Checked 23 October 2026. Updated for RIS-3751-TOM issue 4 (in force from 7 December 2024). Facts are from RSSB's December 2024 FAQ, the TEA-Occ publisher's page (Pearson TalentLens), The OPC, Translink and Avanti West Coast, read 23 Oct 2026. The drills and the comparison's "what it rewards" row are ProSyllabus advice. The train company you apply to confirms what you will sit.
TEA-Occ, the Test of Everyday Attention for Occupational Assessment, is one of the two attention tests in RSSB's standard for train driver selection on Great Britain's mainline railway, alongside the Group Bourdon. Its publisher, Pearson TalentLens, says it measures selective attention, sustained attention and attentional switching, through everyday tasks: counting tones and searching pages of a mock telephone directory.
ProSyllabus is an independent study site. It is not part of RSSB, the Office of Rail and Road, The OPC or any train company, and nothing here is official test material.
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Train attention now: level 1 of our concentration trainer, free
Selective and sustained attention practice, built on the Group Bourdon format as candidates describe it (the official layout is not published). Level 1 is three timed sheets where you mark every group of four dots. It is not TEA-Occ practice: it has no audio and no second task.
Play level 1 freeIndependent practice by ProSyllabus. Not the official test, not a copy of it, and not produced or checked by RSSB, an assessment centre or a train company.
What the TEA-Occ is
The test has slightly different names in different documents. RSSB's FAQ calls it the "Test of Everyday Attention-Occupational (TEA-Occ)"; The OPC and Avanti West Coast call it the "Test of Everyday Attention for Occupational Assessment". They are the same test.
Its publisher, Pearson TalentLens, describes it on a page marked "For UK Clients Only". It says TEA-Occ "is based on the Test of Everyday Attention (TEA)" and gives an assessment "sensitive to selective attention, sustained attention and attentional switching – vital skills for safety critical workers such as train drivers". It names train drivers first among the groups it is relevant to, with rail signallers, bus and coach drivers, heavy goods and machinery operators, and road and construction workers.
| What the publisher lists | Detail |
|---|---|
| Use | Recruitment, pre-hire |
| Format | "30 minutes", "55 items + 2 practice questions", "Untimed" |
| Language | UK English |
| Abilities measured | Selective attention, sustained attention and attentional switching |
| Who may give it | Completing the BPS Test User: Occupational Ability course "enables use of TEA-Occ" |
The page lists both "30 minutes" and "Untimed" and does not explain how they fit together, so do not build a plan on either: the approved practice materials and the train company describe your session. The last row matches RSSB's FAQ, which says the people who administer and interpret the train driver tests must hold the "BPS Test User: Occupational, Ability" qualification to join ORR's register.
Where TEA-Occ sits in RIS-3751-TOM
Appendix A of RIS-3751-TOM issue four lists the tests by the ability each one assesses. RSSB's FAQ reproduces it, and TEA-Occ sits under the first criterion:
| Selection criterion | Psychometric assessments |
|---|---|
| Attention | Paper Group Bourdon and Test of Everyday Attention-Occupational (TEA-Occ) |
RSSB's FAQ says the selection criteria and tests in Appendix A were not changed in issue four, so TEA-Occ is in the same place it was before December 2024. Three published documents show where it falls in practice:
Where TEA-Occ appears
- The OPC lists it among the "core tests" that are universal to all companies and that you must pass, with the Group Bourdon, the Trainability for Rules and Procedures tests, the Vienna Test System and the Multi-Modal Interview.
- Translink (Northern Ireland) lists "Test of Everyday Attention - Occupational" as "Paper & pencil", competency assessed "Attention", at its assessment centre.
- Avanti West Coast puts it at stage 3, "OPC Assessment Centre, Paper tests", with the Group Bourdon and the TRP 1 and 2.
The OPC candidate guide (04/12/2024), page 7; Translink HR023 v1.5 (October 2025), Appendix B; Avanti West Coast careers page (last updated 23 January 2025).
For all the tests in the standard and the rules around them, see our hub guide to the UK train driver psychometric tests.
The kinds of task, in general terms
The publisher says the subtests together measure three kinds of attention:
Selective attention
Pick out what matters and ignore similar things around it.
Sustained attention
Hold the same level of care over the whole task.
Attentional switching
Move between two demands without losing either.
ProSyllabus diagram of the three ideas the publisher (Pearson TalentLens) names; the one-line explanations are our plain-language reading, not the publisher's definitions. It is not a picture of any TEA-Occ item or page.
It names three subtests. Described in general terms, without reproducing any item:
TEA-Occ subtests, as the publisher names them
- Lift Counting With Distraction. You imagine a lift whose floor display has stopped working and work out the floor by counting tones played on audio, while ignoring tones at a different pitch. The publisher calls this "a test of auditory selective attention".
- Telephone Search. You look for key symbols while searching through the pages of a mock telephone directory.
- Telephone Search While Counting. You search a directory again while counting strings of tones on audio at the same time.
