chartsengrafs
Member
Thrilled to say I passed the computer tests today, less thrilled about MMI. Swings/roundabouts.
Just thought I'd post a couple of pointers on the tests that I hope might be of use to some of you...
WAFV
The grey squares flash up for roughly a second. If it's going to change to black, it does it exactly halfway through being displayed, ie half a second in. When I realised this it helped me pre-empt when I might have to hit the button. As it dragged on and on and on and on, it also helped me to relax my eyes. You'll realise when it's not going to change and it gives you half a second to focus off the screen before the next square comes up. (The Health and Safety Executive say you shouldn't stare at a computer screen solidly for any length of time and you should have a ten minute break every half hour!). Don't totally look away though. I did that once and hit the button when I looked back because the grey looked SO dark compared to the table top!
Concentrating is hard. Stop your mind wandering by having something to focus you on the job at hand. I wound up saying "Ready" in my head after a short pause every time the square flashed up. If it went black, it was always on the "d"!
ATAVT
Just guess.
I always knew this would be the hardest for me. For about a quarter I ticked things I had a feeling were there, but wasn't totally sure.
2 Hand Coordination
I practiced with two laser pointers, one in each hand, tracing different lines/shapes on walls. No idea if it helped. What would have helped more would have been playing two games of Frogger at the same time with two knackered joysticks.
You will make mistakes. They're looking to see how quickly you can rectify your errors. Everybody at the centre with me was convinced that the sensitivity of the joysticks varied over each run.
I found the easiest way of being accurate was moving one stick at a time, so all my movements were either vertical or horizontal.
Hope this is of some use.
Just thought I'd post a couple of pointers on the tests that I hope might be of use to some of you...
WAFV
The grey squares flash up for roughly a second. If it's going to change to black, it does it exactly halfway through being displayed, ie half a second in. When I realised this it helped me pre-empt when I might have to hit the button. As it dragged on and on and on and on, it also helped me to relax my eyes. You'll realise when it's not going to change and it gives you half a second to focus off the screen before the next square comes up. (The Health and Safety Executive say you shouldn't stare at a computer screen solidly for any length of time and you should have a ten minute break every half hour!). Don't totally look away though. I did that once and hit the button when I looked back because the grey looked SO dark compared to the table top!
Concentrating is hard. Stop your mind wandering by having something to focus you on the job at hand. I wound up saying "Ready" in my head after a short pause every time the square flashed up. If it went black, it was always on the "d"!
ATAVT
Just guess.
I always knew this would be the hardest for me. For about a quarter I ticked things I had a feeling were there, but wasn't totally sure.
2 Hand Coordination
I practiced with two laser pointers, one in each hand, tracing different lines/shapes on walls. No idea if it helped. What would have helped more would have been playing two games of Frogger at the same time with two knackered joysticks.
You will make mistakes. They're looking to see how quickly you can rectify your errors. Everybody at the centre with me was convinced that the sensitivity of the joysticks varied over each run.
I found the easiest way of being accurate was moving one stick at a time, so all my movements were either vertical or horizontal.
Hope this is of some use.