NATS Stage 3 & 4 (2026): Interview, Knowledge Test, Practical

NATS Stage 3 is a virtual assessment centre on Microsoft Teams: an interview, an Air Traffic Control knowledge test and an observed retest of the previous tests. Stage 4 is a practical exercise and ATC Knowledge Test part 2, on Teams or at NATS’s Whiteley office. NATS says Stage 3 runs from September 2026 onwards and Stage 4 from December 2026 onwards.

That is close to everything the NATS pages we read say about these two stages. This guide sets out its words exactly, marks what it leaves unsaid, and then gives our own preparation: a free checklist for a day on Teams, a way to build interview examples around the qualities NATS names, where to start on the knowledge tests, and what NATS has said in public about a practical work sample exercise.

ProSyllabus is an independent study site, not part of NATS or the Civil Aviation Authority. Facts about NATS come from its careers page and the NATS news and blog items listed under Sources, read on 2 November 2026. Our own advice, our method and our example answers are marked as ours.

NATS, Training to be an Air Traffic Controller, read 2 Nov 2026.

Two details are worth reading slowly. First, the dates are start dates for each stage, “from September … onwards” and “from December … onwards”, with no end date, so your own invitation sets your day. Second, NATS lists the eligibility requirements for applying on the same careers page, but does not say whether the “minimum requirements” for Stage 3 include any further threshold. Our guide to all four NATS stages, eligibility and pay summarises the application requirements.

So be wary of anything that claims to list “the questions NATS asks at Stage 3” or “the Stage 4 practical exercise answers”: the NATS pages we read give nothing such a list can be checked against. That is why this guide offers a method and our own example answers, clearly labelled, rather than a list of questions.

Stage 3 is on Microsoft Teams, and Stage 4 may be. Our advice is to check the practical arrangements early. NATS’s page does not give equipment rules for Stages 3 and 4; for Stages 1 and 2 it describes camera and microphone proctoring. The checklist below is ours.

The NATS pages we read give no interview questions and no scoring. What NATS has said in public is which qualities matter, and those are the obvious themes to prepare examples for. Each line below quotes NATS; the right-hand column is our suggestion.

A competency example is easier to follow when it has a shape. STAR is a common one, and our suggestion, not something NATS prescribes: Situation (where and when, in a sentence or two), Task (what you personally had to achieve), Action (what you did, step by step, saying “I” rather than “we”; this should be most of the answer) and Result (what happened, with a fact or number if you have one, and what you learned). In practice, aim for about two minutes per example, follow any timing the panel gives, and leave room for follow-up questions. Never invent or inflate an example: follow-up questions may expose invented details, and NATS asks for honesty throughout its process.

Here are two worked examples of our own. They are made up, from ordinary lives, to show the shape; yours should be true and yours.

Use these examples to structure your own. For more practice, our NATS practice bundle includes interview prep with 20 practice questions, what a strong answer shows for each, the facts behind a “why NATS” answer and six other worked examples with a grid for your own.

NATS names an “Air Traffic Control knowledge test” at Stage 3 and “our ATC Knowledge Test part 2” at Stage 4. The pages we read give no syllabus, sample questions, length or pass mark for either, and NATS also says applicants need no prior aviation knowledge. Our suggestion, which is ours and not a NATS list, is to learn the vocabulary of air traffic control from the CAA’s own public documents: airspace classes, altimetry (QNH, QFE, flight levels and the transition), METAR and TAF weather codes, CAP 413 radio phraseology and readbacks, wake turbulence categories, and UTC.

NATS’s whole description is “a retest of the previous tests whilst being observed.” It does not say which of the Stage 1 and Stage 2 tests come back, whether all of them do, or how the observation works. Stage 1 was, in NATS’s words, eleven online ability tests assessing skills “such as spatial awareness, logical thinking, numerical ability, sense of direction and reaction speed”; Stage 2 was an online Situational Judgement Test and an online Listening Comprehension test.

On the trainee page, Stage 4 contains “a practical exercise”, and nothing more is said there. Separately, a NATS blog post of 2 March 2026 describes a new “realistic work sample exercise as part of the assessment process.” In NATS’s words, it “puts the candidate in the seat of an operational controller, managing a simulated section of airspace in real-time.” “Candidates are briefed on the task, encouraged to talk through their thinking and assessed across a series of short runs. Between runs assessors provide feedback, and candidates are observed on how they respond and adapt.” The exercise is “mapped against the competencies required for training”, and “assessment decisions remain human-led.” A NATS news item of 19 January 2026 says a digital-twin platform, BLADE, was used in the Autumn 2025 trainee assessments.

NATS does not say that this work sample is the Stage 4 practical exercise, and we do not claim it is. The NATS pages we read give no detailed scoring, length, number of runs or candidate equipment, and we do not guess. The January 2026 news item does say candidates were “evaluated against key performance metrics including safety, efficiency and task completion”, and that recruiters could assess skills “such as situational awareness, communication and problem-solving”; it does not say these are Stage 4 criteria. What the blog does say is useful whichever stage it describes: the structure is deliberate, because “Air traffic control training isn’t about being perfect on the first attempt; it’s about learning, applying feedback and building safe, repeatable habits.” Our reading, which is ours: in your own preparation, practise explaining your thinking as you work through a problem, and practise taking a correction and visibly using it on the next attempt. On the day, speak aloud only when you are asked or allowed to. Our first worked example above shows acting on feedback; the second shows raising a safety concern early.

For where Stages 3 and 4 sit in the whole process, see the NATS trainee air traffic controller exam page, the four-stage guide and our guide to NATS practice tests by stage.