Canadian Forces Aptitude Test (CFAT) [MERGED]

[Danjanou]

Ok question asked and answered and thread locked.

 

[steve_10509]

Hey. I wrote the CFAT way back in October 2006. Scored high on it, and qualified for pilot and everything below. I discovered a helpful website before I wrote. Its "http://www.publicserviceprep.com/" It gives you 5 tests designed very similarly to the actual CFAT. (Also gives you some other tests for other jobs) All of the tests are timed as well which is great. After each test, it tells you what the correct answer is, and how to get the correct answer. It's fantastic for revamping math skills, and DEFINITELY helps your mind get ready for the tricky spatial awareness questions. It's slightly expensive, but money well spent. They offer a money back guarantee as well. If you fail the test, you just have to get proof of it. I'm not sure if the CF will give you that, because they won't even tell you how you scored on the test. Anyways, hope it helps at least one person out there.

 

[Gimpy]

Hey. I wrote the CFAT way back in October 2007. Scored high on it, and qualified for pilot and everything below. I discovered a helpful website before I wrote. Its "http://www.publicserviceprep.com/" It gives you 5 tests designed very similarly to the actual CFAT. (Also gives you some other tests for other jobs) All of the tests are timed as well which is great. After each test, it tells you what the correct answer is, and how to get the correct answer. It's fantastic for revamping math skills, and DEFINITELY helps your mind get ready for the tricky spatial awareness questions. It's slightly expensive, but money well spent. They offer a money back guarantee as well. If you fail the test, you just have to get proof of it. I'm not sure if the CF will give you that, because they won't even tell you how you scored on the test. Anyways, hope it helps at least one person out there.

Its very suprising that you wrote the CFAT way back several months in the future, and also that as you're first post here you decided to promote a near $200 service. For the love of god do not spend $200 on information for the aptitude test. There is tons of free content on the internet that will help you as much if not more than expensive services.

Here is one of the free ones I used:
http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/tests/mathstest.htm
This one is a math specific aptitude test and its very helpful, I used it prior to my CFAT and managed to score in the 97th percentile. Very helpful site.

Also if you follow the site back to the root of the tests:
http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/psychotests.htm
Here you will find 6 other specific aptitude tests that will help you in other areas. I didn't use these because I was very confident in the language sections but they could definitely be very helpful if you are unsure about those topics.

 

[steve_10509]

Human error. The human race is not perfect. I was not forcing my preparation tactics on you, or anyone else. I simply posted a response to a question. It is an option, and some people may choose to use it and others may not. By the way, 127 is closer to 100, not 200, and "it's" requires an apostrophe in the context you used it. Smarten up, try not to be so disrespectful, and read the code of conduct that you agreed to.

 

[Gimpy]

Human error. The human race is not perfect. I was not forcing my preparation tactics on you, or anyone else. I simply posted a response to a question. It is an option, and some people may choose to use it and others may not. By the way, 127 is closer to 100, not 200, and "it's" requires an apostrophe in the context you used it. Smarten up, try not to be so disrespectful, and read the code of conduct that you agreed to.

The $127 deal is only for 9 more days and then after that its back to $197 and they say its fully refundable if you fail and you don't recieve a physical copy of your CFAT so if you fail thats $200 wasted. There are plenty of free sites on the internet for which you can study without spending $200. I don't see whats so disrespectful about pointing out an obvious waste of money. Even if you don't want to spend that much money there are places on the net that will help you for under $50. Oh and thank you for pointing out my stupidity because I forgot to add an apostrophe  :.

Futhermore on examing the site you gave while it may not be so obvious it is a very shady website. It says 100% risk free, but only if you abide by their many rules.

