Module overview
What the test trains
This module focuses on applied numerical reasoning, formula selection, mental arithmetic and reading accuracy. 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
- Translate a written scenario into the correct numerical relationship.
- Identify what is known, what is being asked and which variable is unknown.
- Use distance, speed and time relationships with consistent units.
- Estimate the answer before committing to exact arithmetic.
Practice screen example
These screenshots show CBAT Academy’s independent practice version of the task.
Worked example: separate the rate from the total
Suppose an aircraft begins with 320 litres of fuel and burns 45 litres per hour for four hours. The question asks how much fuel remains, so two operations are needed rather than one.
- Calculate the fuel used: 45 × 4 = 180 litres.
- Subtract that amount from the starting quantity: 320 − 180 = 140 litres.
- Check the direction of the answer. Remaining fuel must be lower than the starting quantity, and the final unit must be litres.
CBAT Academy mixes fuel, cargo, speed, distance and time questions. Before reading the answer choices, name the required quantity and write the relationship in one short line; this prevents a plausible distractor from suggesting the wrong operation.
Interface briefing
Controls and difficulty
Controls
Work through each problem and select your answer from the on-screen multiple-choice options.
Difficulty and settings
Question count doubles from 8 at Easy to 16 at Hard, with 5 minutes available at Easy narrowing to 3 at Hard for a faster required pace of mental arithmetic. Hard questions also bring in several aircraft at once, part hours and answers that need rounding to the nearest, up or down.
Read how practice scores and estimates work →Training plan
Build a method that holds up under pressure
Why this becomes difficult
- Verbal information must be converted into variables before calculation.
- Minutes and hours may need to be normalised, and hard questions use part hours and answers that must be rounded to the nearest, up or down.
- The question may ask for speed, distance, time or arrival time, and at hard difficulty may involve several aircraft at once: one catching up with another, two flying towards each other or a whole formation.
- Time pressure encourages calculation before the problem has been translated correctly.
Preparation tips
- Memorise D = S × T and rearrange it instantly.
- State the target variable before touching the numbers.
- Check units before calculating, and decide how the answer is to be rounded (up for whole aircraft needed, down for complete hours, otherwise to the nearest).
- Estimate the answer’s scale first.
- Practise turning a sentence into a one-line equation before solving.
Common mistakes
- Using the right numbers in the wrong formula.
- Mixing minutes with hours.
- Answering journey time when the question asks for arrival time.
- Failing to notice that a rate applies only to part of a journey.
- Doing exact arithmetic without a reasonableness check.
Useful practice drills
- Complete mixed D-S-T questions where the unknown changes each time.
- Convert minutes to fractions of an hour and back (20 minutes is a third of an hour, not 0.20).
- Work out the gap first and then the speed it closes at for catch-up and meeting-time questions with two aircraft.
- Read word problems and write the equation only.
- Estimate first, then calculate exactly and compare the two answers.
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.