Hi there ,

I am on the stage 1 at manchester tomorrow. Have followed the advice and have swatted up on everything possible.

Starting to think now that one can be over prepared !!

How many s/d/t questions are there on the paper ? These take me ages to work out !!:ugh:

Cheers guys

there isn't sdt questions at stage 1, or is there? :s

yeah there likely will be a few sdt q's on the motivational paper buddy, nothing too taxing though really.

SDT
 

I think there were 3 or 4 speed/distance/time questions on the motivational paper I had at my Stage 1... if you can divide by 60 and think in miles per minute, you'll be fine!

Good luck to all those who've got things next week...

Can someone explain what is exactly on this motivation paper please? I'm worrying that I'm not prepared :s

It's based on the material you should already have + some DST questions + some distance questions between EU cities :confused:

Nothing more nothing less.

How long does this last and why aren't we given these things to learn on the prep material? How long is the motivation paper?

You should have had links to the document in the email they sent you to confirm your interview?

If not here's the link: http://natscareers.co.uk/docs/test_materials.doc

Print it out and read it every night. I'm planning on summing it up in notes as I remember things better if I note down the important bits and write them out again.

20 mins if I remember rightly. Just don't panic about it. The best advice to give you now is go to bed! Rest will help you more than cramming. Good luck!

Ross,

Nokio's post on p22 gives you details of how long each test lasts.

Perhaps NATS don't give you s/d/t calculations in the prep material to see how your mental arithmetic is without practice, and as for the distances between major cities, they might just want to see if you have some common sense and some idea of the world (you don't need the exact distance, just something in right order... ie. is LHR-JFK 100, 500, 1000 or 3000 miles). Just my thoughts of course - I don't work for HR.

Remember that this job requires some ability to be able to respond to the unexpected - treat these tests with the same thoughts...

Good luck!

KELVIN.

Are you for real. Most ATCOs look at a radar, or monitor as you put it, every working day, and hopefully for the rest of their careers, and you who is applying for the job as an ATCO, deem that as boring. You are coming across with your questions, like you want to become an ATCO as some kind of stepping stone to management. Career progression, you are at stage 2 and already you are slating the job as an ATCO as boring, and want to know what is higher up.

Thanks Carmel for the advice
Ive decided to go for the ATCO but stay in for my A-levels incase.... you no lol
Ive also applied for X-factor so look out 4 me and the Face of DV8 so im just trying to create my luck by going for everything and anything lol

How do they expect you to know the distance between EU cities.... do they give them to you or will they just expect you to know

Hi all,

Just a quick question: How long did you have to wait to hear about your personality questionnaire results? I did mine over a week ago, and have still heard nothing :ugh:

Cheers,

Paul

ABZ

I see youre very young so I will take that as an excuse.

I dont know what school is like nowadays, but if you are used to being spoonfed, you have a long way to go. Sure at the college there is a certain amount of spoonfeeding, but you have to use your own initiative.
Do you really see NATS giving you distances to EU Cities. Youre going to have to use some common sense. Get an ATLAS and start having some appreciation for distances. Not exact, I am sure the multiple choice answers will all be in whole numbers divisable by 100. It will all be common sense. I would certainly complete my A-levels, and use your 1st application as a learning tool. Maybe get some kind of employment, and you will soon mature. I am not being unkind to say that you seem very immature, even for 17, and the profession that you are keen to enter, is a highly skilled professional job for highly motivated people with stacks of common sense and a huge amount of confidence.

Manny
 

The thing is... i am very self reliant and like to research on things like this... i was just looking to know what type of questions they will ask you on eu distances. sorry if my post was confusing.

The xfactor thing erm yea i was entered in by my mum lol she thinks i have a good voice and i didnt want to go for it in the first place..

and yea i am very confidant and dont mind in speaking my own mind lol

PS dont mean to sound cocky or anything just trying to have a civilised conversation and trying to find out what i need and letting others know what im doing!!!!!isnt this what this thread is all about??????

Have stage 1 tomorrow in the tower bridge Hilton. Really looking forward to it- I tend to enjoy these types of tests, but struggly a little bi to remember every details in 24 pages of info!

Its a bit of a career change for me (having been self employed since i left Uni), is it uncommon for career changes into ATCO? i'm 29, which doesn't feel very old, but will i be surrounded with teenagers tomorrow?

always beein interested in avaiation and started my PPL last year (although funds are tight).

pugwash - It's probably varies from day to day but I would think there will likely be plenty of people in a similar boat. When I went I'd guess a lot of people there were in their mid-late 20s, plus a few either younger or older.

Well as NATS have recently removed the upper age limit, previously 36 I believe, there may be a wide variety of ages at your stage 1.

The only 'teenagers' present will be 18/19 year olds!

pugwash4x4,

Hello from another pher (if you are one and the same that is). There are plenty of people your age there so don't worry about that. :)

Pugwash, I'm 28 and just through to stage 3...so no, not too late for a career change! If anything, we've got work experience and life experience behind us.

I'm glad I've worked in other roles before applying for NATS. I've got a wide range of experience to bring to the role and know, without a doubt that this is the single most important interview I will ever be attending (it's tomorrow :uhoh:).

I'm bricking it!!

Dates
 

how long is it before you get the date for S1

like if i apply in 10 days then when would i get the date for S1
guestimate

Abz, how long is a piece of string? NATS send you out a list of available dates they are running stage 1 on, you select the one you want and hey presto - stage 1 booked! It's usually fairly quick that they send out the email once you've applied.

Just remember that by starting this recruitment process you WILL be joining a waiting game....patience is a virtue and quite honestly I HAVE NONE LEFT!!!

