Stage 3 assessment day
 

Hi everyone!
​​​​​​I've been reading this chain for a while now and this is my first message here. I'll be having my stage 2 assessment the 28. of August. I'm feeling quite confident (still very nervous though), as there is no way to prep yourself for FEAST/DART and I think I know the booklet well. However I was wondering if anyone could tell me how the "exam" about the booklet is? Multiple choose questions or open ones?

Yes sorry I meant that it was the last place on that particular course.

From the BBC a few days ago

The UK's main air traffic service provider has launched a recruitment drive as Scotland's airports gear up for what could be their busiest summer on record.
National Air Traffic Services (Nats) want students who are about to receive their exam results to consider becoming air traffic controllers (ATCs).
Graduates and people "from all walks of life" are also being urged to apply.
Nats said it was responding to a predicted surge in flight numbers.
It expects that by 2030, 355 million passengers will fly to and from the UK on over 3.1 million flights - an additional 500,000 extra flights per year.
This summer alone is forecast to be the busiest on record, with daily flights across the entire UK peaking at more than 8,800 in a single day.

Aberdeen Airport controllers handle 100,000 flights a year

Nats currently has about 1,670 controllers, whose job is to manage the flow of aircraft through UK airspace, at 13 of the country's busiest airports, including Glasgow and Aberdeen.
It is looking to recruit more than 200 trainees a year to keep up with demand.Have you got what it takes to become an ATC?


Nats has developed a series of "mini-games" to help people decide whether it is the kind of career that might be right for them.
They test a range of basic cognitive skills that are required by controllers - the tests include shape-tracking, a sequential memory test, reactive avoidance, and a landing game.

Heaselgrave, general manager of Nats at Aberdeen Airport, said: "We are looking to recruit a good number of ATCs over the next few years and we are looking for people from all walks of life.
"We are not necessarily looking for aviation geeks - we are looking for people who want to get into a job that is exciting, demanding and lives at the centre of the airport.
"It is not necessarily about academic capability - it is about aptitude. Yes, we would like people with a good basic mathematical brain but we are also looking for decision-makers, for people who can prioritise and people who can multi-task."Candidate requirements for Nats:

• ATC candidates are only required to have five National 5 grades (A-C); a degree is not necessary
• Trainees are paid and, when qualified, can earn a six-figure salary
• On average, only one in every 200 candidates is hired
• It takes around three to four years from the initial application stage to validation for successful candidates

Source: NATS
Elaine Dickins, 29, from Reading, has been working as a trainee at Aberdeen Airport for the past four months.
She made the move after working in oceanography.
She said: "I was looking for a change and someone suggested this. I looked into it and it seemed like exactly what I wanted so I applied.
"It has been really fun so far. There is an element of pressure but they train us very well."

Ms Dickins picked a busy location to launch her career.
Each year, 100,000 planes and helicopters take off and land at Aberdeen Airport, which boasts more air traffic controllers than London Heathrow.
From Aberdeen, aircraft take engineers out to oil and gas rigs and to the offshore wind farms in the North Sea, making it the busiest heliport in the world.

Just failed the Basic course at CTC. Absolutely crushed. All down to one bad sim run as per the feedback I have.

Email me if you need any course info or literature. If you can figure out how to on this most Orwellian of websites.

To anyone enrolled and waiting for their course to start, HR should be sending you out some pre-learning material by email. If they haven't done this yet, chase them, as it's highly beneficial. Don't go assuming they're organised.

Sorry to hear that

Will you get a chance to resit at all?

I hope so. The course manager has 15 working days to declare whether or not I have a recourse, or whether I'm kicked out. If the latter, I can appeal it as per their process.

Hello everyone :) !

I was told recently about the NATS forum and I have gone through the last 20+ pages .
Couldn't find what I was looking for and now I am asking for help .
Also , visited savilleconsulting.com - there is a lot of info but I do not know which of those tests to start practicing . They are so many and different format tests for stage 0+1 .
Also , are they 3 single tests ( stage 0 ) taken one after another or is a one combined test . How much time I have got to do the test/s .

