RAF aptitude test practice questions: all six DAA sections

If you are searching for RAF aptitude test practice questions, the test you want to practise for is the Defence Aptitude Assessment (DAA). There is no separate RAF exam — the DAA is the aptitude test RAF applicants sit, and it replaced the old Airman/Airwoman Selection Test (AST). This guide shows what the questions look like in each of the six sections, works through an example of each, and points you at free samples you can try straight away.

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.

What you are practising for

The DAA is computer-based and multiple-choice, made up of six separately timed sections, with no calculator allowed. Each section is timed on its own, so you cannot borrow time from an easy section to rescue a hard one. That single fact should shape how you practise: doing questions slowly and correctly at your kitchen table builds the wrong habit. Practise against a clock from the start.

The six sections are Verbal Reasoning, Numerical Reasoning, Work Rate, Spatial Reasoning, Mechanical Comprehension and Electrical Comprehension. For how the test runs on the day, see the DAA explained.

Verbal Reasoning practice questions

You are given a short passage and asked what follows from it. The trap is answering from general knowledge or from what seems sensible, rather than from what the passage actually says.

Example. "All aircraft in the squadron were serviced in March. Some aircraft in the squadron are training aircraft." Does it follow that some training aircraft were serviced in March? Yes — if every aircraft was serviced and some are training aircraft, those training aircraft were serviced. Notice that nothing tells you how many, and nothing tells you whether any other aircraft exist outside the squadron. Answer only what the text supports.

Practise with free Verbal Reasoning questions.

Numerical Reasoning practice questions

Arithmetic, fractions, percentages, ratios and simple data interpretation — without a calculator. The maths is not advanced; the pressure comes from doing it quickly and accurately in your head or on paper.

Example. A fuel bowser holds 4,500 litres and is 60% full. How many litres are in it? Ten per cent of 4,500 is 450, so 60% is 450 × 6 = 2,700 litres. Working in tens per cent is almost always faster than reaching for long multiplication, and it is the habit that pays off most under time pressure.

Practise with free Numerical Reasoning questions, and drill the mental arithmetic itself with our mental maths guide.

Work Rate practice questions

Work Rate measures how quickly and accurately you apply a simple rule over and over. The questions are easy individually; the difficulty is sustaining speed without slipping into errors.

Example. Using a code where A=3, B=7, C=2, what is the value of BAC? 7 + 3 + 2 = 12. On the real test you might answer dozens of these in a few minutes. Accuracy matters as much as pace — a fast run that is riddled with mistakes scores worse than a steady one that is right.

Practise with free Work Rate questions.

Spatial Reasoning practice questions

You work with shapes: rotations, reflections, and how flat nets fold into solids. Some people find this intuitive and some do not, and it is the section where deliberate practice most visibly changes performance.

Example. A net has a square base with four triangles attached, one to each edge. Folded up, what does it make? A square-based pyramid. A useful technique is to fix one face as the base in your mind and fold the rest around it, rather than trying to picture the whole thing at once.

Practise with free Spatial Reasoning questions.

Mechanical Comprehension practice questions

Everyday physics: levers, gears, pulleys, balance and simple forces. You are not expected to have studied engineering, and the questions reward understanding the principle rather than recalling formulas.

Example. Two gears mesh directly. If the first turns clockwise, which way does the second turn? Anticlockwise. Directly meshed gears always turn in opposite directions; add a third gear between them and the driven gear turns the same way as the driver again.

Practise with free Mechanical Comprehension questions.

Electrical Comprehension practice questions

Basic circuits: series and parallel, current, voltage and resistance, and reading simple circuit diagrams. This section matters most for technical and engineering trades.

Example. Two identical bulbs are wired in series and one fails. What happens to the other? It goes out, because a series circuit has a single path and breaking it anywhere stops the current. In parallel, the other bulb would stay lit.

Practise with free Electrical Comprehension questions.

How to practise so it actually helps

Three things separate practice that improves your score from practice that just passes time.

• Always use a timer. The DAA's sections are individually timed, so untimed practice trains a pace you will never be allowed to use.
• Review every question you get wrong. Knowing the right answer is worth little; knowing why your answer was wrong is what stops you repeating it.
• Spend your time on your weakest section. It is comfortable to keep practising what you are already good at, and it is close to useless.

Work through a full set of DAA practice tests covering all six sections, then follow a structured schedule with our DAA study plan.

Does practice change your result?

Practice will not rewrite your natural aptitude, and no honest resource will tell you otherwise. What it reliably removes is everything that costs marks for reasons unrelated to ability: not recognising a question type, misreading the instruction, freezing on an unfamiliar format, or running out of time because you spent ninety seconds on a question worth the same as one that takes ten. On a test whose results decide which RAF roles are open to you, that is worth having.