Calling all Qualified ATSAT scored test takers

I'm a little upset that there's testing this week and I'm not eligible because according to aviation careers, the PUBNAT8 that I applied to closed before my one year was up, even though the test dates given were after my one year anniversary of the first test. So now I'm just waiting until I'm able to retest/reapply if they even have another PUBNAT. .

Well this just sucks A*S! I was banking on taking the test again next Oct for the Jul '10 (pubnat10) announcement but hearing this just shot that out of the sky if its true. I turn 31 Oct 3rd 2011 and if the time line and this statement are true I would have to wait until Jan'11's pubnat, test in spring and have a TOL by Oct 3rd 2011. I guess not out of the question (if things speed up by then) but I'm not holding my breath!
 
Wow, after hearing all of these test stories and resulting scores, I'm starting to think AT-SAT scoring is completely random. As in, they draw your name from a hat and blurt out a random number between 50 and 100. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to these tests.

Dude, you've got it all wrong.

They have MACHINES that do that job now. You don't need no stinkin' hat.
 
I took the test last year and I thought I bombed it... I knew I did well on the math, angles, and IQ stuff. However I felt like I did so horribly on the simulation test. After getting my results back and being well qualified I remembered that there were video cameras set up behind each lap top... if i'm wrong someone please let me know. But I do recall tripods set up. Anyways... these cameras and the fact that tons of people report "bombing" the test lead me to believe that it's possible that they don't care how you do on the simulation.. I mean you have to do ok... but that there might be more weight on your actual reactions to the test. If you are bombing it.. and they see on the cameras that you are freaking out then they might not select you, whereas if you are crashing a few planes but still looked focused and not freaking out that might bode very well because it shows that under high stress situations you remain calm. This is just a theory of mine about the test, it may or may not be true at all... but it just seems peculiar that there were cameras set up... and nobody seems to do too well on the simulation part however people are still getting great scores... Let me know what you guys think
 
I took the test last year and I thought I bombed it... I knew I did well on the math, angles, and IQ stuff. However I felt like I did so horribly on the simulation test. After getting my results back and being well qualified I remembered that there were video cameras set up behind each lap top... if i'm wrong someone please let me know. But I do recall tripods set up. Anyways... these cameras and the fact that tons of people report "bombing" the test lead me to believe that it's possible that they don't care how you do on the simulation.. I mean you have to do ok... but that there might be more weight on your actual reactions to the test. If you are bombing it.. and they see on the cameras that you are freaking out then they might not select you, whereas if you are crashing a few planes but still looked focused and not freaking out that might bode very well because it shows that under high stress situations you remain calm. This is just a theory of mine about the test, it may or may not be true at all... but it just seems peculiar that there were cameras set up... and nobody seems to do too well on the simulation part however people are still getting great scores... Let me know what you guys think

That's interesting, but seems very subjective. How do you quantify that, assign it a points score?
 
these cameras and the fact that tons of people report "bombing" the test lead me to believe that it's possible that they don't care how you do on the simulation.. I mean you have to do ok... but that there might be more weight on your actual reactions to the test. If you are bombing it.. and they see on the cameras that you are freaking out then they might not select you, whereas if you are crashing a few planes but still looked focused and not freaking out that might bode very well because it shows that under high stress situations you remain calm.

There's a lot of reasons to disagree with that, but one of the biggest is how impractical it'd be to do that. Let's go with a conservative estimate of 1000 people taking the AT-SAT each round. The total scored time (e.g. the actual tested portions) of Scenarios take up a total of 70 minutes. The amount of time necessary for review, then, is nearly 1,200 hours worth of people staring at a screen. And that's off of a conservative estimate; since pretty much everyone who fills out the application correctly gets to take the AT-SAT, the actual tests given could be numbering much higher.

Then there's the subjectivity, as mentioned above. It's not quantifiable in any way; it'd be based entirely on, "Well, that guy looks nervous." No statistician in their right mind would create a test designed to measure aptitude based on something so vague and ill-defined. I'm not even sure how you'd come up with agreed-upon guidelines to interpret that kind of thing... or how you'd train people to do it.

The simplest explanation is the most obvious one... cameras are there for the same reason they're in most places: to watch for impropriety. Cheating on the AT-SAT, that kind of thing. That way if a Robinson proctor says he caught someone with a calculator (or whatever) and the test taker disputes it, there's video proof.
 
There's a lot of reasons to disagree with that, but one of the biggest is how impractical it'd be to do that. Let's go with a conservative estimate of 1000 people taking the AT-SAT each round. The total scored time (e.g. the actual tested portions) of Scenarios take up a total of 70 minutes. The amount of time necessary for review, then, is nearly 1,200 hours worth of people staring at a screen. And that's off of a conservative estimate; since pretty much everyone who fills out the application correctly gets to take the AT-SAT, the actual tests given could be numbering much higher.

