Canadian Forces Aptitude Test (CFAT) [MERGED]

[PMedMoe]

I wasn't even aware you COULD fail the CFAT.

Not a fail as such but one can score low enough not to be eligible for the chosen trade(s) (or any trade, I guess).

But if I pass it, what comes next? Physical test? Medical? etc.

That's all on here.  Search in the recruiting threads.

 

[Sigil]

You should read through the threads that talk about the CFAT as others have suggested, but another thing to consider is don't rewrite the CFAT and "hope" you do better. You need to be reasonably sure you will do better or you may be in a bad situation. You can't simply keep writing and rewriting the CFAT hoping one of the times you'll qualify for your chosen trade. If you don't pass on your next attempt, I believe you will need special permission and/or proof of significant academic upgrading in order to write it again.

In short, study your *** off and take the CFAT only when you are confident it will be your best effort.

 

[dev_tech]

Sigil offers good advice.  There's a waiting period to rewrite the CFAT.  If you get a poor score again, that's bad news.  You're better off holding off a few extra months to study, rather than getting yourself excluded from the forces indefinitely.  Good luck.  Just brush up on English, long division and multiplying and dividing fractions and you'll do fine.  If the forces are where you really want to be, the wait and effort are well worth it.

 

[dev_tech]

Just my 2c.  Does it make any difference at all what the cut off scores are?  You either do well enough or you don't.  It's not like knowing the required scores will make you any smarter.

 

[Scott]

Just my 2c.  Does it make any difference at all what the cut off scores are?  You either do well enough or you don't.  It's not like knowing the required scores will make you any smarter.

Ding, ding, ding, ding.

Milpoints on the way.

 

[aesop081]

Just my 2c.  Does it make any difference at all what the cut off scores are?  You either do well enough or you don't.  It's not like knowing the required scores will make you any smarter.

Please stop attacking people with your logic.

[/sarcasm]

 

[PrettyMaggie63]

I too had a similar experience. After completing the CFAT we all sat in a room, and each person was called out 1 by 1. Finally, after only 3 of us were left, we were called into another room and told to sit where we found the stack of papers with our names on them. We were told the top sheet was our's to keep, then she looked at me and stated "except for you". My heart almost jumped right out of my chest. Then she told me I might want to frame mine as I had done exceptionally well. Then I could start breathing again. I am 47 years old and have been out of school for 30 years now. I didn't expect to do so well and honestly I didn't think I did. I prepared by doing online aptitude tests, and spent many hours at the center for employment and learning doing GED tests. I guess this paid off. I was given a conditional job offer for AC Op, which was my second choice and now am waiting for a date for my medical and interview.

 

[BrandonM]

Actually... When I went for my eCFAT, I was the only one taking it... Where I live, the military isn't really viewed as anything good. From the people I've talked to, it seems 9/10 people here think the military is pure bullshit, stupid, cowardly, pointless and an instant "you've thrown your life away". While I was sitting in the office of the recruiting centre for my eCFAT (in the mall, the entire from is just a big window) people were going by, staring at me. A 17 year old kid joining the military... I got a few teenagers go by too, this one group actually pointed and laughed at me then worded out what seemed to be "loser". Gatta love the support we get! Though on the bright side, I did get a few proud smiles here and there, but nothing compared to the negative feedback...

Anyways... Back on topic (I seemed to have really went off there); I took my eCFAT alone and I barely passed anything apart from the mathematical questions. I had only had I think it was 3 or 4 of the questions wrong on that section.. But the rest I somehow tanked and if I'd have gotten 2-3 wrong on the other sections I'd have failed those parts for all trades. Somehow I've failed my grade 11 math last semester and barely passed grade 9 and 10 (with the notes in the 55% range) yet passed the rest of my classes that pertained to the other sections with 75%+... Though, I did panic on the test, as I could see the timer on the screen ticking down slowly...
After I was done my test, I was taken into the Captains office and he explained that there were no infantry reserves nearby, so I had to choose arty... Was a great day. I actually love going down to the office whenever I need to and talking to the Captain casually, he's a real helpful guy.

The medical though, that was damn brutal.

 

[gilchrist1]

Would someone need to score high on the CFAT for intel op?. Im going to do my CFAT in a couple of days and was just wondering if anyone knew.

 

[Occam]

Would someone need to score high on the CFAT for intel op?. Im going to do my CFAT in a couple of days and was just wondering if anyone knew.

Sorry, they're only recruiting those who know the difference between Int and Intel.  >

 

[JMesh]

Would someone need to score high on the CFAT for intel op?. Im going to do my CFAT in a couple of days and was just wondering if anyone knew.

From another (now locked) thread you started

[quote author=gilchrist1]i applied in feb did my CFAT  a week later and was told that i passed and one of the ones i qualified for was intel op[/quote]

Please figure out which story is true before posting again. People around here don't appreciate being deceived.

Finally, as Occam said, Int not Intel

 

[BlackSheep]

Hey guys,

I have a buddy who wrote his aptitude test today and he didn't do as well as he thought he would. He wants to be a Hull Tech and missed the opportunity by one math point. He's quite upset considering he was really looking forward to this and is mechanically inclined. I was wondering what way he should go about rewriting the test. Should he go back to high school to get his grade 10 academic math, though he has grade 12 applied math and physics. He's 20 so him going into a grade 10 class would be a little hard with the maturity gap. Should he spend the money to go to college just so he could can refresh his math? That's a lot of money if you ask me. I found this site https://testreadypro.com/courseshop/products/114.html
but I don't know how trust worthy that is and my understanding is you can only write the CFAT twice. Through high school he took tech classes at a tech school and all too. I was under the impression that if you are two points off you can be exempt. Anything that could guide me in the right direction to help out my friend would be great. I am also in the CF already myself, NavRes right now waiting on a transfer to RegForce so it doesn't need to be dumbed down.

