Me too! Look like next week now !
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Trainee Train Drivers (Talent Bank) - Avanti - Multiple Locations (02/10/22)
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Thank you for the advice! Definitely going to slow down slightly and go for more consistency
Chippychips
Member
I passed Group Bourden to Enhanced earlier this year.
I got between 8 and 9 rows down with 100% accuracy.
I know different TOCs may have the same or different level of what their Enhanced mark is, but the guy next to me got around 4 lines and he got sent home.
Im guessing if you get between 7-10 rows with 100% accuracy you would be in the "safe zone".
For GB, 7 rows with 100% accuracy is worth more than 10 rows with 95% accuracy.
With regards to the Group Bourdon Test, is it any easier or harder to do on paper compared to PC? On PC I can manage about 11-15 rows and generally don't have many errors, but I feel like I will need to practice on paper if I pass this current stage.
Chippychips
Member
Definitely do it on paper. No/Minimal point doing it on a PC as its not a PC test so that may throw you.
Doing it on paper allows you to develop your technique and hand-writing pressure as well as have a literal "feel" for it and accurately judge your speed.
Thats just my advice.
I also watched The Equaliser (Denzel Washington) to emulate his slow motion visual prowess skills. May not have done anything for me, but mentally i feel it did!
Then I will most definitely print off a few pieces of it should I get an acceptance date. Maybe three copies of five different pages just to randomise and in case the rubber makes it too dirty to work on and I need a spare set.
So is that 7-10 rows on each page for the full amount of time? Is it 10 minutes solid changing pages every 30-60 seconds?
Also liking the equaliser reference mate haha! Might try and implement that myself
Chippychips
Member
Yeah 7-10 on each page should suffice (but aim for the upper figure). They tell you to "change" every 60 seconds or so. If you practice enough and know your timings, you can set a target to aim for each page and know when you're near your time limit.
Often I completed 8 or 9 lines per page, with 2-4 seconds before I knew the "change" was gonna be called. But I didnt go to start a new line as I knew I couldn't compete a full line in 2 seconds and an incomplete line will be counted as a failed line.
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I had the fail email today....passed the M7, but failed the VSE.
I did these on PC, it's more about getting your brain to recognise the patterns of how 4, 5 and 3 dots can look when arranged differently. I found the PC tests good because you could smash one out, see the data then see which arrangements were the ones you tended to make errors on and then just go straight back into it. Didn't have any issues when doing it on paper.
Sorry to hear that mate. Was this for Liverpool…?
The GB test is 5 pages to do in 10 minutes and the assessor will tell you to ‘change’ every 2 minutes.
Always work left to right as any incomplete lines will not be negatively marked if you are half way through it so keep going until they say ‘change’.
Chippychips
Member
Ah yes thanks for confirming the timings! Spot on. 10 mins. 5 pages. 2 mins each.
Yes you are correct, I should have elaborated. I meant specifically for me an incomplete line would count as a fail because incomplete lines are counted as omissions.
They tell you work from left to right, but I developed an "S" technique, working left to right, then right to left and so on... to save valuable seconds.
So if I had an incomplete line whilst working "right to left", it would have counted as a fail.
Ah ok, I see what you meant now.
Presumably then these pages will be bigger (A4?) than in these books as 2 mins per page as a time is way too much for these books..
StaGuardDriver
Member
How do you know that an incomplete line counts as an error? This seems pretty harsh as each line is going to take approx 15-20 seconds
Chippychips
Member
This point refers to your last line on each page.
If working from left to right (as they say to do), then on your last line if you've managed to get halfway through and have got 100% of that "halfway done line" then no omissions will be marked.
But If adopting the "S" technique (which is a good technique if done correctly) and working right to left on your last line, then it would be marked for errors/omissions as the left half of the line (start) would not have been filled out, therefore implying you 'missed' those dots whilst continuing toward the right of the page even though in reality you worked from the right and was proceeding left.
Ofcourse, anything apart from the last line (I.e lines 2 3 4 etc) you will get marked down for the set of dots you missed as there's no excuse for missing them.
NOTE: The WHOLE line doesn't get marked as an error. You get marked for the number of 'omissions' on each line. Ideally you want this to be 0 or 1 per line. I believe they average the score or something.. but dont quote me on that.
It was, yes....such is life, though...
Chippychips
Member
20 seconds is too slow. That means 6 lines you will be completing in 2 minutes.
Try and aim for 15 MAX as this would be 8 lines in 2 minutes.
Id recommend setting a minimum target requirement for 8 lines.
If you can push yourself for 12/13 seconds, that would be 10/9 lines in 2 minutes.
StaGuardDriver
Member
Thank you that all makes sense. Gonna start practising today.
Can you clarify that in the real test the dots aren’t inside grids
Chippychips
Member
I can clarify they will not be in grids.
I still have some of my practice materials, they will look like this.
Attachments
2857
Member
I cannot recall having any specific instruction as you have on the Bourdon test. It's straightforward enough provided you follow the instructions. YouTube is a minefield of incorrect information from companies promoting their materials unfortunately.
karl grindrod
Member
If you don't meet the enhanced standard only the national standard when you do the paper tests for Avanti, does it go down as a fail on the database?
StaGuardDriver
Member
Exactly the same question I was going to ask. I have emailed OPC but no reply as yet.
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