Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

ATC recruitment with IAA

1235711

Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 35 Pigdog


    Thanks for the answers Phi.
    Your a in the door if you have this qualification bud..
    how did you obtain it?

    Aero2009, FROL's are available at all good flight schools!! :) It's a part of any and all PPL training. Although I disagree that it makes a holder a shoe-in. There was no-where on the application form to let them even know I had one, and i can't see that it will be much use during the tests. As I said it's definitely worth mentioning if I get as far as the interview stage, but I doubt that it will the only factor they're considering.

    Hope everyone does well though... just not as well as me!! :p


  • Registered Users Posts: 59 ✭✭JonnyK


    Alright lads,

    Just back from the test. Hard to know how I got on, I was reasonably pleased bt it's very difficult to tell.

    Best of luck to everyone else who is waiting.

    Fingers crossed!!


  • Registered Users Posts: 59 ✭✭JonnyK


    Also,

    Just to reiterate - we shouldn't give any details about the test prior to Saturday evening as it's not fair on those who have already sat it.

    There's 1200 applicants and last tests are Sat at 4.00 so we shoud keep it quiet till then.

    Sounds a bit cold but fair is fair!!


  • Registered Users Posts: 148 ✭✭melonstar


    aero2009 wrote: »
    where could you possibly get a qualification in radio operating?!!

    My dad is an RO and has qualiifications from radio college. There used to one in Limerick (now the tech college up on o'connell ave) and he went to one in ranelagh in dublin. Most of the people in Ballygirreen have these qualifications and i understand from my dad that this is the first time recruitment has taken place and these qualifications have not been a requirement.


  • Registered Users Posts: 139 ✭✭gerardduff


    I did the test earlier in the week. Don't think I'm giving anything away by saying it is worth having a look at the aforementioned practice test website www.practicetests.co.uk just to get the brain oiled. But really prep'ing is optional, best to focus on arriving fully awake and relaxed.

    Against the clock these aptitude tests are very difficult. You will need your 'A' game to do well.

    There is no negative marking, so it's worth having a guess if you run out of time, which is almost a certainty in the numerical and abstract parts of the test.

    You need to bring only your passport (essential). They have a camera to take your photo, which I think is worth mentioning if you are already on a budget, might save you the six euro it costs for those fairly useless booth photos. No need to print off the email either.

    I used a soft pencil but they have pens there. You get a nice big table with a good seat, so no excuses. The computer paper on which you write the multiple chioce answer notes to use a pencil or black pen so I think my paper should be ok. But it hardly matters as I doubt I made the grade. In other words I'll be surprised if I do. The pencil worked out ok for me as I'm used to using pencil and I was able to erase a couple of answers I had second thoughts about in the first part (verbal), but if using a pen you can write an X in the box if you want to change an answer.

    By the way....
    I found the MC a bit flakey or dizzy as she said the first part (verbal) was 15mins but it was 20mins as was the second and third parts. I had time to look over my answers to the verbal which gave a false sense of security about the rest of the exam. Hey ho. Be warned though, in her little preamble she doesn't follow the text to the letter. A bit off putting given the circumstances. Especially for an anally retentive male like me! :)

    This is not sour grapes, I'm sure she's a nice woman and she seems to do her best to put people at their ease. Maybe she'll get better as the week continues.

    Best of luck to all you budding radio officers,

    over.

    G


  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users Posts: 14,015 ✭✭✭✭Mc Love


    Did the exam today, was grand, the numerical and non-verbal are tricky enough. I tried to schedule my time effectively but its harder than i thought


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 15 aero2009


    melonstar wrote: »
    My dad is an RO and has qualiifications from radio college. There used to one in Limerick (now the tech college up on o'connell ave) and he went to one in ranelagh in dublin. Most of the people in Ballygirreen have these qualifications and i understand from my dad that this is the first time recruitment has taken place and these qualifications have not been a requirement.


    I believe this is the first time they recruited in 11 years - aptitude test been a first also.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 301 ✭✭Jesus1222


    Good man, thanks.

