The NAV CANADA online assessment is the first invited assessment after eligibility screening. According to NAV CANADA’s dedicated selection page, it is remote, timed and approximately 30 minutes long. You do not travel to an assessment centre for this stage. A desktop or laptop is recommended, rather than a phone or tablet.
Last checked November 7, 2026. The timing is a published estimate, not a guaranteed test length or your personal completion deadline. The employer’s invitation takes precedence.
NAV CANADA online assessment: facts versus unknowns
On a narrow screen, swipe this table horizontally to read the final column. Keyboard users can focus the table and scroll to see the information not published by NAV CANADA.
| Topic | What NAV CANADA currently publishes | What this guide cannot verify |
|---|---|---|
| Entry | Apply through Workday; eligible candidates receive an invitation by email | Whether a particular application round is open today or whether you have been invited |
| Place and duration | Remote, timed, approximately 30 minutes | Exact start time, deadline, timer behaviour, permitted pauses or number of attempts |
| Equipment | Desktop or laptop recommended over phone/tablet | Supported browsers, permissions, accessibility settings or specific technical constraints of your invitation |
| Content and outcome | The first assessment in a multi-stage selection process | Named online subtests, private scoring, cut-off score, percentile, guaranteed next step or FEAST equivalence |
The selection-stage overview describes the whole process. This page focuses only on the online stage, not the later approximately six-hour in-person test or the separate half-day assessment centre.
1. How you receive the online assessment
NAV CANADA first checks eligibility. Candidates who meet the requirements are invited by email to complete the online assessment; applications are submitted through its Workday recruiting system. Read the current NAV CANADA careers information and our application-process guide before assuming you can book a test yourself.
Check the contact details supplied with your application, your official candidate messages and your email folders. An invitation contains instructions applicable to your candidacy. A careers page being publicly available is not evidence of an open recruitment window, a reserved test appointment or an immediate invitation.
2. Before you start: a practical checklist
These are general setup suggestions, not additional rules imposed by NAV CANADA:
- Read the invitation in full. Confirm its deadline, time zone, access method, identification rules, technical requirements and support contact. Follow any restrictions on external help, notes, calculators and browser tools that appear there.
- Use an appropriate device. NAV CANADA recommends a desktop or laptop, not a phone or tablet. Check whether the particular invitation specifies an operating system or browser; the public selection description does not.
- Reduce avoidable interruptions. Prepare a quiet space, charge your laptop, use a stable connection and close unnecessary notifications where allowed.
- Reserve enough time. Although the employer says approximately 30 minutes, allow time for reading instructions and handling ordinary setup. Do not create a universal 30-minute deadline from this estimate.
- Keep the support instructions available. If you have a technical problem, use the employer or assessment administrator contact provided with your invitation rather than guessing whether the test can be paused, resumed or restarted.
There is no published universal right to restart, pause or return to earlier questions on the selection page. Do not rely on a private tutorial or a seller’s mock interface as evidence of what your actual assessment permits.
3. Why some NAV CANADA pages say 10 minutes instead
As of November 7, 2026, NAV CANADA’s dedicated selection pages in English and French describe an approximately 30-minute online assessment. However, a different French-language career page still gives an approximately 10-minute figure, alongside older descriptions of subsequent stages.
These are conflicting statements on public employer pages, not proof that every candidate receives two versions of the test. This guide follows the dedicated selection pages for its headline estimate and explicitly records the discrepancy. Your own official invitation and instructions determine the applicable conditions. If they differ, rely on the invitation or ask NAV CANADA for clarification.
4. What questions are in the real online assessment?
NAV CANADA’s public selection process does not publish a confirmed list of named online subtests, live assessment questions, scoring weights or a pass mark. Do not treat labels from private practice vendors - such as particular memory, spatial or FEAST software modules - as verified descriptions of your own online assessment.
NAV CANADA does list seven broad cognitive abilities for the later regional in-person tests: memory, working speed, spatial visualization, thinking and reasoning, attention, information processing, and simple math. Those are not seven proven online test modules. The employer provides a familiarisation-platform link to candidates invited to the in-person stage; that link is not presented as an open public online-assessment simulator.
Read the official test-format scope guide for this distinction. If you want voluntary, unofficial learning exercises, our 30 free original questions each include an explanation, while the 34-question free drill groups answers into eight sections. Neither exercise set has official timing, pass thresholds or predictive validation.
5. After the test: result, next stage and reapplication
Passing or completing the online assessment does not guarantee a new invitation. NAV CANADA selects candidates for later regional in-person cognitive testing according to its operational requirements. The employer describes approximately six hours of in-person testing; it also describes a short 15-minute pre-screening interview on the same day for candidates successful at that test. This is separate from a subsequent half-day assessment centre.
The public selection page does not offer a universal time to results for every online candidate. Follow the candidate messages in Workday and your personal email rather than assuming a reply must arrive within a fixed number of days.
If unsuccessful at the online stage, NAV CANADA publishes eligibility to reapply one year after that testing date. The separate later-stage waiting periods are two years after the in-person test and three years after the assessment centre. Reapplication eligibility is not a guaranteed retest appointment. See the retake-policy guide, selection timeline and in-person test for their individual scopes.
6. Free preparation without implying a required purchase
NAV CANADA’s public instructions do not require buying third-party preparation software. Start with the employer’s selection page and your invitation. If practising general attention, arithmetic, spatial or reading skills helps you feel comfortable with unfamiliar instructions, our free-first preparation guide explains how to use the optional 30 original questions or 34-question sectional drill.
These educational examples are not from NAV CANADA, not FEAST screens, not licensed assessment simulations, and their scores cannot predict selection. No commercial products or affiliate links are offered on this particular page.
Official public sources checked November 7, 2026
- NAV CANADA - Air Traffic Control Selection and Training: first online stage, remote timing, device recommendation, stages, invitations, and retake policy.
- NAV CANADA - Sélection et formation en contrôle de la circulation aérienne: current dedicated French selection description, approximately 30 minutes.
- NAV CANADA - French career description with a different online duration: approximately 10 minutes; included solely to document the discrepancy, not as this guide’s governing estimate.
- NAV CANADA - Careers in Aviation: eligibility, Workday and variable recruitment progression.
Editorial independence: ATCPracticeTest.com is not part of NAV CANADA, does not administer its assessment and has no access to confidential questions, candidate results, personal invitations or employer scoring criteria.