Welcome! This forum's very active. It's reassuring to hear about other people's progress and to be able to share your own.

Yes, long wait for me - I applied in July, did aptitude testing in August, found out I passed in November and I haven't heard back since. According to an e-mail I sent to recruiting, they can prioritise applications based on location preferences (and I would assume aptitude test scores), so I'm trying to convince myself that they haven't accidentally sent me a pass e-mail and I've secretly failed! Hahaha. Good luck, I'm Melbourne-based too 😊

Emily, I have an almost identical timeline however I did my online assessments in September. Fingers crossed we have a successful AC and it was all worth the wait. Scary to think that you have to wait 18 months now to reapply after a knock-back!

After having my call on Wednesday 25th I just got an email today (27th) saying I'm on hold for AC. I'm assuming the AC will be held in Sydney, however the emails they send are very vague haha, I wish they were a little more specific about your application progress. Curious as to what your email said specifically or if you emailed them yourself regarding AC?
Mine says: At this stage, we do not have a confirmed date for the Assessment Centre so will be placing your application on active hold until we have finalised this.

Assuming many others received this as well. If there's anyone who did their AC in Sydney on here, it would be appreciated if you could let me know the possible timeframe.
Cheers
Azza

The wait is over! I got told I've got my screening Monday! Hoping other Melburnians get their calls soon

I will have mine on Monday as well! All the best!

Me too! Great result!

I haven't gotten an email yet, but hopefully soon!

Hey Guys

Thought I’d join the chat. Recently completed the three rounds of testing. Now awaiting a phone call… I’m based in Melbourne. Online portal says I’m Cohort 18.
I tried a year ago and was unsuccessful after the online tests. Thought I’d give it another shot, and here we are.
Hopefully get in and meet some of you.

How old are you guys. I’m worried my age will count against me, I’m 38.

Best of luck all!

Good luck mate I'm also mid-30's so rooting for you.

If you don't mind me asking, did you have to wait 18months or 12months after your unsuccessful attempt last year?

Thanks mate!

I waited 12 months. Applied for the second time late Dec. so must’ve just missed the new 18 month change I see people referring to.

Congrats mate! Mid 30s here too

Good luck! Same thing happened to me - I failed the testing the first time and passed it the second time.

I'm in my mid-20's but plenty of applicants in their 30's.

On an unrelated note - how badly do you need to do on a phone screening to fail? I was so nervous! Hahaha

Got my email today about receiving a phone screening call tomorrow, looks like they're catching up on the backlog a bit.

Good luck to all doing the screening calls.... has anyone Melbourne based heard anything about potential assessment centre dates?

I did my call today, no word yet on if I passed, but I did ask about potential dates for Melbourne ACs in the future. The response was that nothing is set in stone yet and likely won’t be in the next couple of months because they are working through other cities first that they need to run ACs at. They also mentioned that there was a large number of applications from Melbourne and for that reason they are the slowest group to get through, and will be needing multiple dates in the upcoming months to get through all of the applicants. Not great news but it’s something, the cogs are slowly turning!

During the screening call today I was told that the next AC would happen in April in Brisbane, Melbourne's AC would be after that but there is not a date.

Even worse, looks like the Melbourne pool is quite big and some of us will not be assigned to the next immediate AC even if we pass this phone interview round.

Thanks for the info, interesting to know.... it is what it is I guess, can't do anything about it so there is no point getting worried over it.

Yep. Sounds like we'll have to be patient. Especially in Melbourne...

Glad to hear I can still refer to myself as mid-30's. I'll see if I can keep that going for a few years. ;-)

Woohoo, phone screening passed - for anyone curious, found out 3 days after phone screening. Application on hold until Assessment Centre date(s) confirmed.

Timeline so far:
04 JUL 25 - Applied
01 SEP 25 - Round 1 testing
09 SEP 25 - Round 2 testing
16 SEP 25 - Round 3 testing
15 OCT 25 - Courtesy e-mail (high workload, will receive an update shortly)
21 NOV 25 - Application progressed to phone screening (unknown date)
27 FEB 26 - Phone screening notification
02 MAR 26 - Phone screening
05 MAR 26 - Application progressed to assessment centre (unknown date)

Just got my AC booking email for Sydney between March 16-19, wondering if anyone here also has theirs for Sydney coming up in Cohort 18?
Also if anyone has done their AC testing and would like to share some helpful insight into the testing, it would be greatly appreciated :)

Congrats! That is really exciting. Please let us know how it is as it sounds like it has changed now. Are they doing multiple dates in Sydney?

