I've successfully got through all the assessments, interviews and medical and have a start date next month and as this Forum was so helpful to me I thought I'd pay it forward by breaking down how the process went for me to hopefully shine some light on what can seem quite an opaque process.
Timeline
Application submitted & SJT completed: 07/12
Invited for online assessment (miniSCAAT):11/2
Stage 1 assessment: 02/04
Stage 2 assessment: 15/04
DMI: 06/05
Medical: 15/05
Start Date: 16/06
So all in all the whole process has taken me ~7 months which from the looks of things is on the quicker side. On that front I think I just got very lucky as I'll explain later.
I won't cover the application and SJT in any detail as the former should be self-explanatory and the latter is just something you either get right or you don't. I'll just say I initially applied for the Thameslink Cricklewood talent pool.
Online Assessment (miniSCAAT)
Basically you just go through rows of letters and click on ones It's asked you to. You do this three times with each round a little more difficult but I say that lightly as this is an incredibly straightforward test. I've seen a few people on here worried when they get invited to this but they give a practice go before all three runs and you can repeat those as much as you want. Obviously I don't know what score I got but this felt by far the easiest test I did through the whole process and bluntly I struggle to see how you'd be able pass any of the other tests if you can't pass this. Which i guess is the point of using it as a pre-sift.
Stage 1 (Pencil and Paper tests)
Group Bourdon - One of the tests I think practice would have the biggest impact as you'll learn to recognise the patterns. You can practice this actual test online although it's much easier to do with pen and paper than on a computer let alone a touch screen. You can print off practice papers to do it that way or just do it the harder way knowing on the day it will be easier.
Tea-Occ - Done in 3 stages. Firstly you hear a series of high and low tones and count the low ones. Secondly you have to go through what's essentially a telephone directory of IIRC plumbers all with symbols next to them. You circle all the ones with double symbols next to them. Finally you combine the two although the tones are all one tone and you just have to count them whilst circling the symbols. I just focused on the tones and circled the symbols in the gaps between. Not sure this is one you can really practice.
TRP1 - A memory test. They read a sheet of A4 to you about something related to the railways, then gve you 5 minutes to read it as many times as you want and make notes (these are taken away from you after the 5 minutes though), then you're asked multiple choice questions about what you learned. I've got an excellent memory so this was very easy for me. If you have a poor one then maybe look at some memory techniques but i don't think any of the specific practice materials are going to do much.
TRP2 - Dials test - The practice material they give you is almost identical to the actual test so if you can do that you'll be fine, and I'd save your practicing for the Bourdon and DFFT. You'll never complete all 43 questions so don't worry if you don't, I think i managed 31.
DFFT - Basically you get a series of illustrations of train dash boards as well as a instruction sheet telling you how to spot faults and if there are multiple how many and which to prioritise. You then record what was at fault. Probably the most "difficult" test in it requires you to somewhat think for yourself. Well worth going over the practice materials as it familiarises you with how it works and I can imagine some people wasting precious time working that out if they haven't gone over the practice materials provided.
At the end they told us at the OPC we'd hear from the TOC within 10 working days, Thankfully I didn't have to wait that long and they contacted me two days later to say I'd passed and then the following Monday gave me dates for the Stage 2.
Stage 2 (Computer Tests and MMI)
You do the 3 computer tests one after another with no breaks in the order below. Everybody starts at the same time but depending on how long it takes you to read the instructions, have a practice you'll finish at different times so try to ignore other people as best you can.
WAFV - Very straightforward in that all you have to do is watch a screen and press the large green button on your console, as quickly as you can, every time the flashing grey square on screen turns black. However it is IMV the most challenging of all the psychometrics ests and the only one somebody in my group of 5 failed at. Why? because you're doing it for 32 minutes. I don't think I missed a single black square but i definitely pressed the green erroneously a couple of times. The guy who failed said he did zone out at one point, I can't really add anything more than tr not to do that as you can't really practice this.
ATAVT - You hear a beep then see an image for 1 second and then you select if you saw pedestrians, vehicles, bikes, traffic lights and traffic signs. I was worried about this but felt it was much simpler on the actual test than when I'd tried to practice it with either the material provided or youtube. So personally i wouldn't bother practicing and from what I've seen it's rare people fail it.
2HAND - You have to take a ball round a track using two joy sticks one moves it vertically the other horizontally. Every time it goes outside the track you hear a beep. You get a couple of practice runs then you have to do it 10 times for the test*. Everybody thought they'd failed (I only didn't because I'd read on here everybody thinks that!) and everybody passed. I think the main thing is not to panic if you make a bunch of mistakes and then spiral into making more or get too cautious and then become too slow. The only people I've heard fail this was from taking too long. Stay calm and try to remember they're just sifting out people with below average hand-eye coordination not testing to see if you have the fine muscle control of Roger Federer.
*I saw somebody earlier in this thread have a problem with people revealing how many times you have to go round the track. Which I find a bit daft as the instructors tell you before you start as do the instructions on screen so it's not meant to be a secret and I can't see how it gives you any advantage when it's a physical test.
MMI - The 4 of us that passed (they told within 20 minutes) were then all given the SJE and a pre-interview form. The former has no wrong answers they just use it to inform what to ask you at interview and the latter is just asking for one sentence examples to the interview questions that they'll then interrogate further in the interview. You then get given a time slot for to come back for. Overall the interview took almost 90 minutes and was the most gruelling thing of the whole process. I finished the stage 1 and the rest of stage 2 and the DMI fairly confident I'd passed but I was really unsure with this. My main advice would be to think about the type of questions you'll be asked (you can google them, search the forums or even use AI), come up with about 10 and then get confident answering them using the STAR method. HOWEVER you can't just memorise a monologue as the interviewer will really delve into your answer. For one of mine she said my answer wasn't appropriate so asked me to give a hypothetical scenario, which i had to do off the cuff, but i was able to to do as I'd practice enough at the type of answers to give.
DMI
Found out the next day I'd passed the MMI and this is when my luck came in as the recruiter for GTR called me up to check if I still wanted to be at Cricklewood depot as she'd arrange my interview with the relevant manager. I asked what other depots were available and she mentioned Hornsey (for Great Northern) which just so happens to be 10 minutes from where I now live, and even better had space on course dates right around the corner. I'm not a "meant to be" type of person but it felt it at that moment!
Interview was very straight forward with sevral competency based questions plus a few questions about why I wanted to switch careers and become a train driver, what i knew about GTR and what I foresaw as the challenges of driving a train. Honestly after the MMI this felt easy and took a third of the time. Just practice similar things to the MMI, they'll ask you follow up questions if they feel you haven't provided enough but if you have they won't cross examine you like at the MMI.
Got a call later that day to say I'd passed and got my verbal offer.
Medical
They'll scan your glasses if you wear them when you come in (although beware as my prescription was very inaccurate) and getv you to fill out a form then you'll see the Nurse who'll do hearing, eyesight, colour blindness, diabetes, drugs & alcohol tests as well as an ECG. As I said in an earlier post if you need the toilet tell them so they'll do the urine tests first!
After that you'll see the Doctor. Who will ask you some medical history questions then do some very basic mobility tests (standing on one leg, rasing hand above your shoulder) and check your peripheral vision. She told me I was cleared straight away so no waiting to hear. I then got my formal offer later that day and just had to provide 2 character references (Can't be family, employer or somebody you live with).
Hope this helps somebody like similar posts helped me.
