What the test is
The formatForty rapid-fire arithmetic questions, one operator at a time. There is no backspace and no second chance once a digit is entered. Nothing to interpret: it is pure speed and accuracy against the clock.
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 Single account✕ Outdated?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
Drill mental arithmetic away from the apps. Times tables, addition, subtraction, multiplication.
Everyone who described their prep in any detail did this separately from app practice, including the candidate who failed twice and then passed everything on his third go. He was blunt that the app on its own hadn’t been enough.
✓ Well establishedPreparation
Plenty of app practice still might not make you fast enough. One high scorer ran out of time on questions after spending about twenty seconds on 138 ÷ 4.
Awkward division is the weak spot. Practise the ugly sums, not the tidy ones.
! Single accountReality check
It runs for roughly a minute, and it’s realistically the only test where you’ll type with both hands.
Everywhere else, one hand is usually busy with something.
! Single accountFormat
Round to a friendly multiple, then fix the remainder.
Say 321 ÷ 7. Take 350 ÷ 7 = 50, then knock off 28 ÷ 7 = 4, so about 46. Or 183 ÷ 4: 160 ÷ 4 = 40, plus 20 ÷ 4 = 5, so 45. This one comes up again and again, and people find it clicks straight away.
✓ Well establishedTechnique
Practise it on SkyWatch
Our Numerical Operations game is quickfire mental arithmetic against the clock, with an Easier board to warm up on.
It pairs well with the ANT practice, because the same mental sums turn up across several tests.
1,200+
practice runs played
on SkyWatch
70%
of players who practised 10+ times
improved on their first runs
Every SkyWatch game is our own CBAT-style practice version, built from what candidates report. None of them is the real test.