CrossCountry - Apprentice Train Driver - Recruitment Discussion

[tadhg1999]

Hi all, I'm new here and just completed my x2 online assessments for XC for the trainee driver position at Birmingham New Street, spatial and personality. I did lots of practice spatial tests and spend at least a whole day on it. I just did the test today and didn't even manage to complete beyond question 15 in time (I had stupidly thought it was 1 min per question). To be clear there are 22 questions to complete in 15 minutes. So, I guess I've bombed it, how did everyone else find it? Maybe taking the extra time on the first half or so will have helped me but I highly doubt it. It's by far the toughest test I've done. If anyone reading this is looking for advice, it might be to pay for the practice materials as none of the free tests I did were anywhere near as difficult and didn't even include some of the question types. You can also spend as long as you like doing the provided practice questions and repeat them before doing the actual test. Good luck to anyone who progresses, I'm sure it won't be me after that performance!

Thanks,
Tadhg

 

[Usual-Commuter]

Hi all, I'm new here and just completed my x2 online assessments for XC for the trainee driver position at Birmingham New Street, spatial and personality. I did lots of practice spatial tests and spend at least a whole day on it. I just did the test today and didn't even manage to complete beyond question 15 in time (I had stupidly thought it was 1 min per question). To be clear there are 22 questions to complete in 15 minutes. So, I guess I've bombed it, how did everyone else find it? Maybe taking the extra time on the first half or so will have helped me but I highly doubt it. It's by far the toughest test I've done. If anyone reading this is looking for advice, it might be to pay for the practice materials as none of the free tests I did were anywhere near as difficult and didn't even include some of the question types. You can also spend as long as you like doing the provided practice questions and repeat them before doing the actual test. Good luck to anyone who progresses, I'm sure it won't be me after that performance!

Thanks,
Tadhg

Had a go at both today. Found the spatial one tricky. I just about got to the end but didn’t have much time and felt a couple of answers were rushed.

Just waiting to see now. Hopefully we’re not waiting too long either way - I’d rather know than be in the dark.

Best of luck.

 

[M2025]

Anyone know how long the wait is after the deadline? Good luck btw.

 

[jaybon92]

Anyone know how long the wait is after the deadline? Good luck btw.

4 years haha
No but I assume a long long wait

 

[nlknraeflnvaek]

Anyone know how long the wait is after the deadline? Good luck btw.

People in other threads have mentioned not hearing a reply until February but that was for the last recruiting campaign ...

 

[timmy827]

Anyone know how long the wait is after the deadline? Good luck btw.

I applied at the beginning of June 25 and got a phone call in September to invite me to the next stage.

 

[apebrain]

I had a nosey at what to expect from the spacial awareness test. It instantly turned my brain off. I'm going to give it a go over the weekend but when I fail it will ruin my whole weekend as I'm utterly miserable in my current job. Is there a way I could cheat it using AI/second device? Just not interested in "tell us about a time you've baked a pie" when I'm taking part in a fishing contest?

 

[Pintman]

I had a nosey at what to expect from the spacial awareness test. It instantly turned my brain off. I'm going to give it a go over the weekend but when I fail it will ruin my whole weekend as I'm utterly miserable in my current job. Is there a way I could cheat it using AI/second device? Just not interested in "tell us about a time you've baked a pie" when I'm taking part in a fishing contest?

Sounds like an excellent way to get blacklisted from future recruitment if you get caught

 

[Northrail127]

Gave the assessments a blast this morning. No idea how I’ve done. Did find the spatial test a bit of a minefield but we’ll see what happens.

 

[airantraigh]

I had a nosey at what to expect from the spacial awareness test. It instantly turned my brain off. I'm going to give it a go over the weekend but when I fail it will ruin my whole weekend as I'm utterly miserable in my current job. Is there a way I could cheat it using AI/second device? Just not interested in "tell us about a time you've baked a pie" when I'm taking part in a fishing contest?

Not really fair on the rest of us is it pal?

