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Listening
Medium
LC

Listening Comprehension

Hold the detail you just heard

The second half of NATS Stage 2 is a listening test — in NATS's words, "how accurately you understand, retain and use spoken information". This trains that skill on live-sounding ATC radio traffic: listen to a transmission in one of several accents, then answer a question on what was actually said. Some messages carry a 'break' and hold clearances for two different aircraft.

Duration
~8 min
Length
10 transmissions
Difficulty
Medium

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What to expect

  • A spoken transmission — headphones or speakers on.
  • One question per message: callsign, level, runway, heading, squawk or frequency.
  • Messages with a 'break' that address two aircraft in one transmission.
  • Ten transmissions, played once each.

What it measures

  • Understanding and retaining spoken detail
  • Holding several values from one message
  • Coping with accents and radio pace

Instructions

  1. 1Listen to the whole message before you start answering — the detail you need often comes last.
  2. 2Hold the callsign first; everything else attaches to it.
  3. 3On a 'break', keep the two aircraft separate in your head.
  4. 4You cannot replay a message, so treat every one as the only chance.

Tips

  • Sub-vocalise the numbers as you hear them — it's the cheapest way to hold three values at once.
  • Accents are part of the task, not an obstacle to it. Practise the ones you find hardest.
  • Neither NATS nor EUROCONTROL publishes the format of its listening test, or says whether audio can be replayed or notes are allowed. This trains the underlying skill rather than reproducing an unpublished format.
Sample question

Listening Comprehension

In the real test this is spoken once, at pace, in a variety of accents — you cannot replay it. It's written out here so the item works on a page.

“Speedbird four seven two, descend flight level one two zero, squawk four six two one.”

What squawk code was given?

Practise the full test
Format: ATC listening · one question per message · 10 transmissions