OASC Nov 2015

I arrived at Grantham station using the pre-booked tickets provided by my AFCO. There is a shuttle scheduled to collect candidates from just outside the station.

From there you are taken to RAF Cranwell and specifically to the guardroom where you are dropped off to collect your security pass (don't forget to have your passport/driving licence to hand). From there you are shuttled to the candidates mess reception where you are given a room key and told to be back at the candidates TV room for 18:00 when dinner is provided you and 18:30 when you will be briefed by a boarding officer as to the upcoming course and expectations of you.

The candidates dorms are a series of single rooms which are comfortable enough although the mattresses are an interesting experience in and of themselves. The next day starts with breakfast at 6:30 followed by candidates attending the OASC building for the day's exercises which consist of group discussion, group planning exercise, leaderless command exercise, command exercises and finally individual planning exercises.

You are split into smaller groups or syndicates, and given a set of fetching green overalls and a bib with an alphabetical and numerical label on it. You refer to each other by those designations throughout the day. You spend the day in PT kit and the hangar can get pretty warm so don't worry about wrapping up warm under the overalls.

The boarding staff are obviously formal but friendly. They honestly do seem to want everyone to do well and it's important to remember that you aren't in competition with each other. In group discussion my advice is be sure to speak up and get involved in the discussion of each topic. Obviously don't talk over others but you only have 15 minutes total to show you are a confident person.

The group planning exercise the key is to formulate as much of a plan as you can and make sure your SDT calculations are as correct as they can be. You get about 20 minutes to read and make notes individually but in the same room as each other and the boarding staff, then 5 minutes with reference to your notes only you need to write out your plan out in as much detail as possible. You then spend 10 minutes (I think) discussing as a group a plan to put forward. Again, speak up, get involved, even if your individual planning hasn't gone well (mine wasn't fantastic). The board watch this discussion closely. You then present your plan as a group to the board (so make sure you make notes of each stage with reference to tines, speeds and distances).

After that it is the hangar exercises. There isn't really much that I can offer in advice for that other than be positive, be vocal, make sure you speak loudly and offer your opinions and remember to act with urgency! Don't necessarily worry about completing each task. I think our syndicate only completed one, but the key appears to be positivity, urgency, getting involved, being heard and remember the urgency!

You have lunch between the leaderless and led hangar exercises. The last thing you do is the individual planning exercise. Know your SDT calculations and think about all possibilities. 20 minutes to write notes and then about 10 minutes to present it to the board. At that point you are done for the day. The boarding officer will debrief and brief you then you are released until the morning.

This is one of the hardest sections of the course actually, as apart from dinner, you all have hours to kill overnight waiting to discover around 8am the next morning whether you have done enough to carry on with the process or will be sent home.

My only advice would be just take the evening to enjoy a drink with your fellow candidates and try not to dwell over the exercises of the day. Everyone made mistakes but it appears they're looking for your potential and your communication rather than perfect performance in the tasks themselves.

In the morning 4 out of the 10 on our course didn't make it through. You need to compose yourself if you have progressed because within half hour you go for interview.

The interview is essentially the same as the sift interview you've already had. Know the dates of events in your personal details (which takes up the whole first half of the interview). Be clear about why you want to join the RAF, the challenges a commission will pose and your view on potentially having to take a life. Know a bit about the RAF structure, aircraft, based, deployments and NATO. Also know your own training progression including the breakdown of IOT in detail. Make sure you have 5 global and 5 domestic current affairs topics which you can rabbit off when requested and be prepared to discuss one which they will choose at random. Stick to your guns and stay calm. Don't feel you have to ask a question when invited to do so at the end.

After the interview you'll probably have a couple of hours to kill before you assemble in PT kit in the candidates TV room for the fitness test. The fitness test is not the dreaded nightmare that it can be made out to be BUT they are very strict on form! You need to do a multi stage fitness test and ideally you want to be aiming for light blue. I found that with the adrenaline and other people running with you it was relatively easy to score at least one complete level higher than I did practising on my own in the weeks beforehand.

The one bit of advice would be that although it is a "best effort" test once you've exceeded your target and you're comfortable with your score hold something back for the next two exercises rather than going all out. You pretty much immediately go onto press ups once the last person finishes running so if you stop relatively close together the rest time is no more than a few minutes.