    It's not giving much if anything away but enough to be decent and clear up any confusion. I know times are tough but you can help out people a little bit no!

    Sitting my test tomorrow, not optimistic but if you're not in you can't win.
    gerardduff wrote: »
    I did the test earlier in the week. Don't think I'm giving anything away by saying it is worth having a look at the aforementioned practice test website www.practicetests.co.uk just to get the brain oiled. But really prep'ing is optional, best to focus on arriving fully awake and relaxed.

    Against the clock these aptitude tests are very difficult. You will need your 'A' game to do well.

    There is no negative marking, so it's worth having a guess if you run out of time, which is almost a certainty in the numerical and abstract parts of the test.

    You need to bring only your passport (essential). They have a camera to take your photo, which I think is worth mentioning if you are already on a budget, might save you the six euro it costs for those fairly useless booth photos. No need to print off the email either.

    I used a soft pencil but they have pens there. You get a nice big table with a good seat, so no excuses. The computer paper on which you write the multiple chioce answer notes to use a pencil or black pen so I think my paper should be ok. But it hardly matters as I doubt I made the grade. In other words I'll be surprised if I do. The pencil worked out ok for me as I'm used to using pencil and I was able to erase a couple of answers I had second thoughts about in the first part (verbal), but if using a pen you can write an X in the box if you want to change an answer.

    By the way....
    I found the MC a bit flakey or dizzy as she said the first part (verbal) was 15mins but it was 20mins as was the second and third parts. I had time to look over my answers to the verbal which gave a false sense of security about the rest of the exam. Hey ho. Be warned though, in her little preamble she doesn't follow the text to the letter. A bit off putting given the circumstances. Especially for an anally retentive male like me! :)

    This is not sour grapes, I'm sure she's a nice woman and she seems to do her best to put people at their ease. Maybe she'll get better as the week continues.

    Best of luck to all you budding radio officers,

    over.

    G


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 9 orenkay


    hi everyone,
    had my test on tuesday morning...seems like a good job if ya get through!!! have to agree the MC is a dose...talked to herself a bit 2 but probably just nerves as she was up infornt of about 50 people!!! she said monday and tuesday they were usin a small room of about 60 seats and then movin to a bigger room the rest of the week...can only imagine her infront of a bigger crowd!!! anyway without giving too much away in the test...its a multiple choice of 6 options!!! also the MC said the verbal reasoning was 15 mins...and it was actually 15 mins for us so think its a bit unfair if others got 20...although this was the easier in my opinion of the 3 tests!!!
    also that paper seemed like it transfers onto another page so gerrardduff who used a pencil and then rubbed it out...that might effect ur test but im no expert about that...just guessing!!!
    also in relation to studying for the test...i think any study done in the last week might be no good!!! i agree that your brain can be trained but think it takes years to train your mind to be more analytical to figure out complicated numerical sequences (some of which are fairly complicated) but every man to his own!!!
    anyway can any1 else tell me how they got on...if they managed to finish the tests and which ones etc??? i finished the verbal with about 2 mins left (from 15 mins not 20 mins) so went over them again and found a few wrong answers so not too confident about the ones i didnt get to check!!! the numerical i finished with about 1.30 left and didnt really get to check much of that and the non-verbal had the last 2 q's unfinished so just ticked any box!!!

    best of luck to every1 else!!!


  • Registered Users Posts: 14,015 ✭✭✭✭Mc Love


    Yeah didnt get to finish the numerical by two and non-verbal by three! oops!

    But i think the verbal was my strongest!


  • Advertisement
  • Closed Accounts Posts: 17 ToeRag881


    I did mine today also. Finished the verbal with ease. There was only one i was unsure of, and then realised what it was after i handed it up. Oops.
    Numerical I did not finish by 4, although i'm 100% on all the ones i did answer.
    Non verbal i did not finish by 3 but then again i'm 100% sure of all the answers i did get. I'm pretty systematical like that. Probably why i ran out of time. :p


  • Registered Users Posts: 59 ✭✭JonnyK


    Alright lads,

    We had 15 mins for the verbal (Thursday at 12.30) which I finished and thought did well at. My head's a bit melted though because I probably had 8 left for the maths and maybe six for the non-verbal that I didn't do (15 mins each). Tried to focus on getting answers correct and left out some rather than guessing.

