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CrossCountry - Apprentice Train Driver - Recruitment Discussion

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Loco94

Member
Joined
10 Aug 2019
Messages
70
Just done mine, managed to finish it but I’d be surprised if I got over 75% correct, think with there being no visible timer it can throw some people
 

m4rky1985

New Member
Joined
30 Oct 2023
Messages
4
Location
Stafford
I ran out of time!

Fuming with myself as I did one back in Feb for Avanti and passed with no issues and in time!

Had to do a bit more reading of the text for this one compared to the last one I did. Think I did OK answering the questions I did but didn't even take note of the question number I was on when it said time is up.

Not feeling very confident to be honest.

Hopefully Avanti will move on again a bit soon as I got to stage 3 and missed out going to the assessment day due to a holiday abroad which I couldn't move/cancel :(
 

Brum_AVFC

Member
Joined
30 Oct 2020
Messages
119
Location
Solihull
I ran out of time!

Fuming with myself as I did one back in Feb for Avanti and passed with no issues and in time!

Had to do a bit more reading of the text for this one compared to the last one I did. Think I did OK answering the questions I did but didn't even take note of the question number I was on when it said time is up.

Not feeling very confident to be honest.

Hopefully Avanti will move on again a bit soon as I got to stage 3 and missed out going to the assessment day due to a holiday abroad which I couldn't move/cancel :(
From actually doing the psychometrics tests at OPC, I never finished all the questions on any of the paper tests and still
Passed them so don’t stress (failed the one computer test on the day)

I actually found this RAAT harder than I thought, you really do have to read the text a fair few times on most questions, I only got to question 30 myself.
 

GPR

Member
Joined
16 Oct 2011
Messages
232
Location
Liverpool
How many passages of actual text are there?
I didn’t complete it all but I’m confident in myself saying I’ve probably got a lot of them correct.

Personally I’d rather do 80/90% of it and get the questions right than every single one answered but incorrect on a few.
 

SCDR_WMR

Established Member
Joined
17 Dec 2017
Messages
2,616
Location
Crewe
How many passages of actual text are there?
I didn’t complete it all but I’m confident in myself saying I’ve probably got a lot of them correct.

Personally I’d rather do 80/90% of it and get the questions right than every single one answered but incorrect on a few.
There is 3/4 answers for each passage, so I think 10
 

J3053B

Member
Joined
28 Jan 2020
Messages
113
Location
South west
Just finished and with time to spare, set a timer on my phone. Also you don’t get marked down for incorrect answers, just food for thought
 

Retro racer

Member
Joined
27 Mar 2023
Messages
12
Location
Crewe
Just finished and with time to spare, set a timer on my phone. Also you don’t get marked down for incorrect answers, just food for thought
Can someone confirm this?
So if say you're on question 28 and nearly out of time it's better to rush the last few and quess knowing a few are wrong but you stand a chance of getting a couple right?

Finding it hard to believe as with most railway tests it seems to be accuracy is more important than speed........
 

NSEWonderer

Established Member
Joined
5 Dec 2020
Messages
2,902
Location
London
Well if you're a train driver and start rushing because you're late by 10mins and in your haste have a SPAD or trap and drag due to wanting to make up time and thus failing to maintain safety to the highest standards then it won't be long before the P45 appears.

Companies want Accuracy over speed, doesn't mean they want you to be slow as a snail but what good is answering it all and getting half wrong. A half well done job is double the effort of a well done job.
 

Bon

Member
Joined
1 Oct 2017
Messages
14
Anyone have a contact number for Xc recruitment? I’m Still awaiting my assessment so tried emailing recruitment@crosscountrytrains.co.uk yesterday for info/update. This is certainly not the first time I’ve had issues getting in touch with Xc or getting info back from them. Don’t want to hassle them but also don’t want to miss the opportunity
 

J3053B

Member
Joined
28 Jan 2020
Messages
113
Location
South west
Can someone confirm this?
So if say you're on question 28 and nearly out of time it's better to rush the last few and quess knowing a few are wrong but you stand a chance of getting a couple right?

Finding it hard to believe as with most railway tests it seems to be accuracy is more important than speed........
It literally says on the OPC practice material for the actual test, that you will not lose marks for an incorrect answer, so if you don’t know then just guess as you have nothing to lose!
 

baz962

Established Member
Joined
8 Jun 2017
Messages
3,664
It literally says on the OPC practice material for the actual test, that you will not lose marks for an incorrect answer, so if you don’t know then just guess as you have nothing to lose!
No but you shouldn't rush. I don't know about all of the tests but I was told by one of the OPC people that they also check for rushing on at least the group bourdon. So if say you did 8 lines on each of the first four pages and on the fifth you went mad and got 11 , they are looking for that. These tests are looking for a combination of speed and accuracy and also making sure you don't panic. That's why you shouldn't let the joysticks go in the computer test and you should calmly get the ball back in the lines. By all means guess at questions if you don't get marked down but I wouldn't rush. On the dials test with the roughly 40 questions I answered 23 and my passes were in the top 2% and high enough for every toc .
 

