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All companies require 2 hand coordination. Its part of the standard suite of tests, what they meant was that not every company requires an enhanced score in 2hand coordination. In that case, most National standard TOCs like SWR, GWR, C2C to name a few would be best to look at.
If these test are purely indicators of trainability then why is the system so convoluted and complicated across the board? How can anyone know where they truly are, when each TOC has its's own requirements and interpretations, plus nobody seems to fully understand the pass marks or how these are scored. Where is the transparency around the methodology of the tests and the accountability as to how they are marked - who were they set, where and when, and what is the review date? Its like a corporate freemasons process just to get to the point of being offered a job.
If these test are purely indicators of trainability then why is the system so convoluted and complicated across the board? How can anyone know where they truly are, when each TOC has its's own requirements and interpretations, plus nobody seems to fully understand the pass marks or how these are scored. Where is the transparency around the methodology of the tests and the accountability as to how they are marked - who were they set, where and when, and what is the review date? Its like a corporate freemasons process just to get to the point of being offered a job.
The RSSB sets the process, and the assessment centres know the pass marks and scoring processes. The reason other people don't know the pass marks is to protect the integrity of the process. This has been talked about on here before
RSSB has made an update to RIS-3751-TOM which deals with all things to do with psychometric testing and candidate finding: RIS-3751-TOM Iss 4 Summary Of Changes RIS-3751-TOM Iss 4 has been updated and aligned to current good practice and legislation for train driver psychometric...
Hi Folks. Does anyone know what the initial assessments are for SWR RO2 platform staff role and what's involved? I am looking to prepare as much as I can, so any help would be appreciated..
Anyone got an upcoming assessment day coming up with Northern?
Also anyone on here applied for Wigan/Manchester Pic/Victoria and still waiting to hear from Northern?
Anyone got an upcoming assessment day coming up with Northern?
Also anyone on here applied for Wigan/Manchester Pic/Victoria and still waiting to hear from Northern?
Not yet mate. Was hoping to get ahead of the game with any practice stuff that others had or used on their journey. Any information on the tests or practice material would be appreciated.
Not yet mate. Was hoping to get ahead of the game with any practice stuff that others had or used on their journey. Any information on the tests or practice material would be appreciated.
Hi all,
Just registered as I really wanted to say Thanks for this thread. I've read so much on the process. I think it helped a lot!
That said, I recently failed my application for GT Railways for Trainee Driver with Southern. Such is life.
Applied well over a year ago. The process is not fast!
Did the psychometric online test. Where you are given a set of scenarios and have to choose what is the best and worst option from the 4. Evidently passed that as was called to the assessment centre in Croydon. I found this challenging if I'm honest. In some examples, I wouldn't have done any of the options. But I guess that's the point.
Dot Test, fault finding, restaurant and tradesman lists with the right symbols. Reading and retaining info (mine was about the control panel for the train) beeping lift floors etc. The 30 minute attention test where the flashing black box goes grey briefly. And the photos that flash up briefly and you have to remember if there were cars, bikes or pedestrians in the pic. I remembered the key points. Accuracy over speed on the DOTs. When he says put your pencil down do it. Immediately! Dont even think about doing that extra answer. (He made one applicant cross it out!) Also pay attention when the examiner says what pages to write your name on. I think that's deliberate sometimes he'll say "name and date" sometimes neither. Means you're paying attention!
Got through that
Then was asked to complete a Hogan personality test. Wasn't expecting it. But was told that my responses in that would come up in my upcoming Driver Manager Interview. I did wonder about some of the questions. But I guess there's a point to them. Made me laugh that it asked me a question about skydiving. I suppose the idea is they dont want daredevils who would put the train and passengers in danger. But I have done a skydive some years ago. (probably wont do it again) But that doesn't mean I just ignore the rules of my job cause I once did a fairly risky thing for fun.
Went to the DMI, nothing from the Hogan test was mentioned. And some of the questions reminded me of what people said I'd experience in the Multi Modal Interview.
I thought the DMI interview went OK.
We talked about the role. The fact there was a real shortage of drivers coming down the line as many were reaching retirement. Some of the ups and downs (including people standing in front of trains) I mentioned a couple friends who had retrained to drivers at my age. I gave a couple examples of times I've given good customer service in my job, times I've taken control of a situation at work. Again they seemed to like the 2 examples as one had a bit of a twist in the tale which made them both laugh in amazement.
