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How did your DMI go mate, any surprise questions? I am due to get a date for mine and think I know the sketch but interested to hear if yours was a formal interview grilling or more of a formality discussion?
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Do you mind me asking your times lines and which depot as I am in a process with them which has started lightening quick and then seems to have slowed right down. Thanks
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We may be on the same journey, which force area and where you applying to? I am Met and in the process for South West rail.
Bedfordshire mate, I dont particularly dislike the job, more that being a driver is just a lot better and I would not miss the stress, politics, grief, emails and personalities.
How did your DMI go mate, any surprise questions? I am due to get a date for mine and think I know the sketch but interested to hear if yours was a formal interview grilling or more of a formality discussion?
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Bedfordshire mate, I dont particularly dislike the job, more that being a driver is just a lot better and I would not miss the stress, politics, grief, emails and personalities.
So I had my DMI in waterloo at the swr office, they gave me a choice between having it in Southampton or Waterloo chose waterloo as its closer.
got there there was 2 interviewers one called howard something older chap he runs waterloo for swr drivers i believe and a younger lady maybe around 35/40.
Both very welcoming, calm and nice, no sign of any grilling.
I had a note book with things i might need to remember, but tbh none of the things i thought would come up came up. no questions about SWRs values, persons of interest, or knowledge of TPWS or that sort of stuff. Just a lot of competency questions like "give me a time when..." and obvs tell me about yourself. very chilled interview but i guess that depends who you have it with and what depot and what TOC!
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Do you mind me asking your times lines and which depot as I am in a process with them which has started lightening quick and then seems to have slowed right down. Thanks
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We may be on the same journey, which force area and where you applying to? I am Met and in the process for South West rail.
Hi mate yeah I don’t mind at all.
I applied in January 2025, finally got some correspondence & Paper Tests completed 11th August, computer tests completed 29th August, DMI completed 13th October, MMI completed 9th December and Medical completed 14th January 2026. Soo in total 1 year and 1 month from applying to start date. Hope this helps
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Thankyou mate. I had 2 applications in for Bournemouth & Basingstoke but got offered the Bournemouth job. Best of luck with the rest of the process! Hopefully see you on the railway soon!
So I had my DMI in waterloo at the swr office, they gave me a choice between having it in Southampton or Waterloo chose waterloo as its closer.
got there there was 2 interviewers one called howard something older chap he runs waterloo for swr drivers i believe and a younger lady maybe around 35/40.
Both very welcoming, calm and nice, no sign of any grilling.
I had a note book with things i might need to remember, but tbh none of the things i thought would come up came up. no questions about SWRs values, persons of interest, or knowledge of TPWS or that sort of stuff. Just a lot of competency questions like "give me a time when..." and obvs tell me about yourself. very chilled interview but i guess that depends who you have it with and what depot and what TOC!
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Hi mate yeah I don’t mind at all.
I applied in January 2025, finally got some correspondence & Paper Tests completed 11th August, computer tests completed 29th August, DMI completed 13th October, MMI completed 9th December and Medical completed 14th January 2026. Soo in total 1 year and 1 month from applying to start date. Hope this helps
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Thankyou mate. I had 2 applications in for Bournemouth & Basingstoke but got offered the Bournemouth job. Best of luck with the rest of the process! Hopefully see you on the railway soon!
Thanks the timeline really helps as 1 year will be perfect for me. I was worried it was going too quick. I may DM you about the MMI tmrw as I'm intrigued by it. I should have mine in the coming weeks.
Just wondering if anyone has any info on these new Makipeople online assessments Northern has started using for trainee driver vacancies? Any info greatly appreciated.
Just wondering if anyone has any info on these new Makipeople online assessments Northern has started using for trainee driver vacancies? Any info greatly appreciated.
