So ee el oh how'd your assessment go? well I hope
Hi Cameron,
I'm delighted to say that I passed all tests on the day, and tbh it was a very
tough day both mentally and emotionally. There were 16 people there for the assesment that began at 9.30, the two girls that ran it were really nice and put
our minds at rest and made sure we were always comfortable and new exactly
what we had to do during the tests. First up was dot test which I thought was
going to be the toughest but turned out to be the easiest as I had practiced for
a week beforehand, this definately paid off. After a pee break we were straight into the next test which was customer service situations CSS, this was a bit tougher as there are no right or wrong answers, just answer the way you would
like to be treated as a customer. While this was going on the girls were marking the previous test. Remember you are always under time limits during the tests to put you under pressure. After that came the RAAT test, the rules acquisition test, this was a toughie with not enough time to finish, I gor three quarters way through it and thought I'd blew it but I doubt anybody finished it. I think the trick is be as accurate as you can. After this we returned to the rest area while the tests were marked up. After about 15mins the two girls came out and read out five names that were to return to the classroom, mines was'nt one of them and I thought thats me failed, turned out the ones called in had failed when the other girl congratulated the rest of us there was a huge sigh of relief all round. The game was still on though as the last test was the PA test or public announcement, this I thought was the toughest, you get ten mins to read three situations involving
problems with a train, you get to take quick notes and try to absorb as much info as poss and then hand back your notes. Everyone then returns to the waiting area and you are called back in in alphabetical order to announce your
PA on a one to one basis to avoid the other candidates from hearing what you say and learning from it. This only takes a couple of minutes and your back to the waiting room, It all seems a blur but I think as long as you speak slowly and clearly (no slang) and give as much detail as poss then thats what the examiners are looking for. Shortly after I was called back in and told I had met the criteria for training as a Conducter and they once again congratulated me, I could have kissed them both and I could feel my knees buckle, I had'nt realised how tense I had been all day till on the train home my head started thumping and I felt totally exhausted.
Next stage is the Structured interview so I'm not home and free yet but feel I've crossed a huge hurdle.
Apparantly thousands have applied for this position and if some of you guys are at the successful at full assesment then you should be proud as there were very few got to that stage.
My advice if you get invited to the assesment is study the material sent to you, there will be some stuff in there too that you won't do on the day but I did this to as I felt if your in that examination swatting mode everything helps. Download the Group Bourdon Tool and do it as much as you can although on the day its on paper and pencil, Take the day before off work and study, take breaks every half hour and good luck cos if I can do it anyone can.
