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Vigilance Test

Mechanically the simplest test on the battery, which is exactly the point. It measures whether you can hold attention on something dull, not whether you can do it.

What the test is

The formatA 9×9 grid filling with stars, cleared by typing coordinate pairs: row number first, then column, so a star at 2,7 is entered as those two digits. Two task types run: yellow priority tasks that appear during the test and carry bonus points if cleared quickly, and the routine task of cancelling every remaining star. The screen gets progressively more cluttered as it goes. Format description from the published CBAT TMI test guides (rafcbat.wordpress.com) and the Air Defence Academy test guides (airdefenceacademy.com/testguides).

Skill area: Perception, memory and attention.

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 Single account✕ Outdated?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 help here as well as on table reading.
The only thing anyone with experience has said about this test. Another reason visual search is the best-value thing to practise on the whole battery.
! Single accountTransferable
Work along a row or column in sequence (2,1 then 2,2 then 2,3) rather than jumping around the grid.
You stop re-reading the labels for every entry, which is where the time actually goes.
? From the published guidesOrder
Edge squares can be entered without checking the grid labels at all, so they’re quicker than anything in the middle.
Clear the edges when you’re under pressure and leave the interior for when you’ve got breathing room.
? From the published guidesTechnique
Yellow priority tasks appear mid-test and carry bonus points if you deal with them quickly.
So the routine star-clearing is the background job, not the main one. Break off for a priority task the moment one appears.
? From the published guidesPriorities
Use the practice session to drill the coordinate entry itself.
The bottleneck is the keying, not the finding. If typing a pair of digits is automatic before the test starts, you’ve already got most of what this test is measuring.
? From the published guidesPreparation
Expect the grid to fill with far more stars than you can clear. Several candidates described it as close to impossible to empty.
One candidate never got near emptying the board and still scored full marks. Clearing the grid is not the goal. Work steadily and catch the priority stars.
✓ Well establishedReal test
Priority stars need an extra key press before you type the coordinate.
Two candidates described this. Practise the two-step entry until it is automatic, because you will be doing it when the grid is at its busiest.
✓ Well establishedPriority stars

Practise it on SkyWatch

Our Vigilance game is the star grid: clear the stars by typing their coordinates and catch the priority ones quickly.

There is an Easier board, and a Hard board that is much busier, closer to what recent candidates describe.

300+
practice runs played
on SkyWatch
Practise Vigilance free

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

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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.