Independent practice · UK on-board grades
Practise the tests for conductor, guard and train manager jobs.
Six exercises, built from what applicants actually describe: a rule book to learn and apply, tickets to check at speed, fares and change in your head, on-train judgement, passenger-facing reading and a PA announcement to structure under pressure.
No sign-up for demos · One payment, no subscription · 14-day refund
Exercise
Free demo
- 01Rules & Procedures5 min
- 02Ticket Checking5 min
- 03Fares & Numeracy4 min
- 04Situational Judgement6 min
- 05Customer Service & Verbal Reasoning8 min
- 06PA Announcements10 min
Demos are the real thing at a shorter length. No account, no card.
Who this is for
The on-board grades
Different operators use different names for much the same job, and a few of them use the same name for different jobs. These are the grades whose selection this site covers.
Conductor and guard
Safety-critical staff. The grade covers dispatch and door duties as well as revenue, which is why the law treats it as safety-critical work and why the medical, and the drug and alcohol screening, are part of the process.
Train manager
The intercity version of the same grade at several operators, usually with more customer responsibility across a longer train and more of the selection weight on judgement and communication.
Commercial on-board roles
Customer host, train host and similar: not safety-critical, but assessed with much the same exercises — customer service, judgement and numeracy — and often a route into the conductor grade.
What you practise
The six exercises
Each one has a free demo you can run now, and a full-length version under the clock with saved results.
01
Rules & Procedures
Learn a short set of unfamiliar rules, then apply them accurately under time pressure.
Full run: 24 items · 20 min
02
Ticket Checking
Decide, fast, whether a ticket is valid for the passenger in front of you.
Full run: 40 items · 10 min
03
Fares & Numeracy
Excess fares, change, percentages and timetable arithmetic — in your head, at pace.
Full run: 20 items · 8 min
04
Situational Judgement
On-train situations with no perfect answer — judge what you would actually do.
Full run: 20 items · 25 min
05
Customer Service & Verbal Reasoning
Read a passenger-facing passage or scenario and answer precisely what it supports.
Full run: 26 items · 30 min
06
PA Announcements
Turn a messy operational situation into a clear announcement, in about thirty seconds.
Full run: 12 items · 35 min
By operator
What your operator actually uses
There is no national standard for on-board selection. Each page sets out the stages one operator is known to run, in order, and which of our exercises match.
NorthernTransPennine ExpressAvanti West CoastLNERGWR (Great Western Railway)South Western RailwaySoutheasternSouthernGreater AngliaChiltern RailwaysCrossCountryEast Midlands RailwayWest Midlands Trains (West Midlands Railway & LNWR)MerseyrailScotRailTransport for WalesGrand Central
One payment
Everything, £19.99, for good.
There is one thing to buy. No tiers, no upgrade waiting behind it, and nothing that expires — if you sit a second process two years from now, it is still there.
- All six exercises, full length
- Unlimited attempts
- Saved results and history
- Every operator page and guide
- Works on a phone
- 14-day refund
Before you buy
Straight answers
Which jobs is this for?
The on-board grades: conductor, guard, train manager, senior conductor and the customer-host and train-host roles some operators run alongside them. It is not driver practice.
Will I sit all six exercises?
Almost certainly not. There is no national standard for on-board selection, so every operator picks its own combination — and two operators a county apart can assess you completely differently. The operator pages set out what each one is known to use, and your invitation letter is the only authority on your own process.
What score do I need to pass?
Nobody outside the operator knows. No operator publishes a pass mark, a cut score or a pass rate for these assessments, so we publish none either — anyone quoting you one has invented it. Practise until the format and the pace feel ordinary.
Are these the real questions?
No, and they could not be: real assessment content is confidential. Every rule book, ticket, fare, scenario and passage here is written by us for practice, in the same shape and at the same pace as the exercises candidates describe.
What does it cost?
£19.99, once. That unlocks the full-length version of all six exercises with unlimited attempts, saved results and every guide. There is no subscription and no upgrade to buy later, and there is a 14-day refund if it is not what you expected.
Do I need an account to try it?
No. Every exercise has a free demo you can run straight away without signing up or entering a card.
Longer answers live in the guides — start with The on-board selection process, end to end.
Compiled from publicly posted applicant accounts and operator job adverts, September 2026. Processes change without notice — your invitation letter is the only authority on what you will sit.