possible new controller

EvoJoeIX

New Member
hey guys, im new here. im 20 years old and hopefully on my way to being a ATC. i just been looking around mostly, lots of great info on here.

anyway, i have been notified that im chosen to take the AT-SAT. ill be going monday for the exam. i have a few questions though.

1. I have been using the ATC career prep book to do all my studying, as i am an off the street canidate. is there anything else i should look at that might not be in the book? also i have a litte bit of trouble with the letter factory part and where you have to manage all the planes on the screen. how big of a part of the AT-SAT is this?

2. What happens after i take the test? when will i be notified of my results? how long does it take for you to get sent to okalahoma?

3.Just a basic question, those who are ATC's or becoming ATC's. do you love your job? is it everything they say it is? is it as hard as they make
it out to be? or do you just get used to it after doing it everyday?

4. Is it like doing the same thing day after day, or is everyday a different story? i know their gonna be different planes, but asfar as the situations you face at you jobs.

thanks for all the info guys. im very excited to take my test and i hope i pass it, which i should since i been studying my butt off lately
 
On the ATC scenario move the planes as fast as possible.

Question, what public announcement did you apply to? I'm curious as to whether people have heard anything from the recent, Pubnat 7 that was in mid december.
 
i dont know what announcement i applied to. it doesnt even say nothing in my email about it. i applied for this probably back in the summer time, i got my notice around thanksgiving i believe
 
On the ATC scenario move the planes as fast as possible.

Question, what public announcement did you apply to? I'm curious as to whether people have heard anything from the recent, Pubnat 7 that was in mid december.

PUBNAT7 won't hear anything until 5 & 6 are finished testing
 
3.Just a basic question, those who are ATC's or becoming ATC's. do you love your job? is it everything they say it is? is it as hard as they make
it out to be? or do you just get used to it after doing it everyday?

I'm going to go out on a limb here and HIGHLY recommend you don't listen to anything posted in response to this question on this forum. It'd be better to try and tour a facility or network with a few controllers in real life to get a more even tempered view on the work.

Also, about the AT-SAT. I get the impression that the Math section is weighted pretty heavily. The other stuff, people seemed to think they did poorly on and still scored very high.
 
hey guys, im new here. im 20 years old and hopefully on my way to being a ATC. i just been looking around mostly, lots of great info on here.

anyway, i have been notified that im chosen to take the AT-SAT. ill be going monday for the exam. i have a few questions though.

1. I have been using the ATC career prep book to do all my studying, as i am an off the street canidate. is there anything else i should look at that might not be in the book? also i have a litte bit of trouble with the letter factory part and where you have to manage all the planes on the screen. how big of a part of the AT-SAT is this?

2. What happens after i take the test?Your head explodes:crazy: when will i be notified of my results?few days to a week how long does it take for you to get sent to okalahoma?sometimes short notice, sometimes the wait is immeasurable

3.Just a basic question, those who are ATC's or becoming ATC's. do you love your job?love the job, hate manglement, hate forced OT (23 weeks in a row) is it everything they say it is? Boy howdy !is it as hard as they make it out to be?depends where you work and how hard YOU make it or do you just get used to it after doing it everyday?you never get totally used to the stress, OT, time away from family, sleep deprivation.

4. Is it like doing the same thing day after day, or is everyday a different story?Every day is an adventure i know their gonna be different planes, but asfar as the situations you face at you jobs.

thanks for all the info guys. im very excited to take my test and i hope i pass it, which i should since i been studying my butt off lately
Good luck we need you. Just had another 6 out of the last batch or CTI's/VRA's etc just fail. This month we get our first OTS at one of the busiest TRACON's in the world. This shouldn't take long.
 
hehe.. yeah... me = going low lvl for starts. no sense in shooting myself in the foot ya know?

arg.
 
hey guys, im new here. im 20 years old and hopefully on my way to being a ATC. i just been looking around mostly, lots of great info on here.

anyway, i have been notified that im chosen to take the AT-SAT. ill be going monday for the exam. i have a few questions though.

1. I have been using the ATC career prep book to do all my studying, as i am an off the street canidate. is there anything else i should look at that might not be in the book? also i have a litte bit of trouble with the letter factory part and where you have to manage all the planes on the screen. how big of a part of the AT-SAT is this?