I'm in Cohort 18! Doing my AC on the 19th @ Rydges.

The cogs are turning... Received notification of the phone call for tomorrow morning (10 Mar). Exciting!!
Melbourne based, also cohort 18. Any other Melburnians?

Congratulations on the invitation! Sydney’s assessments are known for being thorough, but don't let the 'psychometric' label intimidate you.

From a Safety Management (SMS) and Human Factors perspective, these tests aren't looking for a 'genius'—they are looking for reliability, consistency, and a specific cognitive profile. What to expect:

1. Cognitive/Aptitude: Usually covers spatial awareness, mental arithmetic, and multi-tasking (capacity).
   
2. Personality Profiling: This is the one people try to 'game', but don't. They are looking for traits like 'Conscientiousness' and 'Low Impulsivity'. In an SRM framework, these are your internal 'Preventative Barriers' against errors.
   
3. Coordination: Often involves joystick/rudder tasks while performing mental math to check your 'bottleneck' under pressure.
   

Recommended Reading/Prep:

• Don't over-prepare on the psychology: Just be consistent. If you try to answer how you think a pilot should answer, the 'validity scales' in the test will flag it as inconsistent.
  
• Brush up on mental math: Speed is key. Practice 3-digit subtractions and basic fuel/time/distance conversions.
  
• Look into 'Pilot Aptitude' software: There are several online platforms specifically for Sydney/Australian assessments that mimic the coordination tasks.
  

The biggest 'threat' on the day is fatigue and stress. Get to Sydney a day early, hydrate, and treat it like a long flight: manage your energy levels. Good luck!

Quick update, got my email today stating I had passed the screening call and just now awaiting an AC date in Melbourne.

Congrats! See you there (hopefully!)

Congrats guys! I’ve also progressed past the screening call. So will hopefully see some of you at a Melbourne AC date in the coming months…

Just had my AC today in Sydney, honestly was not too bad. The hardest was probably the group assessment at the end. Felt quite confident with my chances until then haha

Congrats, I'm sure you did great! Did you have to do an interrupt test or more tests like we've done before or was it mostly just interview based things?

Congrats mate, you never really know what they are looking for so be positive, good luck!

Each of us had 3 components to complete, along with a group activity. We had an interview, then the radar sim which was maintaining separation between planes, and then directing landings and takeoffs based on emergencies. Then the third component was a validation where we repeated some of the testing from the rounds to confirm that we didn’t cheat it or anything. Each section took about 1-1.5hrs. Group session was at the very end where we had to work together to direct planes to eachothers airspaces. The staff were very helpful with everything thankfully.

Congrats for making it through! And thanks for the insight - reading about it has stressed me out all over again hahaha, good luck with the outcome!

Decided to email ASA for an update as it was completely quiet after the phone screening 3 weeks ago.

Glad that they replied the same day saying pending for AC!

I hope they will remember me when sending out the AC invite!

Many thanks for sharing your positive experience in the AC! I hope there will be further good news for you soon!

Just got an email back today asking for my reference and background, feels pretty surreal. I’m trying not to get my hopes too high though, once my background is confirmed is the next step receiving an offer for training start? Or is there another final interview? I was sure I had totally blundered the last activity on AC day so I’m a bit shocked.

I'm stoked for you! I just received the opposite email... I guess I did not-so-well in the individual testing.

Congrats! I've heard that being asked for reference check means you made it through.

Nice job mate, for the group activity they aren't looking for perfection. As long as you communicated well and never stopped trying to solve your problem, that's what they are looking for.

After I gave them my references it was still about 6 weeks until they called with my offer. And at that time they only had a rough time frame for when the course would start, and even then it still got pushed back by 3 months. So the waiting game isn't over yet haha but the reference check should mostly be a formality.

Ah I see thanks for the info, what stream was your offer for?

Congratulations!! I think after reference and background it comes the Class 3 Medical and ASIC process?
More waiting but at least the hard part is over! Good job!