RAF CBAT practice and preparation

What is documented

• It is a suite of computerised tests sat at the Officer and Aircrew Selection Centre at RAF Cranwell, described as twenty-three tests in total.
• They are sat in a single day, and the sitting can run to around six hours depending on the role.
• Which tests you sit, and how the scores are weighted, depends on the role you have applied for.
• It is not only an RAF assessment. Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm and Army Air Corps aircrew candidates sit the same battery.
• The testing room is purpose built, with capacity for dozens of candidates at once, a non-standard keyboard, and a joystick and foot pedals for some tests.

The skills it measures, and where to practise them

Aircrew batteries across the Commonwealth measure the same small set of capabilities, because they are what the job needs rather than what one country decided to ask. Every area below has timed, scored practice here, and a free version you can sit without an account.

Every test says what it measures, how long it runs and how it is scored.

The hardware, and what practice at home cannot give you

Cranwell uses a non-standard keyboard, and a joystick and foot pedals for some tests. Nothing at home reproduces that, and no website should tell you otherwise. What practice does give you is the part that actually transfers: knowing what the task is asking before the clock starts, and having already met the feeling of two demands arriving at once.

Our psychomotor and multitasking tests run on a keyboard and mouse. The coordination is real, the apparatus is not. Sensory Motor Apparatus is the clearest example: two controls with different behaviour, one crosshair, and your attention split between them.

Practising from the UK

Everything runs in a browser, so there is nothing to install and no reason the country you are sitting in matters. 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.

RAF CBAT questions

What is the RAF CBAT?

The Computer Based Aptitude Tests: the aircrew aptitude battery sat at the Officer and Aircrew Selection Centre at RAF Cranwell. It is described as twenty-three computerised tests covering spatial reasoning, multitasking, deductive reasoning, work rate and verbal and numerical reasoning.

How long does the CBAT take?

It is sat in one day, and can run to around six hours depending on which role you have applied for. Different roles sit different combinations of tests and weight the scores differently.

Who sits the CBAT besides RAF candidates?

Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm and Army Air Corps aircrew candidates sit the same battery. It is the shared UK aircrew aptitude assessment rather than an RAF-only one.

Can you practise for the RAF CBAT?

You can practise the skills it measures, which is the part that improves with work. The actual test content is restricted and nobody outside the assessment can show it to you. Anyone claiming to have the real questions is either wrong or selling something they should not have.

Is the RAF CBAT the same as the Australian CBAT?

They share a lineage and most of the same skills, and several test names are identical, but they are run by different forces and are not the same assessment. Canada runs a comparable battery of its own called CFAST.

Does the practice here use a joystick and pedals?

No. Cranwell uses a non-standard keyboard, a joystick and foot pedals for some tests, and nothing at home reproduces that apparatus. Practice here runs on a keyboard and mouse, so the coordination and the divided attention are real while the hardware is not.

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