AFCAT syllabus 2026 has four sections and the paper is 100 questions for 300 marks in 120 minutes, an online CBT in English with +3 correct and -1 wrong marking, plus the EKT for technical candidates.
The AFCAT syllabus 2026 covers four sections in one paper: General Awareness, Verbal Ability in English, Numerical Ability at Class 10 level, and Reasoning and Military Aptitude. The AFCAT paper is 100 questions for 300 marks in 120 minutes, taken as an online CBT in English only, with +3 marks for a correct answer, -1 for a wrong answer and 0 for an unattempted one. There is no sectional lock, so you move through the full 120-minute window in any order.
AFCAT stands for the Air Force Common Admission Test, conducted by the Indian Air Force (IAF) twice a year to recruit officers into the Flying, Ground Duty (Technical) and Ground Duty (Non-Technical) branches. This guide gives you the exact pattern, the four-section weightage, the full topic-level syllabus, how the Engineering Knowledge Test (EKT) fits in for technical candidates, and the complete selection process, along with our first-party read that Reasoning and Military Aptitude is the largest scoring block in the AFCAT paper.
The AFCAT 2026 paper is 100 questions for 300 marks in 120 minutes, delivered as an online computer-based test (CBT) in English only. Marking is +3 for a correct answer, -1 for a wrong answer and 0 for an unattempted question. There is no sectional lock and no separate time per section, so you can attempt all 100 questions in any order within the single 120-minute window.
| Feature | AFCAT paper |
|---|---|
| Total questions | 100 |
| Total marks | 300 |
| Duration | 120 minutes |
| Marking (correct) | +3 |
| Marking (wrong) | -1 |
| Unattempted | 0 |
| Mode | Online CBT |
| Language | English only |
| Sectional lock | None |
The +3 and -1 rule is the single most important number to internalise. A wrong answer does not just deny you 3 marks; it costs a net 4-mark swing versus a correct answer, because you drop the 3 you could have earned and lose 1 more. So blind guessing is expensive. When you can eliminate two options and choose between the remaining two, the odds tilt in your favour, but a pure random pick across four options is a losing bet over a full paper. Treat every attempt as a decision, not a reflex.
AFCAT has four sections: General Awareness, Verbal Ability in English, Numerical Ability and Reasoning and Military Aptitude. The Indian Air Force does not fix a rigid per-section count, so the split varies between papers within known ranges: General Awareness roughly 20 to 25 questions, Verbal Ability in English roughly 25 to 30, Numerical Ability roughly 15 to 18, and Reasoning and Military Aptitude roughly 28 to 35.
| Section | Approx. questions |
|---|---|
| General Awareness | 20 to 25 |
| Verbal Ability in English | 25 to 30 |
| Numerical Ability | 15 to 18 |
| Reasoning and Military Aptitude | 28 to 35 |
| Total | 100 |
Treat these counts as ranges, not guarantees; the IAF can shift the mix from one cycle to the next, so always confirm against the live AFCAT notification and admit card instructions. From our own reading of AFCAT-style papers, Reasoning and Military Aptitude is consistently the largest block and the biggest score-swinger, while Verbal Ability in English is the next heaviest. Because every question carries the same 3 marks regardless of section, your preparation should track the question count: the two largest sections, Reasoning and Military Aptitude and English, deserve the most practice time.
The AFCAT syllabus spans four subjects at graduate-entry level for General Awareness and English, and Class 10 level for Numerical Ability. The topics below are the standard coverage the Indian Air Force tests across cycles; the exact spread of questions shifts between papers, but the topic universe stays stable.
General Awareness: history, geography, civics and polity, general science, current affairs and current events, environment, sports, art and culture, defence and Indian Armed Forces awareness, basic economics and geopolitics. This is direct-recall knowledge with no calculation, so it rewards a steady reading habit over the last 12 months plus solid static general knowledge (GK).
Verbal Ability in English: comprehension passages, error detection, sentence completion and fill in the blanks, synonyms and antonyms, vocabulary, idioms and phrases, and testing of spelling and basic grammar. This is a graduate-level English section, so wide reading and a strong working vocabulary carry you far.
