CF APTITUDE TEST (CFAT)
The CFAT is used to select applicants for employment in the CF and to help determine specific military occupations for which you are best suited. In this regard the CFAT is an important component of the CF selection system.
At the organizational level, it is necessary to ensure that selection decisions are fair and equitable. Thus, testing is one of the few resources we have to compare candidates objectively and fairly using a single criterion. Fairness in this case is inherent in the fact that procedures have been standardized and that everyone is subject to the same challenge as all the other candidates, that is, to demonstrate his/her performance against a valid and/or pertinent selection standard. Consequently, the results obtained on the CFAT must be taken seriously and it must be considered an accurate and fair measurement of an individual’s cognitive skills performance.
FAILURE TO MEET THE CANADIAN FORCES APTITUDE TEST (CFAT) REQUIREMENTS
The aptitude test is one of many steps required to join the CF. If you are not successful in meeting the requirements the first time there is a re-test policy that may allow subsequent attempts, although a re-test is not automatically granted. The decision to authorize a re-test is based on evidence that the applicant has prepared to retake the test and on the probability that performance will improve. Applicant must successfully meet the CFAT requirements in order to be eligible for enrolment in the CF.
RE-WRITING THE CFAT
In order to be eligible to write the aptitude test a second time you must wait a minimum of three (3) months and then discuss with a Military Career Counsellor about your application and the steps you have taken to prepare for a re-test.
In order to be eligible to write the aptitude test a third time you will have to have successfully completed, since the last time you wrote the test, a substantial academic course related to the CFAT. You will be required to provide proof that you achieved a 69% average or better in Grade 10 level Math or English, depending on if areas to improve were the CFAT problem solving or verbal skills questions. Once you can provide this documentation, you will meet with a Military Career Counsellor to discuss your application and the re-test policy.
TESTING ACCOMMODATIONS
The Canadian Forces Aptitude Test (CFAT) is designed as a test of General Learning and Cognitive Ability. The three subtests reflect the most commonly-accepted components of the construct of Ability (Verbal, Spatial and Quantitative skills) as supported by theory and research on cognitive abilities and their relationship to work performance. The test was developed through a detailed and scientifically-rigorous process involving analysis of thousands of applicant responses on a large bank of similar test items taken from previous CF cognitive tests.
In measuring Cognitive Abilities, most tests use either "speed" or "power" approaches or a combination of both. A "speed" test uses very easy items that almost any adult could answer correctly with sufficient time; individual scores are based on speed of completion or number of items answered in a very short time limit. A pure "power" test involves difficult items that need either advanced knowledge or ability to answer; there is usually no time limit and individual ability scores are determined purely by number correct. The CFAT is the most common type of standardized cognitive/quantitative test; a combination of both speed and power.
During the CFAT, there is a time limit that forces respondents to work fast but makes it possible for most respondents in the target group to attempt 80% or more of the questions, with 30-80% of the target respondents answering each item correctly. Items for the test were selected on the basis of these sorts of statistics with previous CF applicant responses to the items on old tests. The appropriateness of each item (in terms of difficulty, applicant acceptability, fairness, and consistency of scoring amongst a variety of demographic groups) as well as the accuracy of the final overall test in selecting suitable applicants was then confirmed using new applicants. All research was done using test/item completion without any mechanical assistance, so the test time limit, Officer and NCM percentile scores, and all CF and occupation cut-off scores are based on test completion without a calculator.
Occasionally, CF Recruiting staffs receive requests from applicants for testing accommodations outside of normal testing procedures. Examples of such requests might include the use of a calculator, to have additional time, to have the questions read to them aloud, or to have a learning assistant present to assist them. Unfortunately, such requests are not possible for two reasons:
Altering the test administration for a specific candidate would make their percentile and the established cut-off scores (and comparisons with other applicants) invalid; and
Altering the test administration for all respondents would substantially change what is measured by the test and require complete revision of the test items, percentiles and time limits.
