Just recently took the test so i thought i would let you all know what happened.
I was invited to take a test in a Newark,NJ hotel after applying a few months prior. Test day i showed up to the hotel and watched people trickle in. Most wore suits with blazers, the current employees wore jeans and t shirts others wore button up shirts and jeans.There was no specified dress code. In total there were about 45 people and around 7 were current amtrak employees.
We were told to be in before 9:30 as the tests/intros would start promptly at 9:30am.
Some showed up late and were told they would that would not be allowed to take the test.
The Conductor & LSA manager gave us a brief overview of the job, told us class would be at the end of september and told everyone that the job is only good for a year because if you can't qualify as a full on conductor after a year you are not needed.Also ran through some scenarios that we would be put into if accepted for the job. It wasn't really a scare speech, it was more of a 'lets be honest, its a good job,-but its not just collecting tickets' speech.
After that the HR girl handed out pencils and test books.She explained that the first test was going to be a visual reasoning test.Wherein we would watch a series of video clips and answer questions on them. Some were very hard, overall i think this was the hardest sections of the test.All questions had time limits and if you didn't answer you missed that question-thats what made it hard.They said not to over think the questions but it was hard not to.-->i think i failed this section.
The second part of the test was the timed math section. Mental math, Addition, and subtractions of fares; "a woman and her family would like 2 adult tickets and 3 child tickets for station x to y unreserved but then the same amount of tickets for a reserved seating from station y to z." then there were percentage questions. A brush up on long division as well as converting decimals to percentages and the opposite will definitely help. I may have missed a few questions on this section because i was worried about time.Hopefully the ones i answered were correct!
The last and final part of the exam was the personality exam.Easily the easiest part of the test. If you answer " stealing from your employer is wrong"-'strongly agree' make sure your answer for "i believe everyone steals from there employer sometime" is 'strongly disagree' not just 'disagree'. Consistency in answers and the degree of conviction 'strongly agree/agree/IDK/disagree/strongly disagree are very important. I finished mine in about 20 mins.
The overall test was about 3 hours long, and we will find the results of the test on the 20th of the month via email.Email they said was bad, but a call was good. Im hoping for a call but in reality i am pretty sure i failed. Whats good is i know what to study for next time, if i need to apply again.
I hope this helps people that are in the same boat as i am.
I applied for the Sunnyside,NY Ass't Conductor position.
I was invited to take a test in a Newark,NJ hotel after applying a few months prior. Test day i showed up to the hotel and watched people trickle in. Most wore suits with blazers, the current employees wore jeans and t shirts others wore button up shirts and jeans.There was no specified dress code. In total there were about 45 people and around 7 were current amtrak employees.
We were told to be in before 9:30 as the tests/intros would start promptly at 9:30am.
Some showed up late and were told they would that would not be allowed to take the test.
The Conductor & LSA manager gave us a brief overview of the job, told us class would be at the end of september and told everyone that the job is only good for a year because if you can't qualify as a full on conductor after a year you are not needed.Also ran through some scenarios that we would be put into if accepted for the job. It wasn't really a scare speech, it was more of a 'lets be honest, its a good job,-but its not just collecting tickets' speech.
After that the HR girl handed out pencils and test books.She explained that the first test was going to be a visual reasoning test.Wherein we would watch a series of video clips and answer questions on them. Some were very hard, overall i think this was the hardest sections of the test.All questions had time limits and if you didn't answer you missed that question-thats what made it hard.They said not to over think the questions but it was hard not to.-->i think i failed this section.
The second part of the test was the timed math section. Mental math, Addition, and subtractions of fares; "a woman and her family would like 2 adult tickets and 3 child tickets for station x to y unreserved but then the same amount of tickets for a reserved seating from station y to z." then there were percentage questions. A brush up on long division as well as converting decimals to percentages and the opposite will definitely help. I may have missed a few questions on this section because i was worried about time.Hopefully the ones i answered were correct!
The last and final part of the exam was the personality exam.Easily the easiest part of the test. If you answer " stealing from your employer is wrong"-'strongly agree' make sure your answer for "i believe everyone steals from there employer sometime" is 'strongly disagree' not just 'disagree'. Consistency in answers and the degree of conviction 'strongly agree/agree/IDK/disagree/strongly disagree are very important. I finished mine in about 20 mins.
The overall test was about 3 hours long, and we will find the results of the test on the 20th of the month via email.Email they said was bad, but a call was good. Im hoping for a call but in reality i am pretty sure i failed. Whats good is i know what to study for next time, if i need to apply again.
I hope this helps people that are in the same boat as i am.
I applied for the Sunnyside,NY Ass't Conductor position.
