The most trainable test on the CBAT. Everyone agrees on the method, so the only thing that varies is how fast you can run it.
What the test is
The formatTwo parts. Part 1 shows an attitude indicator and a compass at the top and four aircraft images below; you pick the image that matches both readings at once. Part 2 shows six instruments (altimeter, attitude, speed, ascend/descend, heading and turn) with five written statements, and you pick the statement that fits. The published method is to start from the statements, find the data point that separates them, and read only the dial that settles it.
Format description from the published CBAT TMI test guides
(rafcbat.wordpress.com) and the Air Defence Academy test guides
(airdefenceacademy.com/testguides).
SkyWatch Instruments playing itself, our practice
version, not the real test. Play it
Skill area: Spatial reasoning.
What candidates say
These points come from people who have sat the test, gathered from forums, community
chats and candidates who wrote to us afterwards. Nothing here is quoted or attributed. Each point is
graded by how many separate accounts back it up.
✓ Well established! Single account✕ Outdated? From the published guides
Work by elimination from the answers instead of reading the gauges. Take each option in turn and bin it the moment one stat doesn’t match.
Don’t read the instruments first and then go hunting for an answer that fits. Start at the options, find the stat that differs between them, and check only that. People report jumping to near full marks the same day they switch over.
✓ Well establishedMethod
The multiple choice format shifts slightly on every question in the real test. Some practice apps keep one fixed layout.
This matters more than it sounds. A fixed layout quietly trains you to look at one spot on the screen, and when that moves every question you lose seconds before you even notice why.
✓ Well establishedReal vs practice
Reportedly about five minutes for twenty questions, so roughly ten seconds each. That’s reachable after a few weeks of daily drilling.
Both accounts of the timing were second-hand, so treat ten seconds as a training target and not a confirmed limit. It’s realistic though. People have got there on about ten minutes a day for three weeks.
! Single accountTiming
The classic mistake is ascending versus descending. Every other stat matches, so elimination won’t save you if you skim that word.
Give the climb wording a deliberate half-second check before you commit.
! Single accountTrap
Some of the harder practice sites make all the options deliberately similar and give you ten seconds, which makes elimination too slow to work.
On those, read the gauges first and then scan for the match. Different tool, different best method, so don’t assume your technique carries over.
! Single accountOther tools
Practise it on SkyWatch
Our Instruments game covers both parts: matching an aircraft picture to its dials, and picking the statement that fits a full set of instruments.
A practise drill lets you fly with one dial at a time so you learn what each one tells you.
1,200+
practice runs played on SkyWatch
91%
of players who practised 10+ times improved on their first runs
This page is one part of the complete CBAT guide,
which also covers how the day runs, the pass marks and the domain minimums. Or see
every CBAT test on one page.