I felt the 2 staff liked me, they showed me a sample rota. And also the pay scales. The overtime opportunities and what some of the drivers were getting pay wise with a bit of overtime. Also mentioned the £100k of training they would put into the successful applicants. (And the fact that if I got that far, there is NO leave/time off allowed in the first 5 months) With hindsight I'm surprised they bothered with the rota and pay scales. I knew I would be taking a pay cut from my current job whilst retraining.
I'll admit as that was after all the questions and scenarios, that it made me relax a bit and think maybe I'd done enough to demonstrate I was a good candidate.
I came away thinking might have made it to the next stage. Thinking back a few hours later, I wasn't sure I'd given a good enough answer to a question or 2. And with hindsight I would have had better ones. I spoke to my retired father who is ex another TOC and he suggested an alternative which might have worked a bit better. But I was still feeling 60/40 that I'd done enough to get to the MMI. Which I expected to be REALLY tough.
24hrs later I got the email saying "wont be progressing your application... you can reapply in 6 months"
I replied saying that the DMI staff had said there would be feedback available afterwards and could I have that please? But the contact email I had for GTR has not replied or supplied anything to date.
Again, thanks to all the contributors on this thread. It may not have led to anything, but I appreciate it anyway.
Sorry to hear that. The skydiving thing is a golden nugget, in my mind that's the prefect example to evidence training, safety protocols, following rules and procedures and dealing with potentially life threatening situations. Did you use that to your advantage?
Hi all,
Just registered as I really wanted to say Thanks for this thread. I've read so much on the process. I think it helped a lot!
That said, I recently failed my application for GT Railways for Trainee Driver with Southern. Such is life.
Applied well over a year ago. The process is not fast!
Did the psychometric online test. Where you are given a set of scenarios and have to choose what is the best and worst option from the 4. Evidently passed that as was called to the assessment centre in Croydon. I found this challenging if I'm honest. In some examples, I wouldn't have done any of the options. But I guess that's the point.
Dot Test, fault finding, restaurant and tradesman lists with the right symbols. Reading and retaining info (mine was about the control panel for the train) beeping lift floors etc. The 30 minute attention test where the flashing black box goes grey briefly. And the photos that flash up briefly and you have to remember if there were cars, bikes or pedestrians in the pic. I remembered the key points. Accuracy over speed on the DOTs. When he says put your pencil down do it. Immediately! Dont even think about doing that extra answer. (He made one applicant cross it out!) Also pay attention when the examiner says what pages to write your name on. I think that's deliberate sometimes he'll say "name and date" sometimes neither. Means you're paying attention!
Got through that
Then was asked to complete a Hogan personality test. Wasn't expecting it. But was told that my responses in that would come up in my upcoming Driver Manager Interview. I did wonder about some of the questions. But I guess there's a point to them. Made me laugh that it asked me a question about skydiving. I suppose the idea is they dont want daredevils who would put the train and passengers in danger. But I have done a skydive some years ago. (probably wont do it again) But that doesn't mean I just ignore the rules of my job cause I once did a fairly risky thing for fun.
Went to the DMI, nothing from the Hogan test was mentioned. And some of the questions reminded me of what people said I'd experience in the Multi Modal Interview.
I thought the DMI interview went OK.
We talked about the role. The fact there was a real shortage of drivers coming down the line as many were reaching retirement. Some of the ups and downs (including people standing in front of trains) I mentioned a couple friends who had retrained to drivers at my age. I gave a couple examples of times I've given good customer service in my job, times I've taken control of a situation at work. Again they seemed to like the 2 examples as one had a bit of a twist in the tale which made them both laugh in amazement.
I felt the 2 staff liked me, they showed me a sample rota. And also the pay scales. The overtime opportunities and what some of the drivers were getting pay wise with a bit of overtime. Also mentioned the £100k of training they would put into the successful applicants. (And the fact that if I got that far, there is NO leave/time off allowed in the first 5 months) With hindsight I'm surprised they bothered with the rota and pay scales. I knew I would be taking a pay cut from my current job whilst retraining.
I'll admit as that was after all the questions and scenarios, that it made me relax a bit and think maybe I'd done enough to demonstrate I was a good candidate.