 

[jaybon92]

I had a nosey at what to expect from the spacial awareness test. It instantly turned my brain off. I'm going to give it a go over the weekend but when I fail it will ruin my whole weekend as I'm utterly miserable in my current job. Is there a way I could cheat it using AI/second device? Just not interested in "tell us about a time you've baked a pie" when I'm taking part in a fishing contest?

Don't think that's the attitude for the job. Study, practise and research is a must and if you cant even give yourself a chance at doing your best at the first hurdle then unfortunately train driving isn't for you. Some of us are not happy in our current employment like me i despise my job. But I understand also that this process is long and from application to training offer can be up to 2 years.

This job is a massive sacrifice and you need to put the work in. The rest of us have put the work in that is expected of us so far even if we don't pass this first stage

 

[Unobrow]

I had a nosey at what to expect from the spacial awareness test. It instantly turned my brain off. I'm going to give it a go over the weekend but when I fail it will ruin my whole weekend as I'm utterly miserable in my current job. Is there a way I could cheat it using AI/second device? Just not interested in "tell us about a time you've baked a pie" when I'm taking part in a fishing contest?

If you’re looking for ways of cheating, I don’t think a job that has strict rules, regs and procedures is for you.

 

[replacementbus]

Given the amount of us on this forum that have got to this stage, I don't think any of us have much cause to be optimistic - if there's about 8 of us just commenting on this thread, how many more are there out there? I can't imagine they're all lurking on railway forums.
I can't see AI helping - I believe they take into account how long you spend on the questions, so if a machine just aces them all for you, that's going to look very suspicious. Have a go, you might surprise yourself - its only 20 minutes.
I found the personality test questions worse than the spatial reasoning - some of the questions were so inane, or required you to choose options you really didn't agree with - I started wondering what they might want me to say given I didn't particularly agree with any of them.

 

[hoody11]

Just completed the online tests. Personality test, a bit strange but half expected it to be like that.
Spatial test- wow, I am usually decent at this sort of thing and practised beforehand but that was a real struggle. Was going to put if off until the weekend but didn’t want to keep thinking about it so went for it. Very tough is all I can say

 

[mr_ixolite]

I found the personality test questions worse than the spatial reasoning - some of the questions were so inane, or required you to choose options you really didn't agree with

Exactly the same here, some answers were just the pick of a bad bunch but really weren't relevant to me at all

Sadly though even if I get past this part I think I will probably have to remove myself from the running due to the reoccurrence of an old medical condition that reared its head again yesterday out of the blue. So good luck to the rest of you, you have one less competitor now

 

[Daveb1664]

Here we go again! About 6 years ago I went through the recruitment process for a different TOC and actually made it into the talent pool. When they offered me a job, I had a big change in personal circumstances and knew my head wouldn’t be in the right place, so I politely turned it down and let the next person have the opportunity.

Things are a lot better now, so I’m trying to continue the journey. All my OPC passes have expired, so I’m basically starting from scratch. I already failed the West Midlands sift, and I haven’t heard back from another company yet. I’ve finally got around to doing the online tests and honestly have no idea how I managed to answer everything with like 6 seconds left. With the time pressure I didn’t feel like I could properly check my answers, so I’m not feeling super optimistic… but fingers crossed.

And just to add — for anyone thinking about using AI, you will get found out. It might help you scrape through the sift, but what are you going to do at the next stages when you’re in person? Or if they make you retake the test?

Anyway, best of luck to everyone going through the process!

 

[jaybon92]

Here we go again! About 6 years ago I went through the recruitment process for a different TOC and actually made it into the talent pool. When they offered me a job, I had a big change in personal circumstances and knew my head wouldn’t be in the right place, so I politely turned it down and let the next person have the opportunity.

Things are a lot better now, so I’m trying to continue the journey. All my OPC passes have expired, so I’m basically starting from scratch. I already failed the West Midlands sift, and I haven’t heard back from another company yet. I’ve finally got around to doing the online tests and honestly have no idea how I managed to answer everything with like 6 seconds left. With the time pressure I didn’t feel like I could properly check my answers, so I’m not feeling super optimistic… but fingers crossed.

