Hello Everyone,

I'm off to Bournemouth tomorrow morning for some stage one fun. Good luck to anyone else that's attending and thank-you to all that have shared their experiences and tips!

:ok:

What time Woodrow?

Anna,

I could re-book, but then I'd need to get a hotel for tonight, and get down there now, which ain't gonna happen I'm afraid. Might see you on your way out as I come in though. Black jacket, blue shirt, black priciples of flight tie if you're looking, probably be sat in a red 207 outside :P

BarryK,

The morning show, 1045.

Are you off there too?

Hi dudes,

Any nice Hostel or cheap hotel near Prestwick ?

Travellodge Ayr is about 5 miles from Atlantic House. Thats where I stayed the night before any tests. Easy to get a taxi in the morning.

Travelodge - Search and book

Four papers down, nervous wait now...

BarryK,

Well done for making it through the first two - I did as well. The numerical section and cubes were tough! How'd you find it?

I got to Cube 3 Q2 first paper, Q47 on the second. Whether or not they were right, however, is a completely different subject! Third cude is HARD!

I got through through all the cube questions but missed the last ten on diagrammatic questions. Time genuinely disappears!

Well done on making it through the X-Factor style cut off. I found that the worst part.

Here's to a nice short wait...

Woodrow, I was at the 1045 one too!

That X factor cut off bit was horrific! I genuinely thought I had failed the numeracy paper so was convinced they were reading the names of those who had failed only to be pleasantly suprised! Other than the S/D/T paper, I found the rest okay did 38/40 questions on cubes and 46/50 on diagramming so we shall see!

How do you think you did?

Well done guys

Anna,

I felt the first 5/6 numeracy questions were deliberately tough to throw you. I thought they eased up a bit after that. I'll agree with BarryK that the third cube was horrendous!

A bit of advice for others - I know people have stressed it before but really go over miles/minute as well as miles/hour and if you're unsure on a question, get over it and just move on.

Yeah you're probably right! I think becasue I find the first 5 difficult I was then in a huge panic throughout the rest of them which is why I was 100% convinced I had failed it! But like I said, was a lovely suprise :)

The 3rd cube was hard! I ended up drawing the net of the cube onto my rubber so that I could see it from different angles; seemed to make it a tad easier!

Well, here's to a nervous wait I suppose :rolleyes:

Seems strange that they mark 50-odd motivation and numeracy papers in five minutes while you wait, but 25-odd diagrammatic and spatial reasoning papers takes up to 15 days.

Quite clearly, they put you under satellite surveillance for two weeks to make sure you're fit and proper.

Hey guys

I have my Stage 1 on the 5/11. Im rather nervous! :( Just a couple of quick questions really to those who have done stage 1...


The RAF S/D/T calculations - are they completely different from those questions? More difficult? Im hitting about 9/10 of those in my head, in around 15-20 secs.

Can anyone reccomend any websites that will allow the practicing of the diagramming type querstions?

Finally - does anyone know whyt the first two papers are marked in 5 mins... yet the others are not? Quite interesting to know that one.

The SHL website seems laid out really odd. No matte what test I attempt, I always end up having to do the same one... its a bit weird.

Thanks

crash323,

The questions on the RAF OASC website are of the easier sort. If you want to be sh1t hot at s/d/t then download the taskbook from Flight Aptitude Test Guide for RAF OASC Cranwell FATS - it's only about £6 they are a lot harder and incorporate some fuel burn questions and get you thinking about multiple factors in one question.

i.e. Two aircraft travelling to Waypoint Z. One aircraft 75 miles away travelling 450 mph, second aircraft 50 miles away travelling 550mph. Who will get there quicker and by how much?

Also, there is a decent diagrammatic practice book on amazon. That too is only about £6. The questions aren't exactly like you get at stage one but they do get you used to shifting shapes around in your head.

Best of luck!

Hey

thanks for that man, really appreciated. I also ment to ask in the previous post - is there any software to practice the cubes???

Thanks again for your help

Appreciated

Chris

Crash,

I had been practicing on the RAF website and went feeling pretty confident about them. However, like o said the questions were a lot harder than I was expecting; harder in the sense that they throw a lot more information and numbers at you, not just the standard 3 that you practice over and over again.

I would advise that you do practice more difficult questions so you don't get a nasty shock like I did!

Saying that though, I clearly did okay seeing as I passed to the final two tests!

Good luck with yours :)

crash323,

I didn't find much help with the cubes but as Anna said, they stick a little rubber cube on your desk which can be used in more ways than one.

Hi, I'm doing my Stage 1 at Fareham tomorrow, & absolutely bricking it!! I've read all the papers from the NATS site over & over, but maths is not my strong point... bought a couple of books on what to expect at test stage, but one was a US version so pretty useless I guess..!

Does anyone know what the upper age limit is, as I'm the wrong side of 45, although have been told by a friend who works at Swanwick, that if you have a general interest in aviation, I might be ok....

There is no upper age limit, although it did use to be 36 until the limit was challenged in court.

Avoiding Action..