I came away thinking might have made it to the next stage. Thinking back a few hours later, I wasn't sure I'd given a good enough answer to a question or 2. And with hindsight I would have had better ones. I spoke to my retired father who is ex another TOC and he suggested an alternative which might have worked a bit better. But I was still feeling 60/40 that I'd done enough to get to the MMI. Which I expected to be REALLY tough.
24hrs later I got the email saying "wont be progressing your application... you can reapply in 6 months"
I replied saying that the DMI staff had said there would be feedback available afterwards and could I have that please? But the contact email I had for GTR has not replied or supplied anything to date.
Again, thanks to all the contributors on this thread. It may not have led to anything, but I appreciate it anyway.
Sorry to hear that. The skydiving thing is a golden nugget, in my mind that's the prefect example to evidence training, safety protocols, following rules and procedures and dealing with potentially life threatening situations. Did you use that to your advantage?
The Hogan online test is one of those where you have 4 options. strongly disagree, disagree, agree, strongly agree. And you choose 1.
From memory the question was "Skydiving is something I'm very interested in" I put "Agree" since I am interested, since I have done one (Quick unpaid plug for Go Skydive in Salisbury. ) But not strongly agree since I won't do another.
It was not mentioned at all in my DMI. I was surprised they asked me to do the Hogan test at all when nothing was mentioned in the DMI. But then some of the questions in the DMI seemed more like the MMI questions. But I guess thinking on your feet is to be expected as part of the selection process. So I'm not complaining
@madisuperstar, I will help if I know the answers. Feel free
Hi all,
Just registered as I really wanted to say Thanks for this thread. I've read so much on the process. I think it helped a lot!
That said, I recently failed my application for GT Railways for Trainee Driver with Southern. Such is life.
Applied well over a year ago. The process is not fast!
Did the psychometric online test. Where you are given a set of scenarios and have to choose what is the best and worst option from the 4. Evidently passed that as was called to the assessment centre in Croydon. I found this challenging if I'm honest. In some examples, I wouldn't have done any of the options. But I guess that's the point.
Dot Test, fault finding, restaurant and tradesman lists with the right symbols. Reading and retaining info (mine was about the control panel for the train) beeping lift floors etc. The 30 minute attention test where the flashing black box goes grey briefly. And the photos that flash up briefly and you have to remember if there were cars, bikes or pedestrians in the pic. I remembered the key points. Accuracy over speed on the DOTs. When he says put your pencil down do it. Immediately! Dont even think about doing that extra answer. (He made one applicant cross it out!) Also pay attention when the examiner says what pages to write your name on. I think that's deliberate sometimes he'll say "name and date" sometimes neither. Means you're paying attention!
Got through that
Then was asked to complete a Hogan personality test. Wasn't expecting it. But was told that my responses in that would come up in my upcoming Driver Manager Interview. I did wonder about some of the questions. But I guess there's a point to them. Made me laugh that it asked me a question about skydiving. I suppose the idea is they dont want daredevils who would put the train and passengers in danger. But I have done a skydive some years ago. (probably wont do it again) But that doesn't mean I just ignore the rules of my job cause I once did a fairly risky thing for fun.
Went to the DMI, nothing from the Hogan test was mentioned. And some of the questions reminded me of what people said I'd experience in the Multi Modal Interview.
I thought the DMI interview went OK.
We talked about the role. The fact there was a real shortage of drivers coming down the line as many were reaching retirement. Some of the ups and downs (including people standing in front of trains) I mentioned a couple friends who had retrained to drivers at my age. I gave a couple examples of times I've given good customer service in my job, times I've taken control of a situation at work. Again they seemed to like the 2 examples as one had a bit of a twist in the tale which made them both laugh in amazement.
I felt the 2 staff liked me, they showed me a sample rota. And also the pay scales. The overtime opportunities and what some of the drivers were getting pay wise with a bit of overtime. Also mentioned the £100k of training they would put into the successful applicants. (And the fact that if I got that far, there is NO leave/time off allowed in the first 5 months) With hindsight I'm surprised they bothered with the rota and pay scales. I knew I would be taking a pay cut from my current job whilst retraining.
I'll admit as that was after all the questions and scenarios, that it made me relax a bit and think maybe I'd done enough to demonstrate I was a good candidate.
