West Midlands Trains (inc. LNWR) - Trainee Driver - Recruitment Discussion

[RyanMD]

When you say go as quickly as you can, do you get timed on how long it takes you to answer what you saw in the photo.

With the joy stick one.. is this moving a ball around shapes?

I did it recently, it didn’t appear to be timed as such but you do get into a bit of momentum with it and not want to spend too long considering whether or not you saw something. It’s as simple as say what you see, if you spend too long you’ll overcomplicate it and I believe you get knocked points for ticking things that weren’t there.

The joystick one is that yes, youre moving a ball around a track about 1cm wide. The idea is to be as accurate as possible with your movements as fast as you can. Not sacrificing one for the other.

You will do this ten times I think and I found I got better and more accurate the longer it went on.

Hope this helps.

 

[cwww]

When you say go as quickly as you can, do you get timed on how long it takes you to answer what you saw in the photo.

With the joy stick one.. is this moving a ball around shapes?

I think from what I remember she said that they’re measuring speed and accuracy for all 3 tests so with all of them it works best to go as quickly as you can even the photo one and yeah it’s the same shape ten times and you get a practice run before.

 

[Penguin80]

Thank you it really does help. I appreciate it. I suppose I can only do my best

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 5 Mar 2026 ==

I think from what I remember she said that they’re measuring speed and accuracy for all 3 tests so with all of them it works best to go as quickly as you can even the photo one and yeah it’s the same shape ten times and you get a practice run before.

Oh really I thought they would be different shapes everytime. That makes me feel better lol

 

[cwww]

Thank you it really does help. I appreciate it. I suppose I can only do my best

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 5 Mar 2026 ==


Oh really I thought they would be different shapes everytime. That makes me feel better lol

Yeah you’ll be completely fine. The rail prep computer tests really helped too so I’d get those if you can too. Good luck!!!

 

[Drivingtales]

In people's opinions who have done both stages which one did you find harder, stage 1 or stage 2.
.I have my stage 2 coming up and I'm so nervous about the photo memory one. I keep practicing but I just feel I'm going to struggle

Only say what you actually saw... dont second guess... as I think wrong answers is worse for scoring

 

[Duvela]

I've had mine last week mate and passed - much more relaxed but definitely research WMT and prepare for similar questions to the MMI.

Hi mate! How long did you have to wait to hear back from the DMI?

 

[cwww]

Hi mate! How long did you have to wait to hear back from the DMI?

Got the invite 10-days after receiving confirmation I'd passed stage two for me mate.

 

[RyanMD]

Hi mate! How long did you have to wait to hear back from the DMI?

Hi mate! How long did you have to wait to hear back from the DMI?

I heard back the same day bud.

 

[A2Jon]

Hi mate! How long did you have to wait to hear back from the DMI?

I interviewed on Friday and have just found out I passed my DMI. Now waiting for them to schedule medical and course dates.

 

[cwww]

I interviewed on Friday and have just found out I passed my DMI. Now waiting for them to schedule medical and course dates.

Omg congrats! How did you find it? Mine is next Monday.

 

[A2Jon]

Omg congrats! How did you find it? Mine is next Monday.

Thank you.

It was pretty good. It’s definitely a formal interview with structured questions but more relaxed than the MMI. The two people interviewing were very nice and easy to engage with.

You will start with 3 questions and then get asked to leave the room while they mark them, if you pass the first part you will be invited back in for the remainder of the interview. I ended up being in there just short of an hour and a half.

 

[Penguin80]

Thank you.

It was pretty good. It’s definitely a formal interview with structured questions but more relaxed than the MMI. The two people interviewing were very nice and easy to engage with.

You will start with 3 questions and then get asked to leave the room while they mark them, if you pass the first part you will be invited back in for the remainder of the interview. I ended up being in there just short of an hour and a half.

Congrats to you. I just found out I passed the stage 2 and MMI.

With the DMI is it competency based again (Tell me a time you did this etc)

 

[Drivingtales]

Congrats to you. I just found out I passed the stage 2 and MMI.

With the DMI is it competency based again (Tell me a time you did this etc)

I have just failed my DMI... the questions are very long and with 5 questions in 1... no option to break the question down... maybe I should of asked.... gutted because im normally amazing at interviews but the wording of the questions and the length really put me on the back foot, least I can try again at a later date as tests last 5 years.

 

[Penguin80]

Sorry to hear this mate. When you say questions are very long and 5 questions in one. Are you able to give an example please

 

[cwww]

Thank you.

It was pretty good. It’s definitely a formal interview with structured questions but more relaxed than the MMI. The two people interviewing were very nice and easy to engage with.

You will start with 3 questions and then get asked to leave the room while they mark them, if you pass the first part you will be invited back in for the remainder of the interview. I ended up being in there just short of an hour and a half.

Ah cool thank you mate, that’s good to know. Was it 6 questions total 3 and 3 or more in the 2nd half?

 

[A2Jon]

Ah cool thank you mate, that’s good to know. Was it 6 questions total 3 and 3 or more in the 2nd half?

No it’s 3 questions and then if you make it past them you get a further 6 questions. The second set of questions can have multiple questions within the one question if that makes sense.

