AFCAT (Air Force Common Admission Test) Reasoning and Military Aptitude Test Syllabus

Reasoning and Military Aptitude Test syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Reasoning and Military Aptitude Test in AFCAT (Air Force Common Admission Test), not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Verbal Reasoning

   5 topics

   • Analogy and classification
   • Coding and decoding
   • Blood relations
   • Series completion (number and alphabet)
   • Direction sense
2. 2

   Logical and Analytical Reasoning

   4 topics

   • Syllogisms
   • Statement and conclusion / assumption
   • Seating arrangement and puzzles
   • Venn diagrams
3. 3

   Non-Verbal and Spatial Reasoning

   5 topics

   • Pattern and figure series
   • Mirror and water images
   • Embedded and hidden figures
   • Paper folding and cutting
   • Rotated blocks and dice
4. 4

   Military Aptitude

   3 topics

   • Spatial ability for officers
   • Rotated and assembled figures
   • Visualisation and 3D rotation

Reasoning and Military Aptitude Test flashcards for AFCAT (Air Force Common Admission Test)

21 of 50 cards from the Reasoning and Military Aptitude Test deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. In reasoning, what is an 'analogy' and how do you solve analogy questions?

   An analogy expresses a relationship between a pair of items that must be applied to a second pair. To solve: identify the exact relationship in the given pair (cause-effect, part-whole, synonym, etc.), then find the option that shares the identical relationship.

2. What is 'classification' (odd-one-out) reasoning, and what is the core task?

   Classification involves grouping items by a common property; the task is to identify the one item that does NOT share the property common to all the others (the odd one out).

3. List four common types of relationships tested in analogy questions.

   Synonym/antonym, cause and effect, part and whole, worker and tool/product, individual and group, and object and function are common analogy relationships.

4. In a letter analogy like AB : CD :: EF : ?, what method finds the answer?

   Find the positional gap or shift between letters in the first pair (e.g., A to C is +2), then apply the same shift to the second pair to get the missing term (GH).

5. What is letter-to-number coding, and which value scheme is most used?

   Each alphabet letter is assigned a number; the standard scheme is positional value A=1, B=2 ... Z=26, with the reverse Z=1 ... A=26 also frequently used.

6. What is the EJOTY rule and why is it useful in coding/series?

   EJOTY marks the 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, and 25th letters (E=5, J=10, O=15, T=20, Y=25). It lets you quickly locate any letter's position without counting from A.

7. What is 'letter-shifting' (Caesar) coding and how is it decoded?

   Each letter of a word is shifted forward or backward by a fixed number of positions to form the code. Decode by reversing the shift (shift back if it was encoded forward).

8. In 'substitution' coding (e.g., sky=blue, blue=cloud), how do you answer?

   Replace the asked word with its assigned substitute according to the given code dictionary; the answer is the substituted word, not the original.

9. What is the standard method for symbol/number message coding (e.g., 'TEACHER is written as...')?

   Map each letter of the original word to its corresponding code symbol/number by position, then build or decode the target word using the same letter-to-code mapping.

10. In blood relations, what relationship is meant by 'my father's only son'?

    It refers to the speaker himself (assuming the speaker is male), since the father has only one son.

11. What is the key first step in solving a blood-relation puzzle?

    Identify the speaker/reference person, then trace the relationship step by step (often by drawing a family tree using symbols for male/female and lines for generations).

12. In blood relations, who is your 'father's brother' and 'mother's brother'?

    Father's brother = paternal uncle; mother's brother = maternal uncle. Both are uncles, but the side differs.

13. What do '+' and '-' (or arrows) typically denote in coded blood-relation puzzles?

    There is no universal rule; the coding is defined within the question (e.g., A+B means A is father of B). Always read and apply the question's own legend, not assumptions.

14. In a number series, what is an 'arithmetic progression' and its general term?

    An arithmetic progression has a constant difference 'd' between terms. The nth term is a_n = a + (n-1)d, where 'a' is the first term.

15. What is a 'geometric progression' in number series and its nth term?

    A geometric progression has a constant ratio 'r' between consecutive terms. The nth term is a_n = a r^(n-1), where 'a' is the first term.

16. Name three common patterns to check when solving number series.

    Constant difference (AP), constant ratio (GP), squares/cubes, prime numbers, alternating series (two interleaved patterns), and difference-of-differences.

17. How do you handle an alternating (mixed) number series?

    Separate it into two sub-series (odd-position terms and even-position terms), find the pattern of each independently, then extend the one containing the missing term.

18. What pattern underlies the series 1, 4, 9, 16, 25 ... and what comes next?

    These are perfect squares (n^2): 1^2, 2^2, 3^2, 4^2, 5^2. The next term is 6^2 = 36.

19. In an alphabet series, what does a 'skip' pattern mean?

    Letters advance by skipping a fixed number of positions each step (e.g., A, C, E ... skips one letter, +2 each time). Identify the skip count to extend the series.

20. In direction sense, what are the four cardinal and four ordinal directions?

    Cardinal: North, South, East, West. Ordinal (in between): North-East, North-West, South-East, South-West.

21. When facing North, which directions are to your right and left?

    Facing North, right hand points East and left hand points West; behind you is South.

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