AFCAT
Direct entry for men and women into the Indian Air Force (IAF) as commissioned officers in the Flying branch and Ground Duty (Technical and Non-Technical) branches, via short service or permanent commission.
Eligibility
For the Flying branch: a graduate (with Physics and Mathematics at 10+2) or B.E./B.Tech holder, aged 20–24 (relaxable to 26 with a valid Commercial Pilot Licence). Ground Duty (Technical) needs a four-year engineering degree; Ground Duty (Non-Technical) needs a degree, generally with 60% marks; both have an age band of 20–26 years. Candidates must be unmarried if below 25.
Age limit: 20–24 years for Flying (up to 26 with CPL); 20–26 years for Ground Duty branches
Exam pattern
Online computer-based test of 2 hours: 100 questions, 300 marks, covering General Awareness, Verbal Ability in English, Numerical Ability, and Reasoning & Military Aptitude. Marking is +3 for a correct answer and −1 for a wrong one, with no sectional cutoff. Candidates for technical branches also sit the Engineering Knowledge Test (EKT) — 50 questions, 150 marks, 45 minutes — immediately after. Shortlisted candidates attend the Air Force Selection Board (AFSB) interview (five days), with the Computerised Pilot Selection System (CPSS) additionally for Flying-branch candidates, followed by medicals at IAM Bengaluru or AFCME Delhi.
Syllabus at a glance
General Awareness covers history, geography, polity, economy, sports, defence and current affairs. Verbal Ability tests comprehension, error detection, synonyms/antonyms and sentence completion. Numerical Ability is Class 10-level arithmetic (percentages, ratio, profit-loss, time-speed-distance, simple/compound interest). Reasoning & Military Aptitude includes verbal/non-verbal reasoning and spatial/rotation figure questions. The EKT tests core engineering fundamentals of the candidate's discipline.
Upcoming dates
| Event | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|
| AFCAT 02/2026 admit card | Late Jul 2026 (expected) | expected |
| AFCAT 02/2026 online exam | 8 Aug 2026 | confirmed |
| AFCAT 02/2026 result | Sep 2026 (expected) | expected |
| AFSB interviews for AFCAT 02/2026 | Sep–Dec 2026 (expected) | expected |
| AFCAT 01/2027 notification | Dec 2026 (expected) | expected |
| AFCAT 01/2027 online exam | Feb 2027 (expected) | expected |
Expected dates follow the usual calendar; confirm on the official notification before planning.
Free prep material
Standard books
- AFCAT (Air Force Common Admission Test) — Arihant Experts
- Let's Crack AFCAT — SSBCrack
- Quantitative Aptitude for Competitive Examinations — R.S. Aggarwal
- A Modern Approach to Verbal & Non-Verbal Reasoning — R.S. Aggarwal
- Objective General English — S.P. Bakshi
How toppers play it
- The +3/−1 scheme is unusually punishing: at recent cutoffs of roughly 150–160 out of 300, about 60–65 accurate attempts already clear the bar — accuracy beats attempt count.
- Reasoning & Military Aptitude questions (especially rotated-figure and spatial sets) are the fastest marks in the paper — bank them first, then Numerical Ability, leaving dense reading-comprehension for last.
- There is no sectional cutoff, so deliberately over-invest in your strongest two sections instead of spreading time evenly.
- Take the official mock on the AFCAT portal at least twice — the calculatorless on-screen interface and per-question navigation trip up first-timers.
- Flying-branch aspirants should read up on CPSS early: it is a one-chance-per-lifetime test at the AFSB stage, and EKT candidates must separately clear the EKT cutoff, so revise core-branch basics alongside aptitude.