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How To Become A Train Driver Book And DVD
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Trainee Train Driver: Stage 2 - Assessment centre and structured interviewA letter arrives one morning many weeks after your first application, and you're shocked and surprised to see that it's from the railway company inviting you to an 'assessment centre'. This will usually involve a mechanical comprehension test, a trainability for rules test, the 'Group Bourdon Test' and an automated co-ordination and reactions test. If you successfully pass all of these tests, you will also sit a structured interview with an assessor. This assessment day is the most difficult part of the whole process. On the day I attended, there were 10 of us, and I was the only one to pass. And even then, I felt I only did so by the skin of my teeth, it was close... However individually the tests actually are not that difficult, if you prepare in good time, you should be able to pass them. Update 16th April 2010: A new service has been launched which gives you online access to hundreds of train driver test questions. Yes - example questions which will be exactly the type of questions you have to answer in the train driver assessment. It even gives you the results so you know which areas you need to improve. Click the banner below to visit the site and learn more. 
Mechanical comprehension test: This has been compared to GCSE standard physics, and is designed to assess you understanding of basic mechanical principles. Questions will usually be about cogs levers and pulleys. For example a picture of a set of interconnected cogs will be shown, and an action will be applied to one of the cogs. You job will be to follow the action through each cog and say how it affects the final cog i.e which direction the final cog will turn in. Other principles such as aerodynamics, pressure, and spatial reasoning are also in the questions. You are certain to struggle on this if you turn up without any preparation and are not overly mechanically minded. If you're an engine head, then you will breeze through this. Personally, I struggled with it. Preparation is fairly simple, you can skirt through a basic physics text book, such as those used by GCSE students. One of the keys to this, and all the other tests, is to ensure you are well rested, and calm before the assessment begins. Panicking is a sure fire way to put you at a disadvantage, and make everything more difficult. Trainability for rules and procedures test: This is split into two tests. The first involves listening to an audio reading on a certain railway subject. You will be expected to concentrate and remember the vital information for recall later. Once the audio is finished, you will be presented with multiple choice questions, which you will have to answer solely from memory. This may sound difficult, but the key it to take in the vital points rather than memorise everything that was on the audio tape. The second part of the test is again multiple choice, but at the beginning of each page you will be given a paragraph of information which you will have to answer questions on - you will in this instance be able to read back through the paragraph whilst answering the questions, but there will be time pressure here, so you will not want to spend too long reading back, the key is to take as much information in to your brain on the first reading. I found these two tests the easiest, but others struggled with them. For home preparation I would suggest getting used to reading large information based bodies of text, and trying to commit them to your memory without having to constantly re-read them. Remember to focus on remembering the key points only, don't overfill your head with information. Group Bourdon test: Without doubt, the most dreaded of all the tests for prospective Trainee Train Drivers. This is a concentration and accuracy test - you will be expected to maintain a good level of work rate through the test, and not make any mistakes. It's a balancing act, you don't want to go too slow, but you don't want to go too fast and make mistakes as a result! I would guess that this has the highest failure rate of any part of the whole process. In my assessment class of 10, five people failed at this stage. What does it involve? Rows and rows of patterns, 25 patterns across. Each pattern contains dots, ranging from 3 dots to 6 dots. Your task is to cross out all the patterns containing 4 dots. This is harder than it sounds, as after a few minutes, all the dots seem to blur into a mass of inky blobs... There is only one way to be sure you will pass this test, can you guess what it is? Practice, practice, and practice some more. I would say it requires even more practice than all the others, but you will notice that with enough practice, your speed and accuracy will improve tremendously. Co-Ordination and reactions test: After the dots test, the second hardest part. Here, 3 people failed out of my class of 10. You will be put in front of a computer with coloured buttons, foot pedals, and headphones. When you see a colour on the screen, you press the corresponding coloured key. When you hear a high pitched sound in your ear you press the high button, when you hear a low pitched sound in your ear, you press the low button. To make it even more confusing, when you see a yellow box on the left of the screen, you press down the left foot pedal, when you see a yellow box on the right hand of the screen, you press down the right foot pedal. It's really tricky to keep all this going, and the speed gets very fast. So fast in fact, that you will not be able to keep up, The absolute key here is to briefly stop, compose yourself, then resume again. Do not play catch up! And don't allow yourself to get flustered. You will be given a practice run before the main test begins. Speed and accuracy are both key, so try to find a workable balance. Many people suggest playing computer games to aid with preparation, and also a toy called 'bop it' although I personally never bothered with those. If your co-ordination is not great, then it's well worth looking into those methods. All of the above tests are present because they assess the presence of essential skills required in the role of Train Driver. They may sound daunting, but you have time and practice materials on your side. If you are worried about finding practice materials, then have a look at the how2become DVD and ebook pack.
I Passed The Trainee Train Driver Tests, Is It Over Yet?
Nearly there! After each individual test, the trainer will mark the test and announce the results. If you fail one of them, you won't have to sit any more, and will be politely asked to leave the room before the next test begins. If you made it through all the tests, congratulations, your one of the very few to make it this far. It's not over yet though. Next up is the structured interview: Structured Interview: If you have made it this far, then you stand a good chance of passing this interview, although many still fail, particularly those who are not comfortable in interview situations. The interview will be held with a member of resources. Prior to the interview, you will be asked to complete a question paper which will ask you interview type questions - times of when you have dealt with a certain problem, or times when you have demonstrated a particular skill. The interviewer will grill you on these answers. Most of the questions will focus on times you have dealt with rules and procedures, emergency situations, worked in a safety critical environment, what your biggest achievement is, times when you have dealt with problems, times when you have been trained - the list goes on. You can be sure that the interview will ask detailed questions about the examples you put down, so don't lie as your are likely to be caught out, its far better for you to use real examples. The whole interview should last about 30 minutes, and you will be told at the end if you have passed. If you fail the any of the assessments or structured interview, you have to wait 6 months before applying again. But beware, fail it a second time, and that's it, for life! You will not be able to retake the test a third time, and you will never be a train driver. |
