AFCAT 2024: Application Form, Exam Date, Eligibility Criteria

The Indian Air Force biannually conducts Air Force Common Admission Online Test (AFCAT) to recruit the candidates for the post of Group-A gazetted officers in flying and ground duties (technical and non-technical) branches. Interested candidates can apply for AFCAT 2024 by filling the online application form. Before proceeding for the application form, candidates should check if they fulfill the eligibility criteria for the exam or not. AFCAT 2024 will be conducted twice. Selection in the service will be based on the marks scored by the candidates in the written exam and AFSB test.

Table of Contents

AFCAT 2024 Highlights

The test will be conducted all across the country by Indian Air Force.
Admission at all the stages of the exam i.e. written and AFSB tests will be purely provisional subjected to the eligibility conditions.
Mere issuance of admit card does not mean that the candidature of the candidate is accepted by the authority.
In case of multiple applications, the application submitted most recently will be considered by the authority.
The application fee for the exam shall not be refunded under any circumstances.
Candidates should apply for the exam on time to avoid last minute rush or technical errors.
The authority will not entertain any request for change in exam center under any circumstances.

AFCAT 2024 Important Dates

The tentative dates for AFCAT 2024 exam are as follows-

Events	Respective Dates
Events	AFCAT I	AFCAT II
Availability of online application form	Dec 2023	June 2024
Application form submission deadline	Dec 2023	June 2024
Admit card to release by	Jan 2024	August 2024
Date of entrance exam	February 2024	August 2024
Result to be announced	March 2024	October 2024
Interview date	April 2024	November 2024

The eligibility criteria for AFCAT examination are provided below. Candidates must fulfill these conditions if they want to appear in the exam.

Nationality: Only Indian nationals are eligible to apply for the exam.

Age limit:

For flying branch and NCC special entry: The age of the candidates should fall between 20 years and 24 years as on 1^st January 2024 (for AFCAT-I)and 1^st July 2024 (for AFCAT-II). Upper age limit for candidates holding valid and commercial pilot license issued by DGCA is relaxable to 26 years.
For ground duty branch: The age of the candidates should lie between 20 years and 26 years as on 1^st January 2021 (AFCAT-I) and 1^st July 2021 (AFCAT-II).

Marital status:

Candidates below the age of 25 years must be unmarried at the time of beginning of the course.
Married candidates above the age of 25 years can apply for exam but they will neither be provided accommodation during the training nor can they live with their family.
The date of birth provided by the candidates should match the one written on the matriculation/high school certificate.

Educational Qualification

Flying branch: Candidates should have done graduation from a recognized university or have cleared the section A and B exam of Associate Membership of Institution of Engineers or Aeronautical society of India.
Ground duty (technical branch): Candidates with a minimum of 60% marks each in Physics and Mathematics at 10+2 level and a minimum of four years degree graduation/integrated post-graduation qualification in Engineering/ Technology OR cleared Sections A and B examination of Associate Membership of Institution of Engineers (India) or Aeronautical Society of India or Graduate membership of the Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers by actual studies can apply.
Ground duty (non-technical branch): For administration and logistics, candidates should have completed their graduation degree in any discipline from a recognized university or have cleared Sections A and B examination of Associate Membership of Institution of Engineers (India) or Aeronautical Society of India from a recognized university.

Physical and medical standards

For flying branch, the minimum acceptable height for men and woman candidates is 162.5 cms.
For ground duties, the minimum acceptable height for male candidates is 157.5 cms and 152 cms for female candidates.
Gorkhas and candidates from the hilly north-eastern regions, Garhwal and Kumaon should have the minimum acceptable height 5cms less than the average ones.

Note:

Candidates who wear spectacles on regular basis cannot apply for flying branch.
The height and weight of the candidates should be proportional accordingly.
Candidates should not be having any disease and he/she should be mentally and physically fit.

AFCAT 2024 Application form

Candidates can apply for the AFCAT exam by visiting the official website of the Indian Air Force. No other mode except the online one shall be accepted by the authority. Candidates must provide their Aadhar card information for registration. They should keep their relevant documents handy before they begin filling the application form. The application form will entail details such as- personal details, qualification details, course preference, communication details and etc.

The information provided by the candidates should be correct and match the official records. If at any stage, the details given by the applicants are found to be misleading or incorrect then the candidature of such applicants will be cancelled immediately. Candidates won’t be provided an opportunity to make changes in their application once the form is submitted successfully. It is mandatory for the applicants to pay a requisite amount of application fee. The application form must be submitted on or before the deadline given by the authority.

Application fee

Candidates need to pay Rs. 250/- as the examination fee for AFCAT exam. The fee can be paid through the credit card, net banking, debit card and E-Challan. The application fee shall not be applicable to the meteorology and NCC special entry candidates.

AFCAT 2024 Exam Pattern

Candidates should know about the AFCAT exam pattern to understand the structure of the exam. Here is the exam pattern-

Exam mode: Online (computer-based)
Duration: 2 hours
Language: English
Type of questions: Objective type (MCQ based)
Marking scheme: 3 marks will be awarded for correct answer
Negative marking: one mark will be deducted for incorrect answer

For AFCAT 2024

Subjects	Number of questions	Maximum marks	Duration
General awareness, verbal ability in English, numerical ability, reasoning and military aptitude test	100	300	2 hours

For Engineering Knowledge Test (EKT)

Subjects	Number of questions	Maximum marks	Duration
Mechanical, computer science and electrical and electronics	50	150	45 minutes

Note: Candidates applying for ground duty need to appear for both the AFCAT and EKT (Engineering knowledge test)

AFCAT 2024 Syllabus

The syllabus of the AFCAT examination is given below. Candidates should bear in mind that the standard of numerical ability questions will be of matriculation level. However, for rest of the subjects, the standard will be of graduation level.

General Awareness: Polity, history, geography, current affairs, arts, sports, culture, environment, science, etc.
English: Error correction, sentence completion, jumble words, sentence rearrangement, comprehension, fill in the correct word, one word substitution, antonym, synonym, idioms and phrases, testing of vocabulary etc.
Numerical ability: Time and work, speed, distance and time, ration and proportion, boats and stream, mixture and allegation, percentage, profit and loss, simple interest, compound interest, average, problem on ages, etc.
Reasoning and Military aptitude test: Verbal skills and spatial ability.

AFCAT 2024 Admit card

The admit card of AFCAT 2024 exam can be downloaded from the official website.
The authority will also send the admit card to the candidates on their registered email id.
No admit card will be sent by post or any method other than the online one.
Candidates need to take a printout of the hall ticket and keep it safe for further use.
Candidates must bring the admit card along with a valid id proof to the examination hall failing which they won’t be allowed to take the test.
In case the applicants are not able to download their admit card or they haven’t received the admit card, then they must inform the authorities immediately.

AFCAT 2024 Result and selection

The result of the admission test will be announced on the official website.
The authority will prepare a list of the candidates based on their performance in the exam.
Such selected candidates will be called at one of the Air Force Selection Boards where they will undergo a series of AFSB tests.
The test will comprise of 3 stages-

Stage-I: Officer Intelligence rating test with picture perception test and discussion will be organized.

Stage-II: Psychological test will be conducted in the afternoon and group tests and interview would begin after the document verification phase.

Stage-III (for flying branch): A computerized pilot selection system (CPSS) will be administered.

A final list will be published on the official web portal stating the names and roll number of the candidates selected for the service.