Guide
CBAT practice test
The CBAT is the computer-based aptitude battery used in aircrew selection. It is not one test but a run of short ones, each measuring a different thing, and most of them are over before you have settled into them. This page explains what it covers and how to practise the parts that actually decide the result.
What the battery actually covers
7 skill areas. Roughly half are recognisable from any aptitude test: arithmetic, logic, spotting things in a table. The other half are not. They put a moving display in front of you and ask you to fly it, watch it, or hold three of them in your head at once.
| Skill area | Tests | What it asks of you |
|---|---|---|
| Numerical | 2 | Speed arithmetic and reading figures off charts, under a clock that does not wait. |
| Reasoning | 2 | Working out a rule or a system from a description, then applying it correctly. |
| Spatial | 6 | Rotating objects mentally, and reading aircraft attitude off an instrument panel. |
| Perceptual | 5 | Finding one thing among many near-identical ones, quickly and without a system to lean on. |
| Working memory | 3 | Holding information after it has gone from the screen, and updating it as more arrives. |
| Psychomotor | 3 | Flying a control that behaves unlike a mouse, and keeping something on target. |
| Multitasking | 6 | Several tasks at once, none of them waiting. Deciding what to drop is the skill. |
27 tests in total here. See every one of them, with what each measures and how it is scored.
Why a PDF of practice questions will not get you through
Most CBAT preparation sold online is a book of multiple-choice questions. That covers the numerical and reasoning half reasonably well. It cannot touch the other 10 tests, because those are not questions at all. They are things happening on a screen while you respond.
Tracking
Keeping a marker on a target that will not sit still, with controls that do not respond the way you expect. There is no paper equivalent of a control lag you have to learn.
Instrument comprehension
Reading attitude and heading off a panel and converting it, instantly, into which way the aircraft is pointing. Printable, but useless untimed, because the whole difficulty is the clock.
Multitasking
Three or four unrelated jobs running at once, none of which waits for the others. This is the part that catches people out, and it is impossible to simulate on paper at all.
Every test here runs live in the browser, on the clock, and scores you when it stops. That is the whole reason this exists.
What a practice run gives you
Free
- Every test, at full length and on the clock, drawn from a small question pool that repeats after two runs.
- A benchmark to sit against, measured by running a simulated candidate through the test thousands of times rather than picked to flatter you.
- With a free account, each test at Easy, Medium and Hard too, from the same pool.
Premium adds
- Questions generated fresh each run, so you cannot memorise your way to a score that means nothing.
- An answer review after the timed run, so you find out which ones you got wrong and why, not just how many.
- Progress across runs, by skill area, so you can see the thing you have been avoiding.
- Practice levels for every test, working up from Easy to Hard.
- A plan built around your test date, day by day.
What does it cost?
Every one of the 27 tests, including every live simulation, has a free version you can run with a free account and no card. Premium adds fresh questions every run, the breakdown of where you lose marks, practice levels, a plan to your test date and the two-day mock test, for one payment that never renews. See pricing.
Start practising
Every test has a free version, including every live simulation, which is the part paper cannot cover. A free account saves your runs so you can see whether you are improving. No card.
Keep reading
CBATONE is independent practice material and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the Royal Air Force, the Royal Australian Air Force, the Australian Defence Force, ADF Careers, the Ministry of Defence or any other armed force, government department or recruiting body. “CBAT”, “ASP”, “MACTS”, “GAT” and “OSB” are used only to describe the assessments this material is intended to help you prepare for. Every question here is original material written to the published format. Full terms.