Defence · Government Exams

AFCAT 2026 Notification, Exam Pattern, Syllabus, Vacancies, AFSB and Free AFCAT Mock Tests

The Air Force Common Admission Test is the Indian Air Force’s own officer entry, conducted twice a year for the flying branch and for ground duty in both technical and non-technical streams. Unlike NDA and CDS it is run by the Air Force rather than by the Union Public Service Commission, and it has its own timetable, its own paper and its own selection board process.

One feature of the paper deserves flagging before anything else: the negative marking is a full mark per wrong answer against three marks for a correct one. That is far harsher than the fractional deductions most competitive exams apply, and it should change how you guess.

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AFCAT · checked 19 September 2026

AFCAT at a glance, from the official notices

The dates, vacancies and rules below are read on the conducting body’s own site and rewritten as each notice appears. The guide beneath carries the full pattern, syllabus, cut-offs and free mock tests.

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19September 2026

Checked 19 September 2026

AFCAT: the facts that matter now

  1. 01

    AFCAT 01/2026: registration 17 November – 14 December 2025, examination 31 January 2026, AFSB calls issued. AFCAT 02/2026: registration 20 May –…

    2026 cycles

  2. 02

    Indian Air Force through the AFCAT portal (afcat.edcil.co.in) twice a year — Cycle 01 in the first half and Cycle 02 in the second — for the…

    Conducted by

  3. 03

    AFCAT 02/2026: about 353 through AFCAT — Flying 35, Ground Duty (Technical) 211, Ground Duty (Non-Technical) 107 — plus 26 through GATE score…

    Vacancies

  4. 04

    Graduates: Flying 20–24 on 1 July 2027 with physics and mathematics at 10+2; Ground Duty 20–26; unmarried; men and women

    Eligibility

Notification

AFCAT notification and key dates

Checked 19 September 2026 on the AFCAT portal, where the current notice is that AFSB seat selection for AFCAT 02/2026 ran from 5 p.m. on 10 September to midnight on 14 September 2026 — qualified candidates chose a date and place of AFSB from the slots offered and now download the call-up letter and mandatory forms from the login. The IAF runs AFCAT on afcat.edcil.co.in rather than the earlier CDAC site. The notification for AFCAT 02/2026 — for courses commencing in July 2027 — opened registration from 20 May 2026 (11 a.m.) to 19 June, extended to 21 June, with a correction window on 29–30 June; the examination was held on 8 August 2026, the objection portal followed, and the result and the GATE score entry cut-off have been declared in the candidate login, with AFSB testing to follow. AFCAT 01/2026 ran registration from 17 November to 14 December 2025 (revised from 10 November – 9 December), held its examination on 31 January 2026 and issued SSB call letters. The next cycle, AFCAT 01/2027, should be notified around November 2026 for an examination in the first quarter of 2027.

The two 2026 cycles, from the notifications and portal notices.
EventAFCAT 01/2026AFCAT 02/2026
Registration17 November – 14 December 202520 May – 21 June 2026 (extended from 19 June)
Correction window—29–30 June 2026
Examination31 January 20268 August 2026 (Saturday), 10 a.m. to 12 noon
ResultDeclared; AFSB seat selection 10–14 September 2026Declared in the candidate login; GATE score entry cut-off published; call-up letters after seat selection
Courses commenceJanuary 2027July 2027
Vacancies notified for AFCAT 02/2026, for courses commencing July 2027 (PC = permanent commission, SSC = short service commission).
Entry and branchMen (PC)Women (PC)Men (SSC)Women (SSC)
AFCAT — Flying (222/27F)——305
AFCAT — Ground Duty (Technical): AE(L) electronics2210725
AFCAT — Ground Duty (Technical): AE(M) mechanical825213
AFCAT — Ground Duty (Non-Technical): Weapon Systems, Administration, Logistics, Accounts, Education, Meteorology——82 (WS 21, Adm 50, Lgs 4, Accts 5, Edn 1, Met 1)25 (WS 5, Adm 12, Lgs 2, Accts 2, Edn 2, Met 2)
NCC Special Entry — Flying10 per cent of CDSE vacancies10 per cent of AFCAT vacancies
GATE score entry — Ground Duty (Technical)AE(L) 1, AE(M) 1AE(L) 1, AE(M) 1AE(L) 12, AE(M) 6AE(L) 3, AE(M) 1

