The EKT and AFCAT technical branches: what changed and how to prepare

If you are an engineer aiming for the Air Force's technical branches, you have probably read that you must sit the Engineering Knowledge Test (EKT) after the AFCAT paper. Many guides still say so. The official notifications tell a more recent story, and it changes how you should spend your preparation time.

This guide sets out what the EKT was, what the latest notifications show, and what to do now so that you are ready whichever way your cycle goes.

What the EKT was

The EKT was a second online paper taken on the same day as AFCAT by candidates who had opted for the Ground Duty (Technical) branches, AE(L) and AE(M). Reports of the AFCAT 01/2025 notification describe it as follows.

Technical candidates had to clear both AFCAT and EKT to be called to the AFSB. At 45 minutes for 50 questions, the EKT allowed 54 seconds per question, even tighter than AFCAT's 72.

What the latest notifications show

The official AFCAT 01/2026 notification has a scheme of examination with one entry only: the 100-question, 300-mark, two-hour AFCAT paper covering General Awareness, English, Numerical Ability, and Reasoning and Military Aptitude. The EKT does not appear anywhere in it. AE(L) and AE(M) vacancies were offered in that cycle, so technical candidates were selected through the AFCAT paper, the AFSB and the medical, like other branches.

For the 02/2026 cycle, several sources reported a new GATE Score Entry for the technical branches. Engineering graduates with a valid GATE score in an approved discipline could apply for the technical branches without taking the AFCAT paper and be shortlisted for the AFSB on merit.

What this means for a technical aspirant

1. The AFCAT paper now carries the whole written stage. If you apply through AFCAT, your 300-mark score alone decides your AFSB call and is added to your AFSB marks for the final merit. Treat Numerical Ability, Reasoning, English and GA as seriously as a non-technical candidate would. Engineers often assume the maths will take care of itself and then lose marks to vocabulary and GA.

2. Check whether the GATE route suits you. If you already have, or are about to get, a valid GATE score in your discipline, read the GATE entry conditions carefully: accepted disciplines, score validity and any minimum score. The notification sets these, and they can differ from the AFCAT degree list.

3. Your engineering still matters at the AFSB. The eligibility rules tie AE(L) and AE(M) to specific disciplines for a reason. Expect the interviewing officer to ask about your degree subjects, your final-year project and why you want to use engineering in uniform. A candidate who cannot explain the basics of their own branch sends a poor signal. Our guide to the AFSB interview covers how to prepare those answers.

4. Keep a light engineering routine. Twenty to thirty minutes a day on fundamentals keeps you ready for the interview, and for the EKT if it comes back.

If the EKT returns: how to prepare

If your cycle's notification lists an EKT, choose the stream that matches your degree and cover its core subjects.

A six-week plan alongside AFCAT:

1. Weeks 1–2: revise definitions, laws, formulas and standard results from your degree notes. Skip long derivations. The questions test whether you know the result and when it applies.
2. Weeks 3–4: solve objective questions subject by subject. GATE-style one-mark questions are good practice at a similar level.
3. Weeks 5–6: timed sets of 50 questions in 45 minutes, analysed like AFCAT mocks.

Keep about an hour a day for engineering in this phase and give the rest to AFCAT.

Check your fundamentals

These are our own questions, at the level of a core-concept objective paper and of the technical questions you might face in an interview.

1. A Carnot engine works between 600 K and 300 K. What is its efficiency?
2. An axial load of 10 kN acts on a bar with a cross-section of 100 mm². What is the normal stress?
3. Two 6 Ω resistors are connected in parallel across a 12 V supply. What current does the supply deliver?
4. Name the two universal logic gates.
5. What is the worst-case time complexity of binary search on a sorted array of n elements?
6. Write the 4-bit two's complement of 0101.
7. Which order does a stack follow?

Answers:

1. η = 1 − T(cold) ÷ T(hot) = 1 − 300 ÷ 600 = 0.5, which is 50%.
2. Stress = load ÷ area = 10,000 N ÷ 100 mm² = 100 N/mm², or 100 MPa.
3. The equivalent resistance is 6 × 6 ÷ (6 + 6) = 3 Ω, and I = V ÷ R = 12 ÷ 3 = 4 A.
4. NAND and NOR. Any logic function can be built from either one alone.
5. O(log n). Each comparison halves the search space.
6. Invert the bits to get 1010, then add 1: 1011, which represents −5.
7. Last in, first out (LIFO).

If any of these took you more than a minute, your fundamentals need a revision pass before the AFSB, whatever happens to the EKT.

What to do next

• Read the scheme of examination and entry list in your cycle's notification. Note whether an EKT or a GATE entry is listed.
• If there is no EKT, move that preparation time to AFCAT's weakest section. See the AFCAT exam pattern for how the paper is marked.
• If you have a valid GATE score, check the GATE entry conditions line by line.
• Make a one-page summary of each core subject in your stream, and revise one a week.
• Prepare a two-minute explanation of your final-year project for the AFSB interview.