How the Fahrtstrecken task works
The Bundeswehr lists spatial ability (“räumliches Vorstellungsvermögen”) among the areas its computer test covers. Fahrtstrecken tests one part of it: keeping track of direction from someone else’s point of view.
A route is drawn as a single line with right-angled corners. It starts at the edge of the frame and ends in an arrowhead that shows the direction of travel. The question asks how many left turns, or how many right turns, the route makes.
The catch is perspective. Left means the traveller’s left. Whenever the route is heading down the page, a turn that goes to the right of the screen is a left turn for the traveller. Whether the real CAT uses exactly this format is not published.
How to count the turns
Follow the route the same way every time:
- Find the start, the open end at the edge of the frame, and check the arrowhead so you know which way you are travelling.
- At each corner, ask which way you would turn the steering wheel if you were driving along the line.
- When the route runs down the page, swap: the screen’s right is your left. Running left or right across the page, picture yourself facing that way.
- Make one stroke on paper for every turn of the kind asked for.
- Check: left turns plus right turns equals the number of corners.
Worked example
A route enters at the bottom heading up the page. It turns right, so it heads across to the right. It turns right again, so it now heads down the page. At the third corner it turns towards the right of the screen, and at the fourth it turns up the page to the arrowhead. How many left turns are there? The options are 1, 2, 3 and 4.
The first two corners are right turns. At the third, the traveller is heading down the page, so a turn towards the screen’s right is a left turn. At the fourth, heading right across the page and turning up it, the traveller turns left again. The answer is 2. Reading the third corner from the screen gives 1, the trap option.
Tips for the real Fahrtstrecken task
- Slow down on every stretch that runs down the page. That is where almost all mistakes happen.
- If it helps, imagine turning the page so you always face up the route. Some people trace the line with the mouse pointer without clicking.
- Read the question every time. Some items ask for left turns and some for right turns.
- Count all corners as a check. If your left and right counts do not add up, count again.
- The task uses no words, so practice in any language transfers fully.
Practise Fahrtstrecken on CogniPrep
Our Fahrtstrecken drill gives you 20 routes on a 12-minute clock, each with four numbers to choose from. The routes adapt over five levels: right answers bring longer routes with more stretches heading down the page, and wrong answers shorter ones. Items the clock cuts off count as wrong, and your score out of 100 reflects the level you hold in the second half of the run. The count, clock and step rule are ours.