RAF Aptitude Test (DAA) Guide and Practice
The test the RAF sets at the very first stage of every application, how it grew out of the Airmen Selection Test, and what comes after it on each route
The Airmen Selection Test, renamed
The RAF did not so much replace its aptitude test as rename it. Its own DAA page still says “The DAA (previously called the Airmen Selection Test)”, and the old AST practice test the RAF published in 2020 had the same eight timed parts, with the same question counts and clocks, as today’s DAA. The difference is that the AST had two more: Memory Part 1 and Memory Part 2, ten questions each. Both were dropped. By May 2022 the RAF site was already showing DAA content at the old AST address.
So an old AST practice paper still matches the DAA’s eight parts, as long as you skip the memory sections. The full breakdown of all eight parts is on our Defence Aptitude Assessment practice page.
Where it falls on each RAF route
The DAA is stage 1 whichever way you join, but what follows it differs a great deal.
- Enlisted Aviators. The RAF now calls its non-commissioned recruits Enlisted Aviators. On the aviator application process the aptitude test is the first of six stages, ahead of the Selection Interview, with a pre-joining fitness test that includes a 2.4 km run later in the process.
- Officers. On the officer application process it is the first of seven stages, before the health and fitness checks and the Officers and Aircrew Selection Centre (OASC) at RAF College Cranwell. OASC assesses leadership, teamwork, communication, motivation and problem solving through exercises and an interview.
- Aircrew. For a role such as pilot the DAA is the first of eight stages, and stage 2 is a second, separate battery: the Computer Based Aptitude Tests (CBAT) at OASC.
RAF Reserves sit it too
The DAA is not only for regulars. An employment tribunal judgment from December 2024 records an applicant to the RAF Auxiliary reserves sitting two DAAs, on 13 September and 9 November 2023, “as he had a preferred role in mind”. On the second he scored one mark below the pass mark on a sitting where the pens ran out, and the recruiter was willing to issue a DAA waiver so he could continue. He still had to pass an interview, a medical and a pre-joining fitness test. The judgment also records his complaint that the first sitting was on a small tablet when he needed a larger screen.
Three practical points follow from that record. Pass marks are close enough that a single mark matters. A second sitting eight weeks after the first was allowed in that case. And if you need a larger screen or another adjustment, ask your careers office before the day rather than after it.
Retakes, scores and what the RAF does not publish
The RAF does not publish a retake rule on the recruiting pages we could read, and the secondary sources that state one disagree with the tribunal record above, so we do not repeat any of them. Nor does it publish the score each trade needs. What it does say is that its roles are “all requiring different scores on the DAA”, so ask your careers office which roles your results open. Treat any site quoting a fixed percentage as unsourced.
On device: the RAF’s familiarisation test says it is “best performed on a large tablet (like the real test) or a laptop or desktop”, and the Royal Navy, which sets the same test, asks for a screen of at least 10.2 inches. The real DAA is strictly timed, so practise on the clocks, not at your own pace.
Practise the DAA sections
- DAA Work Rate (20 questions · 4 minutes · free) - Code substitution against a grid at about twelve seconds an item. Free here.
- DAA Numerical Reasoning (27 questions · 15 minutes) - Part one is fractions, decimals and formulae against a four-minute clock; part two is graphs and tables.
- DAA Spatial Reasoning (20 questions · 7 minutes) - Joining flat shapes on a four-minute clock, then matching rotated 3D objects on a three-minute one.
- DAA Verbal Reasoning (20 questions · 15 minutes) - Twenty questions across four written scenarios in fifteen minutes.
- DAA Electrical Comprehension (22 questions · 15 minutes) - Twenty-two items on circuits and electrical concepts in fifteen minutes.
- DAA Mechanical Comprehension (19 questions · 13 minutes) - Nineteen items on machines, forces and mechanical concepts in thirteen minutes.
- DAA Full Assessment (128 questions · 69 minutes) - The eight parts back to back on the real clocks, as you will sit them.
For the skills underneath, see numerical reasoning, spatial reasoning, mechanical reasoning and verbal reasoning, and our section-by-section DAA guide.
Common questions
Is the RAF aptitude test the same as the AST?
Almost. The DAA is the AST renamed, with the same eight timed parts and the two memory parts removed.
Do RAF officers take the aptitude test?
Yes. It is stage 1 of the officer route, before OASC. Some older guides say officers are exempt; the RAF’s current officer process says otherwise.
What score do I need for my trade?
The RAF does not publish trade-by-trade scores. Ask your careers office which roles your results open once you have sat it.
Is it the same test as the Royal Navy’s?
Yes, the same DAA. If you are weighing both services, see our Royal Navy recruiting test guide. The British Army uses a different test, covered on our British Army practice page.
Are your tests the real DAA?
No. The DAA is Crown copyright. Our questions are original, written to the format the RAF publishes, and are not supplied or endorsed by the RAF or the Ministry of Defence.