What you do, and why an operator would care. 27 modules, including 4 you can try free.
27 modules
Attention · 5 / 15 / 30 min
What you do
You watch a dull square for a long stretch. Click only when it turns pure black. Nothing else counts.
Why it is useful
Driving is hours of almost nothing, then a change that matters. Operators need people who stay on the display when there is no plot. Misses and false alarms both count. Five minutes is easy. The second half of a long run is the real test, which is why short bursts at the kitchen table do not train it.
Attention · 1 / 2 / 4 min
What you do
A dark field. Click as soon as you see a bright flash or hear a beep. Ignore pale flickers.
Why it is useful
WAFV-style reaction is not a green circle. The job is spotting a real stimulus in noise: a flash, a tone, and plenty of near-misses. Clicking the flicker is as bad as missing the flash.
Attention · 3 / 6 / 9 min
What you do
A target shape and colour, then a busy grid. Mark every match. Some rounds have none.
Why it is useful
Cab and lineside are busy fields. You have to see the thing that matches and ignore near-misses. Empty grids exist. Clicking because the clock is loud is a fail mode. A methodical scan beats a heroic stare.
Attention · 1 / 2 / 4 min
What you do
Beeps in a pattern. Click when the count matches the number on screen. The target will change.
Why it is useful
Not everything that matters in a cab is on the glass. You have to listen, keep a rule, and ignore the rest. The trap is clicking the old target after it has changed.
Attention · 1 / 2 / 3 min
What you do
A page of dot clusters. Mark every group that matches the count for that sheet, usually four. Not three. Not five.
Why it is useful
It looks like a children's puzzle. Then the clock starts. Operators care because the job is checking the same kinds of thing, again, without drifting: a dense field, a simple rule, no story to keep you awake. Rushing invents fours. Perfection finishes a third of the page. The skill is a sustainable scan.
Attention · ~2 / 4 / 6 min
What you do
A colour word in coloured ink. Click the colour or the word, as the rule says.
Why it is useful
The word pulls one way, the ink the other. Selection cares whether you can follow the rule in front of you, not the habit that feels faster.
Attention · ~2 / 4 / 6 min
What you do
A row of arrows. Count left to right, then click the numbered arrow.
Why it is useful
The neighbours shout. The skill is picking the one you were asked for, not the one that jumped first. Rushing the count is the usual miss.
Attention · 1 / 1.5 / 2 min test
What you do
Memorise a symbol-to-digit key, then code as many as you can before time runs out.
Why it is useful
A simple lookup, done fast, without losing the key. That mix of memory and speed shows up in coding, paperwork, and any board with a legend.
Reaction · 1 / 2 / 4 min
What you do
Click when the circle turns green. Do nothing when it turns red.
Why it is useful
Fast is useless on the wrong signal. A driver who is slow to a genuine change is a problem. A driver who treats every flicker as a genuine change is also a problem. The test is withhold as much as go. If you only watch your best time, you are watching the wrong number.
Timing · 2 / 4 / 6 min
What you do
A marker runs toward a line. Click when you think it arrives, including after it has gone out of sight.
Why it is useful
Judging when something will get there is cab work. Too early and too late both miss. The hard version is continuing the motion in your head when you can no longer see it, including after a stop or a reverse.
Dual task · ~3 / 5 / 7 min
What you do
Count amber on the lamp, click X headcodes, then do both at once.
Why it is useful
One stream is easy. Two is the test. Cab work is rarely a single display. The second job should not collapse the first.
Dual task · ~2 / 3 / 5 min
What you do
Count beats, match symbols, then do both at once.
Why it is useful
Cab work is two streams. Dual-task tests whether the second job collapses the first. The wrapper feels unfair the first time you meet it. After a few runs, your hands stop arguing with your ears. That familiarity is a lot of the difficulty, and it is trainable.
Dual task · ~2 / 4 / 6 min
What you do
The rule flips between vowel, even, and blue. Answer Yes or No each time.