What changed

The Engineering Knowledge Test that technical-branch candidates once sat after the AFCAT paper is no longer part of the notification: Ground Duty (Technical) candidates are assessed on the same 100-question AFCAT paper as everyone else, and engineers may alternatively enter on a GATE score. The application fee is ₹550 plus GST, and the portal is afcat.edcil.co.in.

Overview

What AFCAT is, and who it suits

AFCAT selects officers for three streams. The flying branch leads to pilot training; ground duty technical covers aeronautical engineering in the electronics and mechanical streams; ground duty non-technical covers administration, logistics, accounts, education and meteorology. Candidates indicate their branch at application, and the eligibility conditions differ substantially between them.

The process is short by defence standards: one written paper, an additional technical paper for the technical branch, then the Air Force Selection Board and a medical examination. Held twice a year, it gives candidates more attempts within an age window than the annual examinations do.

The three branches and their requirements

  • Flying branch — a degree with physics and mathematics at class 12, within a narrower age band than the ground duty branches. Additionally requires clearing the pilot aptitude battery at the selection board.
  • Ground Duty (Technical) — an engineering degree in a prescribed discipline; a valid GATE score is an alternative entry route. They take the same AFCAT paper as every other branch — the Engineering Knowledge Test of earlier cycles is no longer held.
  • Ground Duty (Non-Technical) — a degree in any discipline, with additional subject requirements for particular sub-branches such as accounts, education and meteorology.

The pilot aptitude battery is a one-time test

Candidates for the flying branch sit a computerised pilot selection system test at the Air Force Selection Board. A candidate who does not clear it cannot reattempt it for flying branch entry in future cycles. Because of that finality, it is worth understanding the format in advance rather than meeting it unprepared.

Eligibility

Who can apply for AFCAT

Eligibility is reckoned on 1 July 2027 for age, the date the courses commence, and on the closing date for the degree. Candidates must be unmarried at the start of the course and remain so during training; both men and women are eligible for every branch.

Age and qualification by branch, from the AFCAT 02/2026 notification.
BranchAge on 1 July 2027Qualification
Flying20–24 (born 2 July 2003 – 1 July 2007); up to 26 with a current DGCA commercial pilot licencePhysics and mathematics at 10+2, and a three-year degree in any discipline, or a four-year BE/B.Tech, or Sections A and B of the Institution of Engineers or the Aeronautical Society
Ground Duty (Technical) — AE(L) and AE(M)20–26 (born 2 July 2001 – 1 July 2007)Physics and mathematics at 10+2, and a four-year engineering or technology degree in the listed disciplines (or the listed equivalents); GATE score entry with a valid GATE score
Ground Duty (Non-Technical) — Weapon Systems20–26Physics and mathematics at 10+2, and a three-year degree or BE/B.Tech
Ground Duty (Non-Technical) — Administration, Logistics20–2610+2 and a three-year degree
Ground Duty (Non-Technical) — Accounts, Education, Meteorology20–26Degrees in the disciplines the notification specifies (commerce, a postgraduate degree, science with mathematics or physics respectively)

Other conditions

  • Fee — ₹550 plus 18 per cent GST, paid online at submission; not refundable; not payable for NCC Special Entry and GATE score entry.
  • Physical standards — Height and weight by age in the notification’s tables — a minimum height of 152 cm for the ground duty branches and 162.5 cm for Flying — with the vision standards of each branch tested at the medical.
  • Tattoos — Permanent tattoos are permitted only on the inner forearms and the back of the hands, with a self-declaration.
  • Commission — Flying branch SSC officers serve 14 years; Ground Duty SSC officers ten years with a possible four-year extension; permanent commission may be granted later on merit and vacancies.

Selection process

How AFCAT selection works

Each stage in order, and what it actually tests.

