I contacted OPC today and the gent I spoke to on the phone basically said that he did not believe that Southern/GTR don't use the VSE or the Magnificent 7 SJT and that if I took these online tests and for whatever reason didn't pass it shouldn't affect my Southern/GTR assessment day next mon the. Felt good about that but them had a reply to my initial email to them not commottling this information and strongly advising only having one application in at once and seeing it through to its natural conclusion. Seeing as am not being told a definitive answer I will not be risking my assessment day next month and will therefore withdraw from the MTR process. Thanks for all your help and guidance on this thread and wish you all the very best in your personal journeys in the process whatever stage you are at. Good luck all.
Bonkers. The Bloke on the Phone told you more than he should have. The email is deliberately non committal to avoid any liability on their part.
Anyway, if you are going to fail the VSE, then you will fail it whether you do it at Home on your computer or whether you do it at the Southern/GTR assessment day next mon, and its the same with the M7SJT.
The more applications you have on the go, the more chance you have of one of them being successful. MTR are taking on so many Trainees that if you pass the tests and if you do your research on the company the route and the trains then you have a much greater chance of getting offered a job.