I applied for Northern in October and this wasn't something they did then? It was application form and straight to the assessment centre day (not psychometrics) if you were successful on the application form
I applied for Northern in October and this wasn't something they did then? It was application form and straight to the assessment centre day (not psychometrics) if you were successful on the application form
Ah sorry can't be of any help. Good luck to your mate. It would be interesting to find out what the assessments are like, I guess it's got to be a positive though as the amount of people they weeded out from the assessment day was brutal, but fair.
Just wondering if anyone has any info on these new Makipeople online assessments Northern has started using for trainee driver vacancies? Any info greatly appreciated.
Hi! I've passed all the tests so far and I've got my DMI coming up so I'm prepping for that. I'm just a bit concerned about the medical if I get that far. I'm fit and healthy (weight training and long, brisk daily walks) but I had a cluster of blackouts one night last autumn. I just stood up too quickly when I wasn't fully awake but I bashed my head which led to the other blackout/concussion that same night. I had a load of tests done and everything was all clear. It's not happened again. I'm just worried that this could rule me out if I get as far as a medical? I'll obviously tell them about this, but just wonder what people think? I'm so thrilled to have got this far, I just hope a stupid 3am trip to the loo last autumn hasn't mucked up my chances. Yours gratefully!
Morning all. I have my Stage 1 Train driver assessment tomorrow. Does the TEA-Occ test always play the lower tone first or can the higher one be heard first? I have been using an app which up until yesterday. always played the lower tone first but I had a random one where it played the higher tone first which caught me off guard! Thanks in advance
Follow the advice you're given tomorrow before the test. Don't go in assuming anything. When I did it they did a practise before the test to make sure everyone understands.
Can anyone give any advice on if the TRP1b test contains many numbers / dates? I have been practicing quite a few which AI have generated for me but they have not given many passages with numbers. Tia
I have also received an email to complete an online assessment. I have not opened the link as I am unsure what these tests are so trying to get some info first.
Has you friend told you what the online test was based on? ANY help would be greatly appreciated.
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Did you manage to find out what kind of online tests Northern are doing? I did one last year with CrossCountry and it was to do with shapes and cubes which was very annoying and unnecessary so I am hoping Northern's tests aren't the same.
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Ah sorry can't be of any help. Good luck to your mate. It would be interesting to find out what the assessments are like, I guess it's got to be a positive though as the amount of people they weeded out from the assessment day was brutal, but fair.
The tests are not fair actually. Remember, just cause somebody gets a better result on their theory test does NOT make them a better driver on the roads. Same applies here, doing a psychometric and passing it does not mean that person will be a better train driver than the one who fails the tests. These tests are not necessary, instead they should be doing tests 'relevant' to the job. For example, I did a online test for CrossCountry where I was required to figure about number of sides of dices, cubes, octagons, hexagons, how to fold to make a specific shape etc.. I mean what has that got to do with Train Driving? My 11 year old passed those tests yet a lot of 'PHD' and 'Degree' holders failed that online test. My 11 year old was good at it because she is good at picturing shapes in her head cause of the games she plays on Roblox, whereas not every adult has a 'baby mind'. If they want to test people fairly then they should be asking questions relevant to the job and doing roleplays to see how someone handles pressure and not bloody how to figure out how dices and shapes are made out of paper... Might as well ask us to make a paper plane instead!
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Just wondering if anyone has any info on these new Makipeople online assessments Northern has started using for trainee driver vacancies? Any info greatly appreciated.
Has anyone completed the TEA-OCC RECENTLY? I have failed this before and want to male sure im prepared.
I've read alot of people saying 'just circle the matching symbols' but when i did it it was look for a certain symbol AND an area code number!?!?! Can anyone clarify? Because part 3 when I did it was asking for a symbol and an area code. Anyone actually completed this recently??
Any insight into this test please??
Just wondering if anyone has any info on these new Makipeople online assessments Northern has started using for trainee driver vacancies? Any info greatly appreciated.
Hi, I did this in October and there were parts to it: 1. A situational judgement test, and 2. A 2 minute speaking exercise that assesses your grammar/ability to communicate clearly.