Stages change between cycles. Confirm the structure in the notification for the cycle you are sitting.
StageFormatWhat it involves
AFCAT online testObjective, 100 questions, 300 marks, 2 hours, English onlyGeneral Awareness, Verbal Ability in English, Numerical Ability and Reasoning, and Military Aptitude Test in one paper. Three marks for a correct answer, one deducted for a wrong one, none for an unattempted question. Marks are normalised across shifts. The IAF fixes the qualifying marks; results are viewed in the candidate login and shortlisted candidates book an AFSB slot.
Air Force Selection BoardFive to six days at Dehradun, Mysuru, Gandhinagar, Varanasi or GuwahatiStage I on the first day is the Officer Intelligence Rating test with the Picture Perception and Discussion test, followed by a document check; candidates who do not qualify are sent back the same day. Stage II is the psychological test on the first evening and the group tests and interview over the next five days. Flying-branch candidates who are recommended take the Computerised Pilot Selection System, a once-in-a-lifetime test.
Medical, merit and trainingAFCME or IAM medical, then a branch-wise merit listRecommended candidates are medically examined and placed on a branch-wise merit list; those within the vacancies are called to the Air Force Academy at Dundigal for the course commencing July 2027. Flight cadets draw a stipend of ₹56,100 a month during training and are commissioned as Flying Officers on Level 10, ₹56,100–1,77,500, with military service pay of ₹15,500.

Application to commissioning

How AFCAT runs, from registration on the portal to the online test, the AFSB, the medical and the Air Force Academy

The steps as they run in the 2026 cycles, with the fees and windows the AFCAT 02/2026 notification specifies.

The AFCAT process

  1. Register on afcat.edcil.co.in Sign up with personal and contact details to receive a user ID and password, then complete the application: personal, educational and course preferences, Aadhaar, and uploads of the photograph, signature and thumb impression. One application per Aadhaar number is considered; the latest submitted form counts.
  2. Choose the entries, branches and course preferences Candidates may apply through AFCAT, NCC Special Entry and GATE score entry as their qualifications allow, and rank the branches — Flying, Ground Duty (Technical), Ground Duty (Non-Technical) — with the AFSB centre and the exam city preferences.
  3. Pay the fee ₹550 plus 18 per cent GST online at the end of the form; NCC Special Entry and GATE score entry candidates pay nothing.
  4. Correction window and admit card A two-day window to edit personal details opens after registration closes. Exam city intimation comes by e-mail and SMS first; the e-admit card is downloaded from the portal later and must be printed and carried with a photo ID.
  5. The AFCAT online test Reporting at 8 a.m., gate closure at 9:30, biometric and photograph capture, and the two-hour test from 10 a.m. to noon; 100 questions, 300 marks, three for a correct answer and one off for a wrong one, in English, normalised across shifts.
  6. Objections, result and AFSB slot booking The question paper and provisional keys open on an objection portal for a few days; results are declared in the login. Candidates above the qualifying marks book an AFSB date and centre from the slots offered and download the call letter.
  7. AFSB testing Stage I — Officer Intelligence Rating and Picture Perception and Discussion — on day one, with a document check for those who clear it; stage II — psychological tests, group tests and the interview — over the next five days; the Computerised Pilot Selection System for recommended flying-branch candidates. Documents include the class 10 certificate, degree mark sheets, NCC and GATE certificates and a DGCA licence where claimed.
  8. Medical, merit and joining Recommended candidates are medically examined at the Air Force Central Medical Establishment or the Institute of Aerospace Medicine; a branch-wise merit list decides who is called to the Air Force Academy for the July 2027 courses.

Bring the originals to the AFSB, not later

The document check on the first day at the AFSB is where eligibility is verified — degree mark sheets with aggregate percentage, the 10+2 mark sheet showing physics and mathematics, and any NCC or GATE certificate. Candidates who clear stage I but cannot substantiate the branch they applied for are sent back that day.

Exam pattern

AFCAT exam pattern and marking

The AFCAT exam pattern below is the scheme in the AFCAT 02/2026 notification: one online paper for every branch, an AFSB of two stages, and a medical. The full treatment, with the syllabus, is on the exam pattern and syllabus pages.

