Psych. Tests

[pilot4life]

First time on the forum,

I'm currently half-way through my aviation studies at UNSW (Sydney, Australia) completing a bachelor of aviation and gaining all licenses to ATPL level.
Last year I apllied for a cadet programme with a major airline but didn't get through the psych test - does that mean the chances of me passing the psych test for the same airline in the future is impossible? and what about the similiar tests held by many other major carriers?

any advice or experience from those who have undergone psych testing would be appreciated!!

[eugi]

psycho test

hi pilot4life

i do not think that failing the psycho test one time means that you are going to fail them forever..
i passed a lot of test for the swiss air force and my actual atpl school in switzerland. i was succesful every time but the results had big differences. that means you can have everytime a bad day.
look forward and believe in yourself!!¨

how do you estimate the chance for me to get a job in oz in a small company (also piston-machine, twin or something similar) in 2004 with a JAA-frozen ATPL?

hope to hear from you
eugi

[pilot4life]

eugi

that for the reply, it means alot - cheers!!

About a job in oz......oz is a huge country with a relatively small population, however it does boast a strong aviation industry and a successful one if you're willing to tough it out. i myself am always researching possible hot-spots downunder for when i graduate.
Try searching for operators at Kununurra (Sling Air and Alligator Air), Cairns (Hinterland Aviation), Broome, Tasmania (Tasair), South Australia and my personal favourite and dream-job in the Whitsunday/Great barrier reef area. Many of these operators utilise SE and ME piston, turbine, and float aircraft.

Cheers mate once again and I hope this info will be of some help - hope to hear of your findings or maybe have a beer with you when you're down-under.......

pilot4life

[Pilot Pete]

p4l

When you say 'psych' test it really depends on what test you mean.

Let me explain. Psychometric testing, as the name implies is a 'measure of the mind' ('psycho'- mind, 'metric' - measure) and encompasses many different types of tests, such as aptitude testing, verbal and numerical reasoning, spatial awareness and perhaps the one most people refer to as 'the' psychometric test - a personality profile. There are others.

Tests for aptitude and the like are all about knowledge which is learnt. Therefore if you fail one there is no reason why you should not go out and practice/ learn the knowledge to pass next time.

The personality profile is different though. Your personality is set from a very early age and only your behaviour can be altered subsequently. You cannot 'learn' how to 'pass' a personality profile as there are no right and wrong answers, only preferences. You can change your answers by not answering truthfully, but by doing that you are likely to end up with a character set that does not reflect you and could possibly be even less desireable to a prospective employer!

Another factor is if you understood the way the profile works or whether you tried to second guess 'right' answers? It could be that your profile did not reflect you correctly.

So you can see that the answer to your original question is slightly more complicated than you may have expected.

PP

[ALLBLACK]

Thanks ,

I too wanted to know about this Phsycho Test for along time since I to have to face it n was told that it is on eof the definite entry tests.So I would like to thank for those who have given there honest explnations about this .But wanted to know further as well,

All these tests which was explained by pilot pete, please tell me these exams are done on the same day or on different days . Because , the phsychology of a person could change within few days I guess, and are these exams similer to apptitude exmas , like Maths , Gen knlwledge etc . or these things are carried on a Simulotr type thing ? Untill now I had the impression that the Pksychomatric test are done on sim, and they ( Airline) give different scenarios to the candidate during the flight with engine failurs, Cabin pressu,, engine Flre, etc etc to check the mental pressure . so arent these a part of the Phsych test?

Prop

[Pilot Pete]

ALLBLACK

I think you are a little confused when it comes to airline entry selection tests.

The ones referred to by the original poster are 'psychometric' tests carried out in an examination type scenario. i.e. you sit at a desk with a question paper and work your way through under a time limit and with an invigilator. The verbal, numerical and aptitude type tests follow this format. The personality profile follows the same format, but is not a 'test' as such, just an answer sheet where you put down your 'preferences' from a selection for each question. So it's not really like an exam as such as you don't have to work out 'correct' answers, you just have to pick which statement/ word/ sentance/ choice represents you most accurately. It is best to put down what you instinctively feel on first reading the question as if you dwell too long you start to cloud your initial preference by applying too much logic where none is required!

The simulator assessment is another issue. From my experience which is limited to the UK all the sim assessments I have ever done have followed the same(ish) format;

A week or two before they send you a profile together with some SOP and standard calls to learn, usually with some flap speeds and power settings to allow you to get somewhere near the ballpark first time round! On the day they run through all these to make sure you have no further questions and are completely clear on what is required of you.