2. What happens after i take the test? when will i be notified of my results? how long does it take for you to get sent to okalahoma?

3.Just a basic question, those who are ATC's or becoming ATC's. do you love your job? is it everything they say it is? is it as hard as they make
it out to be? or do you just get used to it after doing it everyday?

4. Is it like doing the same thing day after day, or is everyday a different story? i know their gonna be different planes, but asfar as the situations you face at you jobs.

thanks for all the info guys. im very excited to take my test and i hope i pass it, which i should since i been studying my butt off lately

Joe,

heres some real life advice from and old fart,

1)dont get to rapped up in the process,its a long road your starting and nothing happens fast in the FFA,dont worry about the next step untill your finished with the one your in.to many nubee are worred about what they will make when they are checked when they havent even been hired yet.

2)dont be too worried on what to study,all the info you need will be provided in OKC or at you facility,you dont want to clutter your mind with info you may not need, if you want just look over the 7110.65 you can find it on line just dont try to memorise whats in it at this point.

3)STUDY STUDY STUDY STUDY,learn the material that is GIVEN to you.when you get to your facility know you SOPs LOAs MAPs etc,know them like the back of your hand. there is nothing worse than a trainee that dose not know the bookwork, there is no excuse for it.

4)ATTITUDE,the controllers at you facility are watching you even though you may not know it.there i nothing controllers hate more than a big mouth know it all trainee,its best to keep your mouth shut and your ears open.remember there isnt any thing your going to teach us we are the ones teaching you.if you study and know your stuff WE will notice,and we will bust a gut to help you out, if your the other kind of trainee we will let you wash your self out.

5)TRAINING SUCKS ,it dose not matter if your off the street or a 45 year out fart transferring to a new facility.you are going to make mistakes while in training, we all do ,just learn from those mistakes and it will be ok.remember if you make a mistake just correct it thats what we are looking for, dont just stare at it like its going to correct it self .training is the price you pay to be a controller

the most important thing to learn is NEVER NEVER NEVER MOUTH OFF TO YOUR TRAINER WHEN YOUR ON POSITION EVER.we just had a trainee washed out and sent to another facility for doing this.


your about to enter a great emotional ride with many ups and downs, but in the end when you make it you feel like you have really done something special.i just glad my time is almost over,i cant wait to get my life back.

good luck

an old fart

P.S. to all you spelling NAZI out there , too bad
 
4)attitude,the controllers at you facility are watching you even though you may not know it.there i nothing controllers hate more than a big mouth know it all trainee,its best to keep your mouth shut and your ears open.remember there isnt any thing your going to teach us we are the ones teaching you.if you study and know your stuff we will notice,and we will bust a gut to help you out, if your the other kind of trainee we will let you wash your self out.

amen brother
 
good advice guys

how long is the math section of the test? and how many questions are done? i can do the math, im just afraid it takes me to long and i will run out of time before i get to all the questions.

i have been practicing with the green ATC career prep book and CD. when doing the CD i sometimes run out of time on questions(since it goes to the nest question after a certain amount of seconds automatically). does the real test switch questions automatically if you take to long to answer? can you go back if you skip a question on the real test?

thanks
 
good advice guys

how long is the math section of the test? and how many questions are done? i can do the math, im just afraid it takes me to long and i will run out of time before i get to all the questions.

i have been practicing with the green ATC career prep book and CD. when doing the CD i sometimes run out of time on questions(since it goes to the nest question after a certain amount of seconds automatically). does the real test switch questions automatically if you take to long to answer? can you go back if you skip a question on the real test?

thanks

I don't remember the time and number of questions... I want to say maybe 30 questions in 25 minutes?