Wiill be very happy if someone could help me .

Hi all, I have a question regarding second chances for stage 2.

Unfortunately I failed FEAST. I read the blurb at the beginning of the test and there was a fair amount in there about them holding on to FEAST results, and that those who fail and then pass it a second time round are shown be statistically much more likely not to go on to validate, etc.

Personally I believe I was having an off day / couple of days preceding stage 2 and could do better in the future, though having read the introductory pages that mentioned the above, it has me concerned that even if I technically passed the whole of stage 2 on a second attempt, I could still be failed on it (and there's no feedback or reasons given specifically, so I would never know for sure if this was the case).

Just wondering if anyone has successfully passed stage 2 on a second attempt having previously failed FEAST?

IIRC stage 0 and stage 1 comprised of tests that needed to be done 'in one sitting' but you get an indefinite break in between each of the 3 tests within each stage; you can just leave the window open on the instruction pages/examples. I think each section was 10 minutes except diagrammatic reasoning (the last test of stage 1), which was either 15 or 20 minutes. It was a fair while ago I did stage 0+1 so don't hold me to it though.

Hi. I'm filling in the application for this and have just got to the CV uploading bit. do they just want a standard CV or should i tailor it towards NATS?

Just sent application!
 

Hello just sent application for the nats job and got a reply to do stage 0 tests. Any advice on where to do practice tests?

cheers from UK!

princeofpersia

I have my Stage 3 Assessment next Tuesday (21st), feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment as my current work got extremely busy over the past few weeks so I haven't had all the time I would of liked to prepare.
Anyone that has gone through the Stage 3 day recently please let us know the sort of questions they ask etc? All I can find is based on the competency is that ask about staying calm in a stressful situation (kind of the situation I am in currently!)
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Vexr;


Thank you Vexr for helping me :)

How did you get on with stage 3? Hope it went well. I'm just waiting to get my stage 3 booked but no dates suitable for me just now unfortunately.

Stage 3 day went well I think, nerves did take over for the first few general interview questions but I believe I pulled it together for the majority of it. Only time will tell and I really hope I have passed, just a shame it's a 15 working day wait!

It's a max of 15 working days, I only waited about a week for my Stage 3 results ~ 6 weeks ago.
They just put that to cover HR in case they're snowed under with work.

How long did it take you to get a medical arranged? I emailed them out of ours on Sunday, still waiting a reply.

Took about a week after sending back all the medical forms for them to give me a date about another 5 or 6 weeks away for medical.

Just been called and was told I was successful! Over the moon and booked on to the course starting in Feb at Jerez (as long as medical and security clearance is fine!) Really wasn't expecting to be told so quickly!

Its okay. Got the email to say I passed stage 0. I was worried about the verbal part because english is not my first language!

Nats experience controller
 

Is the interview procedure same for experienced controller as well

hey man, congrats.....i was just informed that i am also on for the date february at jerez. Do u know any forum for the guys that study there??

February Jerez
 

I have been a creeping lurker for a while on this forum. I have my stage 2 test in September and just wanted to say hello to all the hopefuls in my shoes, and well done to all those whose shoes I one day hope to be in!

welcome to the forum. I have been lurking on this forum too. Wish you all the best next month.

Hi, any insight from jerez for us starting on february?? Please share information or a group if you have one

any news form jerez ?? Please share info from there

Thanks! I see you're from sunny Glasgow too. What stage in the process are you at yourself?

Jerez - FEB 2019
 

Hi Everyone,

I would just like to start by saying that this forum has been great whilst I was going through the application process at NATS. If you haven't already guessed I've been lucky enough to be offered at place at FTE Jerez in Spain starting Feb 2019. I just felt like since I've gained so much off this thread, I thought I'd give details of my experience for those currently going through the process or thinking about it.

My application started at the very end of last year when I sat Stage 0 online, now this was a long time ago and I don't remember much except it was a fairly standard aptitude test. A few days later I got sent a link for Stage 1 (online), similarly in my opinion a slightly more advanced aptitude test (again, this was a longggg time ago) - something to note is that they give you quite a strict time constraint by which you need to complete the next stage.
N.B. The links expire if you begin and leave, you then can't go back to the test.

