This briefing is created to help candidates understand the purpose of
this exam.
Before applying for this exam, you shall meet the following
requirements:
The theoretical and practical exam can be requested by directly
accessing your exam status page.
The exam has two parts which shall be successfully validated in this
order:
Requests for practical exams are only possible for members of active
divisions. Members of inactive divisions will have to change to an
active division in order to get higher ratings (R&R 4.6.2.1)
Unlike the theoretical exam, which is automated and centralised, an
examiner from the HQ Training Staff and additionally one member of the
user's division training department as co-examiner will conduct the
exam. (The co-examiner will ask questions about the LoAs and local
procedures).
The SEC exam shall be performed by 2 examiners member of HQ Training
Staff.
Once your exam has been registered, the examiner will contact you via
your e-mail address given on your details page. Before requesting for
the exam, check that this e-mail address is valid since it is the only
way for the examiner to get in touch with you.
We recommend you to do a practical training in your division prior to
applying for this exam.
All theoretical exams consist of 20 randomly selected multiple-choice
questions (MCQ).
The theoretical questions are mainly extracted from our training
documentation or from Real ATPL
Questions.
All questions are based on ICAO/EU-OPS Rules and Regulations if not
stated otherwise in the question.
Note that you can submit your answers as often as you want during the 45
minutes of the exam. Only the last submission will be taken into
account. We greatly recommend you submit your examination paper on a
regular basis in order to avoid to be marked 0 if you are disconnected
or if you exceed the 45 minutes limit.
After your successful theoretical exam, you can apply for the practical
part of the exam without delay.
Warning: Our system does not allow the resetting of theoretical exams,
as in this case the same exam will appear again. Consequently, the
Training department will always refuse to reset unfilled or timed out
exams. In order to shorten the time for applying again, members should
save their answers on a regular basis so as to avoid the exam being
marked 0 if a disconnection or a time out occurs.
The SEC exam is a series of tasks to appreciate your IVAO network
knowledge, your theoretical air traffic control knowledge, your
knowledge of local procedures and LoA, and English proficiency.
After your successful theoretical exam, you can apply for Part 1 of the
SEC exam. In case of success to Part 1, you can apply for Part 2. These
2 parts will be conducted in sequence on 2 consecutive sessions.
Note that English phraseology shall be used during the skills test and
optionally for the briefing and debriefing. Voice communication is an
unconditional requirement for the interview, assessments of theoretical
knowledge and spoken English proficiency (Part 1) and practical control
briefing (Part 2). Therefore, we cannot accept a "text-text" or
"text-voice" method due to the incompatibilities with these tasks.
Note that these are our minimum standards. Your local division may have
set additional requirements that should be published on its web site.
Some of the training material is available on the IVAO website following
these links below:
ICAO documentation:
Ask HQ Training Department if you need some help.
The examinee will receive an e-mail with a linked website, providing
him/her 20 exam questions. He/she will have 60 minutes to answer the
questions (writing in his/her own words is mandatory). After the
examinee has submitted the questionnaire, the examiners will evaluate
the answers together with the examinee. The examiners will also ask
additional questions to check the examinee's English proficiency and
his/her knowledge of local procedures and LoAs.
During the practical exam, the examiner shall question you about
theoretical knowledge:
The examinee will have to log in as APP (Approach) controller in a TMA
which has at least one IFR compatible airport. Tower and ACC Controller
are necessary and must be staffed. A professional traffic management is
expected from examinee during the entire exam according to the LoAs and
local procedures, including the handling of unexpected situations.
You shall only use one IVAO ATC client approved by the HQ training
department for the exam. A list of such approved software can be found
here: Approved software for
exams.
The examiner will check your ability to correctly use the main functions
of the software, mainly:
Voice communication is an unconditional requirement for the interview,
assessments of theoretical knowledge and spoken English proficiency
(Part 1) and practical control briefing (Part 2). Therefore, we cannot
accept a "text-text" or "text-voice" method due to the incompatibilities
with these tasks.
