Exam Pattern
AFCAT Exam Pattern
AFCAT (Air Force Common Admission Test)
Four sections, exactly equal, and one of them is not built here. The official AFCAT gives General Awareness, Verbal Ability, Numerical Ability, and Reasoning and Military Aptitude 25 questions and 75 marks apiece, each question worth 3 marks with 1 deducted for a wrong answer, inside one continuous two-hour window with no sectional lock. This practice covers the three sections other than General Awareness at the same proportion, 24 questions in 29 minutes, so a quarter of the official paper sits outside it. Reasoning and Military Aptitude is the section with no equivalent on any civilian entrance.
Verbal, Numerical and Reasoning
Official 2026 pattern| Questions | 100 |
| Total marks | 300 |
| Duration | 120 minutes |
| Negative marking | 1 per wrong answer |
| Sections | Verbal Ability, Numerical Ability, Reasoning and Military Aptitude, General Awareness |
| Test | Qs | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| General Awareness | 25 | 75 |
| Verbal Ability | 25 | 75 |
| Numerical Ability | 25 | 75 |
| Reasoning and Military Aptitude | 25 | 75 |
Timing: Single composite 120-minute timer for all four sections combined: no sectional lock, a single continuous window across the whole paper.
The official AFCAT has 100 questions for 300 marks in 2 hours, across four equally weighted sections (75 marks each): General Awareness, Verbal Ability in English, Numerical Ability, and Reasoning and Military Aptitude Test, each question carrying 3 marks with 1 mark deducted per wrong answer. This mock covers the three non-General-Awareness sections in the same proportion: 36 questions in 43 minutes, at the official pace of 1 minute 12 seconds a question. General Awareness is not covered, since it depends on general-knowledge facts that carry higher correctness risk for self-authored content. The "Military Aptitude" portion tested here is spatial and direction-sense reasoning, not military factual knowledge.
Official source · checked 16 August 2026The AFCAT Verbal, Numerical and Reasoning exam pattern is 100 questions carrying 300 marks, to be answered in 120 minutes. That works out to about 72 seconds per question on average, before any time spent reading instructions or revisiting marked answers. The 4 sections are Verbal Ability, Numerical Ability, Reasoning and Military Aptitude and General Awareness. All 4 sections carry 75 marks each, so none of them repays disproportionate preparation and a weakness anywhere costs the same. All sections share one composite timer, so you are free to move between them and spend your time where it earns most.
AFCAT Verbal, Numerical and Reasoning marking scheme
- Each correct answer is worth 3 marks.
- A wrong answer deducts 1 mark; an unattempted question scores zero.
- A guess therefore breaks even at 25% accuracy: above that it gains you marks on average, below it loses them. That is exactly what a blind guess between four options returns, so guessing at random neither gains nor loses marks over a long paper. The moment you can rule out even one option, it starts paying.
- Worked example: attempt 80 of the 100 questions and get 60 right and 20 wrong, and you score 160 out of 300.
Practising against the same clock is the point of a mock test: at 72 seconds a question, the difference between a good score and an average one is usually pacing rather than knowledge. Attempt a free AFCAT mock test to see where your time actually goes.
AFCAT exam pattern: frequently asked questions
Is there negative marking in AFCAT?
AFCAT deducts 1 mark for a wrong answer. An unattempted question always scores zero, so the choice is only ever between guessing and leaving it blank.
How many questions are there in AFCAT?
AFCAT has 100 questions. That leaves about 72 seconds per question in AFCAT.
What are the total marks in AFCAT?
AFCAT is out of 300 marks, which works out at 3 marks a question.
How long is the AFCAT exam?
AFCAT runs for 120 minutes.
Does AFCAT have a sectional time limit?
No. AFCAT runs every section on one composite timer of 120 minutes, so you can move between sections freely and give the slower ones more of your time.