Amtrak Assistant Conductor Test August 2012

I posted this on another forum, thought it would be helpful here as well:


Just recently took the test so i thought i would let you all know what happened.

I was invited to take a test in a Newark,NJ hotel after applying a few months prior. Test day i showed up to the hotel and watched people trickle in. Most wore suits with blazers, the current employees wore jeans and t shirts others wore button up shirts and jeans.There was no specified dress code. In total there were about 45 people and around 7 were current amtrak employees.

We were told to be in before 9:30 as the tests/intros would start promptly at 9:30am.
Some showed up late and were told they would that would not be allowed to take the test.
The Conductor & LSA manager gave us a brief overview of the job, told us class would be at the end of september and told everyone that the job is only good for a year because if you can't qualify as a full on conductor after a year you are not needed.Also ran through some scenarios that we would be put into if accepted for the job. It wasn't really a scare speech, it was more of a 'lets be honest, its a good job,-but its not just collecting tickets' speech.

After that the HR girl handed out pencils and test books.She explained that the first test was going to be a visual reasoning test.Wherein we would watch a series of video clips and answer questions on them. Some were very hard, overall i think this was the hardest sections of the test.All questions had time limits and if you didn't answer you missed that question-thats what made it hard.They said not to over think the questions but it was hard not to.-->i think i failed this section.

The second part of the test was the timed math section. Mental math, Addition, and subtractions of fares; "a woman and her family would like 2 adult tickets and 3 child tickets for station x to y unreserved but then the same amount of tickets for a reserved seating from station y to z." then there were percentage questions. A brush up on long division as well as converting decimals to percentages and the opposite will definitely help. I may have missed a few questions on this section because i was worried about time.Hopefully the ones i answered were correct!

The last and final part of the exam was the personality exam.Easily the easiest part of the test. If you answer " stealing from your employer is wrong"-'strongly agree' make sure your answer for "i believe everyone steals from there employer sometime" is 'strongly disagree' not just 'disagree'. Consistency in answers and the degree of conviction 'strongly agree/agree/IDK/disagree/strongly disagree are very important. I finished mine in about 20 mins.

The overall test was about 3 hours long, and we will find the results of the test on the 20th of the month via email.Email they said was bad, but a call was good. Im hoping for a call but in reality i am pretty sure i failed. Whats good is i know what to study for next time, if i need to apply again.

I hope this helps people that are in the same boat as i am.

I applied for the sunny side Ass't Conductor position.

Awesome, awesome info, thanks. I have been to a few Freight RR hiring sessions, but was wondering how Amtrak handled their business. Doesn't sound too bad, or intimidating at all. Thanks for the post, the "personality test" sound exactly the same as the CSX one, answer EVERYTHING, strongly agree or disagree. They don't want wishy washy, can't make a decision employees with no conviction. Makes sense to me. Again great info, thanks.

No problem, its always good to have the latest and greatest info so im just doing my part.

Thanks for the information.

As a note, Amtrak has not changed things one bit in their A/C test over the last 2-3 years.

Don't worry about the first part of the test as the whole thing is easier than you think and more than likely you did fine on it. The first time I took it the woman from HR told me during my interview that I had gotten the highest score out of the entire pool of canidates that they were testing. It didn't make a difference though since the position was going to be getting filled by an internal transfer and they were just going through the process because they had to.

"The overall test was about 3 hours long, and we will find the results of the test on the 20th of the month via email.Email they said was bad, but a call was good. Im hoping for a call but in reality i am pretty sure i failed. Whats good is i know what to study for next time, if i need to apply again."

As an FYI, I would be shocked if they actually responded to you when they said they would.

I've taken the test, been interviewed twice, and I have applied about six times for the position. IF they even tell you anything it's usually a wait of several weeks if they want to schedule you for an interview and if not then they may tell you nothing or you could get a nice form email at any time over the next few months.

As an FYI, I would be shocked if they actually responded to you when they said they would.

I've taken the test, been interviewed twice, and I have applied about six times for the position. IF they even tell you anything it's usually a wait of several weeks if they want to schedule you for an interview and if not then they may tell you nothing or you could get a nice form email at any time over the next few months.

Wow they've had you take the test that many times!Even after 2 interviews? That really gives me less hope.

Cuttin wrote:

As an FYI, I would be shocked if they actually responded to you when they said they would.

I've taken the test, been interviewed twice, and I have applied about six times for the position. IF they even tell you anything it's usually a wait of several weeks if they want to schedule you for an interview and if not then they may tell you nothing or you could get a nice form email at any time over the next few months.

Wow they've had you take the test that many times!Even after 2 interviews? That really gives me less hope.

Well not all of that was at once.

I applied for A/C jobs about 4 or 5 times over the course of two or three years before I got selected for testing the first time. After my first test, which was in '09, I got the interview where the woman from HR told me about my score and then right after that said they were filling the position internally as they were transferring a Red Cap/Janitor from Pittsburgh in for the A/C job but corporate HR policy dictated that she and the Road Foreman had to go through the interview process anyway even though no externals were getting hired.

About a year and change after that I applied again for the same location, got selected for testing again, and took the exact same test from the exact same HR person and I got interviewed by the same HR person and a different Road Foreman. Same test and same questions as the first time and probably the same test and questions that you saw.

All I can tell you about the A/C process with Amtrak is three things:

The test as a whole is very, very easy. You probably did better on it than you think.

Regardless of what you've read on this board from people who work for Amtrak currently, if you are new and are trying to get hired off the street they will hold where you live against you if it's too far from the location you are trying to be based out of. That was a policy that got changed sometime after 2009 and it was the main reason why I didn't get hired my second time through the process. Both the Road Foreman and the person from HR I interviewed with the second time said that Amtrak now gets so many applications for all of their T&E positions that they can be ultra selective about everything including where your current address is in relation to where your base location would be.

The longer you wait to hear something the less likely the news is positive.
If they want you for an interview they will contact you very fast.
If they don't then you may never hear anything or you may get a computer generated rejection email in a few weeks/months.

Good luck.

The longer you wait to hear something the less likely the news is positive.
If they want you for an interview they will contact you very fast.
If they don't then you may never hear anything or you may get a computer generated rejection email in a few weeks/months.

Yea I'm getting that feeling, it seems like everyone else who within the last month or two has taken the exam was given a number to call to see if they passed, we were all told, you will receive an email during the week of the 20th...Its now sunday the 26th.

There were a few employees at the test I'm thinking internal transfers covered all the open positions.

Cuttin,

Did you get the job? I hope you did.

I just recently took and failed the Math test, and did not do well on the API portion, according to the HR guy who proctored the tests. He mentioned during the orientation that if you failed the personality portion, you had to wait a year to reapply. However, Lefty33 mentioned reapplying and testing several times within a 2-3 year span. I'm wondering if the system didn't allow Lefty to test again within a year of the prior test?

The question may not apply because I was a failure and Lefty was not. I never made it to the interview.

I will keep trying, though. I am studying up on the math and looking around on the internet for pointers on the personality test. I am determined to make it.

Thanks for any response.

Just did this process April of 2015.

1. Got invited to testing session.
2. Took the test, (video,Math,Personality). You take like 2 personality tests. This one and the culture fit.
3. Found out i passed the exams and was scheduled for strength test.
4. Took Strength test.
5. Found out i passed the strength test and was invited to the interview session of the process
6. Attended interview.
7. Found out not selected.

I was told that i did very well in all stages to include the interview and among the best interviews and still not selected for position. I think they want to see who keeps applying because this is a "life long career" and not some job your going to throw away because something better came along.