Air Traffic Controller Test: FAA ATSA and How to Prepare
Air traffic control is one of the few careers where the aptitude test is the main gate. In the US, the FAA takes thousands of applications per announcement, and what separates the candidates who move on to the Academy from those who do not is largely one exam: the Air Traffic Skills Assessment, or ATSA.
This page explains where the ATSA sits in the FAA hiring process, what it is designed to measure, how results are used, and how to prepare, with seven practice questions in the style of controller aptitude tests. At the end there is a short section on UK and European selection (NATS and Eurocontrol's FEAST) for readers outside the US.
The FAA Air Traffic Controller Hiring Process
The FAA's own hiring page (faa.gov/be-atc) describes a five-step process. In summary:
1. Apply on USAJOBS. Applications are only accepted through vacancy announcements on USAJOBS. The FAA's applicant checklist asks for a resume of two pages maximum with exact dates (mm/yyyy), hours worked per week and a description of duties for each job. Depending on how you qualify, you upload transcripts (education route), transcripts plus an endorsement letter from a Collegiate Training Initiative school (CTI route), an SF-50 (previous federal experience) or a DD-214 if you claim veterans' preference. The checklist warns that incomplete applications are rejected, and the announcement it describes closes once 8,000 applications have been received, so apply early.
2. The aptitude exam (ATSA). Qualified applicants receive an invitation and schedule the ATSA at a Pearson VUE test center. The FAA describes it as a 3.5-hour computer-based test of cognitive skills that predicts aptitude for the job, and states that a Well-Qualified result is required.
3. Medical and security clearance. Fingerprinting, federal background checks, a medical exam, drug testing and a psychological evaluation.
4. Academy training. Several months of paid training at the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City, including simulation.
5. On-the-job training. After graduating from the Academy you are placed at a facility anywhere in the country and spend one to three years in on-the-job training before you become a Certified Professional Controller.
Basic eligibility
According to the FAA hiring page, you must be a US citizen, be under 31 years of age at the time of application, and speak English clearly and fluently. The USAJOBS announcement sets out the education and experience routes in full, so read it before you apply.
Pay
The FAA's hiring page states a starting rate of $22.61 per hour during Academy training and says average certified earnings exceed $155,000 a year within three years of graduation. These are the FAA's own figures as published in 2026; the vacancy announcement is the authoritative source for your offer.
If you are comparing this with other federal selection processes, our guide to aptitude tests for government jobs covers how US government employers use testing more broadly.
What the ATSA Is
The ATSA is the FAA's pre-employment test for entry-level air traffic control specialists. A 2023 report by the Department of Transportation's Office of Inspector General explains that a 2012 review of controller hiring identified the need to update the old pre-employment test, and that the FAA deployed the ATSA in November 2016. The FAA developed it with the consultancy APTMetrics, the controllers' union NATCA and subject matter experts, starting from the skills, abilities and other characteristics that entry-level controllers need.
The older test that the ATSA replaced is widely known as the AT-SAT (Air Traffic Selection and Training test). You will still find AT-SAT guides online. They can help with general skills, but the format and scoring are not the same.
What the ATSA measures
The FAA does not publish a section-by-section breakdown or sample items. What it does say is that the ATSA is a computer-based test of cognitive skills that predicts aptitude for controller work.
Candidates who have taken it commonly report a mix of:
- Mental math without a calculator: speed, distance, time, rates of climb.
- Spatial reasoning and orientation: headings, angles, relative positions, map-like displays.
- Memory and attention: holding information while doing something else, spotting changes.
- Reading and applying rules in short scenarios.
- Simulation-style tasks where you direct or monitor moving aircraft on a simplified display.
- A work-style or situational section about how you approach teamwork, pressure and rules.
Treat that list as a guide to the skills to sharpen, not a promise of the exact format.
How ATSA Results Are Used
The FAA's hiring page says a Well-Qualified result is required to move on. The raw scores and cut-offs behind that result are not published.
Two practical points follow. First, there is no "good enough" target to aim for; every section matters. Second, because the FAA often has more qualified candidates than Academy places, a strong result helps, but referral and selection also depend on the number of trainees the FAA needs in that cycle.
