The RAF Airman Selection Test (AST): what replaced it

If you have been told to revise for the Airman Selection Test — the AST, sometimes written as the Airman/Airwoman Selection Test — you are working from out-of-date information. The AST has been replaced by the Defence Aptitude Assessment (DAA). This guide explains what changed, why so much advice online still refers to the AST, and what you should actually be practising.

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

The short version

The AST was the RAF's own aptitude test, sat by applicants for airman and airwoman trades. It has been superseded by the DAA, a single aptitude test used across the UK Armed Forces rather than one test per service. If a recruiter, a family member or a forum post mentions the AST, they are describing the predecessor of the test you will sit.

Why you still see "AST" everywhere

Two reasons. First, the AST ran for many years, so a great deal of preparation material, YouTube videos and forum advice was written while it was current, and none of that disappears when a test is replaced. Second, people who joined under the old system naturally still call it the AST, so the name survives in conversation long after it stopped being official.

This matters more than it sounds. Old AST material will still be broadly useful for the reasoning skills involved, but it may describe a different number of sections, different timings and a different structure from the test you actually face. If you are buying or downloading preparation material, check what it is preparing you for.

What the DAA does differently

The most significant change is scope. Rather than each service running its own aptitude test, the DAA is common across the Armed Forces, so the same assessment supports applications to the RAF and the Royal Navy. That makes the process more consistent, and it means guidance written for Royal Navy DAA candidates is generally relevant to RAF candidates too.

The DAA is computer-based and multiple-choice, with six separately timed sections and no calculator:

• Verbal Reasoning — drawing conclusions from written information.
• Numerical Reasoning — arithmetic, fractions, percentages and ratios.
• Work Rate — applying a simple rule quickly and accurately.
• Spatial Reasoning — rotations, reflections and folding nets.
• Mechanical Comprehension — levers, gears, pulleys and everyday forces.
• Electrical Comprehension — series and parallel circuits, current and resistance.

For the full breakdown, read the DAA explained.

Is the DAA harder than the AST?

This is the question most people who have heard of the AST want answered, and the honest answer is that it is not a useful comparison. The two tests measure similar underlying abilities — reasoning, numeracy, spatial awareness and mechanical understanding — and neither is designed to be crammed for. What determines how hard your test feels is your own strengths across those areas and how comfortable you are working at pace.

Be wary of anyone claiming the new test is dramatically harder or easier. The specifics of scoring are not published in detail, so confident claims about difficulty or cut-offs are usually guesswork. Our guide on how hard the DAA is takes a realistic look at what actually catches people out.

There is no single pass mark — and there never was

A recurring piece of AST-era folklore is that there is one score you must beat. In practice, each role or trade has its own requirement, weighted towards the sections that matter for that job: technical trades lean on mechanical and electrical performance, while verbal and numerical reasoning underpin training almost everywhere.

That is why two people can perform similarly overall and qualify for different roles. See DAA scores and what they mean for how results are interpreted.

What to practise instead

Practise the DAA, section by section, against a clock. Because the sections are individually timed, pacing is a skill in its own right, and the only way to build it is to rehearse under the same constraint. Start with free DAA practice tests covering all six sections, work out which section is weakest, and spend your time there rather than on the ones you already enjoy.

If you want a schedule rather than ad-hoc revision, follow the DAA study plan, and read what to expect on test day so nothing about the format is new when it counts.