To be rated ATC on a specific position, a so called briefing with an official mentor of Swiss FIR is required. After the controller has passed this briefing successfully, he may staff the specific position without being monitored by a mentor. It's not necessary to have a briefing for all airports. If, for example, a controller has successfully passed the tower briefing in Geneva, then he can also staff the tower in Basel, Bern or elsewhere. An exception to this rule is Zürich: Here is an extra briefing required.

This lesson is to teach extended knowledge about a certain position. Last, but not least, this knowledge will be necessary to pass the subsequent checks. It will only be held after the controller has collected some practical experience on the specific position in order to have a better training effect. This lesson will take about four hours.

This is a practical check on a specific position monitored by the FIR chief. The goal of the precheck is primary to prepare for the subsequent CPT and to check if the controller is well prepared for the CPT. There is neither a "pass" nor a "fail" in this check.

The checkout is to test whether the controller has the practical knowledge to receive the next higher rating. The main difference between the precheck and the checkout is that the controller will be tested by examiners that are specifically trained for this.

This written test is to check the theoretical knowledge of a controller about a specific position. It's the last step to receive the next higher rating.

* ACSIM APP Lesson
There is a specialty on Approach/Arrival (APP) position. Beside of the normal briefing and lesson, there is another voluntary lesson. During this lesson, the controller will learn helpful work techniques. As this lesson is quite long, it is split into several sessions.