Why it is useful
Staying on one rule is cheap. Switching costs. Operators need people who can drop the last instruction and take the new one without a lag that eats the trial.
Memory · ~3 / 5 / 8 min
What you do
A short digit sequence, then one extra digit each time you clear a level. One miss ends the session.
Why it is useful
Hold a string, then a longer one, without writing it down. That is closer to keeping a headcode or a phone message than a trivia quiz.
Memory · ~2 / 3 / 5 min
What you do
A stream of letters. Was this one the same as two letters ago?
Why it is useful
Working memory under a clock. The cab is full of things you must keep and update while something else is happening. If the stream feels unfair, that is the point.
Memory · ~3 / 5 / 8 min
What you do
Hear a list once, then answer a question about it from memory.
Why it is useful
You will be told things once. The test is whether the list is still there when the question comes, not whether you can look back at a screen.
Memory · ~3 / 5 / 8 min
What you do
Watch blocks flash in order, then click the same sequence. One miss ends the session.
Why it is useful
Spatial memory, not digits. You have to keep a path in your head while the board is still in front of you. One miss and it is over, so guessing is expensive.
Rules · 4 / 6 / 10 questions
What you do
Study a procedure table, then answer questions on it. Easy lets you look back. Harder versions do not.
Why it is useful
You will be given rules and asked to apply them, sometimes from memory. Holding a short procedure in your head, then using it under a clock, is closer to the job than a trivia quiz about railways.
Rules · 4 / 6 / 8 questions
What you do
Study a written procedure, then answer questions on it from memory.
Why it is useful
TRP-style work is learn, close the page, apply. Looking it up in the study window is not the same skill as holding it when the questions start.
Rules · 4 / 6 / 10 questions
What you do
Study a denser procedure table, then answer questions on it. Easy lets you look back. Harder versions do not.
Why it is useful
Same idea as RAAT, with more to hold. If the basic table felt fair, this is the version that finds whether you actually learned it.
Rules · 4 / 6 / 8 questions
What you do
Learn a cab panel, then answer questions from the rules you studied.
Why it is useful
A panel is a set of rules attached to objects. You have to know which control does what, then apply the procedure, not guess from a photo of a train.
Reasoning · 5 / 10 / 25 questions
What you do
Timed operational questions: faults, signals, and what to do next.
Why it is useful
Selection is not only staring at squares. You also have to pick a safe next step against the clock. The dramatic answer is often worse than the boring one: stop, protect, tell someone. Practice here is for the type of decision, not a leaked paper.
Reasoning · 5 / 8 / 12 trials
What you do
Read a junction request and choose Set or Hold. Occupied, locked, or unproven means hold.
Why it is useful
Signaller selection cares about this default: do not set a route you cannot prove. The trap is setting because the request is sitting there.
Reasoning · 5 / 8 / 12 questions
What you do
Compare two papers. Spot the mismatch, then name it.
Why it is useful
Noticing that two versions do not agree is cab and signaller work. Finding a difference is not enough. You have to say what kind of error it is.
Reasoning · 5 / 10 / 25 questions
What you do
Harder timed questions: compound faults, signalling, and multi-step logic.
Why it is useful
The first problem-solving set is the shape of the task. This one stacks steps. The boring safe answer is still usually better than the dramatic one.
Reasoning · 4 / 6 / 14 scenarios
What you do
A short work scene. Pick the most appropriate response, then the least.
Why it is useful
This is often the first filter, before you ever sit a vigilance screen. They are not testing whether you like trains. They are testing your defaults: do you stop when you should, tell the right person, and avoid passing danger because it would be inconvenient. Silence is a common trap.
Interview · Self-paced
What you do
Six 'describe a time when' questions. Prep a real example, then answer using STAR.
Why it is useful
The interview is not a speech about train sets. They want risk, stopping, and a true story about a mistake, without swagger or collapse. Short true stories beat long invented ones.
Start with the free modules on your track
Create an account to run timed sessions. Practice is for the type of task. It is not the official paper, and a practice score is not a pass.
