I vaguely remember the biographical test being causing a stir on the right back in the day and it looks like a lawsuit about it is still ongoing. However, the test itself was scrapped in 2016.
FAA still fighting lawsuit over test that rewarded bad science grades
WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) - The Federal Aviation Administration must defend itself against a long-running class action over a discarded test for air traffic controllers that gave higher scores to applicants who said science was their worst grade in high school than if they reported previous...
legalnewsline.com
It does seem… counterproductive and nonsensical.
"As part of the revamp, the FAA disqualified several thousand applicants who had already gone through the Air Traffic-Collegiate Training Initiative and required them to achieve a passing grade on the biographical assessment first. Many failed, including lead plaintiff Andrew Brigida, who scored highly on the AT-SAT but couldn’t pass a test that rated candidates on whether they learned about air traffic control from a public notice, participated in multiple high-school sports, never went to college or were recently unemployed.
The test gave the highest points to people who reported being unemployed in the last three years, for example, with less if they reported having a job. It also gave high scores to people who said they were reluctant to express their views in a group, were more likely to be bothered by criticism of their performance and had less than three years of training in air traffic control. Candidates scored zero if they reported five or more years of formal training and got lower scores if they said their previous supervisor would describe them as accomplishing tasks quickly or if they said they started earning money after they were 18."
