CFAST practice and preparation

What is documented

• It is sat at the Canadian Forces Aircrew Selection Centre at 8 Wing Trenton, Ontario.
• Selection runs over two days, with around seven hours of computer based testing in total.
• It selects for three trades: Pilot, Aerospace Control and Air Combat Systems Officer.
• It replaced the CAPSS flight simulator, which pilot applicants sat until October 2013.
• The published battery is twenty subtests, covering task management, perception, short term memory, spatial and symbolic reasoning, information processing and psychomotor ability.

All of the above, and the subtest list below, come from the Canadian Forces Aircrew Selection Centre’s own candidate guide. What is not published is the standard required, so treat any site quoting you a CFAST pass mark with suspicion.

The twenty subtests, and where to practise each

Canada’s published names are on the left. Where we have a test measuring the same thing, it is linked on the right. None of these reproduce the real subtests, and none of them are Canadian: they are built to the same publicly described skills.

Practising from Canada

Everything runs in a browser, so there is nothing to install. One thing to know before you reach the checkout: prices are shown and charged in Australian dollars, so the amount on your statement will be your own currency’s equivalent.

Two of the psychomotor subtests are sat with a joystick and pedals at Trenton. Practice here runs on a keyboard and mouse, so the coordination and the divided attention are real while the apparatus is not. Nothing at home reproduces that hardware, and no website should claim otherwise.

CFAST questions

What is CFAST?

The Canadian Forces Aircrew Selection Test: about seven hours of computer based aptitude testing over two days at the Canadian Forces Aircrew Selection Centre, 8 Wing Trenton. It selects Pilot, Aerospace Control and Air Combat Systems Officer candidates for the Royal Canadian Air Force.

What subtests are in CFAST?

Twenty, named in the selection centre’s own candidate guide: Airborne Numerical, Angles Bearings and Degrees, Auditory Capacity, Colours Letters and Numbers, Mathematics Reasoning, Instrument Comprehension, Digit Recognition, Cognitive Updating, Numerical Operations, Situational Awareness, Sensory Motor Apparatus, Rapid Tracking, Spatial Integration, System Logic, Table Reading, Target Recognition, Trace Test 1, Trace Test 2, Vigilance and Visual Search.

Can you practise for CFAST?

You can practise the skills each subtest measures, and nineteen of the twenty have a timed, scored equivalent here. The real content is restricted and none of it appears on this site. The one we do not cover is Mathematics Reasoning, which the Australian battery this site is built to does not include.

Is CFAST the same as CAPSS?

No. CAPSS was a single engine flight simulator that pilot applicants sat until October 2013. CFAST replaced it with desktop computer based testing, which is what candidates sit today.

Is CFAST the same as the RAF CBAT?

They are different assessments run by different air forces, but they share a lineage and most of their subtest names are identical. A candidate preparing for one is practising almost exactly the same skills as a candidate preparing for the other.

What is the CFAST pass mark?

It is not published. The standard required varies by trade and is not something anyone outside the selection centre can tell you. Any site quoting you a CFAST pass mark is guessing.

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