Module overview
What the test trains
This module focuses on sustained attention, visual scanning, response prioritisation and work rate. 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
- Scan a matrix and identify routine targets.
- Detect higher-priority targets that appear briefly.
- Enter row and column coordinates in a consistent order.
- Resume the normal scan after responding to a priority event.
Practice screen example
These screenshots show CBAT Academy’s independent practice version of the task.
A scan pattern that survives interruptions
A useful approach is a snake scan: move left to right across one row, then right to left across the next. This reduces the long eye movement back to column one and gives you a known place to resume after entering a coordinate.
- Sweep the current row while keeping light peripheral awareness on the rest of the grid.
- Interrupt the routine scan for a yellow priority star, encode its position as row then column, and eliminate it promptly.
- Return to the row and cell where the interruption occurred instead of restarting the entire grid.
- Clear routine white stars in scan order so the same area is not checked repeatedly.
When reviewing a run, distinguish missed priority stars from wrong coordinates. The first suggests a detection or prioritisation problem; the second usually means the row–column response order is not yet automatic.
Interface briefing
Controls and difficulty
Controls
Watch the display for the target condition and respond with a click or key press only when it appears, avoiding false responses.
Difficulty and settings
The target condition becomes rarer (from a 10% to a 6% chance per interval) and the display refreshes faster (from every 3 seconds to every 1.5) as difficulty rises.
Read how practice scores and estimates work →Training plan
Build a method that holds up under pressure
Why this becomes difficult
- Routine repetition causes attention to drift.
- Priority targets require immediate interruption of the normal scan.
- Coordinate entry adds a second step after detection.
- Fast responses increase row/column transposition risk.
- Several targets can accumulate when the scan becomes inefficient.
Preparation tips
- Use a systematic scan path rather than searching randomly.
- Respond to priority targets first, then resume from a known scan point.
- Encode coordinates consistently as row then column.
- Keep peripheral awareness on the rest of the grid while entering.
- Treat each response as a reset and practise long enough to experience attention drift.
Common mistakes
- Scanning the same cells repeatedly while missing another region.
- Entering column before row.
- Finishing routine targets before a time-limited priority target.
- Staring at the keypad or controls after every response.
- Speeding up as concentration falls instead of restoring scan discipline.
Useful practice drills
- Timed 8 × 8 or 9 × 9 coordinate-search exercises.
- Mix normal and priority symbols with different deadlines.
- Practise row-column entry until the order is automatic.
- Run three- to five-minute sustained-attention blocks and compare the first and last minute.
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.