juspassingby
Member
By Tea OCC I believe you mean the tones test? If so, I found that counting the tones on my fingers helped me. Wish you all the best for the next time, you got this! =)
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Assessments & Medicals discussion
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Neatro
Member
Declare everything, if you're on medication they'll check that this doesn't impact your ability to drive which is standard. The rest is just a regular medical, eyesight etc.
So I did my assessment day in York in December, I assume yours will be very similar, but obviously can't guarantee it. There were about 30 candidates on my day. They sat us all down, gave us a bit of info and then got straight into the tests.
Test 1 - Group puzzle exercise. I won't bore you with the details because it doesn't really matter and I imagine they have a few to pick from. What they are looking at here (I think) is how you work as part of a team and how you communicate. Make sure you participate, listen, make suggestions and take notes. Answering the puzzle correctly does not matter.
We then went to a breakout area while they set up the next test. All the other candidates are there as well as some of the recruitment team and driver managers. Make sure you talk to people from Northern. I feel this really made a difference to my outcome, so definitely make an effort.
Test 2 - The infamous Lego and rail clip test. They show you a short (approx. 3 min) video clip of a train arriving at a station. They ask you questions about what you have seen about 5/10 seconds after it happens. Between those questions you are given instructions on building a small Lego model. This is really hard and everyone there thought they had done very badly. Just keep calm and do the best you can with both, but I would pay more attention to the video clip because everyone's Lego was different.
Test 3 - 30 minutes video clip of a rail journey. You need to note down how many stations you pass, and how many green/amber/double amber/red lights you see. Make sure you listen very carefully to the instructions as they tell you which are 'your' lights and also that you need to count the ones immediately as the clip starts. Don't be afraid to ask questions if you are unclear on anything. The recruitment team make a bit of noise in the background as a distraction but this test is pretty easy.
They then do a cull and we were cut to 12. I was amazed I got though as I felt I completely bombed the Lego test.
After a short lunch break they then do interviews in the afternoon. We had 1 driver manager and 1 recruiter. I had three competency based questions and a general chat why I wanted the job. This was more intense than I thought and they were not overly friendly. I think this is to test how you do under pressure. That was the end of the day. I found out in passed via email the next day.
Good luck mate and let me know if you get through to psychometrics and I can give you more help with that.
Be prepared for quite a stressful day which is surprisingly tiring. Get a good night's sleep and make sure you get some food in you during the breaks, even if you don't feel like it.
Moonraker007
Member
Great information on what the day entails. Thanks. Will do the best I can and let you know. Good luck on the rest of your journey. Forgot to ask. Is it a full suit for the day or just shirt and tie? Don’t want to be over dressed but don’t want to be underdressed if that makes sense
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Had my medical today for Southeastern.
Pretty straight forward.
General medical questions about any medication/history etc
Blood pressure
Weight and height
Urine sample (getting followed to the toilet and waiting outside)
Breath test
Hearing test (locked in a small booth with headphones, listening for the beep and having to press a button)
ECG
Movement test’s, twist and bend, hop on each leg, lunges and jumping.
Eye test and colour blind test.
Nothing to taxing.
Pretty straight forward.
General medical questions about any medication/history etc
Blood pressure
Weight and height
Urine sample (getting followed to the toilet and waiting outside)
Breath test
Hearing test (locked in a small booth with headphones, listening for the beep and having to press a button)
ECG
Movement test’s, twist and bend, hop on each leg, lunges and jumping.
Eye test and colour blind test.
Nothing to taxing.
That's quite a niche role, so I'm not really too sure unfortunately. You'll get an idea of the sort of assessments available in this thread, but that's mostly for station staff, guards and drivers.
Maybe a role-play of some sort assessing your practical and problem-solving skills. Maybe numerical if that is part of the role for managing materials etc.
I used this exact scenario today mentioning vehicle checks, planning route, obeying traffic laws/speed etc taking planned breaks with food and hydration.