I came away thinking might have made it to the next stage. Thinking back a few hours later, I wasn't sure I'd given a good enough answer to a question or 2. And with hindsight I would have had better ones. I spoke to my retired father who is ex another TOC and he suggested an alternative which might have worked a bit better. But I was still feeling 60/40 that I'd done enough to get to the MMI. Which I expected to be REALLY tough.
24hrs later I got the email saying "wont be progressing your application... you can reapply in 6 months"
I replied saying that the DMI staff had said there would be feedback available afterwards and could I have that please? But the contact email I had for GTR has not replied or supplied anything to date.
Again, thanks to all the contributors on this thread. It may not have led to anything, but I appreciate it anyway.
Sorry to hear that’s you didn’t make the cut. I’m currently at stage 2 for GTR and it’s strange how we would be taking different paths in recruitment. So far I have done
Application
Online question test
Mini scaat
Stage 1 only pen paper tests
Now I have got my computer based tests and MMI nothing mentioned about a DMI yet
Hi all,
Just registered as I really wanted to say Thanks for this thread. I've read so much on the process. I think it helped a lot!
That said, I recently failed my application for GT Railways for Trainee Driver with Southern. Such is life.
Applied well over a year ago. The process is not fast!
Did the psychometric online test. Where you are given a set of scenarios and have to choose what is the best and worst option from the 4. Evidently passed that as was called to the assessment centre in Croydon. I found this challenging if I'm honest. In some examples, I wouldn't have done any of the options. But I guess that's the point.
Dot Test, fault finding, restaurant and tradesman lists with the right symbols. Reading and retaining info (mine was about the control panel for the train) beeping lift floors etc. The 30 minute attention test where the flashing black box goes grey briefly. And the photos that flash up briefly and you have to remember if there were cars, bikes or pedestrians in the pic. I remembered the key points. Accuracy over speed on the DOTs. When he says put your pencil down do it. Immediately! Dont even think about doing that extra answer. (He made one applicant cross it out!) Also pay attention when the examiner says what pages to write your name on. I think that's deliberate sometimes he'll say "name and date" sometimes neither. Means you're paying attention!
Got through that
Then was asked to complete a Hogan personality test. Wasn't expecting it. But was told that my responses in that would come up in my upcoming Driver Manager Interview. I did wonder about some of the questions. But I guess there's a point to them. Made me laugh that it asked me a question about skydiving. I suppose the idea is they dont want daredevils who would put the train and passengers in danger. But I have done a skydive some years ago. (probably wont do it again) But that doesn't mean I just ignore the rules of my job cause I once did a fairly risky thing for fun.
Went to the DMI, nothing from the Hogan test was mentioned. And some of the questions reminded me of what people said I'd experience in the Multi Modal Interview.
I thought the DMI interview went OK.
We talked about the role. The fact there was a real shortage of drivers coming down the line as many were reaching retirement. Some of the ups and downs (including people standing in front of trains) I mentioned a couple friends who had retrained to drivers at my age. I gave a couple examples of times I've given good customer service in my job, times I've taken control of a situation at work. Again they seemed to like the 2 examples as one had a bit of a twist in the tale which made them both laugh in amazement.
I felt the 2 staff liked me, they showed me a sample rota. And also the pay scales. The overtime opportunities and what some of the drivers were getting pay wise with a bit of overtime. Also mentioned the £100k of training they would put into the successful applicants. (And the fact that if I got that far, there is NO leave/time off allowed in the first 5 months) With hindsight I'm surprised they bothered with the rota and pay scales. I knew I would be taking a pay cut from my current job whilst retraining.
I'll admit as that was after all the questions and scenarios, that it made me relax a bit and think maybe I'd done enough to demonstrate I was a good candidate.
I came away thinking might have made it to the next stage. Thinking back a few hours later, I wasn't sure I'd given a good enough answer to a question or 2. And with hindsight I would have had better ones. I spoke to my retired father who is ex another TOC and he suggested an alternative which might have worked a bit better. But I was still feeling 60/40 that I'd done enough to get to the MMI. Which I expected to be REALLY tough.
24hrs later I got the email saying "wont be progressing your application... you can reapply in 6 months"
I replied saying that the DMI staff had said there would be feedback available afterwards and could I have that please? But the contact email I had for GTR has not replied or supplied anything to date.
Again, thanks to all the contributors on this thread. It may not have led to anything, but I appreciate it anyway.