And just to add — for anyone thinking about using AI, you will get found out. It might help you scrape through the sift, but what are you going to do at the next stages when you’re in person? Or if they make you retake the test?

Anyway, best of luck to everyone going through the process!

Yes they will retest the spatial supervised if youve done exceptionally well so you will be found out and blacklisted from every toc

 

[nlknraeflnvaek]

I had a nosey at what to expect from the spacial awareness test. It instantly turned my brain off. I'm going to give it a go over the weekend but when I fail it will ruin my whole weekend as I'm utterly miserable in my current job. Is there a way I could cheat it using AI/second device? Just not interested in "tell us about a time you've baked a pie" when I'm taking part in a fishing contest?

Lol. "When I fail" what an incredible mindset. As everyone has pointed out, maybe this isn't a job for you. Plenty of other jobs out there where you may perhaps be less miserable and not be a liability to the safety of the railway.

 

[BHMGuard]

I had a nosey at what to expect from the spacial awareness test. It instantly turned my brain off. I'm going to give it a go over the weekend but when I fail it will ruin my whole weekend as I'm utterly miserable in my current job. Is there a way I could cheat it using AI/second device? Just not interested in "tell us about a time you've baked a pie" when I'm taking part in a fishing contest

I’d love to see you get to the DMI. You’d be laughed out the office after 2 questions with that mentality.

 

[starshine81]

I had a nosey at what to expect from the spacial awareness test. It instantly turned my brain off. I'm going to give it a go over the weekend but when I fail it will ruin my whole weekend as I'm utterly miserable in my current job. Is there a way I could cheat it using AI/second device? Just not interested in "tell us about a time you've baked a pie" when I'm taking part in a fishing contest?

Wow. What did you expect people to reply to this? The majority of us on here do this the right way, practice a lot and try really hard to achieve our goals, yet you’re asking advice on how to ‘cheat’ your way through it?
Yeah, good luck with that one.

 

[tadhg1999]

Some very… interesting… mindsets here - no you cannot cheat, the whole point is you have to be tested. As I said above I did a lot of practice and still utterly bombed the test. I’m trying to remain positive in that I now know what to expect for future applications and also know that the free practice tests out there weren’t sufficient so will look at paid prep packs. Good luck to anyone who is about to attempt the test! The personality was a little strange but in no way difficult, I just found some of the answer options a bit odd but I’m sure there’s a reason behind it!

 

[Henry01]

Good luck mate. Sounds like you gave yourself the best shot at success and fingers crossed you get to the next stage in the process. I was wondering if the questions are timed individually or if you have just got 15 mins and can take as much or little time as you need per question. I have done some practice tests on a website called assessmentday.com which is supposedly pretty similar to the SHL tests. However if you haven't answered a question within 40 seconds it skips to the next one which is annoying because there are some answers which i can get within say 20 seconds and others i would probably need 60 secs so i would hope that it would average out.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 19 Nov 2025 ==

The questions are not timed individually. The clock starts and you move through the questions at your own pace. So it's down to you to watch what's left of the clock.
Also to note, the practise tests have instructions on each question. I.e 'how many blocks' or 'which is the matching piece rotated'. The actual test is just an image and 4 answers A,B,C and D so if you haven't prepared and done some practise tests you'll be up the creek wasting time trying to work out what answer it's asking you for.
It does also say at the beginning to try and answer all the questions before the time runs out as any unanswered questions will be deducted from your total score.
I definitely think this part of the process is to weed out a lot of people that do not prepare beforehand and an effective strategy it is if there's a lot of applicants.
Years ago when I was younger, I saw applicants being sifted at work. The 'bin' pile was as big as the 'reading' pile. I asked the question about how can they be binning before reading? They told me it was about following instruction. The advert had said 'please apply in writing in black ink'. All those straight in the bin were blue ink and printed!
That following instruction always stayed in my mind!