AFCAT online test: 100 questions, 300 marks, 2 hours, English only; +3 for a correct answer, −1 for a wrong one, 0 for unattempted; normalised across shifts.
SectionCoverage
General AwarenessHistory, geography, sports, national and international organisations, art and culture, personalities, environment, basic science, defence, current affairs
Verbal Ability in EnglishComprehension, error detection, sentence completion, synonyms and antonyms, cloze tests, idioms, analogy, sentence rearrangement, one-word substitution, transformation, homonyms
Numerical AbilityDecimals and fractions, simplification, average, percentage, ratio and proportion, profit and loss, simple and compound interest, time and work, time and distance, mixtures, probability, area and perimeter, clocks
Reasoning and Military Aptitude TestVerbal and non-verbal reasoning, spatial ability, series, coding, syllogism, embedded figures, dot situations
AFSB, medical and merit.
StageDetail
AFSB stage I (day 1)Officer Intelligence Rating test and Picture Perception and Discussion test; document check; screening
AFSB stage II (days 1–6)Psychological tests on the first evening; group tests and interview over the next five days
CPSSFor recommended Flying-branch candidates; one attempt in a lifetime
MedicalAFCME New Delhi or IAM Bengaluru
MeritBranch-wise, from AFSB-recommended and medically fit candidates against the vacancies

The IAF may fix qualifying marks in any or all subjects. Aim to run 1.6 km in ten minutes and manage ten push-ups and three chin-ups before the AFSB, as the notification advises.

Study plan

How to prepare for AFCAT

AFCAT is a two-hour paper where a wrong answer costs a third of a right one and the whole paper is in English. It is decided on accuracy in the four sections and then on the AFSB, which is where most of the field is eliminated. Prepare the paper for a clean 60–70 questions rather than a scrappy 100, and the AFSB from the first month.

A four-month plan

  1. Month 1: English and numerical ability Grammar, vocabulary, cloze and comprehension daily; arithmetic to speed.
  2. Month 2: general awareness and reasoning A static spine with defence and aviation, current affairs for the year, and the reasoning and spatial families of the Military Aptitude Test.
  3. Month 3: full mocks A 100-question, two-hour mock every second day scored +3/−1 with an error log; OIR and PPDT practice weekly; the running and push-up targets.
  4. Month 4: revision and the AFSB file Revise from notes; keep current affairs to the date; prepare the PIQ form, self-description and group-discussion practice.

What the pattern means for the attempt

  • Never guess blind — Three off for every four wrong answers; leave what you do not know.
  • English is a quarter of the paper and the medium of all of it — Reading speed decides how many questions you reach.
  • The AFSB is the selection — Thousands clear the paper; a few hundred are recommended. Practise the formats.

Sources

Official notifications and sources

Checked 19 September 2026 against the AFCAT 02/2026 and AFCAT 01/2026 notifications and the notices on the AFCAT portal. The IAF’s older CDAC portals were unreachable at the time of checking; the EdCIL portal is current.

Official documents

AFCAT 02/2026 notification — courses commencing July 2027 AFCAT 01/2026 notification AFCAT portal — registration, admit cards, results and AFSB slots Indian Air Force

Exam resources

Everything for AFCAT

Six resource pages, each kept in step with the latest official notification.

AFCAT SyllabusAFCAT syllabus — general awareness, verbal ability in English, numerical ability, and reasoning and military aptitude: the four sections of one paper.AFCAT Exam PatternAFCAT exam pattern 2026 — the 100-question, 300-mark online test with +3/−1 marking, four sections, normalisation, AFSB stages, CPSS and branch-wise merit.AFCAT Previous PapersAFCAT previous year papers — extracting the defence awareness seam and practising the spatial reasoning that dominates the aptitude section.AFCAT Mock TestsAFCAT mock tests — full paper practice with the one-mark negative marking applied, plus spatial reasoning drills.AFCAT PreparationAFCAT preparation strategy — guessing discipline, spatial reasoning, defence awareness and preparing for the AFSB.AFCAT Study MaterialAFCAT study material — general awareness, English, numerical ability and reasoning notes, with a defence awareness emphasis.

