Canadian Forces Aptitude Test (CFAT) [MERGED]

[Bluebulldog]

When I did my BMQ in Hamilton on weekends in the fall of 2010 we had one or two folks who were from the HMCS Star.

Has that changed since then?

 

[Nfld Sapper]

When I did my BMQ in Hamilton on weekends in the fall of 2010 we had one or two folks who were from the HMCS Star.

Has that changed since then?

WB was last fall, and they (HMCS STAR) were not pleased with the end product from that bmq....

 

[Allgunzblazing]

This is only wishful thinking on my part - I wish Army Reservists could also do their BMQ at St. Jean.

 

[chrisf]

If BMQ is the most signifigant thing in your career either reserve or regular force, it's a sad career.

You'll have plenty of opportunities to do plenty of other interesting or awesome things.

 

[Oompah-Loompah@]

RCN and RCAF Reservists do 13(?) weeks of BMQ in CFB Borden.  It's only the Army Reserve* that does it either on weekends in the fall or full time for a month in the summer.

*Not sure if the RCN and RCAF Reservists can do weekend BMQs or not,  I just know of the full time one in Borden.

There are also full time BMQ courses running with CG during the year.

 

[brihard]

There are also full time BMQ courses running with CG during the year.

No they do not. They run one in the mid to late spring immediately prior to the public duties season and with the sole intention of being able to put drill monkeys on parade. CG exists as a bare skeleton organization inthe off season and, I can assure you, does not run BMQs.

This year there were also one or two full time reserve BMQs run in Meaford in the spring.

 

[Bluebulldog]

WB was last fall, and they (HMCS STAR) were not pleased with the end product from that bmq....

They must have elected to run candidates both years then, because indeed it was Fall 2010 when I did mine for the 2nd go round. BMQ1008.

 

[Oompah-Loompah@]

No they do not. They run one in the mid to late spring immediately prior to the public duties season and with the sole intention of being able to put drill monkeys on parade. CG exists as a bare skeleton organization inthe off season and, I can assure you, does not run BMQs.

This year there were also one or two full time reserve BMQs run in Meaford in the spring.

Alas, I am poorly informed.

This here shows the reason why reading more, posting less is a good philosophy.

Your point coincides on how some of my fellow recruits finished BMQ at the same time as my course, yet were sworn in three months later.

 

[brihard]

Alas, I am poorly informed.

This here shows the reason why reading more, posting less is a good philosophy.

Your point coincides on how some of my fellow recruits finished BMQ at the same time as my course, yet were sworn in three months later.

Hot damn, a new guy who gets it! Good stuff. Enjoy CG.  >

 

[Rcmpwarrior]

Ive been reading the aptitude test thread on the website and i can't seem to find anything on what type of math, i know theres fractions, decimals, long division, is there anything else?

 

[Allgunzblazing]

There is a sample question paper on the CF website.

One of the things I did to prepare for the aptitude test was this -

a. 100 long division problems;
b. 100 mutiplication problems;
c. 100 addition problems;
d. 100 subtration problems.

In all these I used big numbers, often with decimals included.

If you'd like more tips on the aptitude test, shoot me a PM.

Cheers.

 

[jrst]

There are also sequences.  Like Allgunz said, there is a sample test on the CF website, but the actual test is harder than the practice one.

 

[Allgunzblazing]

Thanks jrst - forgot about those darn sequences!

I can't stress enough - the aptitude test needs dedicated preparation. Some of my friends (who're in the CF) told me that "its a piece of cake". Thankfully, I filtered this advice they had given me  .

 

[Good2Golf]

I can't stress enough - the aptitude test needs dedicated preparation.

Probably a few of us wondering, "just what kind of dedicated preparation"?  ???


Regards
G2G

 

[aesop081]

I can't stress enough - the aptitude test needs dedicated preparation. Some of my friends (who're in the CF) told me that "its a piece of cake". Thankfully, I filtered this advice they had given me  .

I'm in the CF. It is a piece of cake.

Probably a few of us wondering, "just what kind of dedicated preparation"?  ???

Indeed. All i knew is that there was a test that day but nothing about what was on it. Kids these days........

 

[brian8225]

I'm going to politely disagree with some of the comments in here. f you haven't been in high school for 10 years (me) it isn't a piece of cake.

