AFCAT Examination is an acronym of Air force common admission test which is a competitive exam holds on a national level twice a year. The exam is conducted by the Indian air force to select officers for its different branches except the fact that this exam does not include medical and dental branches. The main purpose of commencing this exam is to recruit commission officers for grant of SSC which is an acronym of Grant of short service commission in flying and permanent commission (PC)/short service commission (SSC) in ground duty (technical) and ground duty (which are non-technical) branches.

The exam does not commence for limited people, the application is made public for all Indian citizens, i.e., both men and women.  It gives an opportunity to everyone to be a part of this lavish air force.

AFCAT Examination 2019 - Overview

The application/exam form for AFCAT 2019 which had come out on June 1, 2019 has unfortunately been closed, its last application submission date was June 30^th, 2019. The applicants have got the time of approximate one and a half months to study and revise things as the exam will be conducted at the end of august across 104 test cities. It is being conducted by the world’s 4^th largest air force, i.e., Indian air force and as the information says, the exam is conducted twice a year. Once in February and second in august for the selection of class I gazetted officers in the field of flying and ground duties (which include both technical and non-technical).

The time duration of the exam will be of 2 hours in which the applicant will have to solve 100 multiple choice questions that carry 3 marks each, 1 mark will be deducted for a wrong question and no marking for a question not attempted. The questions will be based on a variety of fields which include verbal ability, numerical ability, reasoning general awareness and military aptitude and right after an AFCAT, EKT would be conducted for 45 minutes which is an acronym of engineering knowledge test.

If the candidates score the required marks as mentioned in the cut off list, they will be called for AFSB interview which is actually a personal test, that takes place for a time span of 6 days as it is conducted in two different stages having tests like intelligence test, psychological test, group tasks and a personal interview.

when the candidates will be selected for flying and ground duties, they will have to undergo on a training session which will be of approximately 74 weeks but in case the candidates are selected in ground duties for non-technical role, their time span of a training session will be of 52 weeks that will be conducted at air force training establishments, only.

AFCAT 2019 - Important dates

AFCAT 2019 - Types of Commission

There are two types of commission that are given in Indian air force, one is air force permanent service commission and second is short service commission which is for both men and women.

1. Permanent service commission

A Permanent Commission in the Air Force means that a selected candidate will have to work with the force until he retires. The fact about permanent commission is that it continues till our superannuation date.  

For Men

Flying Branch

A candidate needs to pass his inter school to become a member of National Defence Academy (NDA) through NDA exam which is conducted by UPSC each and every year.

You can become a member of IAF after completing your graduation in a field of flying branch through CDS exam conducted by UPSC every year.

Technical Branch and Ground Duty Branch

A candidate can become a part of Technical and Ground Duty branch of Indian Air Force after his Graduation is done through AFCAT [which is an acronym of Air Force Common Admission Test] exam which is conducted by Indian Air Force each and every year.

Short Service Commission

If a candidate has decided to work for short service commission in in an Indian air force, he or she will be working for a short span of time or a limited period of time which could be period of 10-14 years. This field could be chosen by both men and women, there are no as such constraints on it.

For Both Men and Women

Flying Branch

SSC flying branch could be joined by candidates who have completed their graduation or post-graduation through AFCAT entry which is conducted by IAF every year. The time span of this branch is usually of 14 years from the day of commission.

Technical Branch and Ground Duty Branch

Indian air force technical and ground duty branch can be joined by all those candidates who have completed their graduation or post-graduation and its time span would be of 10 years which can be extended for four months only if there exists some requirement of vacancies, suitability, merit, willingness and service requirement.

AFCAT Examination 2019 - Eligibilty

Age Eligibility

1. Flying branch – candidate’s age must be between be 20 to 24 years, i.e., candidate must have born between 02 January to 01 January 2000, however, the upper age limit for someone holding valid and current commercial pilot license issued by DGCA is permitted up to 26 years which means a person must have born between 02 January 1994 and 01 January 2000.
2. Ground duty (includes both technical and non-technical) branch- age limit for a candidate here is 20 to 26 years.

Please note candidates below 25 must be unmarried and widows, divorcees are also not allowed.

Education Eligibility

1. Flying branch: candidates must have passed her or her 10+2 with minimum 60 percent of marks in each maths and physics fields.

Must be graduated from some recognised university with a minimum of 60% of marks.

2. Ground duty (technical branch): candidates must have passed her or her 10+2 with minimum 60 percent of marks in each maths and physics fields.

Must have a 4-year graduation degree from a recognised engineering university.

3. Ground duty (non-technical branch)- must be graduated in any discipline from any recognised university with a minimum of 60% of marks.
4. NCC special entry (flying branch)- a candidate must have acquired NCC air wing senior division ‘C’ certificate on or after 1^st Jan, 2017.

Candidates must have passed her or her 10+2 with minimum 60 percent of marks in each maths and physics fields.

Must be graduated from some recognised university with a minimum of 60% of marks.

AFCAT 2019 APLLICATION FORM FEE

A candidate is supposed to pay INR 250 which would be non-refundable.

AFCAT 2019 - Selection Procedure

The exam is conducted twice a year, once in February and second is august. The online exam is conducted for this by Indian air force. Here is its selection procedure: -

Step1: AFCAT written exam for non-technical candidates and AFCAT+EKT exam for technical students.

Step2: Interview round

Step3: Medical test is conducted of candidates who have cleared the above two mentioned steps.

AFCAT 2019 - Exam Pattern

The exam will commence in a computer-based mode in which the questions will be displayed in an absolute random sequence on the computer screen. The AFCAT exam pattern in detail would be as such: -

1. First section would be about general awareness which will test the general knowledge of an applicant about the ongoing, current events taking place in world. The topics are as such history, sports, geography, environment, culture, defence, art, international current affairs, politics, civics and basic science.
2. Verbal ability in English- the section would test the student’s knowledge in the English language. The topics in this section would be as such, comprehension, fill in the blanks, editing, sentence completion, vocabulary, tenses, synonyms and antonyms, basic grammar.
3. Quantitative ability- the section more of talks about the mathematical problems which is often scoring if compared to others, however, the level of difficulty is quite high here. The topics here are as such-

Decimal fraction, simplification, average, ratio and proportion, simple interest, profit and loss. Percentage.

4. Reasoning and military aptitude test- this section more of talks about candidate’s military and mental aptitude. The difficulty level here is neutral. The topics included in this are as such, verbal skills and spatial ability, data interpretation, embedded figure, missing character, sets based on arrangements, rotated blocks, hidden figures and analogy.