The Inspector General's report also noted that, at the time, the FAA had not yet set up a plan to evaluate how well the ATSA predicts success in training. The test is one filter among several: medical and security checks, the Academy and on-the-job training all have to be passed too.
ATC-Style Practice Questions
These are our own questions in the style of air traffic controller aptitude tests. They are not ATSA items. Try them without a calculator, in about a minute each.
Practice question 1
An aircraft flies at a ground speed of 480 knots. How many nautical miles does it cover in 15 minutes?
A. 96 B. 110 C. 120 D. 160
Answer: C. 480 knots is 480 nautical miles per hour, which is 8 nautical miles per minute. Fifteen minutes × 8 = 120. Converting to "per minute" first makes almost every speed question one quick multiplication.
Practice question 2
An aircraft is on a heading of 090. It turns right by 135 degrees. What is its new heading?
A. 045 B. 135 C. 225 D. 315
Answer: C. Turning right increases the heading: 090 + 135 = 225. Turning left would subtract. If the result goes past 360, subtract 360.
Practice question 3
What is the reciprocal (opposite) heading of 300?
A. 060 B. 120 C. 180 D. 240
Answer: B. The reciprocal is 180 degrees away. 300 − 180 = 120. For headings below 180, add 180 instead.
Practice question 4
Two aircraft are heading for the same point. Aircraft A is 40 nautical miles away at 400 knots. Aircraft B is 30 nautical miles away at 360 knots. Which arrives first, and by how much?
A. A, by 1 minute B. B, by 1 minute C. B, by 2 minutes D. They arrive at the same time
Answer: B. A: 400 knots is about 6.67 miles per minute, so 40 miles takes 6 minutes. B: 360 knots is 6 miles per minute, so 30 miles takes 5 minutes. B arrives one minute earlier.
Practice question 5
An aircraft climbs from 4,000 feet to 13,000 feet at a constant 1,500 feet per minute. How long does the climb take?
A. 5 minutes B. 6 minutes C. 8 minutes D. 9 minutes
Answer: B. The climb is 9,000 feet. 9,000 ÷ 1,500 = 6 minutes.
Practice question 6
For this question only, use this simplified rule: two aircraft are in conflict if they are less than 1,000 feet apart vertically and less than 5 nautical miles apart horizontally. Which pair is in conflict?
A. 6 nm apart, 500 feet apart vertically B. 3 nm apart, 1,000 feet apart vertically C. 4 nm apart, 600 feet apart vertically D. 2 nm apart, 2,000 feet apart vertically
Answer: C. Both conditions must be true. A fails the horizontal condition (6 nm is not less than 5). B is exactly 1,000 feet, which is not less than 1,000. D is well separated vertically. Only C is under both limits. Questions like this test whether you apply a rule exactly as written, including the boundary.
Practice question 7
You are in a training simulation. You realise you gave an aircraft an instruction based on the wrong altitude a minute ago, and nobody else has noticed. What is the best response?
A. Say nothing, because the simulation will reset anyway. B. Correct the instruction immediately and tell your instructor what happened. C. Wait to see whether it causes a problem before acting. D. Ask another trainee whether they think it matters.
Answer: B. In control work, the safe action is to fix an error as soon as you spot it and report it so it can be learned from. Waiting (C) or hiding it (A) are exactly the habits selection and training try to screen out, and D delays the correction.
Common Mistakes on Controller Aptitude Tests
- Relying on a calculator in practice. You will need to do speed and time arithmetic in your head. Train that way.
- Going slowly to be safe. Accuracy matters, but so does throughput. Practise at a pace you could sustain for three and a half hours.
- Losing focus late in the test. The ATSA is long. Attention dips after two hours are normal; practise long sessions so they do not surprise you.
- Treating the work-style section as a formality. Answer honestly and consistently.
- Bending a stated rule. If a question defines a rule, apply that rule exactly, even if it differs from what you know from aviation.
A Two-Week ATSA Preparation Plan
1. Days 1 to 2: baseline and setup
Do a timed set of mental math and spatial questions to see where you are. Read the FAA hiring page and your invitation carefully. Book your Pearson VUE slot at a time of day when you are sharp.
2. Days 3 to 6: mental math every day
Twenty minutes daily: speed, distance and time; rates of climb and descent; converting between per hour and per minute; quick fractions. Our numerical reasoning practice questions are useful extra drill.