 

[jaybon92]

The questions are not timed individually. The clock starts and you move through the questions at your own pace. So it's down to you to watch what's left of the clock.
Also to note, the practise tests have instructions on each question. I.e 'how many blocks' or 'which is the matching piece rotated'. The actual test is just an image and 4 answers A,B,C and D so if you haven't prepared and done some practise tests you'll be up the creek wasting time trying to work out what answer it's asking you for.
It does also say at the beginning to try and answer all the questions before the time runs out as any unanswered questions will be deducted from your total score.
I definitely think this part of the process is to weed out a lot of people that do not prepare beforehand and an effective strategy it is if there's a lot of applicants.
Years ago when I was younger, I saw applicants being sifted at work. The 'bin' pile was as big as the 'reading' pile. I asked the question about how can they be binning before reading? They told me it was about following instruction. The advert had said 'please apply in writing in black ink'. All those straight in the bin were blue ink and printed!
That following instruction always stayed in my mind!

Exactly this, following instructions. Some TOCs have a No personal details on the CV and application. If your CV has personal details your application is terminated. It is for equality and inclusion but also following simple instructions

 

[Henry01]

Some very… interesting… mindsets here - no you cannot cheat, the whole point is you have to be tested. As I said above I did a lot of practice and still utterly bombed the test. I’m trying to remain positive in that I now know what to expect for future applications and also know that the free practice tests out there weren’t sufficient so will look at paid prep packs. Good luck to anyone who is about to attempt the test! The personality was a little strange but in no way difficult, I just found some of the answer options a bit odd but I’m sure there’s a reason behind it!

Agreed, the personality had some wierd options for answers. I'm also going to use this as a learning curve for future applications if I don't get through.

 

[KaneLeb]

Completed my assessments this morning. Assigned myself 40 seconds per question to ensure I answered all within the time frame. Seemed to be similar to the practice tests I've done, just some of questions were harder. Fingers crossed now but I'm happy because I know I did my best. Best of luck to everyone else!

 

[jaybon92]

Completed my assessments this morning. Assigned myself 40 seconds per question to ensure I answered all within the time frame. Seemed to be similar to the practice tests I've done, just some of questions were harder. Fingers crossed now but I'm happy because I know I did my best. Best of luck to everyone else!

I didn't find it super difficult. Do e alot of practise and watch videos on tips and techniques which I think helped alot. Good luck and I hope we find out soon

 

[KaneLeb]

I didn't find it super difficult. Do e alot of practise and watch videos on tips and techniques which I think helped alot. Good luck and I hope we find out soon

I agree, there was just a couple of cube questions that were a bit harder than practice ones I'd tried. I'm definitely glad I took extra time to practice and try to learn techniques before attempting it! I'm sure we'll all start hearing back soon after the deadline date!

 

[jaybon92]

I agree, there was just a couple of cube questions that were a bit harder than practice ones I'd tried. I'm definitely glad I took extra time to practice and try to learn techniques before attempting it! I'm sure we'll all start hearing back soon after the deadline date!

Yeah practising and looking it all up really made it let nerve wrecking. Although I worry that maybe I found it easy because I don't know what im doing haha

 

[Arne]

Just done the tests. Situational judgement one is just fairly standard, can't really prep. Just answer quickly and honestly. Spatial awareness was tough. But, the instructions were very clear in the sense of completing the test. Basically, as there are 22 questions, someone who gets 21 right but only completes 21 questions will score less highly than someone who only gets 20 right but attempts all 22. Impossible to know what the weighting is though

 

[Colly103]

I did mine last weekend and it’s fair to say I found the spatial really tough! It was much harder than any of the prep ones I’d done online! I actually feel that I did it too quickly and rushed it. There were definitely more than a few of the questions that on reflection I should have took more time over and given the time again would have been able to work out. Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long after the deadline to find out. Good luck everyone!