SkyWatch › CBAT tests › Trace

Trace Test 1 & Trace Test 2 TRAC1 / TRAC2

Two completely different tests with confusingly similar names, and the difference isn’t what most candidates assume.

What the test is

The formatTrace 1: an animated aircraft in flight whose control inputs you mirror on the arrow keys as if you were flying it. You always control whichever aircraft is currently red, and two more (blue and yellow) join later; when the aircraft faces you or flies inverted, the pilot’s left is your right. Trace 2: up to five coloured aircraft manoeuvre in an animation and you then answer multiple choice on what happened: which entered or left the scene and in what order, which made the most turns, which never climbed. Format description from the published CBAT TMI test guides (rafcbat.wordpress.com) and the Air Defence Academy test guides (airdefenceacademy.com/testguides).
SkyWatch Trace 2 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 Single account✕ Outdated?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
Trace 1 is copying the pilot’s control actions. Trace 2 is watching the scene and then answering questions on what you saw. It isn’t a second flying test.
Loads of candidates assume Trace 2 means estimating turns while you fly. It doesn’t, and going in with that idea puts your attention in completely the wrong place. Watch it properly and expect questions afterwards.
✓ Well establishedDefinition
Trace 1 is the easy one. Trace 2 is the overwhelming one.
Reported in that order every time, and Trace 2 keeps showing up on candidates’ lists of worries alongside DPT and FLAG.
✓ Well establishedDifficulty
Trace 1 on SkyWatch and similar tools is said to be very close to the real thing.
So your practice here is a fair guide to how the real one will feel.
! Single accountReal vs practice
Plenty of people passed without practising either trace test. If you do want to drill Trace 2, the practice version on this site is the one to use.
Nothing else covered it, which is why I built one. It is my own version rather than the real subtest. What it trains is the part that catches people out: watching the scene actively because you know questions are coming, instead of spectating and then trying to reconstruct it afterwards.
! Single accountPreparation
Serious flight sim time is said to help with the 3D visualisation and the instrument work.
Note it gets reported as helping the spatial and instrument tests specifically, not the memory or arithmetic ones. It won’t replace targeted practice.
! Single accountTransferable
The trace tests are where tiredness hurts you most.
One candidate on a two-day overseas version put failing the trace and motor tests down to a sleepless night beforehand. Sleep counts for more on these than on the paper-style tests.
! Single accountWarning
In Trace 1 the aircraft you follow is whichever one is red at the time, so control switches between aircraft, and it gets fast towards the end.
Watch for the colour change rather than sticking with one aircraft.
! Single accountTrace 1
In Trace 2 aircraft can leave the scene and come back, and the questions range widely: who arrived and left, in what order, who turned most and who never climbed.
Keep a rough running order of who arrived and who left. It’s the question type people find hardest to reconstruct afterwards.
! Single accountTrace 2

Practise it on SkyWatch

Our Trace games cover both tests: Trace 1, where you mirror the pilot’s inputs, and Trace 2, where you watch several aircraft and then answer questions about what happened.

There are also simpler turning drills if you want to warm up first.

2,400+
practice runs played
on SkyWatch
96%
of players who practised 10+ times
improved on their first runs
Practise Trace free

Every SkyWatch game is our own CBAT-style practice version, built from what candidates report. None of them is the real test.

Related tests

Read more

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.