Become an Air Traffic Controller without the ATC Program?

Is it possible to take the ATC pre-employment test without attending the initial ATC program? What if, you know, for certain, 100%, that you can ace that test? Is that a possibility? Or MUST you take the program, take the test, then start the 12 week training.Become an Air Traffic Controller without the ATC Program?
If you're talking about the academy at Oklahoma City that all ATC hires attend and are asking about the off the street hire route, you have to take the AT SAT before you get accepted to the list that facilities pick new hires from, THEN once selected by a facility you go to the academy. If you don't take the test, you don't get placed on the list, therefore no facility selects you to be hired thus you never go to the academy.





You weren't very specific though about what ATC program you're talking about. If you're talking about a CTI school, the process is much different and if you're talking about a course offered by a non CTI school, you may want to think about saving your money.