What the test is
The formatTwo tests. The first shows 3D shapes marked with black dots as reference points, to be mentally rotated and matched against the options underneath, and only one is correct. The second shows several flat shapes whose edges are labelled with letters marking where they join (the edge labelled b meets the other edge labelled b), and asks which of the assembled figures at the bottom is right once everything is fitted together.
Format description from the published CBAT TMI test guides
(rafcbat.wordpress.com) and the Air Defence Academy test guides
(airdefenceacademy.com/testguides).
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 Single account✕ Outdated?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
These two didn’t appear in the official 2018 CBAT information, so the description above comes from the published guides rather than from a candidate write-up.
Worth knowing if you’re comparing notes with someone who sat an older battery and remembers it differently. The underlying skill is the same either way, holding a shape in your head and turning it, so practise that rather than memorising a layout.
The only usable signal is that heavy flight sim experience is said to help with 3D visualisation work.
Thin, but it’s the only thing here I’d stand behind.
Practise it on SkyWatch
Our Visualisation game has a 2D board and a 3D board: turning shapes in your head and fitting pieces together.
600+
practice runs played
on SkyWatch
on SkyWatch
Every SkyWatch game is our own CBAT-style practice version, built from what candidates report. None of them is the real test.
Related tests
- Instrument Comprehension Test (INSC)instruments 1 and 2
- Dynamic Projection Test (DPT)the bearings test / directing aircraft through gates
- Directions and Distances (DAD)the ship leaves the harbour questions
- Spatial Integration Test (SIT)the grid layout and short clip test
- Trace Test 1 & Trace Test 2 (TRAC1 / TRAC2)trace 1 and trace 2
- Angles, Bearings & Degrees Test (ABD)angles and compass bearings
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.