AFCAT Syllabus 2023 - Latest Exam Pattern & EKT Syllabus

AFCAT Syllabus 2023 – The AFCAT exam pattern and syllabus is set by the Indian Air Force. Aspirants of the examination need to be abreast with the latest exam pattern and AFCAT syllabus in order to ace the AFCAT exam with flying colours. 

The article aims to update candidates with the AFCAT syllabus and exam pattern. Aspirants will get the latest exam pattern of AFCAT and section-wise syllabus in detail. 

AFCAT exam is conducted by the Indian Air Force to recruit personnel to various posts in the Air Force. The examination for AFCAT is conducted twice a year in June and December, respectively. For more details on the AFCAT exam check the link provided. 

Candidates aspiring to appear for other Government exams can go through the latest updates on upcoming exams on the given link.

AFCAT Exam Pattern

The conducting body has divided the AFCAT selection process 2020 into three phases –

• AFCAT Online Exam for all candidates
• EKT (for Technical candidates)
• AFSB Interview
• Final Selection after Medical Examination. 

Exam Pattern of EKT & AFCAT

1. The AFCAT is conducted for Non-Technical candidates.
2. AFCAT is an online exam with objective type questions, having multiple options.
3. Questions will be in English only and will cover these four sections: Verbal Ability, General Awareness, Reasoning and Numerical Ability and Military Aptitude Test.
4. The duration of the AFCAT test is two hours. A total of 100 questions will be asked in the question paper carrying weightage of 300 marks.
5. The EKT exam is Engineer knowledge test. This test is only for candidates who opt for Ground duty technical branch. 
6. Candidates will be given 45 minutes to solve 50 questions in the EKT test. The maximum marks allotted to the exam are 150. The EKT test will carry questions from Mechanical, Computer Science and Electrical & Electronics.

AFCAT Marking Scheme & Important Pointers

1. For each correct answer, candidates will be awarded 3 marks.
2. No marks will be awarded or deducted for questions that are left unattempted.
3. For each wrong answer candidates will lose 1 mark.
4. Marking two answers for one question will be considered a wrong attempt and will deduct 1 mark.
5. Questions will be based on the metric system of Weights & Measures wherever applicable.
6. Candidates are required to secure the minimum qualifying marks to qualify the exam.
7. The Air Force has the discretion to fix qualifying marks in any or all the subjects of the examination.

AFCAT Exam Pattern – AFSB Interview

AFSB interview stands for Air Force Selection Board Interview. Candidates who are able to score the minimum qualifying marks in the online test of AFCAT exam are called for the AFSB interview round. 

Candidates on qualifying the written test are required to log on to the website https://careerindianairforce.cdac.in or https://afcat.cdac.in to choose a date for AFSB interview and venue by themselves and generate call letter for AFSB interview.

The AFSB interview is divided into three stages – 

Stage I – This comprises the OIR – Officer Intelligence Rating Test along with PP&DT – Picture Perception and discussion test. Candidates who qualify the screening test of stage I are subject to document verification and eligibility check for the branches they have applied to.

Candidates can go through the AFCAT eligibility on the linked article.

Stage II – This comprises Psychological test and Group Test & Interview.

Stage III – This test is for Flying Branch. It consists of a test called the Computerised Pilot Selection System – CPSS. This is a once in a lifetime test. Those who fail in this test are not eligible for Flying Training at all. 

Final Selection After Medical Test

IAF prepares a final merit list and selects only the candidates who are able to score the minimum qualifying marks in the AFCAT online exam and the AFSB interview rounds separately. The qualifying marks are set by the Indian Air Force itself. Candidates are placed in the merit order based on the total marks obtained by them in the AFCAT written exam and AFSB interview rounds.

AFCAT Syllabus – Topic-Wise Syllabus for EKT & AFCAT Test

The Indian Air Force reserves the right to set and make changes in the exam pattern and syllabus of AFCAT exam.  

The AFCAT syllabus is classified as follows-

AFCAT Test Syllabus – General Awareness, Verbal Ability in English, Quantitative Ability, Reasoning and Military Aptitude Test. The standard of questions in other subjects except mathematics will be of graduation level. 

EKT Syllabus – Mechanical Engineer, Computer science Engineering, Electrical and Electronics Engineering. 

