SIFT study guide, paced to each time limit

Two subtests take minutes, not half-hours, and on them most examinees run out of time before the last item, as the FAQ itself warns.

Simple Drawings: 2 minutes for 100 items, about 1.2 seconds each. Hidden Figures: 5 minutes for 50 items, about 6 seconds each. Knowledge does not help here; repetition does. Short timed sets every day beat one long session a week.

• Work at a fixed pace and stop when time runs out; part of a point comes off for each wrong answer, so do not guess.
• In Hidden Figures, follow the on-screen instructions and check a look-alike once, not twice. Pacing tips are on Hidden Figures.
• For Simple Drawings, keep a fixed pace and do not double-check (format notes).

This subtest is mostly rule application: where the horizon crosses the view gives pitch, which end sits higher gives bank, and what lies straight ahead gives heading. Once the rules are automatic, the rest is pace. They are explained with the usual reversal errors on Spatial Apperception.

The Army Aviation Information Test leans toward helicopters, and the FAQ says this part of the battery can be improved by study. Start with the controls, rotor aerodynamics and emergency basics on Army Aviation Information Test, then cover airplane basics, instruments and flight rules on AFOQT Aviation Information. Official advice: The SIFT FAQ suggests learning aviation terms and military history and practicing pacing on timed tests.

• Math Skills: no calculator, so practice long division, fractions and percentages by hand. The topic pages are Arithmetic Reasoning and Math Knowledge.
• Mechanical Comprehension: a short window; learn the handful of rules behind levers, pulleys and gears on Mechanical Comprehension.
• Reading: a fixed set, so leave nothing blank; method on Paragraph Comprehension.
• Adaptive pacing: too few answers is penalized; random guessing usually hurts more. Answer every item you reach, and do not spray answers in the last seconds.

Mixed practice from these four subtests is on the practice test.

1. Week 1: a timed run of the practice test to find weak subtests; read the format pages for Hidden Figures and Spatial Apperception and the Simple Drawings notes.
2. Week 2: helicopter topics every other day; daily speed sets; math by hand.
3. Week 3: horizon rules until you can call pitch, bank and heading at a glance; mechanical rules; reading sets under time.
4. Week 4: full timed sessions with the real subtest limits, and a check of the test-day rules.

A retest is allowed only after a fail, and a pass cannot be improved, so test when your practice results are steady, not when you are curious.

Two parts make it feel hard: most examinees cannot finish the speed subtests, as the FAQ notes, and the aviation subtest assumes vocabulary that civilians rarely have. The pass mark is 40 on a scale with a mean of 50, and the formula is compensatory, so a weak subtest can be offset. The Aviation Branch tells cadets they do not need to be a "math whiz" and recommends study guides and, if needed, a tutor (cadet FAQ). Army Personnel Testing does not publish a pass rate.