The test usually consists of a departure flown raw data (no autopilot/ autothrottle/ flight director and only 'needles' to track, i.e. no LNAV) They tend to pick a relatively tricky one which has an early turn of something like 90 degrees, a short track, say a couple of miles before another tight turn during which you will normally reach the level off altitude........just to get you really working on that scan!

Then they normally do a needle tracking exercise to see if you can track to/ from a beacon and make correct turns to re-establish if you drift off. Then maybe some steep turns to test your scan and airmanship again (during which they usually assume responsibility for navigation) and then they put you on a radar heading to intercept the localiser for an ILS approach to land.

Then they ask you 'how it went' and the key is not to say 'OK' but to be totally honest and work back through the whole profile pointing out your mistakes. They will then point out any that you missed but they didn't, give you some priorities for what they would like to see better next go and then you shoot the whole profile again. What they usually want to see is an improvement second time to show that you can listen to instruction, absorb it and improve as a result of it (which means you should be less of a training risk if they take you on.) Sometimes they will give you a third go which really is a lot of rope to hang yourself with!

Depending on experience/ type they will look for more competence. For instance I had a sim assessment on a 757 for which I held a current type rating. They wanted to do V1 cuts, single engine ILS and NDB with go-arounds. Guys not familiar with the type would obviously not be expected to do this kind of stuff.

As regards questioning you during the sim assessment, it varies from one to another. Some ask you mental arithmetic question like 'how old are you in months?', 'whats 13x21?' which is all to see how much capacity you have spare. I was once asked as traking towards a beacon, 'if you had to take up the hold on the 320R inbound right turns, what hold entry would you fly from here?'........bloody difficult in an unfamiliar sim that didn't want to trim correctly I can tell you. The main thing is to remember the principles of Aviate, Navigate, Communicate. Don't let your flying go to pot because you are using all your capacity to answer the questions!

One company ran a two crew sim where you did PF and PNF duties. The PNF task was to monitor and assist, but he was also given a 30 question test paper to do during the sim check. Those who dived straight in and answered all the questions whilst their partner struggled and made mistakes probably didn't even realise why they failed..................

So I am not sure if you refer to the sim assessment as a psychometric test, it certainly is, but also a test of manual skills as well.

When you do the tests varies from employer to employer as well. Most will 'clump' all the written tests together on one day and may well interview as well on that day. Others will spread them over a couple of days. Some have access to sims on the same day and put everyone through it, others wait to find out their 'written' results before offering a sim assessment (which is the most expensive part.) If you have an assessment coming up you should have all the details in their offer letter. If not I would contact them.

Anyhow, best of luck.

PP

[ALLBLACK]

Thank You PP

Pilot Pete

There is nothing else that I can ask on this , You have given me the most vital info in this regard ,,, hope this may help others too in this forume ,, Thank you

AllBalck

[DOK001]

Pilot Pete;

Thanks for your fantastic reply to ALLBLACK's comment- I couldn't agree with you more.

Just one question- I am currently using IQ tests, maths problems and mental reasoning excercises to practice for my aptitude tests.

The problems and exercises I've been using are generic examples, but do you know of any aviation specific skills and mental reasoning tests?

I've been looking for years but I simply cant find any books of sample aviation skills tests.

Thanks again for your comments,

Cheers,

DOK001

[Pilot Pete]

DOK

Again, speaking purely from UK experience here.

I have not heard of aviation specific aptitude tests. Verbal and numerical reasoning are just that; finding out if you have a suitable level of ability with the written word and with numbers. That's not to say that numerical test papers don't have aviation type questions in them, for instance I once sat a test that presented numerical information in a table. It was on-time performance figures for various airlines. You had to answer questions about which had the best on-time averaged over a number of years (all with differing numbers of flights per year) etc. So that was aviation related, but could easily have been anything else (like school leavers and exam passes.)

I think if recruiters want to test your aviation knowledge they will give you a technical test paper, or ask you 'aviation' type questions in the interview (you know, like 1:60 type calculations.) Again, it varies depending on experience. I was asked specific autoland systems requirements for the 757 as I was interviewing with the type already on my licence. For low hours guys with no type rating it tends to be more ATPL theory type knowledge. Of course it also varies from employer to employer; I have never sat an airline tech entry test, just had the odd question at interview as outlined above, but the likes of easyJet have a formal tech question paper for new joiners.

Hope that answers your queries. Remember, the airlines are running all these tests to get an overall picture of you, usually to then see if you are consistent with your results when questioned at interview. They can achieve this without running aviation specific aptitude tests.

Regards

PP

[WangEye]

p4l

Have a look at www.shldirect.com - go to 'practice and feedback'.

Also try 'psychometric tests' on Google - lots of similar sites.

Good luck.

WE