NATS online tests: what to expect and how to prepare
NATS selects trainee controllers in four stages. The first is eleven online ability tests, which you have 14 days to complete, and most applicants who fall away do so here. Preparation makes sure the tests measure your real ability rather than your unfamiliarity with them.
By Carl Grzegorzek, an international air traffic controller with more than 20 years' experience training and assessing controllers. Updated 25 October 2026.
The four stages
This is the process NATS describes for its current recruitment campaign. It changes between campaigns, so always check the NATS careers page for the round you're applying to.
| Stage | What it involves | Time allowed |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Online ability tests | Eleven tests covering spatial awareness, logical thinking, numerical ability, sense of direction and reaction speed | 14 days to complete them |
| 2. Online judgement and listening | A situational judgement test and a listening comprehension test, proctored online with your camera and microphone | 14 days |
| 3. Virtual assessment centre | An interview, an ATC knowledge test, and an observed re-test of earlier tests, on Microsoft Teams | A scheduled session |
| 4. Final stage | A practical exercise and part 2 of the ATC knowledge test, online or at NATS in Whiteley | A scheduled session |
Successful candidates then receive a conditional offer, subject to security clearance and an initial Class 3 medical. To apply you must be 18 or over, have an unrestricted right to work in the UK, and hold five GCSEs at grade 4 or above (or Scottish National 5s at A to C), including English and maths. If you fail a stage, you can't reapply until the next recruitment campaign.
What the online ability tests measure
NATS doesn't publish the tests themselves, and you shouldn't look for copies of them. What it does say is what they measure. Each of those abilities improves with the right kind of practice.
| Ability | What a test of it asks you to do | Practise it with |
|---|---|---|
| Spatial awareness | Picture objects in three dimensions and rotate them in your head | Cube folding, left or right |
| Sense of direction | Work out headings, bearings and relative positions quickly | Distances and directions, left or right |
| Logical thinking | Learn a set of rules and apply them, switching between them as instructions change | Rules, sort and switch, landing plan |
| Numerical ability | Mental arithmetic, often time, speed and distance, against the clock | Mental arithmetic |
| Reaction speed and attention | Respond quickly and accurately, and stay accurate as the test goes on | Figure match, strip check, stay alert |
ATC Edge's practice tests are original. They're built to train the same abilities, not to copy any real test.
How to prepare
- Take a baseline straight away. Do every practice test once at full length, in a quiet room, before practising anything. You need an honest picture of where you are.
- Find your two weakest tests and give them half of your practice time. One very weak result can end an application even when the others are strong.
- Accuracy first, then speed. Learn a method slowly until you make almost no mistakes, then speed up. A fast wrong answer is worth nothing, and some tests deduct marks for errors.
- Practise little and often. Thirty to forty-five minutes a day, five or six days a week, works better than a weekend of cramming. These abilities improve with spaced practice and sleep.
- Build stamina. Once a week, take several tests back to back, as you will across the real battery.
- Ease off at the end. Do light practice only in the last two or three days, and sleep well before you start.
When you take the real tests
- Plan which tests to take on which days across the 14 days, rather than doing them all in one sitting.
- Use a quiet room, a desktop or laptop with a mouse, and a reliable connection. Turn off notifications.
- Read every instruction twice, and do the practice questions when they're offered.
- If one test goes badly, put it behind you. Each is scored separately.
- Take the tests yourself and honestly. NATS re-tests candidates under observation at the assessment centre.
Try a free one-minute testThirteen practice tests have free one-minute samples, with no sign-up. A free account unlocks five at full length.
Start with cube foldingSee all testsAfter the online tests
If you pass, the next stages are judgement and listening tests, then the assessment centre. Read the guides to the NATS interview and the ATC knowledge test. Both reward preparation as much as the aptitude tests do.