Psychomotor exercise · ~45 sec a run · free
Tracking Control
Hold the drifting marker in the centre.
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Psychomotor tracking is the heart of stick-and-rudder aptitude: smooth, continuous corrections to keep something on target. A marker drifts away from the centre on its own; your pointer is a stick measured from the middle of the scope, so push it away from the middle to drive the marker back and hold it inside the centre ring for as long as you can.
About this test
About this test
What this test measures
This measures hand-eye coordination and continuous control: keeping a marker on a moving target with smooth inputs. It is a direct analogue of hand-flying an aircraft onto and along a flight path.
How to improve your score
- Make small, smooth corrections, chasing with large inputs makes tracking worse.
- Look slightly ahead of the target to anticipate rather than react.
- Relax your grip, tension turns straight into over-control.
Good to know
Good to know
Small corrections, not big rescues
Watch which direction the marker is drifting and push the stick a little the other way before it leaves the ring, not after. A large push is a fast correction, and a fast correction overshoots the centre and starts a back-and-forth cycle that is hard to settle. Small, continuous pushes that ease off as the marker comes home beat big rescues, and a pointer left resting on the middle is a stick at rest: it commands nothing, and the marker drifts out unopposed.What good tracking looks like
Strong candidates keep the marker inside the ring for most of the session with smooth, small adjustments. The underlying skill is the same compensatory control used to hold a steady attitude on instruments or maintain an approach path. Time on target is your score, so consistent presence in the ring across the whole session matters more than any single corrected drift.Real tests use dedicated hardware
On-site selection systems run tasks like this on calibrated joysticks, rudder pedals and custom response panels that no browser exercise can replicate, so treat this as training for the underlying control skill rather than a replica of any machine. One practical tip from candidates who have sat the real assessments: practise with a mouse or a gamepad, not a laptop trackpad. A trackpad makes smooth, continuous two-axis control far harder than the real test ever would.
Frequently asked questions
What does tracking measure?
What does tracking measure?
Is this the full joystick test airlines use?
Is this the full joystick test airlines use?
How do I score higher?
How do I score higher?
Training for an airline assessment?
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