Ok i wrote a little breakdown of what happens at FATs as sometimes the unknown can make people more nervous.
Day 1 - Upon arrival you will be given a room number and information on where your block or rooms is, you have time to go to your room dump your stuff off then go back to the Candidates mess thing and chill out, watch TV and chat with the other candidates, try and get some banter going have a good chat with them as you may well sit your AIB with them if succesful.
You will then have a quick debrief as a group and then you go for dinner, word of advice... DO NOT TAKE YOUR JACKET OFF once inside the dining area, either take it off and hang it up outside or leave it on during the whole meal. Then after dinner they open the bar, have a drink (small one nothing excessive) and chat with the others. Try to relax and get a good night sleep.
Try and get an early night and get some good sleep, as you will have an early start the next day.
Day 2 - Testing Day
I can't remember exact times but you will be woken by siren alarm thing very early. Try and set a personal alarm 10 mins earlier and go for a shower to wake youself up. Then you go for breakfast, try your very best to at least have some cereal and some caffeine. The tests are mentally strenuous and will use a lot of energy, so eat something at the very least.
You then get taken to the Testing area, and get a brief on whats going to happen, breaks, the equipment you will have to use (includes modern joystick, 2 foot paddles - the same as ones in small aircraft and a keyboard which has only numbers 1-9, letters A-E and 4 Couloured buttons and various codes of conduct whilst in the testing room.
Once thats done with you go into a room, which is quite big and you will have a candidate number which corresponds to one of the booths, each booth is sepearated as in an office but higher walls.
Then the tests begin!!:
You will be able to read the instructions twice, but try not to rush reading the instructions make sure you know exactly what is expected of you and then when ready proceed. I can't remember every single test and it would take me too long to tell you every single test anyway, but i can tell you some basic principles you will need to work on:
If you can get your hands on one of the modern joysticks, do.
Also foot pedals, as on small aircraft as far as i know, ie the ones with forward and back movement creating a left/right effect.
Speed/Distance/Time calculations!! Everyone will tell you to practise these...and thats because there are absolutely tons of them, and loads at AIB too. If you don't know how to do them, get your hands on a GCSE or A Level maths revision guide, or phone up your old school or something. Be proactive.
Also basic maths, get someone to ask you 40 simple maths questions ie 23 add 48, sounds easy not after 4 hours of testing!! So get someone to tests you in quick succesion with you verbally saying the answer, or typing into a word document using the numbers on the right hand side of an average keyboard.
You get a 5 minute break roughly every hour, but you dont have to take the break or maybe just take 1 or 2 minutes to get a drink. Then after the tests you go to Lunch. Becuase you get chance to read instruction more than once and breaks of varying lengths you wont all finish at the same time. Some people go back and finish after lunch, i had my result before some people even finished!Finishing early isnt always a good thing!
Then you get taken into a room one by one and told the good or bad news, if its bad news the guy discusses further options with you. Its not the end of the world. You can always retake.
Good luck, feel free to PM me to ask any questions.
