Having recently passed this Stage 1, I'll provide a quick update for anyone interested. I researched this forum a lot prior to my assessment and felt it appropriate to give back to the community.
1. The concentration test (GB) is no different from what you may have used for practice other than it being printed on a different paper. As most people have mentioned, speed and accuracy is key.
2. Glop ( Comprehension Test)
I found this is to be very easy but again each candidate's levels of retaining information differ. The key is writing down important info and ignoring irrelevant ones. A little tip:
- Colour
- Count down markers
- Who perfoms what role
- How GLOP is applied.
3. Tones test - ( ignore the whole story about the lift and just count the tones). I practiced using a keyboard by playing 2 closely related tones. This was my way of ensuring I was prepared and it really helped me.
4. Directory- you'll have just 45 seconds to search for a specified trade with matching symbols. Again, this has been mentioned numerous times, everyone on the listing will either be a plumber, cleaner etc. Don't waste your time looking at the text- just circle the symbols shown to you as per instruction.
5. Tones + Directory
The tone will only start playing once you hear READY? Again, everyone in the listing would be of the same trade - concentrate on the symbols.
This was probably the easiet.
The trick here is once you write down your answer for the tones, continue circling the trades but remain attentive so you don't miss the word READY. I never stopped circling for a minute and I know I got all the answers right -
4. Dials- Yes this is a little different from the practice material but once you understand the logic, the actual test becomes easy. You have opportunities to try out some examples before you begin.
You'll have 7 minutes to answer 43 questions, don't be fooled, it's impossible to answer the entire 43 questions.
Good luck!!