Pearson TalentLens, TEA-Occ page, "What Does TEA-Occ Measure?" (read 23 Oct 2026). The publisher says the subtests together measure selective attention, sustained attention and attentional switching; its page assigns an ability only to the first subtest.
Two things follow for preparation. First, part of the test is heard, not seen, so arrive able to listen in a quiet room: if you have a hearing condition, ask about adjustments early (see below). Second, the last subtest asks you to do two things at once, which is a different demand from the single dot-marking task candidates describe for the Group Bourdon (forum-reported).
We do not reproduce any TEA-Occ material on this page, and nothing here is a copy of it. The approved practice materials your train company sends are the place to familiarise yourself with what to expect.
TEA-Occ and the Group Bourdon side by side
| Point | TEA-Occ | Group Bourdon |
|---|---|---|
| Selection criterion | Attention (RIS-3751-TOM Appendix A) | Attention (RIS-3751-TOM Appendix A) |
| Paper or screen | Paper and pencil (Translink); among the paper tests at Avanti's stage 3 | Paper (RSSB's FAQ); paper and pencil (Translink) |
| Uses audio | Yes: tones presented on audio (publisher) | No official source mentions audio |
| What the sources say it measures | Selective attention, sustained attention, attentional switching (publisher) | Attention; no further official detail |
| Format published | "30 minutes", "55 items + 2 practice questions", "Untimed" (publisher) | Not published; one 2017 forum post describes five sheets of dot groups at two minutes a sheet (forum-reported) |
| Who sets the pass mark | The train company, from RSSB's recommendations (RSSB) | The train company, from RSSB's recommendations (RSSB) |
| What it rewards (our reading) | Keeping a count while ignoring a distractor, and holding two tasks together | A steady, accurate visual scan repeated over many sheets |
Practice for the other attention test
Selective and sustained attention practice, built on the Group Bourdon format as candidates describe it
Our concentration trainer is not TEA-Occ practice: it has no audio and no second task, and we make no claim that it improves a TEA-Occ result. It is a timed dot-group task, built on the Group Bourdon format as candidates describe it: find every group of four, sheet after sheet, with missed and wrong marks counted apart. Level 1 is free with no sign-in.
Play level 1 freeIndependent practice by ProSyllabus. Not the official test, not a copy of it, and not produced or checked by RSSB, an assessment centre or a train company.
How to prepare for the TEA-Occ
1. Use the approved practice materials
RSSB's FAQ says: "If you are invited to an assessment, you will be given the approved practice materials at least a week before your assessment date." Their purpose, it says, is to let candidates "familiarise themselves with what to expect on the assessment day". If yours have not arrived, RSSB says to contact the train company you applied to. Work through any TEA-Occ material in them under the conditions the instructions describe, including any audio.
2. Know how the session runs
The OPC's guide says that before each test you may have the chance to complete some examples, and that the assessor can help with these. Ask every question before the test time starts: once it has started you cannot ask anyone anything, and the tests are done in complete silence. Its hints for the tests include "Try to avoid wild guessing" and "Listen carefully to the instructions" given before each exercise, which matters doubly for a test with audio-tone tasks.
3. Ask early about adjustments
RSSB says that if you have a disability or condition, including neurodiversity, you can ask for suitable adjustments: contact the train company's recruitment team as soon as possible, with evidence of your disability or condition. Without prior notice, it says, support is not guaranteed. Because part of TEA-Occ is played on audio, this applies to a hearing condition as much as to anything else.
4. Train each kind of attention
The publisher names three abilities. Our approach is to practise each one separately, which is what the drills below are for.
Home drills for each kind of attention
These are our own general attention drills, deliberately unlike the TEA-Occ tasks: they use speech, text, cards or a dot-cancellation task rather than tones and directories, and do not copy or imitate any TEA-Occ item. They train the habits, not the test. Keep each one short and stop when your attention slips.
| Ability | Drill | Time | Track |
|---|---|---|---|
| Selective attention (listening) | Play a news bulletin or a podcast and write down only the numbers you hear (times, prices, scores), ignoring everything else. Replay it to check. | 2 rounds of 3 minutes | Numbers you missed, and any you wrote that were not said |
| Selective attention (looking) | Proofread a page of small print for one kind of mistake only, such as every repeated word or every missing full stop. Check the page again slowly afterwards. | 2 pages of 3 minutes | Missed mistakes and false alarms, separately |
| Attentional switching | Sort a shuffled pack of cards: by colour for one minute, then by suit for the next, then by colour again, on a timer, without stopping between rules. | 3 rounds of 3 minutes | Cards put on the wrong pile just after each switch |
| Sustained attention | One unbroken run of a cancellation task: a full run of a higher level of our concentration trainer (2 to 4.5 minutes), or several printed pages back to back. | One trainer run, or 5 to 10 minutes of pages, once a day | Your accuracy in the first half against the second |
Do them in silence, with your phone out of reach, at the time of day your assessment is booked if you know it. A week of short daily sessions is more useful than one long evening, and none of these drills tells you whether you would pass: none of the sources we read gives a pass mark.
