me- question. Please keep this forum interesting and informative for the sake of others.

It must be wonderful to have the time available to read through 6000+ posts in order to find the neccessary information you need. I don't know if orangoats comments were aimed in any way at my previous posts. Either way I think it would be reasonable of him/her to realise that information posted in February 2009 (18 months ago) is likely to be considerably less accurate than information posted in the immediate past. Exams and assessments may change over time deeming much of the previous information irrelevant to new candidates.

"It amazes me that through 300+ page and 6000 posts, about 80% represent the following question (in different variations of course) : How should I prepare for S1? Statistically withough failing those that ask do fail."

Well it amazes me that as well as having the time to read over 6000 posts, orangoat has had the time to analyse the percentage asking for help on S1 but also that he/she has the 'insider' knowledge to confirm that those that ask for help will, as a result, fail!

I must admit that maybe my experience on S1 substantiates orangoats statistics in that I passed it before I had discovered this site.

"Please keep this forum interesting and informative for the sake of others."

Well in that case please don't contribute to a thread unless you have something constructive to contribute:rolleyes:

Orangegoat is so right! Yes, get through 6000 posts to find the information you want; we all did that, use your critical mind and pick the information you want..connect with others...seek and the truth will set you free :}

Well, this is it. I'm setting off for my 3rd stage in 8 hours. I'm gonna be selfish here and ask for some good luck by anyone who wants to give it.

Naturally I'll be happy to give any advice anybody wants when I get back (I'll be back late Friday, so I'll answer any queries over the weekend).

Hi, i'm sitting my stage one assessment at Prestwick tomorrow, and i've only just stumbled upon this website! Gutted!

I was wondering if anyone has sat the assessment recently enough to remember what kinds of questions come up regarding the pdf document? And also, is it multiple choice or long winded answers they're looking for? I'm not too sure what to expect.

I've been doing some practice cubes and I can easily do a lot of them (like the one in the practice leaflet) but there are a few which I find extremely hard and I'm wondering how high my spacial ability level will have to be. Here's one of the really hard ones - how hard do you find this question? (You need to say which cube/s can be made from the net).

Someone let me know if I'm not allowed to post images like this.

http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/3208/abcvr.jpg

it's 41


took me an age to get it though :ugh:

Sambartram, there may be more than one correct answer...

Glad the real job isn't as hard as that - and thats an easy one!:}

i find that cube quite difficult lol... eeee....

do you know a good source where you can find those types of questions to practice on as its the one test that im not finding many examples on?

im on page 160 so far....so hope the answer hasnt been said cause ill find it by sunday lol

Hi, I am new to this forum, so please be gentle. I passed my stage 1 in June and sitting stage 2 at the end of the month. that is highly irrellevant but background lol.

I noticed at stage 1 that there was only 5 out of 40 candidates who were female. Does this ratio decrease further as testing progresses, and if i am lucky enough to be successsful, are female trainees a rarity.

I dont want to sound like i couldnt cope without female company (much prefer male company tbh) but another girl would be grand.


Thanks in advance

Hi apologies if this appears twice, i thought it had already posted (i am blonde so bear with me). I passed stage 1 at the end of June and am sitting stage 2 shortly. At stage 1, only about 10-15% of canidates were female.

Now i know this probably varies from intake to intake but is this a fair figure for actual trainees. I noted also that none of the ladies had to leave during the embarressing break in the middle.


Now i love male company, (probably more so than female) but i dont (assuming i am successful) want to be the only female trainee, but could see how this would have its perks lol!.

sambartram,
I have studied this for 10 minutes now and still cannot reach a conclusion!
Explain to us why 41 is the correct answer.
Surely it depends on the orientation of the assembled cube, and what position in space it is viewed from.
As notnek says, there could be more than one correct answer, as 50% of the assembled cube's surface is invisible to the observer.

Zooker: For this question there are exactly two of the four cubes which can be created from the net. Sambartram found one of them. It doesn't depend on the orientation and the rest of the cube - if you create a cube using that net and rotate and reflect it, you'll be able to reach only two of the answers given.

This is the hardest cubes question (for me) which I've seen but I won't be able to tell you how this compares with the difficulty level of the actual test until next week (I suspect that only the questions near the end of the test will be this hard).

Ah, so now reflection is introduced into the equation as well! - 'Smoke and mirrors' eh? :}
Best of luck to all of you.
Oh, and if it helps, the head of the company that peddles this nonsense allegedly lives in the tax-haven of Jersey. :E

ZOOKER
 

Sorry Zooker, I am lost!

Don't quite get you when you say the "head of the company that peddles this nonsense".

Can I ask what 'nonsense' you are referring to?

SKOS,
certainly.
The cube and diagramming tests etc, discussed at length on these pages, developed by those who allegedly provide "workplace talent assessment solutions", and yet are totally irrelevant to the task the prospective candidates are hoping, eventually, to undertake.

It's 44, innit?

41 and 44 are the two correct answers.

I can't remember now whether I decided 44 was wrong, or whether I stopped looking after I decided that 41 was correct....

either way, good to know I need to improve! :D

Anyone got results yet for 30th July Stage 1?
 

took the stage 1 last Friday, and the HR lady gave me the impression that we would find out within the next few days - haven't heard anything yet, wondered if anyone else has?

Didn't find this forum until after I sat the tests. Just learn everything - you'll have to at some point anyway, and the spatial tests are not as hard as that cube posted above, but still study and practice... I did a bit of practice using "paper toys" as well - helps you to understand the 3-D side of things, have a look here:

Paper Toys - Paper Cut-Outs - FREE at PaperToys.com

helps you to get your head around it all!

Applied for Eurocontrol as well - very keen on this career!

Good Luck to everyone sitting tests!

octopus;

I too have my stage 1 tests shortly, wonder if you can answer a few question for me...

How in depth is the numeracy test and was it indeed based around speed/distance/time Q's?

If not what other sort of Q's was there on the numeracy test?

Did you find the ATCO test particulary difficult? What sort of Q's come up?

Thanks in advance.

Paper Toys
 

Hi octopus4848,

Just wondering where on the Paper Toys site you were referring to cos I have been on the site and there is so much 'irrelevant' stuff I am not quite sure where to go to find what you were referring to?

I have my ATC first assessment on Friday 13th August at Prestwick. I have a few questions to ask to help me prepare for the assessment.

How does the assessment last? How many parts are there on just the first assessment? Are the time based assessments?

What are the different parts of the assessment? What can I study or do to help myself prepare for other parts that dont include the information pack that NATS send you? Is there arithmetic? If so what type of arithmetic?

Sorry for all the questions.:O

SKOS,
Perhaps 'Paper Toys' originates from the same mind-set that gave us 'diagramming' and cube-tests'. :}
Certainly no connection whatsoever with the control of air traffic. :ok:
P.S. isn't "cos" an abbreviation for a cosine, or are you a lettuce fetishist? :E

hi guys

i keep reading posts regarding cubes wht exactly do we have to study for it, is it cubes of numbers or some other test. if it is some other test where could i find practice questions for it any help would be really appreaciated.:uhoh:

thanks in advance
tushar

for cubes look at post 6152