 

[chalkijr]

No it’s 3 questions and then if you make it past them you get a further 6 questions. The second set of questions can have multiple questions within the one question if that makes sense.

Probably looking at how well you can retain information with these longer questions I imagine.

 

[Duvela]

I interviewed on Friday and have just found out I passed my DMI. Now waiting for them to schedule medical and course dates.

Nice! Ive got a provisional course date but nothing on medical yet lol

 

[A2Jon]

Probably looking at how well you can retain information with these longer questions I imagine.

That may be part of it, I found I would answer and then get them to repeat the question and then answer anything I hadn't covered.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 11 Mar 2026 ==

Nice! Ive got a provisional course date but nothing on medical yet lol

Yes, Same for me. I have been offered the end of April so I would imagine the medical would be pretty soon considering i still need to give 4 weeks notice for my current job.

 

[chalkijr]

That may be part of it, I found I would answer and then get them to repeat the question and then answer anything I hadn't covered.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 11 Mar 2026 ==



Yes, Same for me. I have been offered the end of April so I would imagine the medical would be pretty soon considering i still need to give 4 weeks notice for my current job.

That's a great way of dealing with the question, I will have to try that myself.

 

[Penguin80]

God this is all happening so quickly now. Got my DMI booked in. Can anyway provide some great tips and reassurance

 

[Harjam11]

How long after completing your stage 1 did you have to wait to find out if you passed?

 

[chris2288]

Hi got my stage one assessments next week. I've just noticed on the second email ot states you need to bring proof of National Insurance. Does this need to be printed out? The first email stated ID and proof of address so I have these but missed the NI one. I've got payslips on my phone but not paper copies would this be km do you think?

 

[cwww]

Hi got my stage one assessments next week. I've just noticed on the second email ot states you need to bring proof of National Insurance. Does this need to be printed out? The first email stated ID and proof of address so I have these but missed the NI one. I've got payslips on my phone but not paper copies would this be km do you think?

Yeah payslip on your phone is fine

 

[A2Jon]

Hi got my stage one assessments next week. I've just noticed on the second email ot states you need to bring proof of National Insurance. Does this need to be printed out? The first email stated ID and proof of address so I have these but missed the NI one. I've got payslips on my phone but not paper copies would this be km do you think?

I printed out my payslip just to be sure.

You could email the OPC and ask them the question. They generally seam pretty responsive to general questions.

 

[anton090]

Hi everyone,

I’ve got my stage one assessments next week and was hoping someone could clarify a few things. How long are we expected to be there, and what tests will we actually do? I just want to know what to expect so I can prepare properly. Also, are the assessments exactly the same as the practice materials they’ve provided, or a bit different?

Any tips on the Beep Test (Test of Everyday Attention) would be amazing, as I haven’t been able to find much online, and any other last minute advice would be really appreciated too.

Thanks so much!

 

[Owen Morris]

Hi everyone,

I’ve got my stage one assessments next week and was hoping someone could clarify a few things. How long are we expected to be there, and what tests will we actually do? I just want to know what to expect so I can prepare properly. Also, are the assessments exactly the same as the practice materials they’ve provided, or a bit different?

Any tips on the Beep Test (Test of Everyday Attention) would be amazing, as I haven’t been able to find much online, and any other last minute advice would be really appreciated too.

Thanks so much!

When I sat stage 1 a few weeks ago (which thankfully I passed), it was just over 2 hours in total including a short break. I'd imagine yours would be in a similar order so started with the group bourdon test. Then it was TRP part 1 where you had 5 minutes to read an extract then it and any notes you made were taken away and you answer 18 multiple choice questions about the extract you read. Then it's TRP part 2 where you were shown dials and you had to work out the order of the faults and you had 8 minutes to answer 43 of them. The TEA consisted firstly of listening to lift tones where you get high and low tones but you count how many low tones you heard to determine which floor you arrive on. The second part was a directory search where you are finding the 2 symbols that are the same next to each other. Finally, it was circling the directory which whilst you are searching for 2 of the same symbols, you have the lift tones playing in the background but it's only the low tones that were playing.

The driver fault finding test we were told on the day by the OPC administrator has now been removed from the process but because it was such a recent removal it is why it's still included in the material sent out. I'd say the practice materials you've been issued is more than okay for what you'll experience on the day. You will get to practice each test before you start so don't worry if you don't completely understand a part of it before you start as you'll pick up what to expect with for example the different tones on the TEA.

 

[Owen Morris]

Hi got my stage one assessments next week. I've just noticed on the second email ot states you need to bring proof of National Insurance. Does this need to be printed out? The first email stated ID and proof of address so I have these but missed the NI one. I've got payslips on my phone but not paper copies would this be km do you think?

Any payslip that has it on is fine and a few people in my group showed their NI number through the HMRC app and the administrator was happy to accept it via that way as well.

 

[tadhg1999]

Just had news I’m through to OPC Stage 2 in Watford for Coventry! Anyone else?

 

[Harjam11]

I’ve literally just received an email to say I was successful in my stage 1. However it says “STAGE 2 might not take place for a while, however as soon as we have any further news, we shall be in touch.”

Is this a standard email , or am I looking at waiting months?