ATC Career PrepPractice Library › Introduction
ATC Career PrepA short orientation to the test that stands between you and an air traffic control career, and how this library gets you ready for it.
The Air Traffic Skills Assessment, or ATSA, is the FAA's aptitude test for people who want to become air traffic controllers. You take it by computer at a professional testing center, and it runs about two hours and 49 minutes. It is divided into seven timed sections, each built to measure a skill the job actually demands: fast mental math, short term memory, spatial awareness, traffic separation, clear reasoning, careful reading, and steady judgment under pressure.
It is the gate almost every applicant has to pass to move forward, so how you do here shapes what comes next.
This is the order most candidates see them in. Each one has its own practice set in this library.
Calculate the running difference between numbers as they flash by, one after another.
Hold several values in your head, work out the ones defined from others, and recall them on demand.
Judge where aircraft sit relative to each other, and call left or right from both the cockpit and the tower.
Keep aircraft separated and prevent collisions while you solve arithmetic at the same time.
Work through word problems and seating or arrangement puzzles to the one answer that must be true.
Read a passage and answer strictly from what it says, quickly, without adding anything.
Situational and self report questions that map to the traits controllers are selected for.
When you finish the real exam, your results place you into one of four bands. Best Qualified gives you the strongest chance to move forward in hiring.
Work section by section. Start in a coached, self paced mode to learn the method with feedback on every answer, then switch to the timed, exam style mode to build speed under real pressure. Come back to your weak spots often. Short, frequent reps beat one long cram.
The seven training sections are part of the full ATSA Test Prep. Unlock it once and every section opens in both coached and timed modes.