What "military aptitude" means in AFCAT, and how to prepare for it

Many candidates read "Reasoning and Military Aptitude" on the AFCAT syllabus and worry that they will be asked about tactics, weapons or battle drills. They will not. The section is a reasoning test, weighted towards the skills an officer uses every day: keeping track of direction, picturing objects in three dimensions, and spotting a pattern quickly under time pressure.

That is good news. Tactics would need years of study. Reasoning and spatial skill can be trained in weeks, and the same training pays off twice more, at the AFSB and, for flying candidates, in the pilot aptitude test.

What the section actually contains

The notification lists this section as verbal and non-verbal reasoning, including spatial questions. In practice the questions fall into three groups.

Questions about aircraft, ranks, commands and exercises do appear in AFCAT, but under General Awareness, not here. If you want those, see the defence awareness guide.

Why the Air Force tests these skills

Each question type is a small version of something aircrew and ground officers do for real.

• Orientation. A pilot or navigator must always know which way they are heading and where they are relative to a reference point. Direction and heading questions test the same bookkeeping.
• Spatial visualisation. Reading a map against the ground below, or picturing a formation from another aircraft, needs the ability to rotate a scene mentally. Cube and rotation questions test this in miniature.
• Pattern recognition. An instrument panel is a set of patterns. Spotting the one reading that is out of line, fast, is the skill behind figure series and odd-one-out.
• Attention to detail. Embedded figures and mirror images punish a careless glance. So does a checklist in a cockpit.

None of this means a low score makes you unfit to fly. It means the Air Force uses these questions as an early, cheap filter for trainable aptitude.

The link to the AFSB and CPSS

What you build for this section is used again at the selection board.

• OIR tests. Stage I at the AFSB opens with Officer Intelligence Rating tests: verbal and non-verbal reasoning at a faster pace. Our guide to the OIR tests covers them.
• CPSS. Flying candidates later take the Computerised Pilot Selection System, a machine-based test of instrument reading and coordination. It is described as a once-in-a-lifetime test. AFCAT reasoning practice will not prepare you for its psychomotor parts, but the habit of reading orientation quickly helps.

Worked examples

These are built to show the method on the "military" flavour of question you are likely to see.

Example 1: a flight path. An aircraft flies 40 km north, turns right and flies 30 km, then turns right again and flies 80 km. How far is it from the start, and in which direction?

• North 40 km. Turning right from north means facing east: 30 km east.
• Turning right from east means facing south: 80 km south.
• Net north–south: 40 north − 80 south = 40 km south. Net east–west: 30 km east.
• Distance = √(40² + 30²) = √(1,600 + 900) = √2,500 = 50 km, to the south-east of the start.

Example 2: headings in degrees. A pilot is heading north. They turn 90° clockwise, then 135° anticlockwise, then 180°. What is the final heading?

• Measure headings clockwise from north: north = 0°, east = 90°, south = 180°, west = 270°.
• 0° + 90° = 90° (east). 90° − 135° = −45°, which is 315° (north-west). 315° + 180° = 495°, which is 135°.
• 135° is south-east.

Example 3: a painted cube. A 4 × 4 × 4 cube is painted on all faces and cut into 64 unit cubes. How many small cubes have exactly two faces painted, and how many have none?

• Here n = 4. Exactly two faces sit on the edges, but not the corners: 12 × (n − 2) = 12 × 2 = 24.
• No face painted: the inner block, (n − 2)³ = 2³ = 8.
• Check the total: 8 corners (three faces) + 24 (two) + 6 × (n − 2)² = 24 (one) + 8 (none) = 64.

Example 4: a mirror clock. A clock seen in a mirror shows 4:25. What is the real time?

• Subtract from 11:60: 11:60 − 4:25 = 7:35. The rule works both ways, so 7:35 in a mirror also shows 4:25.

How to prepare

Treat this as a skill, not a syllabus. A few weeks of daily, timed work moves most candidates a long way.

• Use physical aids early. Fold and punch real paper. Mark a real die. Once you have seen the answer in your hands a few times, the mental picture comes faster.
• Say the change aloud in figure questions: "rotates 45° clockwise, loses one line". Naming the rule stops you guessing.
• Keep an error log. Wrong answers in this section tend to come from the same few slips, such as left–right confusion or forgetting a hidden face.

For a type-by-type method and target times, see the reasoning and military aptitude plan. For cubes, dice and views, see spatial ability.

Common mistakes

• Turning in your head. Left and right swap when you face south. Always draw the direction you are facing before you turn.
• Mixing degree turns with left and right. A right turn is 90° clockwise, but "turns 135° anticlockwise" is not a left turn. Work degree turns out in degrees, from north.
• Guessing spatial questions. With −1 for a wrong answer, a blind guess on a 3D question is a poor bet. Eliminate options first (wrong number of holes, wrong opposite face), then decide.
• Leaving non-verbal till last. It feels unfamiliar, so candidates avoid it. It is also the part that improves fastest.

Practice set

1. A candidate faces south, turns 90° anticlockwise, then turns 180°. Which way do they face now?
2. A 3 × 3 × 3 cube is painted on all faces and cut into 27 unit cubes. How many have exactly one face painted?
3. A clock shows 10:10. What does its mirror image show?
4. An aircraft flies 12 km east and then 5 km north. How far is it from its starting point in a straight line?
5. A pilot heading west (270°) turns 135° clockwise. What is the new heading, as a direction?
6. A square sheet is folded in half twice and one hole is punched, away from the fold lines. How many holes appear when it is opened?
7. What comes next: 2, 6, 12, 20, 30, ?
8. Early in the morning, a cadet's shadow falls to their right. Which direction is the cadet facing?

Answers:

1. West. Anticlockwise from south is east; a further 180° is west.
2. 6. One face painted: 6 × (n − 2)² = 6 × 1 = 6, the centre cube of each face.
3. 1:50. 11:60 − 10:10 = 1:50.
4. 13 km. √(12² + 5²) = √169 = 13.
5. North-east. 270° + 135° = 405°, which is 45°.
6. 4. Two folds make four layers; one punch goes through all four.
7. 42. The differences are 4, 6, 8, 10, so the next is 12. The terms are also 1 × 2, 2 × 3, … 6 × 7.
8. South. The morning sun is in the east, so shadows fall to the west. If west is on the right, the cadet faces south.

What to do next

• Draw a compass rose and a clock face from memory and mark the degree for every direction.
• Solve 20 direction and heading questions today, drawing each one.
• Fold and punch three sheets of paper and predict the result before opening.
• Add every wrong answer this week to an error log, with the slip named in one line.
• Sit a timed full reasoning section at the end of week 4.