Thankyou

 

[infantryian]

    I imagine that getting his grade 10 math wouldn't be a bad idea for a CFAT rewrite. As for the stigma, most school boards do offer a remedial high school for adults who dropped out then decided they would like to finish. Perhaps contacting the local school board might be the best bet to finding a good place to attend. If there aren't any options available, I know I would rather pay to take a couple remedial classes rather than going back to high school.
    As for the CFAT, I have heard from two high ranking members of the CFRC in my city that the CFAT is only to be written twice, although the Captain in charge did mention that exceptions are sometimes made for people who demonstrate a significant academic improvement. I read that to mean that either achieving a high school diploma or GED when one did not exist before, or earning a post secondary diploma/degree of some kind. It is also quite possible that it could mean that an upgrade in maths (assuming that was the deficient area) would be enough. I did not ask too much detail because it was not an issue for me.

 

[Mudshuvel]

Welcome to the forums. Depending on what province you are in, there are options through most community colleges for online schooling and I'm pretty sure that 10 or 11 math is part of it. Through nbcc I was able to get the online course material for free but to actually do the full course with credit it was a hundred or so. So whether it's you or him or whoever, that is one option. But normally I'd a rewrite is needed there was more than one point of opportunity than math that is forcing it. Of course, that is my impression of it. Before rewriting I would strongly suggest you look into improving math skills to ensure you don't have to wait the year or so to rewrite again.

 

[DirtyDog]

Agreed. Mentioning that "it is not that hard at all"..serves no purpose but to boost your self esteem and/or lower that of the applicant who was unsuccessful.

Sure, it might be discouraging to those that failed, I can understand that.  When I went through the recruiting process and was told to not worry, it isn't that hard, and it's a hard test to "study" for anyway I took that advice to heart and went into the test confident and unworried.  I'm a high school drop out who had like a 55% average for the classes I managed to make it to.  I also didn't pick up a text book or really even use any acedemic skills (writing, math) for the 10+ years in between high school and the military.  Going into the test, assured that it was "easy", I had very little stress, finished up in good time and qualified for every trade.  Worked for me.

 

[Michael OLeary]

Rating the CFAT as "easy" or "hard" is a circular assessment. It's "easy" for those who have the aptitudes we are looking for, and it's "hard" for those who do not. In neither case is it a direct assessment of general intelligence, common sense or overall life potential. It's just a measure of whether the applicant meets our generic expectations for employment in the CF. The difficulty occurs when someone who has spent months or years convincing themselves they belong in the military finds out through the CFAT that perhaps they don't.

 

[Mudshuvel]

The CFAT is there to see where you personally stand. Its to see how suitable you are for X trade. Spatial Orientation (Folded paper diagrams etc) can not be taught, either you understand it, or you don't. Its not there to call anyone stupid, its there to make sure you are able to stand on your own feet in a trade.

Hypothetically, if you had two applicants for one position as a math teacher do a small test, one scores higher in math and the other in french but the french wiz seems cooler, think of the mistake you would have made if you hadn't had them take the test. Its there to make sure the right people go in the right areas. I know that analogy was horrible, but even those who write the CFAT and are approved to be a LCIS Tech sometimes don't stick with the trades they were approved for.

They still allow rewrites (from what I read) while you're in the Forces.

 

[SOES_vet]

Spatial Orientation (Folded paper diagrams etc) can not be taught, either you understand it, or you don't.

There is some truth to this because in theory, an aptitude test will yield identical results for any large group of people. AKA, for a large number of people taking the test, the results will yield a bell curve via law of large numbers. That said, an aptitude test is just a test. All tests have a methodology behind how they were written and have a reasoning behind each type or style of question. It is possible to study for an IQ test or an aptitude test. A quick google search will yield plenty of test preparation materials. Even for a spacial orientation style of test, patterns behaviours , types and styles of questions can be practiced. There is only so much they can come up with or throw at people.

As an example of test prep. material (first google hit I got)

http://www.psychometric-success.com/aptitude-tests/spatial-ability-tests.htm

Disclaimer 1: I am not affiliated with the above website or any of the companies entities!

Disclaimer 2: I am not advocating that the CFAT is a bad test or that people have to "beat the system." I honestly believe that in some instances, aptitude tests are unfair because they make the assumption that everyone is educated, brought up, and are exposed to the exact same environmental factors. This is why people from different countries, even close cultural ones, always do more poorly when presented with a foreign aptitude test. In reality, their mental abilities, as a sample, are identical.

http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all?content=10.1080/13803390490510824  <---- reference for those that care

For some of you that are having trouble with the CFAT, in my opinion, it may not be that you are not well suited but that you are not yet well prepared enough. In which case, I think some prep may be appropriate.

One caveat: studies have shown that even the most intense preparation only results in increases, on IQ tests, of 10-25 points. Probably not enough to get everyone into Mensa, but may be a good sign for those that are able people but are having trouble passing the CFAT.

 

[Chirch]

How many time can you take the CFAT?

 

[aesop081]

How many time can you take the CFAT?

Only once. If it is unsuccessful, you will be taged and prohibited from aproaching within 200 meters of a CFRC.