AFCAT Syllabus: Subject Wise Topics, Pattern and EKT

Selection stages after the written test

The written paper only opens the door. The IAF calls candidates above its written cut off to the Air Force Selection Board, and the final merit list is drawn from the AFCAT score together with AFSB performance, subject to medical fitness.

1. AFCAT online test: common to all branches.
2. EKT: taken by Ground Duty (Technical) applicants, the aeronautical engineer branches.
3. AFSB: Stage 1 has an officer intelligence rating test and a picture perception and discussion test. Those who clear it move to Stage 2 over the following days, where psychologists, group testing officers and an interviewing officer each assess you.
4. Computerised Pilot Selection System (CPSS): for Flying Branch candidates.
5. Medical examination at an Air Force medical establishment.

AFCAT exam pattern subject wise

Every correct response is worth 3, every incorrect one pulls 1 off your total, and an untouched item stays at zero. The same penalty applies in the EKT. The notification names the four subject areas but does not lock a per section question count, and coaching estimates of the split disagree, so prepare all four rather than betting on one.

AFCAT English syllabus

Verbal Ability in English rewards steady practice more than any other section. Expect these question types:

• Reading comprehension passages with factual and inference questions
• Cloze test and fill in the blanks
• Error detection and sentence correction
• Sentence completion and sentence rearrangement
• Synonyms, antonyms and testing of vocabulary in context
• Idioms and phrases
• Analogies and replacing a phrase with a single word

Because most English items are short, a well read candidate can finish them fast and save time for numerical questions.

General awareness and numerical ability topics

General Awareness

• History of India, especially the freedom struggle
• Maps, rivers, climate and resources of India and other continents
• The Constitution, Parliament and how Indian polity works
• Economy and basic economic terms
• Everyday science drawn from school physics, chemistry and biology
• Defence: aircraft, missiles, exercises, ranks and military history
• Sports, art and culture, awards, national and international organisations
• Current affairs of national and international importance

Numerical Ability

• Number system, decimal fractions and simplification
• Least common multiple and highest common factor
• Percentage, averages, ratio and proportion
• Interest sums of both kinds, with profit and loss
• Joint work and pipe filling sums, plus trains, boats and average speed
• Mixtures and allegation, clocks

The maths is roughly Class 10 standard; speed and accuracy decide marks, not advanced theory.

Reasoning and military aptitude

This section combines verbal logic, figure puzzles and items designed to test spatial sense, which matters for an officer and especially for aircrew.

• Verbal reasoning: odd one out, word and number analogy, letter series, coded words, kinship puzzles, which way someone faces, syllogism, statements with conclusions, Venn diagrams.
• Non verbal reasoning: embedded figures, completing a figure series, reflections in a mirror or water, pattern completion, paper folding and cutting.
• Spatial and military aptitude: dot situation, rotated blocks, cube counting and hidden figures.

Spatial questions are where most first time candidates lose marks, because school exams rarely train them. Ten minutes of figure practice every day fixes this faster than long weekend sessions.

EKT syllabus for technical branches

The Engineering Knowledge Test checks core undergraduate engineering for the Aeronautical Engineer (Electronics) and Aeronautical Engineer (Mechanical) branches. Pick the stream linked to your own engineering degree:

• Mechanical: thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, strength of materials, theory of machines, manufacturing, engineering drawing and materials.
• Computer Science: data structures, algorithms, computer networks, operating systems, digital logic, computer architecture and programming basics.
• Electrical and Electronics: electrical circuits, electronic devices, digital and analogue electronics, control systems, signals, communication, electrical machines and power basics.

Topics listed here are drawn from the detailed EKT syllabus, which also includes allied fundamentals such as engineering maths. Download the latest version from the AFCAT portal because branch rules can change.

Is there a new AFCAT syllabus change this cycle

The four subject areas, the 100 question format and the plus 3, minus 1 marking have stayed stable across recent cycles, so there is no new syllabus in the sense of new subjects. What does shift from batch to batch are vacancies, branch lists, eligibility dates and entry routes; the IAF has also run a GATE based route for some technical vacancies. Treat each cycle's notification as the final word.

Books and a plan for the AFCAT paper

• Build the static general awareness base from NCERT Class 8 to 10 textbooks, covering the past, maps, the Constitution and science.
• Read one national newspaper daily and keep short notes on defence news, appointments and exercises.
• Practise arithmetic from any standard quantitative aptitude book, chapter by chapter, against a timer.
• Solve past AFCAT papers from the official portal or a past paper collection to learn the level of reasoning and spatial questions.
• For AFSB, start reading about officer like qualities early; it is not a syllabus you can cram after the result.

Students preparing for CDS or NDA will find the English and general knowledge parts overlap heavily with AFCAT.