Then there's the subjectivity, as mentioned above. It's not quantifiable in any way; it'd be based entirely on, "Well, that guy looks nervous." No statistician in their right mind would create a test designed to measure aptitude based on something so vague and ill-defined. I'm not even sure how you'd come up with agreed-upon guidelines to interpret that kind of thing... or how you'd train people to do it.

The simplest explanation is the most obvious one... cameras are there for the same reason they're in most places: to watch for impropriety. Cheating on the AT-SAT, that kind of thing. That way if a Robinson proctor says he caught someone with a calculator (or whatever) and the test taker disputes it, there's video proof.



Yah I totally agree... but it is something I was wondering about. Haha.... But... at the same time... if you're looking for someone who is cheating, you'd have to search the same 1200 hours of tape... and if they did see a person freaking out... continuously slapping his forhead and sweating bullets and making crazy facial expressions... what do you think they would do?

Im not saying they score the test on that. However, seeing someones reactions to the difficulty of a test can be a great barometer of how well they may perform in high stress situations. Most people taking the simulation have never tried it, and they cannot be expected to do well on it. Thats why many of us thought we bombed it. So if they know that most people do poorly on it, then I just thought maybe they might actually be looking for something else besides just a percentage.

Another thing, Nobody on these forums seems to be able to come up with a certain answer as to how the test is scored. So who can or cannot say that this isn't the case? I'm not saying that they'd worry about viewing the whole test... just the simulation part. There is a certain element where people taking the test are thinking to themselves "wow I just crashed a plane... I'm not going to pass this test!" A person taking the test relates that to "im responsible for many lives! I'll never make it as an atc'er and they might freak out in front of the camera. Most people wouldnt freak out, but if there were a few that did, it could be used as a last line of defense to filter out the last few people who made it that far and maybe shouldnt have.

Its a theory.... most likely untrue... but until we have figured out exactly how the test is scored, none of us can rule out any possibilities
 
I took my test friday and got my score already so that's only one business day. I had hoped to score a 95 or better with the rumors going around. however that did not happen.

I scored 94.2
I know I should be happy all things considered, but I am a lil disappointed.
 
Flyingwriter,

this is the info at the bottom of my email with my atsat invite. maybe he can help. i truely feel your frustration!

Chuck Goode
AT-SAT Program Manager
Robinson Aviation (RVA), Inc.

(405) 840-3771


 
great job. my test is friday and the nerves are starting to kick in a little.

I'm still kicking myself for not getting over a 95, but i cant change anything about it now........

A word to the wise...DO NOT drink 2 20oz coffees from speedway before taking the test!!!! -let me the only person to make this gross error!

As far as nerves, there isn't anything you can do to settle them. Just work through them and use them to your advantage. You'll see what i mean when you take the test.

I didn't have any breakfast before the test. I don't advise that to anyone. Eat something---not heavy, though.

Good luck!!!
 
thanks, and as someone who is thoroughly addicted to dr. pepper, i prolly wouldn't have thought about that come friday. so were your hands just totally shaking lol? i think i'll do water and a banana. thanks for the advice!!!!
 
Hey Flyingwriter,

I just got off the phone with aviation careers and they said that it's possible that scores from ATSAT dates past 11/3 made it into the system before ours. She said that they have to hand enter the scores into the system and that its just a matter of when they get around to our date. They must have no order of dates in which they enter them. Hopefully we get them soon! :insane:
 
Hey Flyingwriter,

I just got off the phone with aviation careers and they said that it's possible that scores from ATSAT dates past 11/3 made it into the system before ours. She said that they have to hand enter the scores into the system and that its just a matter of when they get around to our date. They must have no order of dates in which they enter them. Hopefully we get them soon! :insane:

That is ridiculous. Hopefully they show up sometime this century.
 
thanks, and as someone who is thoroughly addicted to dr. pepper, i prolly wouldn't have thought about that come friday. so were your hands just totally shaking lol? i think i'll do water and a banana. thanks for the advice!!!!

My hands were shaking so much that it helped me to nail the scan portion great but in letter factory i would try to click on the the "D" assembly line and inadvertently end up hitting "order boxes."

I did that like a hundred times.
 
I figured I should just add this in since everybody is trying to speculate how the test is graded, from cameras spying on people "sweating bullets", to picking grades out of a hat or throwing darts on a dart board. I spoke to the exam proctor in the hotel lobby room after taking the test. I told him that I felt good about the test except for the ATC scenario simulation, and he told me not to sweat because that is the least weighted part of the test, he told me the personality questions at the end of the test is the most heavily weighted part of the test. I guess that explains why so many people crashed dozens of airplanes and recieved a 90 or higher on the test.

Regretably that means my answers to the personality questions were not favorable to whatever the FAA wants me to be in their own eyes, however it is still passing with a 78.2.
 
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