AFCAT Exam Pattern Syllabus Sample Papers Books : Career Quips

AFCAT (Air Force Common Admission Test) is just round the corner, scheduled to be held on on 24th February, 2013. What is the exam pattern of AFCAT, the syllabus and where do you get the sample/model papers of this exam? Which books to use to prepare for AFCAT? This is the subject matter of this blog article.

If you have not applied for this test but would like to apply now, you can go through my previous blog post titled: AFCAT 2013 Notification, Eligibility & Form which tells you what is AFCAT and how to apply for it.

Exam pattern of AFCAT:

AFCAT test consists of 100 questions to be answered in 2 hours. Each question weighs 3 marks. Thus AFCAT is a 300 mark test. The four test sections of AFCAT is as below:

1.0 Test of General Awareness

2.0 Test of English language.

3.0 Test of Numerical Ability.

4.0 Test of Reasoning and Military Aptitude Test.

You can find the detailed syllabus of AFCAT in the subsequent section in this blog post.

But AFCAT is only one step towards getting you that coveted job in IAF. Further to AFCAT, you have to appear in AFSB Interview. On top of it, you have to appear in PABT (Pilot Aptitude Battery Test) if you had opted for Flying branch and EKT (Engineering Knowledge Test) if you had opted for Technical branch. There is no branch test for Ground Duty branch however. After you clear all these obstacles, you have to undergo the Medical examination. Following table gives you the whole selection process post AFCAT:

AFCAT Syllabus:

The topic-wise prescribed syllabus for AFCAT is as below:

General Awareness: History, Sports, Geography, Environment, Civics, Basic Science, Defence, Art, Culture, Current Affairs, Politics etc.

Verbal Ability in English: Comprehension, Error Detection, Sentence Completion, Synonyms, Antonyms & Vocabulary.

Numerical Ability: Decimal Fraction, Simplification, Average, Profit & loss, Percentage, Ratio & Proportion and Simple interest.

Reasoning and Military Aptitude Test: Verbal Skills and Spatial Ability.

What sort of questions are asked in above topics of AFCAT? Please click here to download this official AFCAT sample paper, which gives you very good insight about the type of questions asked in AFCAT.

Sample Papers for AFCAT:

I had searched on the net for sample and previous years papers for AFCAT. As I could find there are not too many AFCAT papers available on the net and whatever are there, are not of very good quality. However, they can act as eye openers and you must rely on topic-wise specific books listed in the next section to prepare for AFCAT exam.

First, if you have not downloaded still, than download the above official AFCAT sample paper, which gives you examples of AFCAT questions topic-wise to make you understand about type of questions asked in AFCAT. Since this is from IAF, you can treat it as a bible!

You can than find the other sample/previous years AFCAT papers from following links:

Click here to find General Awareness paper from EduTalkIndia.com

As you can find, the quality of these sample papers are not of very good quality. So in absence of good AFCAT exam papers, you can go through this blog post on SBI PO Exam Papers which has similar test sections on General Awareness, Test of Reasoning & Test of English language.

You can find a very good online sample question paper for the test of Military Aptitude in IAF career website. Click here to find this IAF Military Aptitude demo test.

Books for AFCAT:

I could find following books exclusively dedicated for AFCAT - see if you can get hold of the same in nearby book stores:

AFCAT (Air Force Common Admission Test) Exam Guide By RPH Editorial Board

Book Price: Rs.190, Offer Price: Rs. 181, Discount: Rs. 9 (5%)

How To Prepare For AFCAT: Air Force Common Admission Test Complete Book by Chandresh Agrawal, Publisher: Priyanka
Price: Rs. 315

Since the exam sections of AFCAT is similar to Bank PO exams, you can also use one of the following books to prepare for AFCAT. These books are available in most of the bookstores, but you can also order them online by clicking the links below, from Flipkart which offers huge discounts up to 40%, apart from free shipping/postage in India, if the order exceeds RS. 300/=. You can choose to pay through Credit Card/Debit Card/Internet Banking. You can also choose to pay through “Cash-on-Delivery” i.e. you pay in cash only when the same is delivered at your doorstep:

SBI PO Previous Papers (Solved) by RPH Editorial Board
Cover Price: Rs. 195 Price: Rs. 185/- Discount: Rs. 10 (5% )

Target IBPS-CWE Bank PO: Probationary Officer/Management Trainee Exam Practice Workbook (2011 Solved Paper + 15 Practice Sets) by Disha Experts
Cover Price: Rs. 280 Price: Rs. 168/- Discount: Rs. 112 (40% )

Hope with above information you can crack the AFCAT very easily. But post AFCAT how do you prepare for the SSB Interview? Please go through my previous blog post titled: SSB Interview and how to prepare for SSB Interview preparation. And if you are going for the technical branch, naturally you should prepare for the EKT (Engineering Knowledge Test). Please visit me again for an exclusive blog post titled: EKT Exam Pattern, Sample Papers & Books to prepare for the same!