The TEAOCC is in my opinion the easiest of them all. What TOC are you doing it with? The standard test is two sheets of paper however you can discount most of the info on them. You only need to circle two matching symbols - that's it. On mine I just looked at the symbols, and when I found 2 matching circled them. I don't recall exactly the rules around the area code or the industry (plumbers / restaurants) but I do remember you didn't need to even look at that as the test is about the symbols. The second part of the test is doing the same whilst counting beeps or tones.
I'm doing it with WMT so it needs to be enhanced level... im bricking it! The TOC cant/wont tell me if I have to resit all the tests on level 1 or just the one I failed... all I got back was.. 'you will be asked to sit the tests you need' ! Not helpful.. so im thinking I need to prepare for them all... incase I have to sit them all again.... would be helpful if I was given more info but ive tried. But I do know it was TEA OCC I failed on before. Thankyou for replying... in all honesty.. I dont feel prepared... but I can only try my best again
West Mids? Ok. All I know is that we had a yellow and pink sheet and one required you to circle the matches (I think we had like 30 to 60 seconds and I only just got to the end of the sheet) however others didn't get to the end of the sheet and still passed. As all the businesses were all restaurants on the sheet, you could discount that part of it as no point even looking at it. Maybe its a test of do you get flustered by irrelevance and can you simplify the task?
The second one was similar but listening to tones. I seem to remember the tones were simple and in single digits - I got to the end and then went over to find I had missed two sets of matches so quickly circled those too.
I passed all of the stage 1 stuff before and failed the TEA OCC the 2nd time around. I maybe got complacent with it as had passed before but i'm actually thinking ive scored them out (like bourdon) as opposed to circling. Wonder if that would be a fail or I just done bad! Certainly found it easy first time around so who knows! This was last year so we go again this year
About to do a group bourbon test for Great Western. Need to get enhanced pass but was wondering how many pages i need to get through and how accurate it needs to be??
West Mids? Ok. All I know is that we had a yellow and pink sheet and one required you to circle the matches (I think we had like 30 to 60 seconds and I only just got to the end of the sheet) however others didn't get to the end of the sheet and still passed. As all the businesses were all restaurants on the sheet, you could discount that part of it as no point even looking at it. Maybe its a test of do you get flustered by irrelevance and can you simplify the task?
The second one was similar but listening to tones. I seem to remember the tones were simple and in single digits - I got to the end and then went over to find I had missed two sets of matches so quickly circled those too.
Its the 3rd part that worries me... counting the tones and circling stuff.... some people say its just a case of circling the double symbols? Is it counting just high/low tones or just any tones?
Its the 3rd part that worries me... counting the tones and circling stuff.... some people say its just a case of circling the double symbols? Is it counting just high/low tones or just any tones?
You actually have enough to time to stop circling and count the tones then resume circling. The last time I sat it, I have time to skim for symbols and fully double check within the time.
I've sat it 3 times, passed to enhanced every time. It should be easy to quickly skim pairs of symbols, the rest of the information is there to take your attention so ignore it.
You actually have enough to time to stop circling and count the tones then resume circling. The last time I sat it, I have time to skim for symbols and fully double check within the time.
I've sat it 3 times, passed to enhanced every time. It should be easy to quickly skim pairs of symbols, the rest of the information is there to take your attention so ignore it.
Its the 3rd part that worries me... counting the tones and circling stuff.... some people say its just a case of circling the double symbols? Is it counting just high/low tones or just any tones?
For this bit of the test there isn't separate low-high tones, it's all at the same level. It's a really straightforward test, don't overthink it. That's what they're testing - can you ignore all the irrelevant window dressing and just do the simple core thing they're asking you to do.
Can anyone give any advice on if the TRP1b test contains many numbers / dates? I have been practicing quite a few which AI have generated for me but they have not given many passages with numbers. Tia
Just sat a Stage 1 assessment with GA. Absolutely brutal but pleased to say I passed. Was incredible to see how many candidates were unprepared. 11 started om assessment, 4 passed.
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