Module overview
What the test trains
This module focuses on auditory working memory, divided attention, response control, manual tracking and rapid task switching. It is designed to make the underlying process easier to recognise, repeat and review before you add more speed or workload.
Task profile
What the task looks like
What it involves
- Listen to spoken instructions and retain short sequences while visual and motor tasks continue.
- Respond to colour or number instructions using the correct control.
- Control a moving ball or target with a joystick while protecting important auditory information.
- Clear completed instructions so new information can be encoded.
Practice screen example
These screenshots show CBAT Academy’s independent practice version of the task.
Interface briefing
Controls and difficulty
Controls
Listen to the presented sequence, then respond using the on-screen answer field, the keyboard, or a calibrated gamepad and pedal set — this module accepts more input channels than most because it tracks several response streams at once.
Difficulty and settings
Sequence length grows from 4 to 6 items and playback speeds up from 1.0x to 1.4x as difficulty increases, with the response window held at 4 minutes throughout. Every run is split into segments that each add something new (shape, number and beep orders, then call signs); medium, hard and the assessment also play white noise and other people's conversations to ignore, and easy practice has neither.
Read how practice scores and estimates work →Training plan
Build a method that holds up under pressure
Why this becomes difficult
- Auditory information cannot be re-read after it has passed.
- The test runs in segments, and each one adds something new to keep track of while the earlier demands carry on.
- Background noise and other people's conversations play as distractions, and none of it is for you.
- Manual tracking can consume too much attention if you chase perfect centring.
- Trying to replay a missed instruction can make the next one disappear too.
Preparation tips
- Treat new spoken information as high priority and encode it into a short action label.
- Use chunking for digits, such as two groups of three.
- Keep joystick or cursor movements smooth rather than making large corrections.
- Read each new segment's briefing properly: it tells you exactly what has been added.
- Treat noise and conversations as weather: listen for the controller's voice and let everything else pass.
Common mistakes
- Focusing so heavily on tracking that spoken information is missed.
- Trying to recover a missed instruction for too long.
- Pressing keys nobody ordered: a number key, or Space with no beep, or an order meant for another call sign, all count against you.
- Overcorrecting the manual-control task.
- Responding to the first familiar word before hearing the full instruction.
Useful practice drills
- Listen to 4–8 digit strings while tracing a moving target, then recall the digits.
- Follow short conditional instructions while performing simple arithmetic.
- Remember two small pieces of information while completing a third task.
- Score listening and tracking separately to identify which task collapses first.
Transparency
Sources and information status
Task guidance on this page describes CBAT Academy’s own software. Broad aptitude context is checked against the public references in the source register.
This guide describes CBAT Academy’s independently developed practice modules. It is not an exact specification of any current RAF, Canadian Forces or Ministry of Defence assessment. Official content, timings, scoring and administration may differ.
Continue the briefing
Turn the method into repeatable performance.
Launch the interactive trainer, begin with accuracy and review the pattern behind each mistake before increasing pace.