I think again it was only a few days after that I received an email saying I was successful and to get myself booked onto Stage 2. I booked in for around mid-feb, this stage is based in CTC Whitley. Before arriving you are expected to study a booklet that they give you on air traffic control, nothing too daunting, don't worry! The day begins at 08:00 if I recall correctly, first test being a multiple questionnaire on the booklet. Then straight onto the FEAST test, this was a few hours, then a short break. I strongly advise you take a packed lunch, I took cash expecting some sort of shop but all there was were vending machines. Finally, the DART test and then home, can't remember what time the day finished - apologies.

Another email a few days later with a congrats and a link to book onto Stage 3, these are now based at several places; Swanwick or Prestwick I believe. I waited and booked mine for the end of August due to university; I always stayed at The Solent when I travelled down, its a five min. walk to CTC. I was told to arrive at 10:30 for my interview and I was finished by 12:30. Unbelievably I received a phone call the next day saying I would start a course in Feb 2019 in Jerez!* Over the moon!

*This is based on passing security and medical...

So, that was my experience I thoroughly enjoyed the process and wish anyone els the best of luck!

I just failed the stage 1 tests because of unnecessary stress tbh. Will yhere be an opportunity for me to try again next year? :(

Attended CTC for Stage 2 Assessments yesterday. After a 90 minute delay in starting (thanks for the free Costa though!) thanks to an update to FEAST taking the whole thing down, 11 of us eventually got started.

No real nerves, which I was a little surprised at, as we sat in the room. Written paper was fairly straight forward IF you've read the document you're told to read and learn - although make sure you get some Distance/Speed/Time calculations practised also! Onto FEAST itself and thought I'd done OK with the exception of one part which I thought I'd royally screwed up. The nerves only kicked in when the results were brought into the room. However, name not called out which saw a massive wave of relief shoot through...

6 of us then left to do FEAST-DART. Felt OK until the final of the 6 tests here. Again, really thought I'd screwed it up when I realise I'd read instructions for one element of the final test wrong!:

NOTE TO OTHERS - RTFI AND READ THEM AGAIN AND AGAIN!!

Thanks to the delayed start (and someone having an unfortunate "incident" on a rail line somewhere), missed my flight home last night so got myself booked into a hotel. Back into room from brekkie and the wait was over - congratulations email in my inbox telling me to expect a further email to book in for a Stage 3 interview! So much for 15 working days, only just over 15 hours!!

So to those who've left tips, hints and advice - I thank you. For others yet to attend CTC and Stage 2, really really take your time and read the instructions!

Now, where's my last competency based interview notes...

Well done, Trevor! I'll be taking on board your RTFI instruction...this is usually my downfall as I try to read them too fast to save time.

Good luck with Stage 3!

Thanks Natalie!

There's a good amount of time with the last one so taking an extra few minutes won't do you any harm at all. Obviously can't say what you need to be careful of however reading and understanding the instructions for Part 6 of DART will save an awful lot of trauma/worry...

Hey everyone, I sat the Stage 2 last week and I was just wondering if anyone else had too and if they'd heard if they were successful or not yet? I passed FEAST but DART was an absolute nightmare for me so I'm not expecting to pass but I wasn't actually expecting to pass FEAST so you never know...!

With the Stage 3 interviews now being conducted in Prestwick as well as at CTC (and possibly Belfast I believe), I have heard that interviewees did not have to do the final Eurocontrol Computer based assessment to keep a level playing field as this can only be done at CTC and not Prestwick.
Does anyone know if this decision is being applied across all Stage 3s now, even if on certain days the only Stage 3s being conducted are at CTC?

That's what I was told at the end of my stage 2 in July at the CTC, got my stage 3 with them in October.

I was also at stage 2 in July and was told there would be no Eurocontrol assessment. I've got stage 3 at Prestwick in October.

What day/date were you at CTC?

Hi all. I failed the DART test on my Stage 2 some time back; does anyone know the current situation regarding re-applying? It used to be a 2 year wait.