For the cable and dials test, in case it helps anyone, I recently passed TRP 2 on assessment day. I was very confident that all 17-18 dials were correct. It's definitely about accuracy as well as speed. I'll have to find out from OPC if it was an Enhanced or National, but it was fine for C2C, who I was told have a higher mark.
Hope it helps anyone stressing or waiting for a result, wondering if it's down to that on TRP2 like I was, and good luck!
I can't help but state how important it is to go to the assessments with a calm mind. I booked a hotel the day before the assessments, took time to find the hotel where the assessments would take place, and relaxed. On the day of the assessments, the Elizabeth line was down, and I would have missed the start time or just barely made it, albeit with traveling worries on the mind, which isn't good. I even managed to have breakfast at the hotel, which again helped.
I had practiced
Group Bourdon all week. In my opinion, it's worth only practicing one testing round every day. There are 5 sheets over 10 minutes, and the Group Bourdon tool is what you use to print these practice tests out.
I went from 9 lines and 3 omissions to, by the last day, 11-12 lines and 0 to 1 omissions. On the day of the test, it was much clearer, only about 16 lines down, and the 4 dots were quite obvious to see, in my opinion. I completed 11 on 2 sheets and 12 on the remaining 3, able to see that by counting the remaining rows I hadn't done every sheet. Each sheet is 2 minutes duration, and you have 5 sheets to complete to make up 10 minutes total time for the Group Bourdon. You work from the top of the sheet from left to right as you work your way down. No other movement of working should be conducted if you want the best chance of passing.
The next assessment was
TRP 1. This test was my favorite and is comprehension; we had a page on the train's braking system. You're read out the info as well as given time to read and make notes on the page of info. What I aimed to do was pick out specific data, especially numerical data, and wrote that on the notes.
I felt very confident on the 18 questions, being asked about things from the Brake Bar Pressure numbers to the color of certain buttons, etc. A few questions you could have had an educated guess. I found I finished that and had quite a bit of time to read over my answers. The only number 18 I may have been a tad unsure of, as it could have been two answers in my head.
TRP2 was the assessment I was confident in, but later, after it was done, I was quite worried, as I was confident that my answers were correct but unsure if I had done enough, as many were saying they had answered above 20 questions, some even 30. It also says that you would not be marked down for incorrect answers, which compounded my doubts, but I passed.
You're given 4 dials with priority sections and numbers. You have 7 minutes to answer 43 of these questions. You're also given 3 practice questions to get to grips with it. It's easy once you understand the concept, and the invigilators are very helpful. I got 2 of the 3 practice runs correct the first time, thinking I had all 3 right, but it turned out I accidentally marked the wrong answer for question 3, which was beside the one I had correctly found. So I assume that's why I slowed down during the real test to be more thorough.
The test started, and I worked quite quickly in my head. However, I was shocked at how quickly the time went, and before I knew it, the time was up. It felt to me like 2 minutes when it was really the full 7 minutes.
I would honestly say how I could have improved, and a tip would be to try and work out the first 3 priorities, and then the 4th should be common sense instead of trying to check all 4. You could also use your notes to work out the first 3 for about 10 questions, then quickly mark the box of the correct answer for each question.
Last of the day was
TEA-OCC, the test I was worried truly before assessment day. I had used practice tests and the audios on those were rapid. I used railtest, I got better each day. On that app it also made the part 3(where you do both the phone book stage and tones) quite hard as you had to differentiate between high and low tones plus on the phone book the rating, area code and if its a tailor or restaurant etc. In the real test you didn't do such extremes as on part 3, it was one single tone plus you only need to find double symbols(XX OO ■■ for example) I completed the whole phone book with the time given between each question asking about the number of tones.
Parts 1 and 2, in my opinion, already are well covered on this forum, so I won't elaborate too much on them. However, Part 2's phone book is identical to Part 3's phone book in that you're simply searching for double symbols. Disregard any other information as it serves as a distraction, such as area codes, ratings, etc. Just concentrate on the double symbols. The invigilator clarified that all phonebook numbers on the sheet belong to the same service, meaning all plumbers, all restaurants, all clinics, etc. There is only one service on the A3 sheet!! Don't bother to double check for any differences as this happened to someone on the day and they ended up finding out too late.
Part 2 and 3 with the phone books you should be working from up to down for each column moving across. No other movement should be conducted to have the best chance of passing.
Pay attention and ask questions if confused. All the assessments had practice of some sort before the real test began and this was a time to ask for help and correction before the real test. We had helpful Invigilators. Remember it's too late once you've started the real questions.
Good luck and hopefully this is legible enough for those reading!
Main Computer Tests Breakdown:
Vienna Test System