3. Days 3 to 9: headings and spatial orientation
Headings, reciprocals, left and right turns, compass directions from a moving point of view, mental rotation. Our spatial reasoning test guide covers the general skill.
4. Days 7 to 11: multitasking and memory
Practise tasks that make you hold information while doing something else: remember a short list of call signs while solving arithmetic, then recall them. Any timed dual-task exercise helps here.
5. Days 10 to 13: long timed sessions
Do at least two practice sessions of two hours or more to build stamina. Review errors afterwards and note whether they came early or late in the session.
6. Day 14: rest
Light review only. Confirm the test center, the ID you need and your travel time.
For broader timed practice across numerical, verbal and abstract formats, use the free practice tests on our main site.
Outside the US: NATS and Eurocontrol FEAST
UK: NATS trainee air traffic controllers
NATS, the UK's main air navigation service provider, publishes its trainee controller selection process on its careers site. For the current campaign it lists:
- Stage 1: eleven online ability tests covering spatial awareness, logical thinking, numerical ability, sense of direction and reaction speed, to be completed within 14 days.
- Stage 2: an online situational judgement test and a listening comprehension test.
- Stage 3: a virtual assessment centre with an interview, an ATC knowledge test and an observed retest of earlier tests.
- Stage 4: a practical exercise and a second ATC knowledge test, virtually or in person at Whiteley.
NATS asks applicants to be 18 or over and to hold five GCSEs at grade 4 or above (or Scottish National 5 grades A to C) including English and Maths, or equivalents. Candidates who are unsuccessful cannot reapply until the next recruitment campaign. NATS does not name the publisher of its tests on that page. For the situational judgement stage, see our situational judgement test guide.
Europe: FEAST
FEAST (First European Air traffic controller Selection Test) is Eurocontrol's selection test for applicants to air traffic control training. Eurocontrol says it is available to civil and military air navigation service providers and to certified ATC training academies and universities worldwide. Which organisations use it, and with what cut-offs, is decided by each user organisation, so check the provider you are applying to. Eurocontrol also links to a FEAST information site where applicants can read about the test before a session at a user organisation.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long is the FAA ATSA test?
The FAA describes the ATSA as a 3.5-hour computer-based test taken in person at a Pearson VUE test center. Only candidates the FAA has invited after the application stage can book it.
What score do I need on the ATSA?
The FAA's hiring page says a Well-Qualified result is required to move forward. The FAA does not publish the raw scores or cut-offs behind that band, so aim to perform as well as you can on every section rather than for a target number.
Is the ATSA the same as the AT-SAT?
No. The ATSA replaced the FAA's earlier pre-employment test, widely known as the AT-SAT, in November 2016. Older AT-SAT guides can help with general skills, but do not assume the format or scoring is the same.
What is the age limit to become an FAA air traffic controller?
The FAA's hiring page says you must be under 31 years of age when you apply. You must also be a US citizen and speak English clearly and fluently. Check the vacancy announcement on USAJOBS for any exceptions that apply to your situation.
Can I prepare for the ATSA?
Yes, in the sense that you can sharpen the underlying skills: calculator-free mental math, speed-distance-time problems, headings and spatial orientation, reading rules carefully and staying accurate under time pressure. You cannot practise real ATSA items, because the FAA does not release them.
About the author
Ingmar van Maurik is a specialist in test and interview preparation who helps candidates perform better in recruitment processes.
References
FAA, Air Traffic Controller Hiring: https://www.faa.gov/be-atc FAA, Air Traffic Controller Applicant Checklist: https://www.faa.gov/atc-hiring/applicant-checklist DOT Office of Inspector General, FAA Has Taken Steps To Validate Its Air Traffic Skills Assessment Test (AV2023011): https://www.oversight.gov/reports/audit/faa-has-taken-steps-validate-its-air-traffic-skills-assessment-test-lacks-plan NATS, Trainee Air Traffic Controllers: https://www.nats.aero/careers/trainee-air-traffic-controllers/ EUROCONTROL, First European Air Traffic Controller Selection Test: https://www.eurocontrol.int/service/first-european-air-traffic-controller-selection-test