I grabbed a couple of GED prep books from the library for the math sections (thanks to advice on these boards) and they helped me out with the math section. That being said, I didn't blow my brains out and spent roughly 15 hours doing math problems from the GED books.

I wrote 2 weeks ago and qualified for my preferred trade, pilot. You don't get a score, just a yes/no, but I was told my math scores were exceptional. They wouldn't have been as good without preparing for this. Some prep is highly recommended and you'd be stupid not to prepare for it which is true for anything in life regardless of how awesome you think you are or how easy you think something is. The language section, there's really no way that I could see preparing for it. Spatial is on the fence, maybe some practice tests can help you there but really that's something you have or don't have.

I would rather score as high as I can given the level of competitiveness than just assume it is cake and squeak by or fail.

 

[Good2Golf]

I'm going to politely disagree with some of the comments in here. f you haven't been in high school for 10 years (me) it isn't a piece of cake.

I grabbed a couple of GED prep books from the library for the math sections (thanks to advice on these boards) and they helped me out with the math section. That being said, I didn't blow my brains out and spent roughly 15 hours doing math problems from the GED books.

I wrote 2 weeks ago and qualified for my preferred trade, pilot. You don't get a score, just a yes/no, but I was told my math scores were exceptional. They wouldn't have been as good without preparing for this. Some prep is highly recommended and you'd be stupid not to prepare for it which is true for anything in life regardless of how awesome you think you are or how easy you think something is. The language section, there's really no way that I could see preparing for it. Spatial is on the fence, maybe some practice tests can help you there but really that's something you have or don't have.

I would rather score as high as I can given the level of competitiveness than just assume it is cake and squeak by or fail.

Perhaps you may have felt that way, but the CFAT is designed as a true "aptitude" test, not a 'knowledge," "achievement" or a "proficiency" test.  It was designed expressly to assess innate capability, upon which future learning in the CF would build by training and education upon one of a number of suitable bases of training and learning identified, in part, by analysis of the candidate's CFAT results.

I'm sure that you felt more confident having done some GED review work, but I am also quite confident having been involved in development of a number of test currently in CF service (aptitude, knowledge, proficiency), that there is an extremely low statistical likelihood that "studying" for a CF aptitude type test will yield a quantifiable and demonstrable difference from not having "studied" for the test. 

Since you made reference to mathematics, I will note that some tests, while called "aptitude" tests, are not pure aptitude tests in the true definition sense of the word, but rather a blend of aptitude and knowledge assessment, SATs being a good example.  The CFAT, however, is not a hybrid like the SATs.

Regards
G2G

 

[brian8225]

I'm not sure studying is the right word or what was I was implying. Most math tests require some knowledge of arithmetic operations which aren't necessarily innate.

Going through the GED book, there were problem types that I haven't touched in 15 years, so a refresher on how to do them was definitely helpful. I believe, based on anecdotal evidence of course , that becoming more familiar with the process of doing high school type math questions makes you better at doing them. Doing some high school math at least got my brain firing in the right direction. Being confident/prepared also helped me (again, anecdotal) and is probably correlated to scores in some capacity.

It is definitely not a knowledge dump, completely agree there, and someone who is good or bad at math will likely have correlating results. If 15 hours got me 1-2 extra points, great, if not, no loss to me other than some time. For me it's an easy cost/benefit decision, where the cost is just some time and effort, and the benefit was nil or a couple of points.

Long way of saying I don't see the harm in doing some practice questions when there is no real cost and only possible upside. I'd feel like an idiot if I went in cold and failed, or suggested to someone that they should go in cold and miss out on their goals.

 

[Good2Golf]

Long way of saying I don't see the harm in doing some practice questions when there is no real cost and only possible upside. I'd feel like an idiot if I went in cold and failed, or suggested to someone that they should go in cold and miss out on their goals.

Absolutely, but so too should people manage unrealistic expectations thinking that studying certain material will help them perform significantly better on a test designed to identify the nature of their intrinsic aptitudes.


Regards
G2G

 

[The_Falcon]

As the bare minimum requirement for entry into the CF is completion of grade 10, the math portion is equivalent to grade 10 math.