The dynamic radar test is the first taste of real controlling in the battery: live traffic on a round scope, checkpoints to hit, separation to keep, and, because selection is never satisfied, a voice in your ear hiding digit pairs inside a letter stream. Steering is the visible task. The audio sums are the tax on your spare capacity. This guide covers the radar mechanics, the audio protocol, and how to run both without letting either collapse.
What is the Dynamic Radar Test?
The test measures procedural multitasking on a moving picture: planning turns for several aircraft at once while a background verbal task drains attention on a schedule. It compresses the essence of radar work, everything drifts continuously whether you are ready or not, and the radio does not wait for a convenient moment.
Aircraft cross the scope as green blips with callsigns; orange triangles are checkpoints. Each aircraft must pass over its assigned checkpoint before leaving the sector, steered with discrete LEFT and RIGHT 10 degree heading nudges, while 5 NM lateral or 1000 ft vertical separation holds between everyone. Meanwhile a voice reads letters, and hidden among them come digit pairs: when two digits arrive, you sum them and submit before the window closes. Its strategic sibling is the radar control test, where routing replaces steering; this one keeps your hands on the traffic.
Which Exams Include the Dynamic Radar Test?
Radar steering tasks with a parallel audio load are signature controller-selection instruments. Candidates commonly report this test type in:
- FEAST and related ATC selection batteries, in the dynamic and multitasking stages
- DLR screenings, in ATC-stream simulation tasks
- ADAPT, within its applied multitasking set
- Aon / cut-e batteries, in complex monitoring and control scales
Providers change their content without notice and publish no official syllabus, so treat this as candidate-reported guidance.
How the Test Works: Format and Rules
The two streams, in rules:
- Aircraft enter the round radar and drift continuously. Each has an assigned checkpoint sequence shown in its data block.
- Select an aircraft by clicking its blip or pressing its number, then steer with LEFT and RIGHT 10 degree turns; altitude commands cover the vertical.
- A checkpoint captures when the aircraft passes close enough over it; then route it to its next assignment or out of the sector.
- Keep 5 NM lateral or 1000 ft vertical separation at all times; losses cost heavily.
- In your ear, a letter stream hides digit pairs: sum each pair and submit via the SUM pad before the answer window closes.
Suppose the voice reads T, four, K, seven: the hidden pair is 4 and 7, so you submit 11 while your selected aircraft continues its turn toward CP2. This is exactly how it looks in the test:
Steering, capture and the audio pad in sequence:
The session grows on every axis at once: Level 1 runs three aircraft for two minutes with three audio pairs, and by Level 4 six aircraft fly two-checkpoint sequences across three and a half minutes with eight pairs arriving on a faster stream.
Turn early, sum instantly. Everything that waits on a radar gets worse.
Scoring: What a Good Result Looks Like
Three ledgers run in parallel: checkpoint captures, separation losses, and audio sums answered correctly. A strong result captures every checkpoint, keeps the separation ledger at zero, and holds the sums above eighty percent. Assessors weight separation losses hardest, one loss outweighs several missed sums, because the priority order it reveals is exactly the professional one being tested.
How to Prepare: Strategies That Actually Work
- Steer on arrival geometry, not proximity. A 10 degree nudge three miles out replaces three frantic nudges at the checkpoint. Plan each aircraft's turn the moment you select it.
- Rotate your scan on a loop. Select, correct, release, next aircraft. Parking your attention on one blip is how the far side of the scope develops a problem.
- Automate the sums. Single-digit addition must cost nothing; if 4 plus 7 takes thought, the radar pays for it. The mental arithmetic test makes that free.
- Hold the last digit, not the stream. Letters are noise; keep only the most recent digit in mind, and when its partner arrives, sum and submit in one motion.
- Use altitude when geometry gets tight. A 1000 ft split solves what ten heading nudges cannot, and it frees your lateral plan.
- Train the pairing under load. Practice steering plus audio together from day one; solo mastery of either half transfers poorly to the combination.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Fixating the aircraft nearest its checkpoint while two others drift into conflict.
- Waiting for the digit pair to complete before thinking; the first digit should already be loaded.
- Over-nudging: issuing rapid-fire turns instead of one planned correction.
- Ignoring the audio entirely to protect the radar; both streams are scored, and zeros are expensive.
Practice This Skill
Split-stream control is a trained rhythm, and this format rewards every hour spent in it. Train with the Dynamic Radar module, which reproduces the drifting traffic, the checkpoint captures, the separation rules and the digit-pair audio exactly as described here. Level 1 is free, and the guided tutorial walks you through the format before your first attempt.