How the TEA-Occ test works
TEA-Occ is published by Pearson’s TalentLens and is based on the Test of Everyday Attention. TalentLens lists train drivers among the roles it is used for, and RSSB’s standard pairs it with the Group Bourdon for the attention criterion.
It has three parts. In Lift Counting with Distraction you imagine a lift whose floor display has failed, and you work out your floor by counting low tones while ignoring high ones. In Telephone Search you scan a page from a simulated directory of plumbers for key symbols. In Telephone Search While Counting you search a directory of restaurants while counting strings of tones.
Candidates have described sitting it on paper, listening to recorded tones while working through printed pages.
How to handle each part
Each part needs a different habit:
- Lift counting: count silently in time with the low tones and let the high ones pass without a beat. Hold the number, not the sound.
- Telephone search: scan in a fixed pattern, down each column, and look only at the symbols. Names and addresses do not matter.
- Searching while counting: when a string of tones starts, give the count your full attention and let your eyes slow down. Pick the search up at the same spot when the string ends.
- Keep your place on the page with your pen tip so you can return to it instantly.
Worked example
Lift: the tones are low, high, low, low, high, high, low. Count only the lows: one, two, three, four. You are on floor four.
Search: suppose the key symbol is a pair of matching diamonds. A listing for Penrose Heating ends in two diamonds, so you mark it. Ashby and Sons ends in a diamond and a ring, so you leave it.
Tips for the real TEA-Occ
- Practise counting tones with some background noise, so a cough or a scraping chair does not knock your count.
- Keep your hands still and count in your head. Tapping along makes the count drift when the tones speed up.
- Do the examples properly and ask about anything unclear before the test starts. After that, the room is silent.
- Read the approved practice material the train company sends, at least a week before the day.
- If you have any difficulty hearing, raise it with the train company early.
Practise TEA-Occ on CogniPrep
Our TEA-Occ has the same three parts, with tones your browser makes. The lift part has 10 trials of 3 to 14 low tones. The directory search runs for 45 seconds, and the search while counting for 60 seconds with seven strings of beeps and more answer boxes than strings. Your score out of 100 is the average of the three parts, and the feedback shows how much your search slowed when you also had to count. You need sound, ideally headphones.