    Maybe I should've went quicker but there's nothing I can do now! It's so difficult to tell but hopefully we'll find out soon enough.

    I disagree about those saying practising doesn't make a difference. I practised for about two weeks and I defo much improved.There are certain books that offer tips etc and they are very useful. Also, if someone has never done an aptitude test, merely looking through examples will help instead of blindly going in - they're a bit like crosswords etc - the more practice you get the better you become (I hate crosswords by-the-way!).

    I never knew there was a radio officer qualification but there you go - I doubt many who get to the interview stage will have one!!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 956 ✭✭✭Jim236


    Had mine today, think I did alright. Can't really give any more info than whats been given as it was much the same today. Whoever said they had 20mins instead of 15 must've got the instructions mixed up. You get a practice test before you do the proper one, and you get 5 mins for this, and then 15mins for the verbal test, and 20mins for the other 2.

    Tests finish up tomorrow and they'll be contacting everyone by e-mail.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 9 orenkay


    johnny k...i know what your trying to say about practising but what i meant was for it to make a real difference you would need to be doing that kind of stuff for at least a few years. I am a recently graduated engineer with 2.1 hons and didnt do any practise for the tests but finished the maths with a couple of mins left...obviously the maths part of my degree over the past 4 years helped me here so this is my point!!! anyway i worked it out...its roughly 1 in 100 people asked to do the test will be offered the position (1284 invited for 12 places) so chances are slim but somebody has to get them!!! plus there were about 10 empty seats the day i did it out of about 50/60 so not everyone turned up or will turn up!!!
    best of luck to every1!!!


  • Registered Users Posts: 11 phi


    I wouldn't be too worried if you didn't get the 3 tests completed, from my understanding of these, they look at the highest scores obtained, plus also the level of accuracy.
    For example if you only got 30 questions in the numerical completed, but had 100% accuracy. This is better than if you got the 36 completed, with 2 incorrect.

    Best of luck to all,and whoever gets in, I'm sure that they will love it.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 956 ✭✭✭Jim236


    orenkay wrote: »
    anyway i worked it out...its roughly 1 in 100 people asked to do the test will be offered the position (1284 invited for 12 places) so chances are slim but somebody has to get them!!! plus there were about 10 empty seats the day i did it out of about 50/60 so not everyone turned up or will turn up!!!

    There was only about 30 there this morning, and I overheard the woman say 70 didn't show up yesterday.


  • Registered Users Posts: 11 phi


    I'm not surprised. I don't think that people read the advert correctly. From what I've read in this post and elsewhere, some think that they can transfer to Dublin/Cork after the training is completed. As we know this is not the case as there is only one place for Radio Op (Shanwick) in Ireland and that is in Ballygirreen.


  • Registered Users Posts: 14,015 ✭✭✭✭Mc Love


    Yeah there were a few empty seats during the exam i was sitting too


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,445 ✭✭✭jd83


    I said that from the start I guarantee you some people thought the job was in Dublin. Ah well less competition for us. There was a few empty seats at mine too. I really hope none of these muppets who think its a way into something else get through, if they get a place their costing those of us with a genuine interest in the job a place.


  • Registered Users Posts: 59 ✭✭JonnyK


    Agreed to all the above lads,

    It's been a good forum and beneficial to hear everyone's views. It'd be nice to think that a few of us will get through and I wish everyone the best of luck.

    There were also a few empty seats at mine. Hopefully we'll get news late next week or the following week at the latest as interviews are due to be held in mid Feb.

    It's in the hands of the aviation gods now!!

    Time for Jonny Ross and a few tins of chilled Guinness now - lovely jubbly.


