Army Cognitive Test practice questions: all five ACT sections

If you are applying to the British Army and looking for practice questions, the test you want is the Army Cognitive Test (ACT) — not the BARB, which it replaced, and not the DAA, which is the RAF and Royal Navy's test. This guide shows what the questions look like in each section, works through an example of each, and links to free samples.

ForcesReady is an independent practice resource. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the British Army or the Ministry of Defence. Always confirm the current process and requirements on the official Army recruitment website before you apply.

Speed is the whole game

Before the sections, the thing to understand about the ACT: it is sharply timed, and that is deliberate. The individual questions are not conceptually hard — most people could answer nearly all of them correctly given unlimited time. You do not get unlimited time. What is being measured is how quickly and accurately you process straightforward information under pressure.

That changes how you should practise. Getting a question right slowly is not a success. If you take away one thing from this guide, make it that every practice session runs against a clock. For the background, read the Army Cognitive Test explained.

Deductive Reasoning practice questions

You are given a few facts and asked what must be true. The discipline is answering from the statements alone, not from what sounds plausible.

Example. "Every vehicle in the convoy is armoured. Some vehicles in the convoy carry supplies." Must some supply-carrying vehicles be armoured? Yes — if all of them are armoured, any subset is too. Watch for questions where the answer is "cannot be determined"; under time pressure people reach for yes or no and guess wrong.

Practise with free Deductive Reasoning questions.

Error Detection practice questions

You compare two pieces of information and spot where they differ. It sounds trivial and it is, right up to the point where you are doing it at speed and your eyes start sliding over near-identical strings.

Example. Do these match — RTG 4482 KLP and RTG 4482 KIP? No: the L has become an I. Characters that look alike — L and I, 0 and O, 5 and S — are exactly where the errors are planted. A reliable technique is to compare in small chunks rather than reading each string whole.

Practise with free Error Detection questions.

Number Fluency practice questions

Quick arithmetic without a calculator. Not complicated maths — fast maths.

Example. 17 × 6. Rather than reaching for long multiplication, split it: (10 × 6) + (7 × 6) = 60 + 42 = 102. Splitting numbers apart like this, and rounding then correcting (17 × 6 = 20 × 6 − 3 × 6 = 120 − 18 = 102), is what separates a fast candidate from an accurate but slow one. Both routes work; pick whichever you can do without hesitating.

Practise with free Number Fluency questions.

Word Rules practice questions

You apply a stated rule to words — relationships, sequences, or picking the word that does not belong. The rule is always given; the work is applying it consistently at pace.

Example. Which is the odd one out: hammer, spanner, screwdriver, timber? Timber — the others are tools, timber is a material. When two answers seem defensible, go with the simplest, most obvious category rather than the clever one. These questions are not designed to be subtle, and second-guessing costs you time you do not have.

Practise with free Word Rules questions.

Orientation practice questions

Directions, bearings and spatial position — working out which way something faces or where it ends up after a change of direction.

Example. You are facing north and turn 90° to your right, then 180°. Which way are you facing? Right from north is east; 180° from east is west. Track one turn at a time rather than trying to total them up — people who add the degrees first make far more mistakes than people who step through it.

Practise with free Orientation questions.

How to practise for a speed test

• Time everything. On the ACT, an untimed correct answer tells you nothing useful.
• Chase accuracy first, then pace. Rushing into errors is the most common way to score badly. Get reliable, then get faster.
• Short, frequent sessions. Fifteen focused minutes several times a week beats an occasional two-hour slog, because the thing you are training is sustained concentration.
• Drill your weakest section. Usually Number Fluency or Error Detection, and usually the one you least want to do.

Work through a full set of ACT practice tests covering all five sections.

What your result affects

There is no single pass mark published in detail. Your result contributes to which Army roles you qualify for, so a stronger performance widens your options rather than simply passing you. That is the practical reason to prepare: not to scrape through, but to keep more doors open. For the wider application process, read how to join the British Army.