In this guide
The syllabus in the AFCAT notification fits on half a page. That brevity misleads people. "General Awareness" alone covers a dozen school subjects plus defence and a year of news, and "Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning" is the whole description of the section that is often the largest.
This guide takes each line of the official syllabus, from the AFCAT 01/2026 notification, and turns it into topics you can tick off. It ends with a short sampler so you can see the level for yourself.
The level of each section
The notification fixes the level, which tells you how deep to go.
| Section | Level set by the notification | What that means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Numerical Ability | Matriculation (Class 10) | School arithmetic, but you must be fast. No calculus or advanced algebra |
| English | Graduation | Vocabulary and passages above school level |
| General Awareness | Graduation | Broad, fact-based. Depth of a good newspaper reader, not a subject specialist |
| Reasoning and Military Aptitude | Graduation | Standard verbal puzzles plus a large share of figure-based questions |
General Awareness
The notification lists: history, geography, sports, national and international organisations, art and culture, personalities, environment and ecology, Indian polity, economy, basic science, science and technology, current affairs (national and international), and defence.
| Area | Topics to cover |
|---|---|
| History | Ancient and medieval basics, the freedom struggle, important dates and personalities |
| Geography | Physical geography of India, rivers, passes, national parks, world geography basics |
| Polity | Constitution basics: fundamental rights and duties, Parliament, President, courts, key amendments |
| Economy | Budget and banking terms, RBI, five-year plans and schemes at headline level |
| Science | Physics, chemistry and biology at Class 10 level, units, diseases and vitamins, inventions |
| Science and technology | Space missions, satellites, new technology in the news |
| Environment | Protected areas, conventions, pollution, climate terms |
| Defence | IAF history, ranks, commands, aircraft, missiles, exercises, mottos, awards |
| Organisations and personalities | UN bodies and headquarters, groupings, heads of major institutions |
| Sports, art and culture | Trophies, venues, dances, festivals, monuments |
| Current affairs | Roughly the past year: appointments, summits, awards, reports |
Priority: defence and current affairs first, because they are specific to this exam and change every cycle. Then polity, geography and science, where the static base is stable.
Verbal Ability in English
The notification lists: comprehension, error detection, sentence completion, synonyms and antonyms, cloze test, idioms and phrases, analogy, sentence rearrangement, one-word substitution, transformation of sentences (complex to simple) and homonyms.
| Group | Topics | How to prepare |
|---|---|---|
| Vocabulary | Synonyms, antonyms, idioms, one-word substitution, analogy, homonyms | A daily word notebook and spaced revision |
| Grammar | Error detection, sentence completion, transformation | Learn rules for tenses, subject-verb agreement, articles, prepositions, then practise |
| Reading | Comprehension, cloze, rearrangement | One passage a day, timed |
Priority: vocabulary items are quick marks, often answered in a few seconds each, but they cannot be crammed. Start on day one.
Numerical Ability
The official list is longer than many coaching summaries suggest.
| Group | Topics from the notification |
|---|---|
| Core arithmetic | Decimal fractions, percentage, average, ratio and proportion, profit and loss, simple and compound interest |
| Rates | Time and work, time and distance, races, trains, boats and streams |
| Number work | Number system, number series, squares and square roots, cubes and cube roots, HCF and LCM, exponents and powers |
| Mixtures | Mixture and alligation rules |
| Geometry and measurement | Area and perimeter, elementary mensuration, heights and distances |
| Data | Probability; statistics (mean, median, mode) |
Notice probability, statistics, mensuration and heights and distances. Candidates who prepare only the classic arithmetic chapters meet these in the paper and lose easy marks.
Priority: percentage first, because profit and loss, interest and data questions all rest on it. Then ratio and averages, then the rate chapters. Our numerical ability plan orders the chapters week by week.
Reasoning and Military Aptitude
The notification says only "verbal and non-verbal reasoning". In practice, expect both.
| Type | Topics |
|---|---|
| Verbal | Analogy, classification (odd one out), number and letter series, coding-decoding, blood relations, directions, seating arrangement, syllogisms |
| Non-verbal | Figure series, figure analogy and classification, mirror and water images, paper folding and cutting, embedded figures, dot situation, figure completion |
| Spatial | Cubes and dice, rotation of figures, pattern completion |
"Military aptitude" does not mean military knowledge; defence facts are tested in GA. In the paper it shows up mostly as visual and spatial questions, the kind of skill an officer uses to read maps, instruments and patterns quickly. These figure questions look strange at first but improve quickly with practice. See the reasoning plan.
What about engineering subjects?
The EKT, an engineering paper for the technical branches, was part of AFCAT up to at least the 01/2025 cycle, but it does not appear in the 01/2026 scheme of examination. Check your cycle's notification before you spend time on it.
A suggested order of study
- Weeks 1–4: percentage, ratio, averages and the verbal reasoning basics. These are quick to improve and build confidence.
- Throughout: English vocabulary and one passage daily. It improves slowly but steadily.
- Throughout: GA in short daily sessions, with defence and current affairs every week. See our GA plan.
- Weeks 5–8: rate chapters, mensuration, probability and statistics; non-verbal and spatial reasoning.
- Weeks 9–12: full mocks, and revising the gaps the mocks show.
A short sampler
These are our own practice questions, written to match the level of each section. They are not previous-year questions.
- Two fair coins are tossed. What is the probability of getting at least one head?
- Find the median of 7, 3, 9, 5, 11, 4.
- A pole 10√3 m tall casts a shadow 10 m long. What is the angle of elevation of the sun?
- Simplify 2⁵ × 2⁻³.
- Find the next term: 2, 6, 12, 20, 30, ?
- One word for "a person who cannot be corrected or reformed".
- What is the motto of the Indian Air Force?
- On which date is Air Force Day celebrated?
Answers:
- The outcomes are HH, HT, TH and TT. Three of the four have at least one head, so the answer is 3/4.
- In order: 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11. With six values, the median is the mean of the 3rd and 4th: (5 + 7) ÷ 2 = 6.
- tan θ = height ÷ shadow = 10√3 ÷ 10 = √3, so θ = 60°.
- Add the powers: 5 + (−3) = 2, so 2² = 4.
- The differences are 4, 6, 8, 10, so the next is 12. 30 + 12 = 42.
- Incorrigible.
- Nabha Sparsham Deeptam ("Touch the sky with glory"), taken from the Bhagavad Gita.
- 8 October.
If you got 6 or more right in under five minutes, your base is good; the work now is speed and coverage. If the probability, statistics or heights and distances questions stopped you, add those chapters to your first month.
Your syllabus tracker
- Print the syllabus from the current notification and keep it by your desk.
- Turn every line into the topic list above and tick each topic when you finish it, not when you start.
- Mark each topic red, amber or green after your first mock, and revise red topics first.
- Revisit the tracker every Sunday for ten minutes.
A note on dates and numbers. Exam patterns, vacancies and schedules change from year to year. Always confirm the current details in the latest notification on the Indian Air Force website .
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