Thank you and congrats on passing
Cheers
hawkster26
Member
I did the (plumber test) last week. Had to cross out matching symbols and I had 45 seconds
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Update
Passed stage 1 moving on to stage 2 in a few weeks
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Hi, literally my first ever post in here, so hello! Absolutely obsessed and terrified by my upcoming GWR assessment day, wondering how I’ll do, wondering what it’s like and I’ve kinda flooded my brain with too much. So my strategy is now to stick to the guide provided by GWR, relax, and give it my all on the day. However, I just want to know what people found the hardest of the tests? Any feedback appreciated, I just want to know what to fear I guess! Thank you in advance
ibz766
Member
What’s the ideal prep time for OPC assesments you guys reckon?
They’ll tell you if you’ve passed or not immediately, but the drugs urine sample takes a few days to comeback and after that it’s official.
That’s great, thanks for replying.
I think this is going to differ massively from one person to the next. Is this for Stage 1, so the paper and computer tests? It’s hard to really know how much prep time you are going to need before trying some practice tests and seeing how you get on with those.
ibz766
Member
Stage 1
Hey guys, I have my DMI interview date for WMR. Happy to have passed and made it this far.
Any advice, please, very welcome.
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The most difficult I found were the beeping sound tests stage 1 and then the ATAVT on stage 2, but practiced a lot and managed to pass. Different for everyone but focus on breaking the different tests down ie not trying to practice them all in one go, do two or three a night and really get to grips with what is required for each.
Worked for me, good luck and all the best.
Any advice, please, very welcome.
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Take a look at some of the prep stuff on RailPrep, really helped me.
The most difficult I found were the beeping sound tests stage 1 and then the ATAVT on stage 2, but practiced a lot and managed to pass. Different for everyone but focus on breaking the different tests down ie not trying to practice them all in one go, do two or three a night and really get to grips with what is required for each.
Worked for me, good luck and all the best.
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Thank you so much, I will take your advice on the 2/3 a night thing
Dragonfire
New Member
Good morning all,
I have got my Driver Fault Finding Test (DFFT) with GTR coming up and was wondering if anyone has done it recently and if so could give me a heads up of what to expect?
I have got my Driver Fault Finding Test (DFFT) with GTR coming up and was wondering if anyone has done it recently and if so could give me a heads up of what to expect?
This was my favourite test. You get about 30 mins to answer 20 questions. There is an answer sheet, and about three big A3 information sheets that you need to cross reference to find the correct path to the fault code/s. There are often multiple faults, but you only need to focus on the ones with highest priority. The examples they provide in the info pack are useful so practice on them to get a good foundation, but the test itself is more complicated. It can be very easy flicking between everything to look at the wrong data so you really need to maintain your focus, which I guess is the idea. Good luck with it!
juspassingby
Member
Has anyone else here passed their psychometrics and then had to go for an assessment day with Northern?
Northrail127
Member
Yes, short answer. I passed my psychometrics for a different position and still had to attend the new styled assessment day and DMI northern do these days.
New process is:
Application
Telephone interview (although sometimes this isn’t done)
Assessment day with DMI incorporated if you get past lunch.
Psychometric testing
Medical
Job offer
hawkster26
Member
I have my stage 2 with GTR coming up I see a lot of DMI/MMI in posts. My stage 2 email says I will
Be doing computer-based assessments + MMI multi-modal interview. When will I do the Driver manager interview?
Be doing computer-based assessments + MMI multi-modal interview. When will I do the Driver manager interview?
Dragonfire
New Member
Thanks mate that is really helpful. I did the 5 practice questions they gave. I took 4 minutes and got 2 whole answers right and only half right of the other 3 so am definitely going to slow down and really concentrate!
If you don’t mind me asking (I’m assuming you passed based on your comments) how many questions did you answer? I’m just trying to gauge the speed I answer at!!