1. Refund request must be submitted within 30 days of receiving your test results and is limited to one refund request per client.
2. You must submit by email or fax a copy of your test results from the PSC or government agency you applied to indicating that you were unsuccessful.
3. You must have completed a minimum of  five (5) practice tests you are studying for and not performed any practice tests after the date of the testing, which you failed.
4. If you are preparing for more than one exam, you are only entitled to a 50% refund unless you fail all exams for which you are preparing.
5. Refunds will be mailed to clients within 15 business days after refund request has been assessed. PublicServicePrep reserves the right to omit, change or edit the terms and  agreement at anytime without advance notice to it's clients.

So you must get a physical copy of you're CFAT, which they won't give you. You have to practice a minimum of 5 times, and you're not allowed to take another practice after you've failed the CFAT. Thats ridiculous, if you paid $200 for a service why shouldn't you be able to use it as much as you want. The whole site is very shady and I doubt that its worth the $200 spent.

 

[MediTech]

Dear Mods,

Please close this thread.  It's going off topic.  I think the first poster answered this guy's question.

 

[steve_10509]

It never goes up to 197. It's been at that price since last August. It isn't a shady website. They have technical support as well, and have many books published by the same company. (Ex, One for the RCMP) The refund policy isn't only based on if you fail. If you're unsatisfied, they refund your money. They offered to refund my money given that it doesn't work with Mac OS. I don't see how spending the money from one day of work on something that will help you get a career is a waste of money. If you fail, big deal. I'd rather fail knowing that I did everything that I could to prepare. Do people not spend tens of thousands of dollars on a university degree without a guaranteed job at the end? Seems as though, in your opinion, a degree is a waste of money as well. Honestly, I don't see why this is such a big deal to you. If you feel that your arrogant opinion is something that everyone has to hear about, then become a politician.

 

[amyliak]

Hi All,

I've been cruising this site for a year while going through the recruitment process and would like to thank everyone for their helpful tips.

I have seen a number of inquiries re: the study tips for the CFAT. Before writing the CFAT myself I had read in the Ottawa Citizen (sorry , don't remember the date) that applicants to any of the federal employers, Canadian Forces included, improved their aptitude grades by an average of 15% if they had gone through the test once before being graded on it. Armed with that handy stat I went out and purchased an aptitude test workbook (Chapters $20) and worked through the exercises for a few weeks before writing my test. In the areas which I was already skilled it made little difference; however in the areas which needed improvement I increased my scores by 100% in a three week period through practice and familiarization.

Furthermore, I was not happy with my times solving problems relating to geometry so I went on to some geometry websites (high school level) and played around there for a while. This proved incredibly helpful as it had been years since I'd taken high school math and all those theories I'd learned years before came back to me quite quickly.

After all was said and done I performed beautifully on my CFAT and when I went for my subsequent interview the fact that I had gone to lengths to prepare myself for the entire recruiting process was viewed favourably by the team which interviewed me. Upon completion of my recruitment process I was offered a position which was even more exciting and challenging than the one I had originally applied for.

In my experience the Canadian Forces are not only looking for the bright candidates, but more importantly, committed personnel who are willing to stretch their strengths and combat their weaknesses to perform most effectively for the good of their country.

 

[kincanucks]

Amazing but nothing new.  A test designed on Gr 10 Math and English shouldn't be difficult for anyone with Gr 10+ education.  Perhaps we can get this appended to the other 40 million+ pages of CFAT nausea?

 

[Blackthorne]

If you feel that your arrogant opinion is something that everyone has to hear about, then become a politician.

He's free to express his opinion just as you are. I found none of his posts to be insulting or outside of the code.

YOU are coming off as a whiny bitch.

 

[steve_10509]

You didn't, I did. Some people are so disrespectful. It's disgusting.

 

[jbloom]

To anybody who is worrying about taking the CFAT, I would tell you don't worry just study.  I just came back from doing the test and I passed and qualified for all the trades.

At first I was so worried.  What helped me was taking the advice of others on this site and studying.
Take those online tests and you'll be prepared for the CFAT.  After doing the gov't test for a couple days,
I stopped worrying, because I was doing well on them and felt confident. Trust me you'll do fine If you study and practice.