Thanks for that, makes me feel a bit better..!

hi :)
i recently passed my stage 1 and have now booked my stage 2
could anyone give me any advice on what to expect from the computer tests?
is there any preparation i can do in advance for the computer tests?
can anyone recommend i decent hotel close to the corporate & technical centre?
thanks

Morning all,

Does anyone have their Stage 1 selection tests in Prestwick on 03/12/2010?

Thanks

hi libertine_ss,

congratulations!!! for passing stage 1.can you share some of the questions in each category as you remembered.it would really be a big help. i will have mine (stage 1) this december. wish me luck, hope we can get through.

Thanks,
DJ1425

@dj1425

well the process is in 4 stages, pass the first 2 and you reach the 2nd 2
in my case, first 2 were theory and speed distance time calculations
the only tip i can give for the theory is to cram every detail of that booklet into your mind. for a couple of nights before it constantly read and take notes on everything, if you're getting a train up, read that booklet from page to page.
for the speed distance time, get out the old school books and revise all of the speed distance time stuff, they are fairly simple if you know your 6 and 3 times tables well. also note that 1 nautical mile = 1.15 miles, this will come in handy. the problem with the speed distance time is you have to be really quick at doing them. simplify the numbers down to make it easier.

for the 2nd 2 papers i had the cube and the diagramming.
for the cube the only practice i could think of doing was creating my own cube out of paper and looking at it from all angles, but i had not anticipated that the folding and layout of the cube would become more intricate and difficult. a handy tip is to draw on the rubber provided, but this takes up valuable time.
for the diagramming i looked at the materials provided and kept attempting the questions over and over. if you get a question wrong, dont just look at the answer and move on, work out why thats the answer.

im sure if you sift through this thread you will find lots of materials to help you with each stage.
i hope my advice helps you and good luck :ok:

Thanks a lot AnnaColes!!!

How did you find the questions? did they ask any FL or number of seats?

Cheers,

could anyone help with how much we should know on distances between cities? there's no info in the material NATS sent out....

Sambatc,

There are a few things in the motivational paper that aren't in the document material. Go the extra mile and learn a little bit as to how an aircraft flies and some other general aviation-related basic knowledge. It'll only help later on if not now.

As for the distances, they're not hard if you have any general sense of geography. They name a few cities in the material so maybe start by seeing how far away they all are.

Best of luck!

Sofia,
I only got asked 2 questions regarding aircraft. One was where a boeing 737-300 was likely to fly and the other was the cruising speed of an Airbus A319. As I had revised the whole document from cover to cover I could answer the questions but they could ask you anything about aircraft so my advise would be to learn it all. The only annoying thing is if you do learn the whole thing, you kinda feel that they haven't asked you enough!

But if you go prepared, you won't be caught out. It's as simple as that :)

Good Luck!

Anna and Woodrow,

Man the waiting sucks, don't it? When the three of us get through, shall we arrange a date for all three of us to go together?

got that sorted...did Aerospace engineering at uni and have worked in the industry for 3 years now ;)


distances between cities...noted ;)

BarryK,

Loving your confidence! It's good :) If I'm lucky enough to get through then yes, definitely :)

Anna

:ok:

Sounds good to me. Get lashed in Soton after being laughed out the door...

Woodrow - Such a pessemist! Be good to have some friends there. Could even all book the same hotel the night before or something?

@libertine_ss,

Thank you very much for your reply.It's really a big help. I wish to see you all at CATC :O if i get through.

Thanks,
DJ1425

Re Cubes Practice, try drawing a net on a piece of paper (make it as difficult as you can), with various different cube nets, and then try drawing the 3 visible faces onto a 3d cube. You can cut the net out if you like to check your answers.

Once you get the way the cube fits together sorted you will have a good shot at it. It worked for me at Eurocontrol (though i thought the cube test was easier!)

Hi everyone!

I am a bit afraid and I was wondering if any of you can help me!!
I did NATS process last year and this is my 2nd attemp, I received an email asking me to carry out an online test where several groups of letters/numbers appear and you have to click on the group that is exactly as the one shown (I guess everybody know what I am talking about).

However, I am a bit worried because I remembered that the first time that I did that test (one year ago) there were two parts, one as I described above, and another made out of quick calculations.

I did the online test and as soon as I finished the test of the groups of letters/numbers, they told me: thank you for carrying out the test, we will communicate with you by email with the results in a few days.

... and thats it! Then changed to NATS home page.

Is that the new system? or I did it in such a horrible way that they do not even want me to carry out the second part of the process?

Do you know when will I receive the results?

It will be so clumpsy to be eliminated in that part of the process...:ugh:

Anybody can calm me down ¿?¿?

Regards

Hola Rinceluis,

Please don't worry because exactly the same happened to me 1 month ago. I only had to complete the online checking test as there doesn't seem to be any arithmetic at this stage in the process and you should hear the results via email within 1 week. I am due to go to Swanick for stage 1 next Thursday..eek!

I'm sure you will be fine and with be able to book your stage 1 soon.

Good luck!

Hi guys,

For the ones that have done stage 1 recently...

How many SDT questions are they? and how much time do you have? can we use any paper?

thanks