AFCAT Syllabus English

Questions in this section assess candidates knowledge and proficiency in the English language. Topics covered in this section are Comprehension, Error Detection, Fill in the blanks by choosing the appropriate word. Sentence Completion, Vocabulary, Synonyms and Antonyms, Tenses and Basic Grammar, etc. 

To prepare comprehensively for AFCAT English syllabus refer to the links of English language topics that are asked frequently in the examination:

• List of One Word Substitutions
• Adjective Degree Of Comparison Rules
• Rules for Error Spotting
• List of Homophones/Homonyms
• List of Synonyms and Antonyms
• Active And Passive Voice Rules

For more important topics such as rules and list of prepositions, articles, conjunctions, etc. check general english for competitive exam page link provided above.

Also, go through important questions and answers on English topics for practice and preparation.

• One Word Substitution Questions & Answers
• Sentence Correction Questions
• Tenses Questions And Answers
• Direct & Indirect Speech Questions & Answers

More question and answer articles on important topics of the Verbal Ability section can be found on the linked page.

AFCAT Syllabus Numerical Ability

This section tests the basic mathematics aptitude of the candidates. The standard of Numerical Ability Questions will be of Matriculation level. Candidates preparing for AFCAT exam can check the links given below to complement their mathematics preparation.

1.  Shortcut tricks for Squares and Cube Roots 
2.  Maths Tricks & Shortcuts for Competitive exams

Topics covered in AFCAT Mathematics syllabus are – 

Check out a few concept-based articles that will be helpful to cover up the maths syllabus of AFCAT conveniently- 

1. Alligations and Mixtures
2. Number Series 
3. Quadratic Equations
4. Time and Work
5. Speed, Time & Distance

For more such articles on various mathematics topics, check the Quantitative Aptitude page linked here.

AFCAT Syllabus General Ability

The General Ability tests the knowledge of candidates relating to happening in and around the world. The topics are History, Geography, Civics, Politics, Current Affairs, Environment, Basic Science, Defence, Art, Culture, Sports, etc.

For the preparation of this section important topics that candidates must go through are listed below:

• List of Neighbouring Countries of India
• List of Highest Mountains in India
• List of Longest Rivers in the World
• Tennis Grand Slam Winners
• List if Indian Ambassadors to Foreign Countries
• List of Indian Navy Chief Admirals

More such topics on general awareness are given on the Static GK page, check the link provided. 

For the preparation of current affairs candidates can check the following links

• Daily Current Affairs
• Daily News Analysis

AFCAT Syllabus Reasoning & Military Aptitude Test

Candidates are tested for their Verbal Skills and Spatial Ability in this section. This section covers the following topics-

• Data interpretation
• Sets based on arrangements
• Embedded Figure
• Missing Character
• Rotated blocks
• Analogy
• Hidden figures

For the reasoning section of AFCAT syllabus candidates can go through the given links for conceptual knowledge and comprehensive preparation:

• Statement and Conclusions
• Seating Arrangements
• Data Sufficiency
• Reasoning Analogies
• Order & Ranking

More such concept-based articles on reasoning topics can be found on the Logical Reasoning page linked here.

Also, go through the 3 sutras to prepare for reasoning ability to know important strategies with which you should start with the AFCAT reasoning preparation.

EKT Syllabus

EKT is Engineering Knowledge Test conducted for candidates opting for Ground Duty (Technical) branch. The syllabus of EKT comprises topics from Electrical & Electronics Engineering, Mechanical and Computer Science Engineering. 

Detailed EKT syllabus is as follows:

EKT Syllabus Mechanical Engineering

EKT Syllabus for Computer Science Engineering

EKT Syllabus for Electrical & Electronics Engineering

AFCAT Books

The most common mistakes that candidates make is that they start their preparation for the AFCAT exam without completely understanding the syllabus and referring to good books.

Candidates preparing for AFCAT exam can check the following links for important details:

1. AFCAT Salary
2. AFCAT Result
3. AFCAT Notification

Knowing in detail the syllabus of AFCAT is important as it confines the preparation and helps to strategise the study plan that is the key to attain success in any exam.

Also, go through the Competitive Exam Preparation Strategies to plan out a good study schedule and leave no stone unturned for exam preparation.