Personally I found the CFAT easy. I really can't believe people failed this test.

 

[stealthylizard]

When I had first taken it back a few years ago, I never had a problem with the math.  My problem was with figuring out the gears.  I don't know what my score was, and as far as I know, I wasn't disqualified from any trades.  We all have our strengths and weaknesses.  Just find out what your weak spot is and work on that specific area.

 

[steve_10509]

I ordered the public service prep. It's legit. It mostly helps you wrap your brain around the idea of spatial awareness. They're all timed and stuff. I did the CFAT awhile ago, and found Public service prep fairly helpful. You can probably find other stuff on the internet for free, but  public service prep gives you a lot of confidence going in. My friend used the same company for preparing for the RCMP aptitude test. He's a constable now.  You can spend the money, or not. Just depends on how bad you want the job lol.  Approx 130 bucks in exchange for a dream job? Sweet deal

 

[amyliak]

Hi All,

Is the CFAT the same for officers and NCM's?

 

[Nfld Sapper]

Hi All,

Is the CFAT the same for officers and NCM's?

[sarcasim] What you think it would be different?? [/sarcasim]

CFAT is the same for everyone applying to the CF

 

[Franko]

This thread is now locked.

Usual caveats apply.

The Army.ca Staff

 

[JamieR]

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, come one come all, time for another drawn out Cfat thread! 

Actually my intention is to ease some minds, so for the folks who are about to undergo the game of fear, I would like to give some hints and tips of the do's and dont's.

When I went in for my CFAT my recruiter gave me a web address to a "Practice Cfat" Which was actually a pratice GCT Level 2, testing general aptitude for what I assume as some government jobs. I scored fairly low in this (66) and was worried about it so I went in to talk to my recruiter and he said if I scored 66 then theres nothing to worry about. Problem is most of the practice questions in the math section I took guesses at , not knowing how to get the equasion to get the correct answer. My mistake was not studying math after this point. Math Is VERY important I hear this echoing in my head from junior and senior high school teachers.. back to the story,


So I took the CFAT and its harder then what had been provided in the pratice GCT and the pamplets, was I in over my head. I was given a list of very limited trades that were available to me and told I can take the test ONCE more, but if I fail then I loose the jobs available to me now,  and I cannot take the test again unless serious upgrading is proven. So then the recruiter gave me a very useful site www.Math.com This will teach you addition , subtraction, division , multiplication of fractions, and decimels and percentage. Which is the bigest thing you will need After spending two weeks testing myself on this site and relearning highschool math and taking every practice aptitude test I could find on the net(and this site) I went back wrote the test for the second and final time. When I walked in I almost threw up and asked to speak to the recruiter I spoke with before, to tell him I think im going to take whats available and not risk re-doing the test. He wasent available so I went in the test room when It was time, after some very sweaty first few questions everything went by as a breeze and I qualified for all trades.

They say you cant "learn aptitude" the practice of simple math allowed me to pick the carrier I want and open up my future for more movement., Also a nother thing, If you go in and get a low score on the CFAT, and you just take one of those trades available but plan to switch later on, you can only switch to somthing you had already qualified for!

If you have a weekness in math or dont remember fractions and decmels, take the time, If you do what I say and what many on this site have said you wont have a problem in the math portion. a few hours a day or night or weekend is well worth the carrier you want !!


Sorry for starting another CFAT thread. but I hope this post may help some people out on my mistake Take the time, Learn the math, As for the folding shapes, its a bit harder to learn that stuff, but you can find many practice tests on the internet that will help in your ability to pick them out.

 

[gaspasser]

I don't know why there is so much stress over the CFAT.  I've taken it twice and scored very high in all categories.  Just go do it and don't stress out about your answers, it is a test to determine what you are best suited for and the interview mor or less determines what interests you.  So that you can choose an appropriate career path.
My 0.02 worth.

 

[Mike Baker]

Good post. I have done the pratice one many times, and done very well all the time.