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ATC aptitude tests: FEAST, ATSA and how to practise

What controller selection looks for — and the skills you can build before you sit a test.

Every air navigation service provider chooses its trainee controllers with aptitude tests, because the job rests on abilities that are hard to teach from scratch: holding a moving three-dimensional picture in your head, doing quick sums under pressure, keeping several tasks going at once and staying calm while you do it. The tests do not expect you to know anything about air traffic control — they are built for people with no aviation background — but they do reward a mind that is already used to this kind of work. This page explains what the main tests measure and how to train the skills behind them. (For the whole route into the job, see how to become an air traffic controller.)

What the tests measure

• Spatial reasoning — seeing where moving aircraft are relative to each other, which way they are converging, and how the picture works in three dimensions once levels are added.
• Mental arithmetic — speed, distance and time, fast. A controller knows without a calculator that an aircraft at 240 knots covers 4 NM a minute.
• Attention and speed — scanning a busy display and spotting the one change that matters.
• Short-term memory — callsigns, levels and instructions held in mind while you do something else.
• Multitasking and priorities — several aircraft and tasks at once, and knowing which one needs you first.
• Learning and applying rules — taking in a set of rules quickly and using them correctly under time pressure.
• English — radio work in international airspace is in English, and controllers must show at least ICAO language proficiency Level 4.
• Personality and teamwork — calm under pressure, sound decisions, and working smoothly with colleagues.

FEAST — EUROCONTROL's test, used across Europe and beyond

The First European Air Traffic Controller Selection Test (FEAST) is run by EUROCONTROL for the air navigation service providers, military services and training academies that use it. It is usually described in three parts:

• FEAST I — computer-based multiple-choice tests of cognitive abilities (decision-making, logical reasoning, visual perception, attention, multitasking and spatial orientation) and of English.
• FEAST II — for candidates invited on after FEAST I: one or two work samples, simplified radar tasks such as the Dynamic ATC Radar Test (DART), which measure multitasking in a more realistic setting.
• FEAST III — a personality questionnaire.

Each organisation chooses how it uses the parts, so the exact sequence differs from one provider to the next. EUROCONTROL discourages test-specific preparation; what it recommends instead is improving your English, learning basic aviation terminology and finding out what the job really involves. The instructions before each test explain everything you need.

ATSA — the FAA's test in the United States

In the United States, applicants for FAA air traffic control trainee jobs take the Air Traffic Skills Assessment (ATSA), which replaced the older AT-SAT. It is taken only by invitation, at a Pearson VUE test centre, and consists of several timed computer-based subtests; candidates describe sections on memory, spatial relationships and problem-solving along with an air traffic scenario, though the FAA does not publish a full list. The result is one of several factors in the hiring decision.

DLR — selecting controllers for DFS in Germany

Germany's air navigation service provider, DFS, has selected its controllers together with the aviation psychologists of DLR, the German Aerospace Center, for more than forty years. The tests look at spatial awareness, memory, concentration and resilience under pressure, and DLR was among the first to add personality screening and team skills to controller selection. The final decision is made by a committee of DFS controllers and DLR psychologists.

Other countries use one of these batteries or their own; the careers page of your national provider says which, and is the place for official practice material if there is any.

How to practise — honestly

No game is a copy of any of these tests, and anything sold as "the real test" deserves suspicion. What you can do is build the underlying skills, and make sure the work-sample stage is not the first time you have ever looked at a radar picture:

• Reading a radar picture and spotting conflicts — run sessions in the ATC Radar Simulator and try to see every conflict before the short-term conflict alert does. When it fires, ask yourself when you could have seen it coming.
• Planning and multitasking — raise the traffic a little at a time. Then watch the Auto-Controller run the same airport and notice how few instructions it needs.
• Fast decisions with many moving parts — Sky Jam (draw a safe path for every aircraft as the traffic builds) and Runway Madness (time the take-offs, landings and crossings on a busy runway).
• Speed, distance and time — learn the rule of thumb: knots divided by 60 is nautical miles per minute. 180 knots is 3 NM a minute, 240 is 4, 300 is 5. Two aircraft head-on at 240 and 300 knots close at 9 NM a minute — so 18 NM apart means two minutes to sort it out.
• English and phraseology — the phonetic alphabet and standard phrases, and the simulator's spoken radio calls, train your ear for the language of the job.

Short, focused sessions work better than marathons, and on test day sleep counts for more than one last practice run.

Quick answers

Can you prepare for the FEAST test?

EUROCONTROL discourages test-specific preparation and says the instructions explain everything you need. General preparation helps: better English, basic aviation terms, knowing what the job involves — and familiarity with a radar picture makes the work samples less daunting.

Is the ATC Radar Simulator like the FEAST or ATSA radar test?

No — it is not a copy of any selection test, and it asks more of you than a work sample, which is built for people with no ATC knowledge. What it trains are the skills those tests look for: reading a radar picture, predicting conflicts and handling several aircraft at once.

Do I need aviation knowledge to pass?

No. The tests measure aptitude rather than knowledge, and everything you need is explained before each test begins.