Related

More Defence preparation

All Defence examsEvery exam in this categoryPrevious-year papersPast papers with solutionsCurrent affairsDaily, weekly and monthlyExam updatesNotifications and results

Questions

AFCAT — FAQs

How harsh is AFCAT negative marking?

Considerably harsher than most competitive exams. Three marks are awarded for a correct answer and one is deducted for a wrong one, which means a blind guess among four options breaks even at best — adding variance without adding expected value. The practical rule is to eliminate at least one option before guessing, or leave the question. Candidates who practise on papers with quarter-mark or third-mark deductions carry too loose a threshold into this exam.

How is AFCAT different from NDA and CDS?

AFCAT is conducted by the Indian Air Force itself rather than by the Union Public Service Commission, and it recruits only for the Air Force. Its paper is a single two-hour test with an unusually harsh one-mark deduction and a heavier spatial reasoning component than NDA or CDS. It is held twice a year, and the selection board is the Air Force Selection Board rather than a Services Selection Board, with flying branch candidates additionally sitting a one-time pilot aptitude battery.

What is the pilot aptitude battery, and can it be reattempted?

It is a computerised pilot selection system test taken by flying branch candidates at the Air Force Selection Board, assessing the aptitudes relevant to flying. A candidate who does not clear it cannot reattempt it for flying branch entry in any future cycle, which makes it one of the few genuinely one-time assessments in defence recruitment. Because of that finality, understanding the format before you sit it is worth the effort.

What is the AFCAT exam pattern?

A single online objective test of 100 questions for 300 marks in two hours, in English, covering General Awareness, Verbal Ability in English, Numerical Ability, and Reasoning and Military Aptitude. Three marks are awarded for a correct answer and one deducted for a wrong one; marks are normalised across shifts. Candidates above the qualifying marks go to a five-to-six-day AFSB (stage I screening, stage II psychology, group tests and interview, plus CPSS for Flying), then a medical and a branch-wise merit list.

When is the next AFCAT?

AFCAT 02/2026 was held on 8 August 2026 and its result has been declared; AFSB seat selection ran from 10 to 14 September and the AFSB testing follows for courses commencing July 2027. AFCAT 01/2027 should be notified around November 2026 with the examination in the first quarter of 2027, following the pattern of AFCAT 01/2026 (registration 17 November – 14 December 2025, examination 31 January 2026).

How many vacancies are there in AFCAT 02/2026?

About 353 through AFCAT — Flying 35 (30 men, 5 women), Ground Duty (Technical) 211 across AE(L) and AE(M) with a few permanent-commission seats, and Ground Duty (Non-Technical) 107 across Weapon Systems, Administration, Logistics, Accounts, Education and Meteorology — plus 26 through GATE score entry and NCC Special Entry seats at 10 per cent of the Flying vacancies.

Who is eligible for AFCAT?

Unmarried graduates, men and women. Flying: 20–24 on 1 July 2027 (26 with a commercial pilot licence), physics and mathematics at 10+2 and a three-year degree or BE/B.Tech. Ground Duty (Technical): 20–26, physics and mathematics at 10+2 and a four-year engineering degree in the listed disciplines, or a GATE score. Ground Duty (Non-Technical): 20–26 with the degree the branch specifies. The fee is ₹550 plus GST.

Is there an EKT in AFCAT now?

No. The AFCAT 01/2026 and 02/2026 notifications do not include the Engineering Knowledge Test: Ground Duty (Technical) candidates take the same 100-question AFCAT paper, and engineers may also enter on a valid GATE score, for which a separate cut-off is declared.

What is the AFCAT salary?

Flight cadets receive a fixed stipend of ₹56,100 a month during the year of training. On commissioning as a Flying Officer the pay is Level 10 of the defence matrix, ₹56,100–1,77,500, with military service pay of ₹15,500 and branch allowances such as flying, technical and transport allowances.

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