Practice tests for potential new Railway employees

[Mattmatt]

Now this thread may appear somewhere else, but as I have found some good examples of tests, I though i'd share it with others.

In my quest to find suitable training material, and not paying the high prices advertised on the net. I found the the following, others may have found it too.

http://www.psychometric-success.com/downloads/download-practice-tests.htm

For me, i used the mechanical reasoning and the Fault Diagnosis & Numerical Computation. They were free to download, it obviously wants to download and pay for their tests, but as a starter for 10, it does the job of getting your mind in gear and ready for what you might encounter.

If anyone else has other material that they've used or could scan in to put on this forum it would be a great resource for others to reference on? It's not about cheating, it's about doing the best you can. We all know that the GB test can be downloaded and practised, so why not other material? I know some TOCs send out practice material to candidates (well they used to anyway), I think it would be great if others could scan it in and post on the forum so others may gain from looking at the material.

Please shoot me down if i'm asking immoral things of people to post their own training material on here. I just think its a resource that all can benefit from. (well not those who are now in the industry anyway and have done the tests)

cheers

 

[Nym]

Network Rail use SHL Testing, that has free practice tests available on their website.

 

[ThomasTTE]

Matt I think in this day and age, any preparation material you can get is worthwhile and is not 'cheating'. Now psychometric testing is a whole industry in it's own right and you can get any amount of free or 'premium' content to assist you. Potential employers know this too and are not trying to hide the nature of the tests; in the past, you had no idea what to expect and you just had to 'wing' it on the day.

The only enemy is yourself and self imposed pressure.

I did SHL psycho tests (data analysis) for another organisation and the practice ones I was sent were harder than the actual ones on the day, which gave me a nice 'warm and fuzzy' feeling when I opened the paper. It's all about practice, practice, practice! These sorts of test are not difficult, but add a time element in and your brain can get fried - a good rule of thumb I read was that, assuming you take a minute per question, if there are as many questions as the time limit eg 20 questions in 20 minutes, then you should aim to work quickly through it and get to the end. If there are significantly more questions than minutes eg 30 q's in 20 mins, then the testers are not expecting most people (if any) to complete the test and you should aim to do as many as possible as accurately as possible.

There are no end of books out there teaching you how to do psycho tests but for me the most obvious and simple one is the 'Dummies Guide to PT'. Tells you all you need to know in a simple, comprehensive format - if you need any more detail in a specialised area of testing then by all means buy some practice tests online. I've also bought the Dummies Guide to Interview Questions - and one day I may even put their advice into practice and get the Signaller job of my dreams!!!

 

[LCC106]

The most useful BOOK for me has been Baron's Mechanical Aptitude and Spatial Relations Test. I'm not so strong on mechanics and have found each chapter to give clear explanations of gears / rations / pulleys as relevant.

I received practice material from Northern Rail but the email did expressly say it is to be used for the purpose of my personal practice.

It would be really useful if TOCs would agree to publication on the forum, since practice makes perfect. Of course, we do understand that these resources aren't cheap for the TOC.

How2Become a Train Driver was also a useful BOOK.

In terms of websites, I was able to do a mechanical test on the SHL website. Haven't found any others I can actually DO online.

Thanks for posting this thread. Helpful tool! And good luck to everyone out there!

 

[wanabedriver]

The most useful BOOK for me has been Baron's Mechanical Aptitude and Spatial Relations Test. I'm not so strong on mechanics and have found each chapter to give clear explanations of gears / rations / pulleys as relevant.

I received practice material from Northern Rail but the email did expressly say it is to be used for the purpose of my personal practice.

It would be really useful if TOCs would agree to publication on the forum, since practice makes perfect. Of course, we do understand that these resources aren't cheap for the TOC.

How2Become a Train Driver was also a useful BOOK.

In terms of websites, I was able to do a mechanical test on the SHL website. Haven't found any others I can actually DO online.

Thanks for posting this thread. Helpful tool! And good luck to everyone out there!

I have recently bought this book and it is great as I anticipate that I will sit a mechanical comp. test soon as I have a couple of applications for trainee driver in the pipeline. My question is has anyone recently sat the test who could give an idea of what is in the test. Is it just gears, pulleys and levers and how much depth is needed as in the book it can be quite detailed. Also what is the format of the test, is it a speed test so answer as many as possible or complete test with no time limit.

I hope this is not a dense question.

Many Thanks

 

[LCC106]

Actually, I would say that there were less pulley questions and more to do with shearing of joints / questions about levers etc. I managed to pass the first stage and am no good on mechanics, so learn the basics but a broad understanding of all rather than too in depth. Anyone disagree...?

 

[wanabedriver]

Thanks for that mate. Did you manage to finish the test, as I have since found out that it is timed.

 

[LCC106]

Managed to complete 32 out of 36 on mechanics (I'd missed out the ones I didn't know). On the trainability for rules and procedures comprehension I completed all 18 and checked the first 6 before time was up. Good job I did, as I noticed an error. Group Bourdon - no time to complete these but I managed 7 or 8 rows, I think, at 25 columns per row.

Tomorrow brings the reaction test and structured interview. Hope this all helps.

 

[wanabedriver]

thanks matey, that helps a lot. I hope you pass the the reaction test and the structured interview. best of luck, thanks for your input