Numerical Ability: Class 10 or matriculation arithmetic only, not graduate quant. It covers decimals and fractions, simplification, percentage, ratio and proportion, average, profit and loss, simple interest and compound interest, time and work, time and distance and speed, and the number system. Because the level is capped at Class 10, speed and accuracy on standard arithmetic, not advanced technique, decide your score here.
Reasoning and Military Aptitude: verbal and non-verbal reasoning, spatial ability, analogies, series, coding and decoding, and the spatial and figure-based patterns the Air Force uses to gauge officer-like aptitude. This is the largest block and the one that most separates candidates, so give it the most practice, especially the non-verbal and spatial question types that reward pattern drilling.
The Engineering Knowledge Test (EKT) is an additional paper taken only by Ground Duty (Technical) candidates, right after the AFCAT paper on the same day. It is 50 questions for 150 marks in 45 minutes, with +3 for a correct answer and -1 for a wrong answer, in English only. Candidates applying for Flying and Ground Duty (Non-Technical) branches do not sit the EKT.
The EKT tests fundamental engineering plus your specialist stream: Mechanical, Computer Science, or Electrical and Electronics. It carries a common fundamental-engineering component along with stream-specific questions, so a Ground Duty (Technical) candidate must clear both the AFCAT paper and the EKT to progress. If you are applying for a technical branch, plan your revision so that AFCAT preparation and EKT stream revision run in parallel, because both papers land on the same test day back to back.
AFCAT selection runs in four stages: the AFCAT written paper (plus the EKT for technical candidates), then the Air Force Selection Board (AFSB) interview, then the medical examination, and finally the merit list. The AFSB itself has two stages: Stage 1 is a screening of officer intelligence and picture perception, and Stage 2 is the multi-day Psychological tests, Group Testing Officer (GTO) tasks and Interview.
After you clear the AFCAT cut-off (and the EKT if you are a technical applicant), you are called to an AFSB for Stage 1 screening; only those who clear Stage 1 continue to Stage 2. Clearing the AFSB, then the medical, and then ranking high enough on the final merit list earns a commission. The Indian Air Force conducts AFCAT twice a year, so AFCAT 1 typically runs around February and AFCAT 2 around August. The 2026 cycles, AFCAT 1 on 31 January 2026 and AFCAT 2 on 8 August 2026, are already done; the next opportunity is expected to be AFCAT 1 2027, with the notification expected around November or December 2026 and the exam expected around February 2027. Treat these dates as expected and confirm them against the official IAF notification when it is released.
Before you move on: put the pattern into practice with our AFCAT full mock test series, built to the exact 100-question, 300-mark, 120-minute format with +3/-1 marking so your attempt strategy is realistic from day one. For a complete study plan, read our AFCAT 2027 preparation strategy guide, and to see what the job offers, our AFCAT salary and job profile guide. Browse every defence and government test series on the Quiz4Exam exams page.
Yes. AFCAT applies +3 marks for every correct answer and -1 mark for every wrong answer, while an unattempted question scores 0. Because a wrong answer both denies 3 marks and deducts 1, it costs a net 4-mark swing versus answering correctly, so blind guessing is expensive and you should only attempt when you can eliminate options.
The AFCAT paper has 100 questions for 300 marks, to be answered in 120 minutes as an online CBT. The questions are spread across four sections: General Awareness, Verbal Ability in English, Numerical Ability and Reasoning and Military Aptitude. Ground Duty (Technical) candidates also take the EKT, an extra 50-question paper.
The AFCAT syllabus has four sections. General Awareness covers history, geography, polity, science, current affairs, sports and defence. Verbal Ability in English tests comprehension, grammar, vocabulary and error detection. Numerical Ability is Class 10 arithmetic. Reasoning and Military Aptitude covers verbal, non-verbal and spatial reasoning, and is the largest block.
EKT is the Engineering Knowledge Test, an additional paper only for Ground Duty (Technical) candidates, taken on the same day after the AFCAT paper. It is 50 questions for 150 marks in 45 minutes with +3/-1 marking, in English only, and covers fundamental engineering plus your stream: Mechanical, Computer Science, or Electrical and Electronics.
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No. AFCAT is conducted in English only; it is not a bilingual exam and has no Hindi option in the question paper. Both the AFCAT paper and the EKT are set in English. Verbal Ability in English is itself a scored section, so a strong command of English helps across the whole paper, not just that section.