  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users Posts: 35 Pigdog


    Hello again guys.

    Well, I'm just back in Dublin after sitting the tests today (Friday 16:00) I was pleasantly surprised to see quite a decent female representation at the test. This sort of thing usually attracts more 'outies' than 'innies' but I was glad to see more than just one or two girls. :D

    Anyway, I have one question. Not that it matters too much, since I've done my tests, but I am curious.

    Phi seems to think that there is negative marking...
    For example if you only got 30 questions in the numerical completed, but had 100% accuracy. This is better than if you got the 36 completed, with 2 incorrect.
    but Gerardduff seems sure there isn't
    There is no negative marking, so it's worth having a guess if you run out of time

    Does anyone know for sure, or can either of you two say your reasons? I suppose I should have asked them today, but I never thought of it.

    I finished all the tests, the verbal one being by far the easiest for me. Once I got into the non-verbal one I actually started to enjoy it! The numerical one gave me a headache! :mad: I got it finished, but only by guessing on two questions (both of these I had it rounded down to two of the six possible answers anyway)

    Well, all the best to those who have to sit them tomorrow. Hope we all hear soon enough.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 956 ✭✭✭Jim236


    Nobody knows how they'll be scored Pigdog, its just speculation. Hopefully there won't be a long wait for the results though.

    Was there many there for your test?


  • Registered Users Posts: 11 phi


    Hi pigdog, congrats on doing well.

    Just to clarify, I dont think theres negative marking. In fact I know that there isn't. What I said was accuracy not negative marking.

    If a decision was to be made on two that had the same (or similar) result, it would the candidate that had the closest to 100% accuracy ie 30 correct out of 30 competed not 30 correct out of 36 completed.

    Anyway best of luck to all, and of I get thru I'll see ye there! :)


  • Registered Users Posts: 14,015 ✭✭✭✭Mc Love


    Pigdog wrote: »
    Hello again guys.

    Well, I'm just back in Dublin after sitting the tests today (Friday 16:00) I was pleasantly surprised to see quite a decent female representation at the test. This sort of thing usually attracts more 'outies' than 'innies' but I was glad to see more than just one or two girls. :D

    There was like only three that i could see at my test!!

    Two of them being hotties!


  • Registered Users Posts: 35 Pigdog


    Hmmm, I'm trying to think how many were there, I'll give a rough guess at about 40, maybe 50! I think there were a few that were expected but didn't show up today too.

    I'm not quite sure exactly what the difference is there Phi. I'n not saying you're wrong, I just don't get the difference. You said someone who got 30 right out of 36, with no wrong answers would be better off than someone who got 34 right and 2 wrong but answered all questions. How is that not negative marking? Maybe I'm not quite clear on what negative marking is.

    Oh, and thanks for the congrats Phi, not sure it's warranted just yet though!! :) Just because I feel I did well doesn't mean anything. I've been bitten by that feeling before...

    Not that it really matters either. The tests are done. All we've got to do is wait...


  • Registered Users Posts: 35 Pigdog


    Ok, so Phi, sparkysrovers and me get through with, say, 9 hotties! Everyone ok with that set up? :D


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4 OJTI


    Who knows, are there any vacancies at IAA for qualified controllers with valid licences? I'm interested in GND,TWR or APP positions. Thanks :)


  • Registered Users Posts: 9 Hermes5


    OJTI wrote: »
    Who knows, are there any vacancies at IAA for qualified controllers with valid licences? I'm interested in GND,TWR or APP positions. Thanks :)

    try their website www.iaa.ie I heard that they were looking for qualified controllers and didnt get the numbers they were looking for.


  • Registered Users Posts: 9 Hermes5


    Pigdog wrote: »
    Ok, so Phi, sparkysrovers and me get through with, say, 9 hotties! Everyone ok with that set up? :D

    The could do with a few hotties;);)


  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users Posts: 35 Pigdog


    Well, everyone should be finished the tests by now. So what did you all think of them, and don't hold back any details!!


Advertisement