What is CFAST?
CFAST stands for the Canadian Armed Forces Aircrew Selection Test. It is a computer-based test battery administered by the Canadian Forces Aircrew Selection Centre (CFASC) during selection for Pilot, Aerospace Controller (AEC) and Air Combat Systems Officer (ACSO) occupations in the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Like other computer-based aircrew selection batteries, CFAST is not primarily a knowledge test. You are not expected to revise aviation facts or Canadian Armed Forces history.
Instead, it is designed to measure how you handle numerical information, spatial information, memory, multitasking, sustained attention and psychomotor control — often under time pressure and while several things change at once.
One detail candidates often miss: everyone who sits CFAST is assessed against all three streams at once. You do not choose between a "Pilot test" and an "AEC test" — the same battery produces an aptitude profile across Pilot, AEC and ACSO regardless of which occupation you applied for.
Why does the CAF use CFAST?
Aircrew roles involve abilities that are difficult to judge from academic records or a normal interview alone: tracking several changing sources of information, making quick and accurate calculations, interpreting instruments, and controlling something precisely while attention is divided.
A computer-based test battery gives the CAF a structured way to assess those abilities before committing to lengthy and expensive flight training.
The Royal Canadian Air Force's own public career information describes assessing cognitive domains such as strategic task management, perceptual processing, short-term memory and capacity, spatial reasoning, symbolic reasoning, psychomotor ability and central information processing as part of aircrew selection.
What does CFAST actually test?
There is no single "CFAST skill" — different tests place demands on different abilities.
Numerical and symbolic reasoning
Some tests involve mental arithmetic, numerical operations and structured logic problems. The mathematics itself is usually not advanced; the difficulty comes from working accurately and quickly, sometimes while holding other information in mind.
Spatial reasoning
Spatial tasks deal with angles, bearings, instrument interpretation and integrating separate pieces of visual information into one picture. These can feel unfamiliar at first, but familiarity with thinking in bearings and instrument displays helps considerably.
Memory
Some tests present information briefly — a sequence of digits, letters or an audio cue — and ask you to use it shortly afterward. The skill is usually less about remembering everything and more about holding the right information and updating it as it changes.
Multitasking and situational awareness
Several tests combine monitoring a changing picture with responding to new information as it arrives — for example tracking multiple aircraft or updating a running mental model while other demands compete for attention.
Psychomotor coordination
Some tasks involve continuous manual control — tracking a moving target smoothly rather than reacting to it in isolated bursts.
Attention
A few tests are deliberately repetitive, measuring whether you can scan a display and respond consistently to an infrequent target over an extended period without lapses.
CFAST is different from a normal exam
One of the biggest mistakes candidates make is treating CFAST like something they can revise for the way they would a school exam.
There is no chapter of facts to memorise and reproduce on test day. Knowing what the tasks are like still helps enormously, though.
If you already understand bearings, for example, you do not need to spend working memory on what 090° or 270° means while you are trying to solve the actual spatial problem in front of you.
The same applies to arithmetic: if basic multiplication, division and time calculations are automatic, you have more attention left for the part of the task that is actually being assessed.
Useful CFAST preparation is really about removing unnecessary difficulty so you can concentrate on the ability each test is asking you to demonstrate.
The 20 documented CFAST tests
Based on publicly available CFAST candidate material, the battery documents 20 tests. CBAT Academy's CFAST training profile trains the equivalent skill for each of them:
This list reflects independently compiled candidate material, not an official published CAF test specification. CBAT Academy's exercises are independently developed and do not reproduce official CFAST screens or question content.
Can you prepare for CFAST?
Yes, with the same distinction that applies to any aptitude battery: preparing for the skills is useful, memorising a specific test is not.
You can improve mental arithmetic, get more comfortable with bearings and instrument displays, practise short-term memory updating, and become smoother with continuous tracking control.
Familiarity with a task's structure also matters. Someone seeing an unfamiliar spatial or multitasking exercise for the first time has to work out both what it is asking and how to solve it; someone who has practised something similar can spend more attention on the actual problem.
Accuracy before speed
Because CFAST tasks are timed, it is tempting to practise everything as fast as possible from the start. Get the method reliable first — consistent bearing measurement, correct arithmetic, a stable tracking pattern — then increase pace once accuracy holds up.
If you are learning bearings, make sure you consistently measure clockwise from north before worrying about answering in two seconds. If you are practising mental arithmetic, get comfortable solving the problem correctly before trying to shave time off every answer.
Pay attention to why you get questions wrong
A percentage score only tells you how many answers were right. It does not tell you what needs fixing.
Two candidates could both score 60% on the same test for completely different reasons. One might understand every question but work too slowly. The other might answer quickly but repeatedly misread the instructions.
When you practise, try to notice what caused each mistake: did you misunderstand the rule, lose information from memory, misread the display, use the wrong perspective, make an arithmetic error, or simply rush? Once you know the reason, you know what to practise next.
Multitasking is mostly about prioritisation
A lot of people hear "multitasking" and assume the goal is to do everything perfectly at the same time. That is rarely realistic.