SCDR_WMR

Established Member
Joined
17 Dec 2017
Messages
2,616
Location
Crewe
Can someone confirm this?
So if say you're on question 28 and nearly out of time it's better to rush the last few and quess knowing a few are wrong but you stand a chance of getting a couple right?

Finding it hard to believe as with most railway tests it seems to be accuracy is more important than speed........
It definitely states this either on the practice material or the introduction page of the online test. It's just a rudimentary test, so just a pass mark is set rather than a percentage or accuracy measure

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==

No but you shouldn't rush. I don't know about all of the tests but I was told by one of the OPC people that they also check for rushing on at least the group bourdon. So if say you did 8 lines on each of the first four pages and on the fifth you went mad and got 11 , they are looking for that. These tests are looking for a combination of speed and accuracy and also making sure you don't panic. That's why you shouldn't let the joysticks go in the computer test and you should calmly get the ball back in the lines. By all means guess at questions if you don't get marked down but I wouldn't rush. On the dials test with the roughly 40 questions I answered 23 and my passes were in the top 2% and high enough for every toc .
The group bourdon is marked differently - it's about being above a threshold on each set and your scores are within a certain percentage of each other. To make sure your concentration levels remain pretty even. So you wouldn't pass is one was massively out compared to the others. But we'll get to discuss GB test in detail when the time comes I'm sure
 

m4rky1985

New Member
Joined
30 Oct 2023
Messages
4
Location
Stafford
I guess I'll just have to wait and see now if I did enough with the questions I actually managed to answer!

I've only got myself to blame for now setting up a timer before starting.

I would of thought every stage of the process would of been focused around accuracy/safety as opposed to outright speed. I've been over it in my head a few times and genuinely can't think how I'd of gone through it any quicker unless I just took a wild stab in the dark on some of them. Again, on reflection, I should of used a timer and in the last 60/90 seconds just clicked on any random answer in the hope of getting an extra mark or too!

No point dwelling on it now, even though I am :lol:
 

James101185

Member
Joined
20 Oct 2023
Messages
27
Location
Roo-0102
Anyone have a contact number for Xc recruitment? I’m Still awaiting my assessment so tried emailing recruitment@crosscountrytrains.co.uk yesterday for info/update. This is certainly not the first time I’ve had issues getting in touch with Xc or getting info back from them. Don’t want to hassle them but also don’t want to miss the opportunity
recruitment.team@deutschebahn.com

Try this. I got a reply when I asked who was in charge of recruitment
 
Joined
4 Jan 2023
Messages
126
Location
Edinburgh
Just completed my RAAT test and had 2 mins 30 seconds to spare. I used the time to go over the last few questions again to ensure I had them correct (at least correct to my knowledge anyway) I then played extra safe submitting my answers with 1 minute to spare just in case. Setting a timer helped as at question 17 (half way mark) I still had 12mins + left, so I knew I was going at a good pace and had sufficient time that I didn’t need to rush or panic. I’m quietly confident I done well, but you never know until the results are in I guess. GL to everybody.
 

mattymat

Member
Joined
23 Dec 2022
Messages
94
Location
Birmingham
Just completed my RAAT test and had 2 mins 30 seconds to spare. I used the time to go over the last few questions again to ensure I had them correct (at least correct to my knowledge anyway) I then played extra safe submitting my answers with 1 minute to spare just in case. Setting a timer helped as at question 17 (half way mark) I still had 12mins + left, so I knew I was going at a good pace and had sufficient time that I didn’t need to rush or panic. I’m quietly confident I done well, but you never know until the results are in I guess. GL to everybody.
When you’ve answered a q you can’t go back to change it
?
 
Joined
4 Jan 2023
Messages
126
Location
Edinburgh
When you’ve answered a q you can’t go back to change it
?
If you read the instructions properly at the start, you actually can. I never changed any answers once I passed a question anyway. I ensured I was happy with all my answers before moving on to the next. I just meant I spent the extra minute or so ensuring the last 3 answers were correct to my knowledge, before clicking submit to finalise my answers.
 

Aviator88

Member
Joined
22 Oct 2012
Messages
323
Just completed my RAAT test and had 2 mins 30 seconds to spare. I used the time to go over the last few questions again to ensure I had them correct (at least correct to my knowledge anyway) I then played extra safe submitting my answers with 1 minute to spare just in case. Setting a timer helped as at question 17 (half way mark) I still had 12mins + left, so I knew I was going at a good pace and had sufficient time that I didn’t need to rush or panic. I’m quietly confident I done well, but you never know until the results are in I guess. GL to everybody.

I ran at exactly the same pace as you and used the time in an identical way - a good thing as when I submitted (with 1 minute to spare) there was a connection error with an option to retry - my hotspot had only gone and dropped out halfway through hadn't it! Reconnected and successfully submitted though.

Good luck!
 
Joined
4 Jan 2023
Messages
126
Location
Edinburgh
I ran at exactly the same pace as you and used the time in an identical way - a good thing as when I submitted (with 1 minute to spare) there was a connection error with an option to retry - my hotspot had only gone and dropped out halfway through hadn't it! Reconnected and successfully submitted though.

Good luck!
Very sensible thing to do in my eyes. Better safe than sorry. It’s as well you used the time accordingly and submitted when you did.

GL to you too.
 

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