Australia
RAAF pilot aptitude test preparation
Australian officer aviation selection is not one test and it is not called the CBAT. It is a sequence of eight stages, and the aptitude testing happens at three separate points in it. This explains where each one sits and what it asks of you.
Read this first. CBATONE is not the ADF aviation testing or MACTS and does not reproduce it. The real test content is restricted and none of it appears here. What this practises is the underlying skills every aircrew battery measures, because those are what the job needs. That is useful preparation and it is all we claim.
The pathway
- 1
Apply to recruiting
The application itself. Nothing to prepare for beyond getting it right.
- 2
YOU Session
Your first appointment. The General Ability Test and the Mathematical Ability Test, both sat by every applicant regardless of role, plus a short interview with a recruiter.
- 3
Additional Testing
The aviation-specific stage, and the one this site is closest to. Two further maths tests, an instruments test, two aircraft orientation tests, coordination tests, and possibly an essay. Some guides refer to this battery as the OATB.
- 4
Assessment Day
Medical, psychological interview and defence interview. Nothing an aptitude trainer can help with.
- 5
ASP, the Aviation Screening Program
Held at RAAF Base East Sale. The aptitude screening that decides whether you are recommended onward, using the MACTS computer testing across two four hour sessions over two days.
- 6
Officer Selection Board
Group activities and an officer interview. It assesses officer qualities rather than aptitude.
- 7
Fitness test
A pre-entry physical assessment, sat once you have been selected and before you march in. Standards are set by the ADF and are published on their careers site. Check the current requirement there rather than relying on any preparation site, this one included.
- 8
Commence training
The end of selection and the start of everything else.
The stages that are aptitude tests
Three of the eight. The interviews, the medical, the fitness test and the Officer Selection Board assess different things entirely, and nothing on this site trains them.
Stage 2
YOU Session: GAT and Mathematical Ability Test
General ability and maths, sat by every ADF applicant whatever the role. Speed arithmetic under a clock is the part worth practising.
Stage 3
Additional Testing, the aviation battery
Two more maths tests, an instruments test, two aircraft orientation tests, coordination tests, and possibly an essay. This is the stage this site maps onto most directly, and it comes long before East Sale.
Stage 5
ASP at East Sale: MACTS
Two days of computer testing. The stage most candidates worry about, though the one above is where many are filtered out first.
Why CBAT-style practice is used by ADF candidates
Different countries run different batteries, and they test the same small set of things, because the underlying question is the same everywhere. Can you hold a picture in your head, read an instrument instantly, keep your hands doing one job while your attention does another, and carry on when three things happen at once.
It is also why some Australian preparation guides point candidates at CBAT-style material despite the batteries being different. The format differs. The skills do not.
The Additional Testing stage, test by test
This is the closest match in the whole pathway. Each row below is something the aviation battery is described as covering, next to the tests here that ask for the same skill. None of them is a reproduction of anything the ADF uses.
Two maths tests
Speed arithmetic, and pulling figures off a chart while a clock runs. The maths itself is easy, which is exactly why the timing is the test.
Instruments test
Reading attitude and heading off a panel and converting it instantly into which way the aircraft is pointing.
Two aircraft orientation tests
Holding an aircraft or a piece of ground in your head and recognising it from an angle you were not shown.
Coordination tests
Hands doing one job accurately while your attention is somewhere else, with controls that do not behave the way a mouse does. The part no book can prepare you for.
Where to start
Sit a test cold, without preparing, and see which skill area comes out weakest. That answer is the same whichever battery you are heading for, and it is the only thing worth planning around.
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.