Hy Gingerpaul- yeah Tis me- i was just reading some of your posts over there lol- didn't know you were in Bracknell0 i'm only in Windlesham about 5 mins away!

Hey Cjayne- erally good luck for tomorrow- hope everything goes your way- hopefully i'll be following in your footsteps

what started as idle musings about whether ATCO would be interesting, has now turned into a strong desire to get onto the training course!

Me ? The 13th Duke of Windlesham, here, in Bracknell. Rather....

Just back frm my S1, motivation paper? not what i expected! bout 60% factual, the other 40 was calculation sdt and stuff like that. fingers crossed.

bartkobe,

I also wouldn't mind knowing the wait length for the personality questionnaire results. To be honest, I thought it would be more or less instant assuming it's marked by computer, but clearly not as we're both still waiting!

Any ideas anyone?

It took mine two days to come back - some people's have probably taken much longer. If you haven't heard after 15 working days then you're probably entitled to give HR a call and ask what's going on.

eeek wheres the post with all the links to useful tests? can't seem to find it now and want to practice my spatial awareness?

Also could someone who has just done Stage 1 tell me about the tests- specifically did you get those funny tests where you have to folow instructions by symbol (ie swap this symbol with this, invert colours etc). If so, do you follow the symbols in strict logical order going down the page?

I attended wearing jeans and a hoodie like I was a homie from da hood. Everybody else was in shirts, ties and suits. :O


Anyways, scraped past the S1 tests done on 13th March.
Just done the online personality test, and pork chops will fly if l pass because..

I have common sense and thats about it. :ugh:

Mia donna were you at Manchester pm by any chance? I found the people to be quite untalkative! Basic checking was easy, completed them all, motivation was a little harder, I managed to complete 35/50 for diagramming and 26/40 for spatial, really couldn't say how well I think I've done, can anyone remember how many they completed for each test?

pugwash: You do indeed get a diagramming paper. It's been a little while since I did Stage 1 so I can't remember exactly, but you do have to carry out each command in order (but what you are applying the command to will change from the starting sequence). Basically, the instructions on the day are the same as those sent in the practice document (but there are different symbols and commands). If you can get the practice examples right, you'll be fine.

bartkobe/bzz1: I got my results a few days after doing the questionnaire (if you want exact dates, look up my previous posts as they're in one of them). It seems there are a lot of people doing Stage 1 about now (and not much talk of Stage 2/Stage 3) so perhaps there's a bit of a backlog? As marco888 says, once 15 working days are up, give them a call!

rossbrereton18: As far as I can remember, I managed to get through all the data checking, all the motivation questions, missed out 5 cubes and 2 diagramming questions (ish!). How many I got right, I'll probably never know...

u did a lot better than me then :s were they answered properly or thru wild guessing?!

I doubt very much Paperclips got through stage 1 by wild guessing! A lot of hard work and preparation would have gone into Paperclips application process considering stage 3 has been passed.

You could wild guess if you like but it'll get you one place only...straight to the middle of nowhere! (Unless you're very lucky and have actually managed to select all the correct answers - doubt it muchly!). I would hate to think of people applying that logic to controlling aircraft - would certainly put me off flying for good if they did!

Being accurate and getting the answers correct is the way to go...just do so with a bit of speed. Honestly, stage 1 is nothing to worry about if you have the aptitude for it. You are given all the examples of tests that you need in the stage 1 info.

Good luck!

thanks paperclip for the answer- i just wanted to check i didn't have the wrong end of the stick with the diagramming- i got the answers correct on the test paper- but i often find that these sorts of test are lot harder in real life

wish me luck for tomorrow guys- i'm still cramming like crazy!

pugwash, the diagramming *is* harder in the real test as there are more commands, plus 3 things that change the final order (a reverse and a couple that change 1,2,3,4 to 2,1,4,3 and another similar).

pugwash
 

What time is your S1 tomorrow, am or pm?
I am on the pm slot, so if you are too, i will see you there!

I feel I am not prepared at all, i may be alright in the tests as have done the ones refered to early on the forum but i cant seem to take in the aircaraft specs etc.!!!!
Arghh!
Anyway good luck to you tomorrow, and anyone else going, and I'm sure we'll be back on here tomorrow eve!!!
:)
Ktxx

hi KT

Yep tomorrow afternoon tower bridge

look for the biggest bloke there (sort of fat and large if you know what i mean, with very short hair, probably in jeans and a shirt) and come say hello

real name Jim- its a little embarrasing being called Pugwash in public lol

i'm not worrying about the aircraft specs- reckon they can only really ask 2-3 qs about the specs themselves, and i've learnt some of them- figured it was more important to learn everything else perfectly.

will swat up on the aircraft specs last minute tomorrow morning i think!

Cheers

Jim

Good luck guys. If the weather's any good then there's a nice spot for a packed lunch past the EY building on the Thames. I got there an hour early and just relaxed in the sun. :)

Manchester 30/03 pm
 

so did you find it ok mia donna? Were you in group a or b? I felt a bit intimidated tbh as I think I was the youngest one there at 18! I hope I get through as then I don't have to go to uni and have all that debt! :( will apply after I graduate again if I don't get through. I can't believe it costs £750k to train one person!

Ive Got my stage 2 interview on 15th April and was wondering if anyone else on here is going then too?
For anyone who's already had their stage 2, any info on what happens and what its like would be greatly appreciated!
Also, i'd be interested to know how most people travel down there if they dont live nearby; i was thinking of driving and staying in a hotel the night before....