On the actual test, the entire section is timed, not individual questions. You do have the option of skipping questions and it will automatically bring them back up when you've done the rest of the section.
 
good advice guys

how long is the math section of the test? and how many questions are done? i can do the math, im just afraid it takes me to long and i will run out of time before i get to all the questions.

i have been practicing with the green ATC career prep book and CD. when doing the CD i sometimes run out of time on questions(since it goes to the nest question after a certain amount of seconds automatically). does the real test switch questions automatically if you take to long to answer? can you go back if you skip a question on the real test?

thanks


its 5 practice questions and then 25 problems in 19 minutes.

i dont think you can go back to one that you have already answered, but if you skip it then it will add it to the end of the test
 
both are very hard to do with a lap top tho and thats all i have. i have the concepts down for both. its just hard to do with the touch pad. with a mouse im sure ill be lots quicker
 
hey guys, im new here. im 20 years old and hopefully on my way to being a ATC. i just been looking around mostly, lots of great info on here.

anyway, i have been notified that im chosen to take the AT-SAT. ill be going monday for the exam. i have a few questions though.

1. I have been using the ATC career prep book to do all my studying, as i am an off the street canidate. is there anything else i should look at that might not be in the book? also i have a litte bit of trouble with the letter factory part and where you have to manage all the planes on the screen. how big of a part of the AT-SAT is this?

2. What happens after i take the test? when will i be notified of my results? how long does it take for you to get sent to okalahoma?

3.Just a basic question, those who are ATC's or becoming ATC's. do you love your job? is it everything they say it is? is it as hard as they make
it out to be? or do you just get used to it after doing it everyday?

4. Is it like doing the same thing day after day, or is everyday a different story? i know their gonna be different planes, but asfar as the situations you face at you jobs.

thanks for all the info guys. im very excited to take my test and i hope i pass it, which i should since i been studying my butt off lately

EvoJoeIX,

I graduated from the Academy in October and too am a general public applicant. I currently am at a tower in the Washington, DC area. I am training on ground control now. I must agree with ATLTRACON and Queeno. They are absolutely right. Just do the best you can and study, study, study, and then study some more. Queeno said it right about training sucking because at times I feel like I make too many mistakes; however, the smaller mistakes I made initially are not being repeated. So you learn and continue on. And not talking with a cocky attitude towards your instructors is a key. I never quite understand why people would do that. They're asking to be washed out in my opinion. Controllers will watch you and your deameanor. When you ask if it's the same everyday, no it's not. I've only been training for about three months now and no two days have been the same, ground especially. I've gotten my behind whooped on ground a couple times this week, but I keep on plugging. Today, I had my best session but tomorrow can be entirely different. To me, it's a rollercoaster ride with major climbs and falls, but getting to where you need to be will be the result of all that hard work. Just hang in there and do as well as you can on the test, in OKC, and where you are stationed. We're all in it together. Good luck!!!
 
hey guys, im new here. im 20 years old and hopefully on my way to being a ATC. i just been looking around mostly, lots of great info on here.

anyway, i have been notified that im chosen to take the AT-SAT. ill be going monday for the exam. i have a few questions though.

1. I have been using the ATC career prep book to do all my studying, as i am an off the street canidate. is there anything else i should look at that might not be in the book? also i have a litte bit of trouble with the letter factory part and where you have to manage all the planes on the screen. how big of a part of the AT-SAT is this?

2. What happens after i take the test? when will i be notified of my results? how long does it take for you to get sent to okalahoma?

3.Just a basic question, those who are ATC's or becoming ATC's. do you love your job? is it everything they say it is? is it as hard as they make
it out to be? or do you just get used to it after doing it everyday?

4. Is it like doing the same thing day after day, or is everyday a different story? i know their gonna be different planes, but asfar as the situations you face at you jobs.

thanks for all the info guys. im very excited to take my test and i hope i pass it, which i should since i been studying my butt off lately

I took the ATSAT one year ago tomorrow. I graduated the OKC academy 04NOV08 and at my facility waiting for a D side class date. I too used the green book and the disk it came with. This is what I remember;

The letter factory is similar to the disk supplied with the green book. However, the actual ATSAT letter factory does not move as fast as the letter factory on the disk. Just do your best to keep up and try to answer the questions that pop up every minute or so. I believe 4 questions pop up each time.

The scan game as far as identifying aircraft within a certain range is important. I would say the disk and the actual ATSAT are pretty similar and the speed is pretty comparible too.

The ATC part as far as directing airplanes is much, much harder on the disk. The airplanes on the disk move faster and keep popping up at a rediculious rate. The ATSAT moves slower but not by much and is manageable compared to the disk.

