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Assessment Centre / Dials test.

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TTracks

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17 Jun 2021
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Hello everyone,

I have an assessment centre day booked in and I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on the dials test?
Apparently it’s actually abit different to the practise piece the TOC sent me? Thanks a lot!
 
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LCC106

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Welcome to the forum. If you do a search for "dials" on the main career page, there should be a wealth of information on the dials test there. Good luck!
 

centro-323

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15 Apr 2021
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New England
Ok so I'll try and explain it...

* WARNING * This is based off my own recollection from a couple of years back, and may not be 100% correct. Follow the instructions you receive on the day, and as with any of the tests, if you need further explanation or clarification, ASK before the test starts. This will not count against you, and any embarrassment you feel from asking is better than failing the test due to a misunderstanding.

You'll be given a test paper with about 35-40 questions of the same format. You will not complete them all. I got through about 80% of them and this elicited some gasps from fellow participants when they asked, but they still passed with whatever lower proportion they answered, so don't worry.

The questions take the format of three named dials, with shaded areas and numerical markings. You have to indicate in which order you would prioritise the information from each dial, according to a set of rules. From what I recall, the instruction is to first order them according the the coloured segment that the marker (cable?) is in, and then if there are two dials in the same segment, check the one with the lowest NUMERICAL value first. Note that the numerical scale will be different on each dial, so you cannot judge the value from the angle of the marker alone.

As I've said, please listen carefully on the day, as I might have some of the information backwards regarding the order of the coloured segments/numerical values etc.

I've attached an example below, which is correct from what I remember.

dials.png
 

ChooChoo31

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Joined
27 Apr 2021
Messages
19
Location
Moordown
Ok so I'll try and explain it...

* WARNING * This is based off my own recollection from a couple of years back, and may not be 100% correct. Follow the instructions you receive on the day, and as with any of the tests, if you need further explanation or clarification, ASK before the test starts. This will not count against you, and any embarrassment you feel from asking is better than failing the test due to a misunderstanding.

You'll be given a test paper with about 35-40 questions of the same format. You will not complete them all. I got through about 80% of them and this elicited some gasps from fellow participants when they asked, but they still passed with whatever lower proportion they answered, so don't worry.

The questions take the format of three named dials, with shaded areas and numerical markings. You have to indicate in which order you would prioritise the information from each dial, according to a set of rules. From what I recall, the instruction is to first order them according the the coloured segment that the marker (cable?) is in, and then if there are two dials in the same segment, check the one with the lowest NUMERICAL value first. Note that the numerical scale will be different on each dial, so you cannot judge the value from the angle of the marker alone.

As I've said, please listen carefully on the day, as I might have some of the information backwards regarding the order of the coloured segments/numerical values etc.

I've attached an example below, which is correct from what I remember.

View attachment 98999
I managed to complete all the dials and was told that it doesn't happen very often. I only managed 14 of the fault finding questions though but still passed.
 

4F89

Member
Joined
17 Aug 2018
Messages
860
Ok so I'll try and explain it...

* WARNING * This is based off my own recollection from a couple of years back, and may not be 100% correct. Follow the instructions you receive on the day, and as with any of the tests, if you need further explanation or clarification, ASK before the test starts. This will not count against you, and any embarrassment you feel from asking is better than failing the test due to a misunderstanding.

You'll be given a test paper with about 35-40 questions of the same format. You will not complete them all. I got through about 80% of them and this elicited some gasps from fellow participants when they asked, but they still passed with whatever lower proportion they answered, so don't worry.

The questions take the format of three named dials, with shaded areas and numerical markings. You have to indicate in which order you would prioritise the information from each dial, according to a set of rules. From what I recall, the instruction is to first order them according the the coloured segment that the marker (cable?) is in, and then if there are two dials in the same segment, check the one with the lowest NUMERICAL value first. Note that the numerical scale will be different on each dial, so you cannot judge the value from the angle of the marker alone.

As I've said, please listen carefully on the day, as I might have some of the information backwards regarding the order of the coloured segments/numerical values etc.

I've attached an example below, which is correct from what I remember.

View attachment 98999
I would argue about completing them all, I did.
 

MintyMango

Member
Joined
25 Mar 2021
Messages
63
Location
London
I did this test quite recently and it's still the same format explained above.

Definitely don't set out to try and complete every question though. Accuracy is very important, out of the 40 or so questions I only got through about 25 of them and still passed.
 
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Mintymango same I only did about 25 and I potentially got one wrong however he said I did well on the dials so must have got them all correct
 

NorthernTech

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12 Apr 2021
Messages
642
Location
Uk
I managed to complete all the dials and was told that it doesn't happen very often. I only managed 14 of the fault finding questions though but still passed.
I found this the easiest of all the tests if I’m honest. I work in a fault finding environment so perhaps it suits my brain. I finished all the questions and had time to go over almost all of them again to be sure. Like all things railway, you never find out actual scores but I’d be surprised if I got any of these wrong. Once you get your head around it, it’s quite simple, but again, depends if your brain works that way. Some people can draw amazing pictures, I struggle with anything more than a stick man! Lol..

The hardest tests for me were the two sticks on the computer tests and the one where it shows a picture of a scene for a second then saying what you saw. Passed them so must have been ok, but I bet I only scraped through those. Practice what you can practice given the info they send you through then use the search function on here to have a good read up on others experiences and you should be ok.
 
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Northerntech, I am slightly different to you. Memorising the pictures easy, the dials I found the most complex. What got me is we were not allowed to answer them in the book we had to write the answers on a seperate sheet of paper. I feel like I could have done more but did enough to pass Its more about following rules and procedures rather than anything else this test
 

NorthernTech

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642
Location
Uk
Northerntech, I am slightly different to you. Memorising the pictures easy, the dials I found the most complex. What got me is we were not allowed to answer them in the book we had to write the answers on a seperate sheet of paper. I feel like I could have done more but did enough to pass Its more about following rules and procedures rather than anything else this test
Yeah I think when I did it all the answers were done on a separate sheet. Some of them had the duplicate/triplicate paper underneath so you had to be careful with your markings. Everyone is different, but as long as you pass that is the main thing. I think this saying kinda suits, ‘it doesn’t matter if you win by an inch or a mile...winning is winning’
 
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Yes no completely agree . I missed one out on the last page I got to but I think I managed to correct them all in time because the ones I went back and looked at were all correct.
 

NorthernTech

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12 Apr 2021
Messages
642
Location
Uk
Yes no completely agree . I missed one out on the last page I got to but I think I managed to correct them all in time because the ones I went back and looked at were all correct.
When did you do yours? Which job/toc? (If you don’t mind me asking?)
 
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