It takes approximately 3 months of time if you want to score more than 200 in AFCAT and it takes much more if you are starting the preparation from scratch. Here are some things that helped me in just qualifying the online exam. I must mention it that AFCAT is way easier than CDS exam. Here are some tips that I can give fellow aspirants on how to score better in this exam.

• Always read about the static general knowledge and have the basic knowledge about the Indian polity and Indian geography. Regarding these, put special emphasis on topics related to parliament, certain articles of our constitution, the names of certain personalities who served various posts at historic times, the names of the mountain passes in the Himalayas, certain rivers and its tributaries, famous cities and their founders, etc. These sorts of questions are direct. Special emphasis is to be given for the forefathers of our constitution and few things in GK.
• Be choosy while dealing with history. Do not read deep. Read what is necessary. Do have knowledge about the timeline of events. This will help you a lot.

• Always practice as many problems in Maths as possible. The more different and varied kinds of problems you see, the better. The best way of preparing is through AFCAT SSBCrackExam online lectures rather than self-study. Maths looks fun when you have a company. Now that I just passed, I wish I qualify the SSB too. But if in case I had to write the exam once again, I will go through the AFCAT lectures in ssbcrackexams.com. Not boasting or advertising but they really do help. They save our time a lot by the way.
• I left questions that I am unsure of. The problem with AFCAT is that it looks so simple that we forget that we are attempting so many guesses, which is a terrible disaster. We must maintain a healthy number of guessed answers but if the whole paper goes like that, we end up not qualifying. The key to success is that I understood – what not to mark.
• Things seem very different in case of Maths questions. The same question, if read twice will give us deeper explanation. Chances might be that by reading some questions twice, we get to understand the trick behind it or kind of explore the best time saving method of solving the problem. So re-reading is a useful key.
• 90% of the candidates attempt for the Reasoning part of the exam without doing preparation. We must not do this. Obviously, last-minute preparation is not the cup of tea for the reasoning part. But we must develop a habit that we sit with reasoning every free time as possible. I personally do reasoning when I am bored of studying the theory. If it works for you, better implement it.
• Please give time for the exam. Respect it. You don’t give proper time for exam and expect good marks – that is a crime no less than a sin. Give it good effort.
• I realised multitasking is absolutely impossible. Please focus on one thing at a time. It will do wonders. (Try turning your phone’s notifications off before starting to study. It works.)
• Have a specific knowledge about the airforce and the aircraft that are used in it. It is AFCAT, it doesn’t mean no questions are asked from Army and Navy.

• Capitals and currencies of other nations is a must-read topic.
• Know about the recent film awards, any sports championships and any prominent defence deals and exercises.
• Give time for knowing different terms associated to sports and famous sportsmen. Regarding cricket, it’s better to know everything.
• EKT is something really branch-specific at times. However, all Mechanical and Mechanical related engineers out there, please do read about thermodynamics, mechanics and things related to gears.
• Having a knowledge of the aircraft and all the related jargons is a must.
• If any Aeronautical engineer is writing the exam, for you, EKT will be trickier. Have knowledge about the kinds of flow and various basic concepts from Aerodynamics like Navier Stokes Equation, Euler’s equation etc.
• Questions related to vibrations and Simple Harmonic motions also might be asked.

That’s it, guys. What all I know, I’ve kept it. If you want me to include anything, please let me know in the comments below.

Have a great day. Jai Hind.