A useful preparation plan tells you what to do when you sit down to study. CFAT practice can give structure to verbal reasoning, spatial reasoning and arithmetic work, while CAF preparation also involves learning about careers and following your application instructions. This four-week plan brings those tasks together in manageable sessions.
Confirm what you are preparing for
Begin with the CAF application guidance and your recruiter’s instructions. Ask which assessments, documents and appointments apply to your entry route and selected occupations. Keep the answer beside your study calendar so you can prioritise the work that is relevant to your application.
Write down your available study days, any confirmed appointment dates and two careers you want to understand better. The official CAF career directory lets you explore occupations and their requirements. Save questions about anything unclear for a recruiter.
Start with a short baseline
Complete a small mixed practice set before choosing your main study topics. Use the practice provider’s instructions, record whether you used notes or a calculator, and review every answer. A modest first session gives you enough information to begin without using an entire evening.
Create three headings in a notebook: verbal, spatial and problem solving. Under each, record one thing you handled well and one specific difficulty. “Adding unlike fractions” is useful; “bad at maths” gives you no next action. Include correct answers you guessed, because those deserve review too.
Follow a four-week cycle
- Week one: establish your baseline and refresh basic methods. Practise reading the exact question, simplifying fractions and tracking one feature of a shape.
- Week two: give extra time to your weakest skill. Work through examples slowly, explain the steps, then attempt fresh questions without notes.
- Week three: combine topics in short mixed sets. Introduce a practice time limit once you can apply the methods accurately, and track where you rush or stall.
- Week four: review recurring errors, complete a fresh comparison set and finish your career research questions. Check appointment instructions and required documents.
Use four weeks as a planning example. Extend or shorten the cycle to suit your starting point and availability. A missed session can move to the next available day; avoid packing several full sessions into one tired evening.
Give each session a clear finish
For a 30-minute session, spend five minutes recalling yesterday’s method, fifteen minutes on new problems and ten minutes checking answers. Finish by writing tomorrow’s task. For example: “Solve five ratio-sharing questions and label total parts before calculating.”
Keep a little maintenance practice for stronger areas so they stay familiar. Revisit a difficult method after a gap, with new values or wording. The UNC Learning Center recommends active self-testing and study spread across multiple sessions; your notebook turns those ideas into a concrete routine.
Make room for the wider application
Reserve one short weekly block for occupation research, document organisation and honest interview examples from work, school or volunteering. Keep administrative questions separate from practice errors so each has a clear next step.
Use our preparation guide to organise your study routine. Start Free Trial to explore CFATReady practice and identify your first study priority.