Your ATIS must always contain the following remark: "Exam in progress --
no unauthorised Emergencies".
You must connect to the network using the requested position only using
ICAO_POS format.
The examiner should connect to the network using X suffix to the
examined position
During active practical exams no Emergency (MAYDAY) or Urgency (PAN)
situations may be initiated by any participating pilot unless
specifically requested by the examiner.
Declaring any unrequested Emergency, PAN or squawking 7700 or 7600 will
lead to a forced disconnection by the examiner or any supervisor.
Note that English phraseology shall be used during the skills test and
optionally for the briefing and debriefing.
To evaluate a SEC exam, the minimum traffic required is as follows:
by the examiners before the exam.
Note: Emergencies and/or radio-communication failures during the Exam
will ONLY be done on request of the examiner
There is no maximum traffic number allowed. However, if the traffic
situation requires, the examinee must be able to restrict the traffic
flow into the TMA. This includes restriction of departing traffic in
coordination with the adjacent ATC units.
The examiner will score separately all required tasks (including both
theoretical questions and practical exercises) on a dedicated marking
sheet.
Each score will reflect the exactness and range of your knowledge (for
theoretical data) and your ability to accurately execute the exercises
(and your performance in doing so).
The maximum score is 100 points. The pass mark is 75/100.
In all cases, your examiner will give you the detailed results during
the debriefing, so as you can identify your errors and correct them in
case the exam is failed.
If the examinee fails one of the practical parts, he/she will be able to
re-apply for the exam after a 6 month delay.
Some special situations may result in an automatic exam failure (maximum
score = 51/100):
NOTE: The score for these exams shall be 51/100 or less depending on the
total result of the exam. This does not mean that the exam is not
continued until finished.
In those airports where MRVA is not available (not published in real
life) the MSA should be considered as the reference for radar vectoring.
As the MSA could be different depending on the chosen approach plate,
both examiner and examinee should agree which MSA is going to be used
during the exam. We know that the MSA is not a real parameter to be used
on radar vectoring but it is the only value we consider to be feasible
for virtual purposes.
An exam is considered as failed and the practical part will stop
immediately or will not be performed if:
If the examinee fails to arrive for the exam at the time organised, the
examiner should wait for 15 minutes. After that period, the examiner can
log off the network. The examinee then has 48 hours to provide a valid
reason for the failure to attend by e-mail. If no e-mail is received in
time the exam will be marked as failed.
Should a PC crash occur which is out of the applicant's control, the
exam will have to start again or will be delayed to take place on
another day, the decision being up to the examiner.
After evaluation, your examiner will send his evaluation to the training
director who will assign a validator.
The validator will verify the marking based on the comments and marking
sheet of the examiner.
If your exam is validated as a success your rating will be updated at
1200z the following day.
The validation process needs a validation delay estimated from one day
minimum to an average maximum of one week.
In case of failure (any part), a 6-month delay should be recommended by
the examiner before being in a position to apply for a new exam.
Consequently, we strongly advise candidates to train and prepare
carefully before going for it.
Note that this delay may be revised by the TD/TAD and exceptions can be
granted in specific cases.
Congratulations! You have achieved the highest ATC rating on the IVAO
Network.
Nonetheless, remember that we learn everyday and it is especially true
in the aviation domain, virtual or not!
As a SEC rating holder, people are looking at you as an example of what
to aim for.
Therefore, we expect you to be a good representative of your SEC
rating at all times on the network.
Continue controlling on the network with the same degree of accuracy, on
a regular basis so as to stay sharp, complying with regulations and
participating to events, trainings and exams.
Within your division, you shall be able to take any positions and
provide ATC service with the same degree of rightness.\
Failure to maintain high standards when providing an ATC service on the
network may lead to the removal of your SEC rating.
The TD/TAD reserve the right to downgrade the user to ACC rating.
See also
Reference
Author