What the test is
The formatA physical double-sided reference sheet worked against on-screen prompts, in two parts. Part one gives two values and a coordinate grid running −17 to +17 on both axes; you bring one value across and one down and read the intersection, which is the same whichever axis you assign each number to. Part two puts Air Speed, Wind Velocity and Wind Angle on screen and needs a three-step lookup: table by air speed, row by wind velocity, then column by wind angle under either Drift Correction or Ground Speed. Five numbered options each time.
Format description from the published CBAT TMI test guides
(rafcbat.wordpress.com) and the Air Defence Academy test guides
(airdefenceacademy.com/testguides).
Skill area: Numbers and tables.
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 Single account✕ Outdated?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
Visual search practice is said to carry directly into this test.
From someone who passed, and it’s a good reason to treat visual search practice as three tests’ worth of value rather than one.
! Single accountTransferable
The reference sheet is pre-printed and laminated, and it is the only physical apparatus you get all day.
Confirmed by a candidate who noted it as the single exception to the no-paper rule. Worth knowing so you aren’t thrown when something lands on the desk after a morning of being told you can’t have anything on it. It also means the sheet is a fixed, wipe-clean object you slide about rather than something you can mark up.
! Single accountThe sheet
You can build your own practice for this one in a couple of minutes. Draw out a grid running to 17 in each direction, write yourself some coordinate pairs, and drill the lookups.
Recommended by someone who had just sat it, and it’s the only concrete prep anyone has offered for MATF. Do it on a printed sheet next to your screen rather than all on one display, because moving between two surfaces is the part that actually costs time.
! Single accountPreparation
On the coordinate grid, the intersection value is the same whichever way round you assign the two numbers to the axes.
So don’t waste any time working out which value belongs on which axis. Bring one across, one down, read where they meet. That decision is a free half-second on every question in part one.
? From the published guidesPart one shortcut
Reading how a grid lookup works is easy. Running it fast and accurately while managing a physical sheet and a screen at the same time is the actual test.
If you practise this at all, practise it with a printed sheet beside you rather than everything on one display. The hand movement and the eye movement between two surfaces is the bit that costs you.
? From the published guidesThe real difficulty
Practise it on SkyWatch
Our Table Reading game covers both parts: the coordinate grid and the three-step lookup.
You can print the reference sheet and work from paper beside your screen, which is how the real test is described.
400+
practice runs played
on SkyWatch
Every SkyWatch game is our own CBAT-style practice version, built from what candidates report. None of them is the real test.