Note: This post was written by Annur
Stage 0: Application
I applied for the Malaysia Airlines Cadet Pilot Program back in April 2019
Stage 1: Assessment Test
I received my first email from Malaysia Airlines on the 7th of September 2019 inviting me for the assessment test which would be held on the 12th of September 2019.
Only have a few days to prepare :). I studied a few SPM past year papers and some fundamentals of Physics and Additional Mathematics.
On the 12th of September, I arrived at the MAB Administration Building near KLIA for the test. There were many candidates present that they had to conduct multiple sessions to accommodate everyone on that day. My session was in the afternoon.
We were given 30 minutes each for the Physics and Mathematics test and 25 minutes for the English test if I'm not mistaken. The Physics and English tests were difficult but still manageable. The real problem was with the Mathematics test. Most of us were unable to complete answering all the questions within the allocated time and we ended up having to 'tembak' for the last 5 minutes.
1) The English test had vocabulary, idioms, grammar and literature sections.
2) The Physics test had questions about electric, energy, momentum, force, etc... - All SPM worthy Physics questions
3) The Mathematics test had cognitive questions, Add Math topics (log and differentiation) and other Modern Mathematics questions, etc...
Overall, I think it was difficult, but if you did well for your SPM, you should be able to pass this stage provided that you are prepared and answered the questions properly. I believe the tests were made to be challenging on purpose. So, don't worry if you think you messed up. I messed up a lot nut still managed to make it to the next stage :)
Stage 2: Interview
After almost 2 months of waiting, I received an email for the 2nd stage which would be held on the 19th of November 2019. I only had a few days to prepare for this stage.
The interview stage was held at the MAB Academy in Kelana Jaya. There were still many candidates at this stage. The hall was full. The second stage started off with registration and BMI check from 8:30 until 12 noon. After lunch, the HR personnel began calling out our names to proceed to the interview room at intervals. There were 5 rooms. Each room had 2 panels.
Depends on luck, some of us did group interviews and some solo. I was called for a group interview with 2 other candidates.
The interview started off with an introduction. I told them about myself and all. Then they asked about MAB; the history, fleet, destinations, etc... They also asked me about the current news on MAB such as should MAB be sold, do you agree with Tun M, etc...
The only technical question I got was how to differentiate between Boeing and Airbus. But this really depends on the panel you got as some of us got asked a lot of technical questions.
But more importantly, you must stay humble. If you don't know the answer, just say so. But make sure you come prepared. 1 candidate from my group couldn't answer some questions causing the panels to start questioning him of his motives to apply for this program.
After the interview, we got back to the hall and waited for the results from the HR personnel. The HR personnel will call out our names and inform us personally if we passed the interview or not. If a candidate succeded in this stage, they will be given a paper to fill their particulars. We were then asked to wait for the email inviting us for the 3rd stage.
Stage 3: ADAPT Psychomotor & Psychometric
On the 3rd of December 2019, I received an email inviting me for the 3rd stage of the assessment which would be held on the 9th of December 2019.
I didn't prepare hard. I only did some research on what is psychomotor and psychometric, pilot personality as well as to watch a video about the ADAPT test. I didn't do go for any flight simulator.
I had to be there before 4 in the evening. Some of the candidates and I got into a room which had 5 PC's, all equipped with a joystick and throttle each.
We were handed a book to read. The book was a guide to the ADAPT test provided by Symbiotics. They were the ones that provided the test for MAB. We were given 30 minutes to read the book before starting the test.
The first test was a personality test. I answered the questions which closely described myself. Then there were also some Math, English, short memory, problem solving and cognitive questions etc... I might have missed a lot there as I can remember all of them.
Now we get to the ADAPT test part. The test was quite difficult even though I watched an ADAPT test video. Fortunately, we were given 2 tries for this test. For this test, both your eyes and mind have to work fast and you have to remember the things you saw and heard because they will ask in the later stage of this test.
This was followed by the hand-eye coordination test. The purpose is to make sure the pointer stays inside the circle. The pointer can be controlled using the joystick provided. This test was designed to be challenging. It was difficult to keep the pointer inside the circle for a long time during their first attempt. The key to this test was to stay composed at all times. I went out several times but I immediately went back in. Some of the candidates that I talked to got panic when it went out - they ended up outside the circle for around 1 minute accumulated before going back into the circle.
Lastly, we went through the flight simulator portion of the stage. I have never done this before. Fortunately, there was a tutorial shown before we began with the test. The key here is to follow the instructions properly and be attentive. The instructions will be like to fly at this altitude, speed, heading, etc... Follow the instructions properly, especially the heading. One of the candidates that I talked to ended up with the wrong heading causing him to get lost and receive a red error message.
Stage 4: Medical Check-up
I was instructed to proceed with the Medical Class 1 check-up by Malaysia Airlines. The cost of this was to be borne by us.
Link to group:
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