Hello all, I have recently passed the 2nd assessment for KeolisAmey Metrolink and have been informed that the medical company will contact me soon to book me into the medical.
I must admit, I am quite frankly over the moon, this is a job I've dreamt of for a long time.
I was just curious, what tests will be conducted during the medical and how far back do they want medical history? Like should I tell them every little detail from the past 24 years or do they just want recent medical info from the past 3-5 years or something?
I have already viewed posts on this site and others regarding this subject however some were from 2012, 2020, and 2023, so I just want to ask incase any changes have been made in that time as the information may be outdated.
I am also kinda worried about a fail because I did have acid reflux in august and I am currently on self-medicated HRT (I get regular blood tests and dr comments to make sure its still going well and to ensure there's no ill health or side effects)
Any information you can give about the tests I will be given would be an absolute lifesaver.
Thank you so much for reading and I hope you have a good day!
Hello all, I have recently passed the 2nd assessment for KeolisAmey Metrolink and have been informed that the medical company will contact me soon to book me into the medical.
I must admit, I am quite frankly over the moon, this is a job I've dreamt of for a long time.
I was just curious, what tests will be conducted during the medical and how far back do they want medical history? Like should I tell them every little detail from the past 24 years or do they just want recent medical info from the past 3-5 years or something?
I have already viewed posts on this site and others regarding this subject however some were from 2012, 2020, and 2023, so I just want to ask incase any changes have been made in that time as the information may be outdated.
I am also kinda worried about a fail because I did have acid reflux in august and I am currently on self-medicated HRT (I get regular blood tests and dr comments to make sure its still going well and to ensure there's no ill health or side effects)
Any information you can give about the tests I will be given would be an absolute lifesaver.
Thank you so much for reading and I hope you have a good day!
I recently had my medical for southeastern.
I was asked about any medication I’m currently taking, have I been to the doctors in the last 12 months.
ECG
Eye test
Hearing test
Blood pressure
Weight and height
Urine sample for drugs and sugars etc
Breathalyser test
Bending and stretching exercises to show movement.
I’d personally take in any medication you are taking plus maybe speak to your doctor about getting a report from him to present to the medical examiner.
Don't worry, there's quite a lot of people who did medicals on Thursday and yet to hear from them. This is normal because HR have been super busy with assessments, sending people to medicals etc.
From what I have heard, they are assessing upto 150+ people a day, so you can imagine how busy they've been.
My guess is they will sort out everyone starting on the 2nd March first (moved it to 3rd of March I believe). Once they've sorted them out out they'll concentrate on those starting on the 30th of March and so on.
In the meantime, just hold tight, they haven't forgotten about you
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
Don't worry, there's quite a lot of people who did medicals on Thursday and yet to hear from them. This is normal because HR have been super busy with assessments, sending people to medicals etc.
From what I have heard, they are assessing upto 150+ people a day, so you can imagine how busy they've been.
My guess is they will sort out everyone starting on the 2nd March first (moved it to 3rd of March I believe). Once they've sorted them out out they'll concentrate on those starting on the 30th of March and so on.
In the meantime, just hold tight, they haven't forgotten about you
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
You'll hear from them soon, when are you due to start?
Also, how did you find the hearing test? Heard mixed reviews about that from people who had their medicals.
Apologies in advance, I imagine some of the information I am asking has been asked and answered many times over but I have scoured what I thought would be the relevant threads and have not found the answers.
Group Bourdon - what are the dimensions of the actual test sheets? I have found several practice sheets which are all of varying sizes and dimensions. I have also seen different comments on here ranging from slightly smaller than A4 all the way up to A3! I’m aware it’ll be 25 columns, but in my limited experience, the size of the groups of dots differs greatly depending on the size of the sheet, and therefore so does my practice. I have not been able to use the Tool found at the start of this thread as I only have an iPad or iPhone to work with and it’s not compatible with either, so have resorted to other sheets I have found in various places.
@Sweets795 - One of the other forum members (@klkl) created this tool which I found useful . You can print out the sheets which, horizontally, are very similar to the format of the actual test.
A web editor for p5.js, a JavaScript library with the goal of making coding accessible to artists, designers, educators, and beginners.
editor.p5js.org
You type R to refresh and P to print. I'd recommend changing the numbers shown in the code on line 122 to 2,6 as this then correctly displays dot formations of between 3 and 6 dots.
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