Group Bourdon Test Software

inch_high

Hi,

I have an application going through for a trainee train driver and will soon be doing the Group Bourdon Test.

Does anyone know where I can get the software to practice this?

I've searched Google but keep getting sent from pillar to post!

Ta

Gingernutty

Don't laugh, I applied to be a train driver. Twice.

The first time I passed all the written tests and interviews and failed the computer test.

The second time I passed the written and computer tests and failed the interview.

Now, they've changed the criteria and a history of mental illness will get you rejected let alone being treated for one.

(something about depression and suicidal tendencies)

Anyhoo.

The Bourdan test is is a measure of speed and accuracy. The interesting bit of this UToob video starts at about 3:10.

As you send the cursor across the screen you identify the group of dots with 4 dots only. You can only go back one space to correct a mistake and then you can only carry on forwards. Get as many right as you can in the time available.

You'll be given less and less time to complete each page but what they're looking for is accuracy.

Get your eyes checked - I've seen people fail this test because they weren't able to see properly.

The speed part of the test is shocking. That's intense.

You should have been given instructions like practice with an old Simple Simon electronic game (an eighties thing).

Try and acquire a Bop-It Extreme instead. And practice. Hard.

The speed test requires you to respond to visual and audio cues by hitting buttons and pedals in random order.

A series of big coloured buttons and two pedals. Hit blue when you see blue, stamp on the left pedal when the horn goes off in your left ear, that sort of thing.

You get one chance to practice (just the one mind) and then off you go.

You'll be told at the end whether you've passed or failed and then there's usually a six month time limit before you can apply again.

You're not supposed to practice these specific tests - the tests are done with dedicated keyboards which are nothing like a standard QWERTY typewriter array.

Practice speed and accuracy. Seriously, copy typing works, spot the difference puzzles anything that helps reaction times.

Don't just sit there with an X-Box either. You need a range of movements and good reflexes.

You'll start the day in a crowd of nearly one hundred and the candidates are whittled down to less than 10. Then, when you're told you're not successful, you realise it's a brutal process.

Some days no one passes all the tests and they have no one to show for it at the end of the test days.

TrickyWicky

Years ago under BR it seemed that no-one wanted to be a train driver and they'd struggle to get them. Since privatisation ... no-one has a chance lol.

Gingernutty

TrickyWicky wrote: »

Years ago under BR it seemed that no-one wanted to be a train driver and they'd struggle to get them. Since privatisation ... no-one has a chance lol.

These ARE the tests that the BR drivers were subject to. All train drivers (national rail, London Underground etc) have to perform these tests to get the job.

If you saw the computers the tests are done on, you'd believe me - straight out of the late seventies.

The tests are necessarily strict - that's why they've always had trouble finding candidates.

warehouse

OP, there are railway forums out there where this question is asked, and answered every day. They also have many more resources for all the other tests as well.

Try railforums co uk
or railchat co uk

Good luck. Prepare well.

TrickyWicky

Gingernutty wrote: »

These ARE the tests that the BR drivers were subject to. All train drivers (national rail, London Underground etc) have to perform these tests to get the job.

If you saw the computers the tests are done on, you'd believe me - straight out of the late seventies.

The tests are necessarily strict - that's why they've always had trouble finding candidates.

I'm not saying I don't believe you, I do! All I'm saying is I've heard tales of BR struggling to recruit back in the 50s and 60s in the days of dirty old steam. No idea what it was like in the 80s and 90s but I imagine it was a lot stricter with a one man crew at the front.

It's something I always wanted to do since a kid but with a decade of depression I'll save myself the hassle of even looking at the adverts