[RedR]

Hello,

I'm looking for some advice if any of you would be kind enough to offer.

Just yesterday, (2ndJuly) I sat my RAF Airman Selection Test for the second time, going for the role of SNCO Air Traffic Control but unfortunately failed on spatial reasoning which requires a 6, my scores were as follows;

Verbal Reasoning 6
Numerical Reasoning 9
Work Rate 9
Electrical Comprehension 8
Mechanical Comprehension 7
Spatial Reasoning 5

My group scores were all high 70's and low 80's.

I'm currently 23 years old, and honestly quite disappointed with myself. I've always wanted to join the RAF as an officer of any caliber if I was capable, but unfortunately was unable for years due to suffering from asthma. As soon as I hadn't been medicated for 4 years, I went down and sat an AST which was my first attempt but also failed to get the role of course.

So what I'd like to know is, can any of you offer me advice on how to proceed from here with the goal of being an officer in mind?
Specific branch is not really an issue for me as no matter what the work is, I don't really have a preference, I just want to do whatever I do, work hard at it and do it well.

It was always my childhood dream to be a pilot, however that can never happen, so I've consoled myself that I can still join the RAF I admire, and still (hopefully!) do it as an officer.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[craglyboy]

There are roles that don't require aptitude testing such as logistics officer or personnel officer. But to say you don't care what role is very naive you need to have a strong read around the raf site and see what else interests you.

[Miza]

(Original post by RedR)
Hello,

I'm looking for some advice if any of you would be kind enough to offer.

Just yesterday, (2ndJuly) I sat my RAF Airman Selection Test for the second time, going for the role of SNCO Air Traffic Control but unfortunately failed on spatial reasoning which requires a 6, my scores were as follows;

Verbal Reasoning 6
Numerical Reasoning 9
Work Rate 9
Electrical Comprehension 8
Mechanical Comprehension 7
Spatial Reasoning 5

My group scores were all high 70's and low 80's.

I'm currently 23 years old, and honestly quite disappointed with myself. I've always wanted to join the RAF as an officer of any caliber if I was capable, but unfortunately was unable for years due to suffering from asthma. As soon as I hadn't been medicated for 4 years, I went down and sat an AST which was my first attempt but also failed to get the role of course.

So what I'd like to know is, can any of you offer me advice on how to proceed from here with the goal of being an officer in mind?
Specific branch is not really an issue for me as no matter what the work is, I don't really have a preference, I just want to do whatever I do, work hard at it and do it well.

It was always my childhood dream to be a pilot, however that can never happen, so I've consoled myself that I can still join the RAF I admire, and still (hopefully!) do it as an officer.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

The fact that you got 9 in work rate is already an achievement, I don't know anyone who got full marks in that section.

But otherwise, either apply for non-apptitude based branch or airman role with a slim hope of commissioning from the ranks, not much else you can do appart from trying different services (Army/Navy)

[ProStacker]

Given the few numbers being recruited and the huge numbers of Admin officers in the recent redundancies, those non-aptitude jobs are possibly harder to get in to.

As said above - wanting to be 'an officer' is not enough.

[Drewski]

If your goal was to go in as an Officer, why attempt to join as an SNCO?

[RedR]

Thank you for your prompt replies,

cragly; You seem to be right considering the advice everyone is offering, which I'm very thankful for by the way! I will have a careful read around it to find a job that interests me strongly.

Miza; Very kind of you to say, probably got lucky . Is the chance of a commission from the ranks really very small?

ProStacker; Thank you for the info, yourself and cragly have impressed on me that I really have to go away and find a branch that strongly interests me. I came here to ask for advice because when I was at my local AFCO I mentioned my aspirations of joining as an officer, if I were capable of doing so, and couldn't really get much information about it from them. Honestly I'd of just liked someone to say "It's not going to happen/ It could happen if." What they did say was "Who am I to tell you what you should or shouldn't do?" Not extremely helpful although not wrong.

Drewski; With my circumstances, being 23 years old and not a graduate, I believed SNCO was the best I could do. As it turns out, I couldn't do that! At least not on the aptitude based test.

Honestly I was curious if there is a route open here, or if I'm looking at joining as an airman. I do very much want to be a part of the RAF, I admire and respect them tremendously, and I don't think you can find more capable people anywhere.

[Miza]

(Original post by RedR)
Thank you for your prompt replies,

cragly; You seem to be right considering the advice everyone is offering, which I'm very thankful for by the way! I will have a careful read around it to find a job that interests me strongly.

Miza; Very kind of you to say, probably got lucky . Is the chance of a commission from the ranks really very small?

ProStacker; Thank you for the info, yourself and cragly have impressed on me that I really have to go away and find a branch that strongly interests me. I came here to ask for advice because when I was at my local AFCO I mentioned my aspirations of joining as an officer, if I were capable of doing so, and couldn't really get much information about it from them. Honestly I'd of just liked someone to say "It's not going to happen/ It could happen if." What they did say was "Who am I to tell you what you should or shouldn't do?" Not extremely helpful although not wrong.

Drewski; With my circumstances, being 23 years old and not a graduate, I believed SNCO was the best I could do. As it turns out, I couldn't do that! At least not on the aptitude based test.

Honestly I was curious if there is a route open here, or if I'm looking at joining as an airman. I do very much want to be a part of the RAF, I admire and respect them tremendously, and I don't think you can find more capable people anywhere.

I believe you need to be honest with yourself, no offence but so far you did not project yourself as an extremely confident individual, you do realise that officers are managers and strategy creators and moderators, this means that junior officer will be likely to be responsible for 30+ individuals under their command, both airman and NCOs who may have 20+ years of service under their belt who will rely on their officer to make a final say, and that decision is better be right or you're in ****.

Anyway, what I am saying is that many people don't really know what officers do and what qualities you need to have. My point being, you might be a lot more happied as an airman, I know some Weapon Techs who wouldn't go for commission for any money in the world, same with few movers that I know, seems like a reasonably low-responsibility role and some people enjoy the freedom they have, enjoy being immature when they can and enjoy doing stuff that officers just can't do because of their possition of responsibility.

At the end of the day you need to decide what is it that you want to do, can't really help you with that but good luck.

[Mac171]

You were pretty close to target, why not simply sit them again in a years time? I know someone who sat them 3 times for ATC, and eventually got through.

If you really want to do something then work at it, and work hard.

As for other options, you need to keep in mind that each of these branches is a very different job which entails a very different life. It is vital that you fully understand every aspect of your desired role.

As said above the non-aptitude trades are extremely competitive now with hundreds of applications per place, any doubts will quickly be picked up by the boarding officers so you need to be absolutely sure, simply wanting to be an Officer or in the RAF wont cut it I'm afraid.

Basically you need to have a good think about what it is you want out of the RAF and life in general. If it is SNCO ATC then keep working at it! Just because you couldn't do it once doesn't mean you can't do it in the future.

[craglyboy]

(Original post by Mac171)
You were pretty close to target, why not simply sit them again in a years time? I know someone who sat them 3 times for ATC, and eventually got through.

If you really want to do something then work at it, and work hard.

As for other options, you need to keep in mind that each of these branches is a very different job which entails a very different life. It is vital that you fully understand every aspect of your desired role.

To my knowledge you can only take the AST twice, he may have been to OASC a few times though.

[Miza]

(Original post by craglyboy)
To my knowledge you can only take the AST twice, he may have been to OASC a few times though.

You can take it 3rd time in 5 years time, actually, but because of such long time delay it doesn't make much sense to do so.