The math problems and dial reading are not too hard. The best thing I can recommend is have your formulas memorized for time, distance, and speed. 25 questions in 30 minutes sounds about right on each section of these.

The analagies were pretty straight forward.

As far as the disk goes, I would recommend doing the letter factory, scan/range, time/distance/speed problems, and ATC simulation over and over. That is what I did because I was told these are weighed the most heavily.

I took the test on 08JAN08 and I had my results uploaded to my profile on the FAA website on 17JAN08. I interviewed at the Chicago PEPC on 20MAY08 and began class in OKC on 14JUL08.

I hope this helps give people an idea. Feel free to PM me if you have anymore questions.
 
Joe,

heres some real life advice from and old fart,

1)dont get to rapped up in the process,its a long road your starting and nothing happens fast in the FFA,dont worry about the next step untill your finished with the one your in.to many nubee are worred about what they will make when they are checked when they havent even been hired yet.

2)dont be too worried on what to study,all the info you need will be provided in OKC or at you facility,you dont want to clutter your mind with info you may not need, if you want just look over the 7110.65 you can find it on line just dont try to memorise whats in it at this point.

3)STUDY STUDY STUDY STUDY,learn the material that is GIVEN to you.when you get to your facility know you SOPs LOAs MAPs etc,know them like the back of your hand. there is nothing worse than a trainee that dose not know the bookwork, there is no excuse for it.

4)ATTITUDE,the controllers at you facility are watching you even though you may not know it.there i nothing controllers hate more than a big mouth know it all trainee,its best to keep your mouth shut and your ears open.remember there isnt any thing your going to teach us we are the ones teaching you.if you study and know your stuff WE will notice,and we will bust a gut to help you out, if your the other kind of trainee we will let you wash your self out.

5)TRAINING SUCKS ,it dose not matter if your off the street or a 45 year out fart transferring to a new facility.you are going to make mistakes while in training, we all do ,just learn from those mistakes and it will be ok.remember if you make a mistake just correct it thats what we are looking for, dont just stare at it like its going to correct it self .training is the price you pay to be a controller

the most important thing to learn is NEVER NEVER NEVER MOUTH OFF TO YOUR TRAINER WHEN YOUR ON POSITION EVER.we just had a trainee washed out and sent to another facility for doing this.


your about to enter a great emotional ride with many ups and downs, but in the end when you make it you feel like you have really done something special.i just glad my time is almost over,i cant wait to get my life back.

good luck

an old fart

P.S. to all you spelling NAZI out there , too bad

Everyone needs to read this VERY carefully. I'm training at ZID right now, just arrived last month.

I bolded the training part because, yes...training does SUCK! I'm (military) approach rated and it really sucks going from working traffic by myself back into training. But it's part of the process...oh well...

Oh, and I just found out I'm frozen in my training until October. Thanks ERAM. I don't even get to try and get any D-side ratings to get those raises. Sucks, but guess what...I'll deal with it and keep learning what I can learn. Once October hits, I'll be ready to hit the floor running.
 
Can I ask.. What do you do during this downtime? Is there busy work you're tasked with or something?

I'm at ZDV and am waiting until about May. I do absolutely nothing but observe traffic in my area. I asked if I could help out with the RPO duties to keep myself occupied. I begin that on Monday.

Many say I have it made getting paid $20/hr to sit and do nothing. Believe me I am appreciative of the position I am in however, it is very hard to go to work and do nothing for 8 hrs/day 5 days/week. Very hard.
 
I'm at ZDV and am waiting until about May. I do absolutely nothing but observe traffic in my area. I asked if I could help out with the RPO duties to keep myself occupied. I begin that on Monday.

Many say I have it made getting paid $20/hr to sit and do nothing. Believe me I am appreciative of the position I am in however, it is very hard to go to work and do nothing for 8 hrs/day 5 days/week. Very hard.

Here in the western service center we got summer hire interns that were on short term temp employments and a bunch of them had absolutely nothing to do...but never asked anyone for anything to do. I don't know how they could stand it, doing nothing makes time go by sooooo sloowwww. The only ones that I saw do actual work were in the executive suite and planning and requirements.
 
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