Press up form is strict. Straight back and hips, 90 degree bend at the arms so that your chest:shoulder hits the PT's fist and right up so that your arms lock at the top. The hands are spaced in line with your shoulders but they're not fussed about elbows tucked into the body. Don't worry too much about form as they show you what they mean before you start but once you've seen it follow it exactly. One poor guy on our intake had at least 10 of his reps not counted and you've only got 60 seconds to exceed the minimum amount required.

Sit ups are the same - your ankles are held by a partner, fingers to temples with elbows tightly tucked in and facing forward, your shoulder blades need to touch the ground on the down and your elbows touch the top of your knees on the top.

Once that is complete your boarding officer debriefed you at the gym, you return your bib and that's all she wrote for 3 weeks while you wait for the letter to tell you if you have been successful... which is where I am now! Sorry for the epic reply but I hope that it is helpful.

That was a wonderful essay to read, no one has really gone into that much detail when it comes to the little bits you did personally. I've been to RAFC Cranwell on a cadet camp and the rooms are to die for compared to others I've been in )

I'm worried about the press ups in the fitness test, I can easily do 15-20 ('m a female) but I'm worried they won't count them! I've always done better with the beep test when I'm with other people as well.

I'm most nervous for the SDT exercise is there anything I can do to prepare for that?

Practice your press ups as much as you can if they are an issue. I got a tennis ball. Place it on the floor and aim for your shoulder to touch it before going back up. If you can do the required amount by reaching a tennis ball height you will be fine for OASC FT.

I found the SDT quite simple. All the timings and distances were divisible by 60. Just practice a lot. For the individual planning exercise you have a SDT grid with the timings already worked out for you so you don't need to worry so much about it.

Ahh Okay thank you! One more question, what did you find to be the easiest and hardest part of oasc for you? Okay maybe two questions.. and what surprised you?

Hi guys, I've just come off the OASC so if anybody has any questions about the procedure or what to expect feel free to ask. Not saying I'm an expert... I don't even know if I've been successful due to the agonising 3 week wait... but if you have any queries in a "nuts and bolts" sense I'm sure I might be of some help. If any of the excellent group of people from the 17th Nov intake are on here then it would be great to hear your take on it.

Hi mate, good luck for your application.
I have my OASC soon and I just wanted to ask for any advice on the interview? It's the only part I really feel nervous for.

The interview really is just a repeat of the sift interview, the only difference being that there are two officers involved. The best advice I can give is use the time having found out that you have made the cut in the morning, truly use that half hour gap to calm down and compose yourself. There were a few really cool and calm individuals on my intake, including one guy already serving in the RAF, but come the morning everyone was bricking it before the announcement and shell shocked afterwards regardless of the outcome. The interview itself is nothing to lose sleep over. The boarding officers are friendly. It is done at a pretty fast pace though with quick fire questions. First half is all about you, starting with schooling from 11-18. Know your dates and think about positions of responsibility you had, sporting achievements and opportunities for adventurous training for each stage of your education and employment. Square away your reason for wanting to join the RAF specifically rather than one of the other services. Know about the main based both in the UK and abroad, aircraft and what their roles are, where the RAF is deployed. Also know about NATO (what it stands for, when and where it started, number of founder States, newest member states). Lastly, make sure you can rattle off 5 domestic and 5 global current affairs. You don't need to have an expert knowledge of each but you do need to have read around each subject. They'll pick a couple of topics at random, pose a question, wait for your answer and then deliberately argue against you. Just be clear in you arguments, respond to their contentions and hold your ground if you think you're right - most importantly keep eye contact, don't get rattled and communicate clearly.

Cheers mate, much appreciated.
Do you need to know about operations we have been in but no longer I.e Libya etc... Or is it more current operations such as fighting IS?

Hi guys, I've just come off the OASC so if anybody has any questions about the procedure or what to expect feel free to ask. Not saying I'm an expert... I don't even know if I've been successful due to the agonising 3 week wait... but if you have any queries in a "nuts and bolts" sense I'm sure I might be of some help. If any of the excellent group of people from the 17th Nov intake are on here then it would be great to hear your take on it.

Everytime I think about OASC I get all sick and worried, reading all this makes me realise I don't need to worry so much! My advice for the interview is get your parents to ask you the questions as a mock interview. Its currently helping me with my practice - I have OASC on the 8th of December.

For the hangar exercises does everyone get the chance to be the leader? Or do they pick on certain people? What kind of exercises where there?