RAAF ASP practice tests and preparation

What is known

What it is

Aviation Screening Program

Where

RAAF Base East Sale, Victoria

How long

Two days

The testing

MACTS, two four hour computer sessions

Comes after

Assessment Day, which follows the aviation Additional Testing

Leads to

Officer Selection Board, if recommended

The detailed content of the two days is not published, and neither is the standard required. Anyone telling you the exact tests in order, or a pass mark, is guessing. Treat that as a signal about the rest of what they are selling.

Where it sits

ASP is stage five of eight. It comes after your Assessment Day and before the Officer Selection Board, which means the aviation aptitude testing at the Additional Testing stage has already happened by the time you get here. Many candidates are filtered out at that earlier stage without ever reaching East Sale. The whole pathway is set out on the RAAF aptitude testing page.

What you can usefully do beforehand

You cannot revise for it. There is no syllabus and nothing to learn. What you can do is arrive already familiar with the kind of thing a computer aptitude battery asks, so that none of your two days is spent working out what a screen wants.

• Practise on a computer, at a desk, with a keyboard. Not on a phone.
• Get used to being under a clock. Every one of these tests is easy untimed, and the clock is the entire difficulty.
• Spend most of your time on the things you cannot do on paper: tracking, reading instruments at speed, and doing several things at once.
• Do full length sessions rather than a few minutes here and there. Two four hour days is a stamina problem as much as an aptitude one.
• Ease off for the last two days: short, easy sessions only. A tired candidate scores worse than an underprepared one.

The part paper cannot prepare you for

A book of practice questions covers arithmetic and reasoning perfectly well. It cannot touch a control that lags, an instrument you have to read in under a second, or four things happening at once, and those are the parts candidates report as hardest in every country that runs one of these.

There are 10 live simulations here, and every one of them has a free version.

What tests are in the RAAF ASP?

The specific tests are not published, and this page will not invent a list. What is documented is that the testing is MACTS, that it covers seven cognitive domains, and that two of the capabilities it measures are identifying shapes within a three dimensional environment and interpreting aircraft instruments under timed conditions.

The aviation Additional Testing stage earlier in the pathway is described more openly: two maths tests, an instruments test, two aircraft orientation tests, coordination tests and possibly an essay. Between the two, three skills carry most of the weight.

How hard is the RAAF ASP?

No individual question is hard. Almost everything in a battery like this is straightforward given unlimited time, and none of it is given unlimited time. The difficulty is the clock, the volume, and doing several things at once, which is a combination most candidates have never been measured on before.

Two four hour sessions across two days also makes it a stamina test. Accuracy falls in the second half for reasons that have nothing to do with the tests themselves, which is why full length practice is worth more than short bursts.

What score do you need for the RAAF ASP?

RAAF ASP compared with the CBAT

Different countries, different batteries, same underlying questions. The RAF uses the CBAT; Australia uses MACTS inside the ASP. Neither is a version of the other, and the formats genuinely differ, but the skills they measure overlap almost completely.

CBAT vs MACTS, side by side

RAAF ASP questions

What is the RAAF ASP?

The Aviation Screening Program: two days of computer testing at RAAF Base East Sale in Victoria, using the MACTS assessment system. It is the aptitude stage of ADF officer aviation selection and sits after Assessment Day and before the Officer Selection Board.

What tests are included in the RAAF ASP?

The specific tests are not published. MACTS is described as covering seven cognitive domains, including identifying shapes within a three dimensional environment and interpreting aircraft instruments under timed conditions.

Can I practise for the RAAF ASP online?

You can practise the skills it measures, which is the useful part. Nobody can give you the actual test content, because it is restricted. Be wary of anyone claiming otherwise.

Is the RAAF ASP difficult?

No single question is hard. The difficulty is speed, volume and doing several things at once, across two four hour sessions. Stamina matters as much as ability.

How should I prepare for the RAAF ASP?

Practise on a computer with a keyboard, always against a clock, and spend most of your time on the things paper cannot cover: instrument reading at speed, spatial rotation, tracking and multitasking. Ease off for the last two days: short, easy sessions only.

Is the CBAT the same as the RAAF ASP?

No. CBAT is the Royal Air Force battery in the United Kingdom. The ASP is the Australian screening program and uses MACTS. The formats differ, though the skills tested overlap almost entirely.

What happens after the RAAF ASP?

Candidates recommended out of ASP go on to the Officer Selection Board, then a fitness test, then training.

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