Army Cognitive Test practice
Practise every section of the Army Cognitive Test — the assessment that replaced the BARB for British Army applicants. Five short, sharply timed sections: deductive reasoning, error detection, number fluency, word rules and orientation.
Try the official free practice first
The Army's official free ACT practice questions (run by Mindmill) show the real question formats, and you can try them as often as you like. Do them first — several of our sections use older BARB-style formats, so treat our practice as extra speed-and-accuracy drilling rather than a copy of the real test.
Open the official Army Cognitive Test practice questions ↗Deductive reasoning
Short relational statements — work out who is taller, faster or older, against a very fast clock.
Try the free sample →
Error detection
BARB-style letter checking — count how many pairs of letters match, ignoring case. Drills attention to detail at speed.
Try the free sample →
Number fluency
Number distance and fast mental arithmetic — no calculator, and no time to write anything down.
Try the free sample →
Word rules
BARB-style odd one out — spot the word that does not belong with the other three.
Try the free sample →
Orientation
BARB-style symbol rotation — decide whether the second symbol is the first turned round, or a mirror image.
Try the free sample →
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New to the ACT? Start with what's on the Army Cognitive Test.
What the Army Cognitive Test is
The Army Cognitive Test replaced the British Army Recruit Battery, the test most people still call the BARB. The Army lists it as the Army Cognitive Test (Verifier), one of the computer-based tests you take at the Army assessment centre. It has five sections, and the score helps decide which Army roles you can apply for. If you are applying to the RAF or the Royal Navy you will sit the Defence Aptitude Assessment instead — a different, longer test.
The Army's official practice says both speed and accuracy are important. That is why every section here is timed by default, and why tapping an answer moves you straight on in our practice. Be aware that the real ACT sections ask you to do different things from several of ours — for example, the real Error Detection section asks you to count mistakes in a copied string, and the real Orientation, Word Rules and Deductive Reasoning sections ask you to memorise rules first. Several of our sections use older BARB-style formats, so use the official practice to learn the real formats and ours for extra drilling.
The five sections
Short relational statements — work out who is taller, faster or older, against a very fast clock.
BARB-style letter checking — count how many pairs of letters match, ignoring case. Drills attention to detail at speed.
Number distance and fast mental arithmetic — no calculator, and no time to write anything down.
BARB-style odd one out — spot the word that does not belong with the other three.
BARB-style symbol rotation — decide whether the second symbol is the first turned round, or a mirror image.
The pace shown is the pace our practice sections run at. Question counts and timings for the real assessment are set by the Army and can change — always check the current process with your Armed Forces Careers Office.
These are original practice questions for the abilities the Army Cognitive Test (ACT) assesses. They are not the official questions, and several of our sections use older BARB-style question formats that differ from the real ACT; our timings are our own. Forces Ready is independent and not affiliated with or endorsed by the British Army or the Ministry of Defence — always follow the official guidance from your Army careers adviser.