Results, pass marks and resits
What the sources say
- Pass marks: RSSB says RIS-3751-TOM issue four does not set pass marks; RSSB has recommended them, and each train company decides which it uses. Some companies use a higher standard, called "enhanced", which differs from company to company (The OPC).
- Scores: the OPC says candidates are not given any scores of their assessments. After an unsuccessful assessment with The OPC, feedback is verbal and must be requested within 3 months.
- Passing in stages: Translink tells applicants at breaks whether they have met the standard to go on to the next set of tests.
- If you passed some tests before: RSSB says the company you apply to tells you what you must sit, after checking the national database. Translink says that on a second attempt within five years, candidates normally need only sit the elements they did not pass or have not yet sat.
RSSB 3751-FAQ, questions 21 and 28; The OPC candidate guide, pages 6 to 10; Translink HR023 v1.5, sections 10 and Appendix B.
The attempt rules for the whole process, including the three-attempt rule for candidates starting from 7 December 2024, are in the hub guide. For the other attention test, see Group Bourdon test practice and a 14-day plan.
Frequently asked questions
Is the TEA-Occ online or on paper?
Translink lists it as a paper-and-pencil test, and Avanti West Coast puts it among the paper tests at its assessment-centre stage. The publisher says it uses tones presented on audio, so expect to listen as well as write. The train company you apply to can confirm how your session runs.
Is there a free TEA-Occ practice test?
The official preparation the sources describe is the approved practice material your train company sends at least a week before your assessment. The sources we read do not mention an official free online TEA-Occ practice test, and we do not offer one: our free trainer is attention practice built on the Group Bourdon format.
Can you fail just the TEA-Occ?
The OPC lists TEA-Occ among the core tests you must pass, and train companies set the pass marks. Translink tells applicants at breaks whether they have met the standard to continue. If you have passed some tests before, the company you apply to tells you what you must sit again.
What is the TEA-Occ tones test?
TEA-Occ is the test with the tones: two of the three subtests its publisher names use tones played on audio. In Lift Counting With Distraction you count tones while ignoring tones at a different pitch, which the publisher calls a test of auditory selective attention; in Telephone Search While Counting you count tones while searching a mock directory.
How long does the TEA-Occ take?
The publisher's page lists "30 minutes", "55 items + 2 practice questions" and "Untimed" without explaining how they fit together. Your practice materials and the instructions on the day are the best guide to what to expect.
What is the pass mark for the TEA-Occ?
None of the official sources we read gives one. RSSB says RIS-3751-TOM issue four does not set pass marks: RSSB recommends them and each train company decides which it uses.
Will practising the Group Bourdon help with the TEA-Occ?
Both sit under attention in the standard, but they are different tests, and no source we read says practice for one helps with the other. Our Group Bourdon-style concentration trainer does not involve listening or doing two tasks at once.
The concentration trainer
Practice for the Group Bourdon side of the attention criterion
- Built on the Group Bourdon format as candidates describe it: find every group of four dots. Not TEA-Occ practice, and no claim that it improves a TEA-Occ result.
- Level 1 free with no sign-in; levels 2 to 10 unlock with one payment, no subscription.
- Missed and wrong marks counted apart, and your first half against your second half, so you can see whether your attention holds.
The price is on the trainer page.
Start with level 1 freeIndependent practice by ProSyllabus. Not the official test, not a copy of it, and not produced or checked by RSSB, an assessment centre or a train company.
Sources
- official — RSSB and the Rail Assessment Centre Forum: 3751-FAQ, "Frequently asked questions", issue one, on RIS-3751-TOM issue four "Psychometric Assessment in Train Driver Selection" (read 23 Oct 2026): the tests by selection criterion, attempts, pass marks, validity, practice materials, minimum age
- official — Pearson TalentLens, the publisher of TEA-Occ: "TEA-Occ" product page (read 23 Oct 2026): what it measures, its format and its three subtests
- official — The OPC (a registered assessment centre): "Train Driver Assessment: A guide for candidate's who undertake their assessment with The OPC" (read 23 Oct 2026): the tests, hints and tips, the day, results and feedback
- official — Translink: train driver psychometric testing policy, HR023 version 1.5 (read 23 Oct 2026): Translink's train driver assessment process, Appendix B
- official — Avanti West Coast: "Train Driver Recruitment" careers page (last updated 23 January 2025; read 23 Oct 2026): application stages 1 to 5, with the stage 1.5 online sift
- official — Office of Rail and Road: "A guide to the occupational psychological fitness and medical requirements" (read 23 Oct 2026): the occupational psychological fitness examination, RIS-3751-TOM, the three-attempt rule
- reported — traindriver.org forum thread "group bourdon tests" (June 2017; read 23 Oct 2026): one forum user's description of the test, forum-reported and not checked against any official source
official = a document published by the conducting body. reported = a news or coaching site we could not check against an original. Where sources disagree this page says so rather than picking one.