When several tasks compete for attention, the useful skill is deciding what needs attention right now. An instruction you only hear once may deserve immediate attention. A target that is about to disappear may matter more than a routine task that will still be there in ten seconds. A control task may only need to be kept stable rather than perfectly centred while you deal with something more urgent.
That kind of prioritisation becomes much easier with practice, and it is worth deliberately rehearsing rather than assuming it will happen naturally under pressure.
It is also worth not letting a single missed event snowball. If you make a mistake during a busy test, the worst thing you can do is spend the next thirty seconds thinking about it — the task has already moved on. This applies just as much between tests: one module feeling terrible does not mean the whole battery has gone badly.
What should CFAST preparation look like?
You do not need to run complete mock batteries for hours every day. Focused practice on specific weak points is usually more useful.
Start by learning what each type of task involves, then identify which areas give you trouble. If mental arithmetic is weak, spend time on arithmetic. If bearings are confusing, practise bearings separately. If you lose track of several moving objects, work on tracking and memory exercises directly.
Once the individual skills feel more comfortable, combine them and introduce time pressure. Closer to your test date, longer mixed sessions are useful for getting used to switching between very different types of tasks in the same sitting — which is closer to what a CFAST day actually feels like than practising one skill in isolation.
Is CFAST an IQ test, and do you need aviation knowledge?
Not really, on both counts. CFAST overlaps with abilities associated with general intelligence testing — reasoning, memory, processing speed, spatial ability — but it also measures more specialised combinations of skills, such as sustained tracking under a changing viewpoint or holding several updating facts in mind at once. It makes more sense to think of it as a profile of different abilities than one overall score.
You also do not need aviation knowledge to do most of the tasks. Some exercises use aircraft, maps or instruments because they provide a natural setting for the problem, but the underlying skill is usually spatial reasoning, arithmetic or attention. Spending weeks memorising aircraft specifications is not useful CFAST preparation; if speed-distance-time calculations are the actual weak point, practise those directly.
What about CFAST scores and thresholds?
This is an area worth being cautious about. The CAF does not publish a complete current table showing every subtest, domain weighting and threshold for every aircrew occupation.
For that reason, third-party score estimates — including the ones on this site — should be treated as estimates rather than official results.
CBAT Academy practice scores are useful for comparing your own performance over time and identifying weaker areas, but they are not official CAF results, and this trainer's domain-to-module groupings on the Scores page are independently inferred rather than published by the CAF.
See how Academy practice scores and readiness estimates work.
What happens on the day?
Testing is administered at the Canadian Forces Aircrew Selection Centre (CFASC), which official Royal Canadian Air Force career information places at 8 Wing / Canadian Forces Base Trenton, Ontario. Candidate-facing CAF guidance describes the aircrew selection assessment for Pilot candidates as spanning two days at a computer terminal, with the testing itself running to roughly seven to eight hours in total — commonly split into a morning session on the first day and a further session starting early the next morning.
The exact schedule, start times and format can change between intakes, so the official Candidate Guide and joining instructions issued directly to you should always take priority over anything you read on a preparation website.
When you are there, read the instructions for every test properly, even if a task looks familiar from practice. One small difference in how a response is entered or how a task is scored can change the correct approach.
Test-day structure and CFASC location checked against official Royal Canadian Air Force candidate information at canada.ca — CFASC Candidate Guide and CFASC joining instructions in August 2026.
Start with a task-specific guide
Each test guide explains the Academy exercise, controls, scoring, common mistakes and focused drills before you launch practice.
Frequently asked questions
Can CBAT Academy tell me my official CFAST score?
No. Academy results are independent training feedback and cannot reproduce an official result or selection decision.
Is CFAST the same as the RAF's CBAT or the ADF's aviation aptitude testing?
No, though the three are broadly similar in purpose. Each is a separate, independently administered battery run by a different air force, with its own tests, timing and scoring. CBAT Academy provides a separate RAF CBAT guide and ADF aviation aptitude guide because the batteries are not interchangeable.
Does CFAST assess me for Pilot, AEC or ACSO specifically?
The same testing session produces an aptitude profile across all three aircrew occupations at once, according to official CAF candidate information — you are not routed into a separate battery depending on which occupation you applied for.
Is this the official CFAST test?
No. CBAT Academy is an independent training service, not affiliated with or endorsed by the Canadian Armed Forces. Exercises are independently developed and may differ from the official assessment in screens, timing, controls and scoring.
Are current application instructions more important than this guide?
Yes. Official CAF recruiting instructions and information issued for your application always take priority, since selection processes can change.
Sources and review status
The Royal Canadian Air Force's public career information and CFASC candidate guide support the broad description of computer-based aircrew selection, cognitive domains, test-day structure and CFASC's location used in this guide. The 20-test list reflects independently compiled candidate material rather than an official published specification. Academy exercises, mappings and scores remain independently developed. See the source register for status and scope.
Ready to start practising?
Choose a test area and build familiarity
The CFAST practice library covers the 20 documented test areas. Each test has an interactive exercise and a separate guide explaining the task, common mistakes and useful preparation drills.
Explore CFAST Practice