ELPACst test data is accessed through an independent server with a triple layer security system. Login procedures are user name and password protected. Data relating to candidate profile and test performance is only accessible to a designated and accredited national test administrator, and by extension to nationally accredited markers. Markers can only access the tests they are supposed to mark. They do not see the candidate profile and do not know who the candidate is. All possible care is taken to safeguard the data on the ELPACst servers.

You do not have to be “good at typing” to answer the test questions. The short answer questions (parts 4 and 5) require an answer of 1 or 2, maximum 4 words. As a candidate you are told in the instructions that you do not have to write full sentences. The sample version of the test shows suggested responses which should help you to understand how much is required for an answer.

Also, the questions are spaced in such a way that you should finish typing the answer before hearing the information necessary for the next question. There is time to read the questions before the recording starts and then you listen out for the information you need in order to answer the test questions. You are not controlling the airspace, you are not making any co-ordination, you are just being tested for your listening comprehension - whether you can understand 2, respectively 3, pieces of information per transmission. The requirements are the same as for ELPAC.

We would still recommend you take the sample test a few times to familiarise yourself with the test structure and thus minimise the effect of the test method.  To find out more about keyboard issues, please click here.

In the trialling process, the development team used two methods of determining the difficulty of items and thus helping to ensure test equivalence and stability:

Firstly, standard setting sessions were conducted whereby trained personnel were invited to sit Paper 1 and then asked to decide the level of difficulty of each item presented. Secondly, items were subject to statistical analyses which disclose levels of difficulty and determine the usefulness and effectiveness of test items. The results of the qualitative and quantitative data then influenced the production of final versions of the test. Item-writing and trialling is an ongoing process in the maintenance of ELPACst, with new items being trialled as a part of live test administration.

In particular, how far does responding to Paper 1 (Listening Comprehension) of ELPACst  rely on a candidate′s secondary skills or knowledge which are not assessed, such as reading, writing and spelling?  Item responses in Paper 1 are limited to alpha-numeric data or very short answers, thus reading and writing skills do not interfere with item response. Paper 1 is marked in part automatically, in part by trained human clerical markers. Human markers of Paper 1 are assisted by marking sheets to maintain objectivity; spelling errors are acceptable so long as the meaning of responses is clear.

.. and what time is given to candidates to respond to test tasks? Are candidates disadvantaged in any way by the timing of test delivery?

ELPACST candidates are given adequate time to read and listen to rubrics, instructions and test items, to listen to the test scripts, to respond to the items and finally to review the responses before the test automatically moves on to the next task. Air traffic control is a time driven profession with procedures and communications logically ordered and sequenced in time. To reflect this, candidates always know what information they are listening for before the information is presented, and responses are given in the order that information appears in the scripts.