Is CBAT the same as MACTS?

No. CBAT is the Royal Air Force battery in the United Kingdom. MACTS is the assessment system used by the Australian Defence Force at East Sale. They are separate systems with no score equivalence.

What does CBAT stand for?

Computer Based Aptitude Test. It is a general description as much as a name, which is part of why the term is used loosely across countries.

What does MACTS stand for?

Military Aviation Cognitive Assessment System.

Can I use CBAT practice for the RAAF ASP?

For the skills, yes, because both batteries measure the same capabilities. For the format, no. Nobody outside the assessment can give you the real content of either.

There is no meaningful answer. Neither publishes its standard, both are normed against other candidates rather than marked out of a fixed total, and nobody sits both.

Comparison

CBAT vs MACTS

Two different aircrew aptitude batteries, run by two different air forces, measuring almost exactly the same things. Here is how they actually relate, and what that means if you found CBAT material while preparing for an Australian assessment.

Side by side

	CBAT	MACTS
Stands for	Computer Based Aptitude Test	Military Aviation Cognitive Assessment System
Used by	Royal Air Force, United Kingdom	Australian Defence Force
Sat at	RAF aircrew selection	The Aviation Screening Program, RAAF Base East Sale
Length	A run of short tests within a selection event	Two four hour sessions across two days
Structure	Many short, separately scored tests	Described as covering seven cognitive domains
Content published	No. The format is described, the questions are not	No, and less is public than for the CBAT
Pass mark published	No	No

Who uses each

CBAT is the Royal Air Force battery, used in United Kingdom aircrew selection. MACTS is the assessment system the Australian Defence Force uses, sat inside the Aviation Screening Program at RAAF Base East Sale.

They are not versions of each other and there is no equivalence between scores. If you are sitting one, the other is not your test.

How they differ

The delivery. MACTS is two long sessions in one place over two days; the CBAT is a run of short tests inside a selection event.
How much is public. The CBAT format is described in reasonable detail. MACTS is not, beyond the seven domains and two named capabilities.
Where they sit. The CBAT is early in RAF selection. MACTS comes late in the ADF pathway, after an earlier aviation testing stage has already filtered candidates out.
The names. None of the individual test names carries across, so material naming specific CBAT tests will not match what you sit in Australia.

What they share

Almost everything that matters for preparation. Both measure the same small set of capabilities, because those capabilities are what the job needs rather than what a particular country decided to ask about.

Instrument comprehension: reading attitude and heading off a panel, instantly.
Spatial reasoning: mental rotation, and building a picture from partial information.
Mental arithmetic under time pressure, including navigation maths.
Psychomotor tracking, with controls that do not behave the way a mouse does.
Working memory: holding instructions given once and not repeated.
Multitasking, which candidates in both countries report as the hardest part.

So is CBAT practice useful for MACTS?

For the skills, yes. For the format, no, and nobody honest will tell you otherwise. Practising mental rotation, instrument reading, tracking and multitasking makes you better at those things, and you will be measured on all of them either way. What it will not do is show you the questions, because the real content of both batteries is restricted.

That is the honest limit of any preparation material, this site included. Judge anything that claims more by that standard.

Practise the shared skills

27 tests, timed and scored, covering every skill area both batteries measure. Original material written to the published format, not a copy of either.

Instrument comprehension Spatial reasoning Mental maths

CBAT and MACTS questions

Is CBAT the same as MACTS?: No. CBAT is the Royal Air Force battery in the United Kingdom. MACTS is the assessment system used by the Australian Defence Force at East Sale. They are separate systems with no score equivalence.
What does CBAT stand for?: Computer Based Aptitude Test. It is a general description as much as a name, which is part of why the term is used loosely across countries.
What does MACTS stand for?: Military Aviation Cognitive Assessment System.
Can I use CBAT practice for the RAAF ASP?: For the skills, yes, because both batteries measure the same capabilities. For the format, no. Nobody outside the assessment can give you the real content of either.
Which is harder?: There is no meaningful answer. Neither publishes its standard, both are normed against other candidates rather than marked out of a fixed total, and nobody sits both.

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Keep reading

CBAT practice test

What the battery covers, and which parts cannot be practised on paper.

How to prepare for the CBAT

A week-by-week plan, and the mistakes that cost most people marks.

CBAT scores, timing and difficulty

What is actually known about the pass mark, and what is invented.

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.