DAA Exam Flashcards

Q: What is the Defence Aptitude Assessment (DAA)?

The DAA is the UK Armed Forces aptitude assessment used by the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and Royal Air Force to match candidates to roles. It is a multiple-choice battery of six tests - verbal reasoning, numerical reasoning, work rate, spatial reasoning, electrical comprehension and mechanical comprehension - each with its own timer. It replaced the RAF Airman Selection Test (AST) and the Royal Navy's recruiting test with a single common assessment. It measures aptitude, not military knowledge, so no prior experience or academic qualification is needed to sit it.

Q: What score do I need to pass the DAA?

There is no single pass mark. The Royal Navy, Royal Marines and RAF each set a required score per profession and specialisation, and the official guidance is explicit that you do not need to answer every question correctly to succeed. Technical trades generally demand higher scores, particularly on electrical and mechanical comprehension. If you miss the score for your first-choice role, your Careers Adviser can tell you which other roles your result already qualifies you for. The Ministry of Defence does not publish an overall DAA pass rate.

Q: How many questions are on the DAA and how long does it take?

The RAF publishes the real-test figures section by section: verbal reasoning 20 questions in 15 minutes; numerical reasoning part 1 (fractions, decimals and formulae) 12 questions in 4 minutes; numerical reasoning part 2 (graphs and tables) 15 questions in 11 minutes; work rate 20 questions in 4 minutes; spatial reasoning part 1 10 questions in 4 minutes and part 2 10 questions in 3 minutes; electrical comprehension 22 questions in 15 minutes; mechanical comprehension 19 questions in 13 minutes. That is 128 questions and about 69 minutes of timed testing, and the Royal Navy advises allowing roughly 90 minutes for the whole sitting including instructions.

Q: Can I retake the DAA if I do not get the score I need?

Retakes are possible, but the Royal Navy and RAF do not publish a single mandated waiting period or attempt limit on their official DAA pages, and the rules differ between the services and by role. Because of that, this set does not state a fixed retake wait: confirm the current interval and how many attempts you are allowed with your Careers Adviser or Armed Forces Careers Office before you rebook. Your result also stays useful even if it misses your first-choice trade, because it may already qualify you for other roles.

Q: Can I take the DAA at home, and can I use a calculator?

You can sit the DAA at home using the link sent to your candidate portal, or book a slot at your local Armed Forces Careers Office. The link is valid for 14 days, but once you start you must finish in one sitting. The real assessment must be taken on a screen of at least 10.2 inches - a phone is fine for the official familiarisation questions only. Calculators and multi-function watches are not allowed, though you may use pen and paper, and using AI tools such as chatbots is treated as cheating.

Q: Does the DAA include a memory test?

The official Royal Navy and RAF DAA pages describe six tests - verbal reasoning, numerical reasoning, work rate, spatial reasoning, electrical comprehension and mechanical comprehension - and do not publish a separate memory-and-recollection section. Prepare for those six, and read the instructions issued with your assessment link, which set out the parts and timings you will actually face.

Q: How should I use these flashcards for an aptitude test rather than a knowledge test?

Aptitude tests reward practised method, so use each card to rehearse a procedure rather than to memorise a fact. Read the front, say the method out loud before flipping, then apply it to a timed practice question immediately - the electrical, mechanical and arithmetic cards contain the only content you can genuinely pre-learn. Rehearse the section pace as well: 12 seconds a question in work rate and 20 seconds in the arithmetic part are the two tightest clocks on the assessment.

Question 1

How is the DAA structured, and where does the score you need come from?

Accepted Answer

It is a multiple-choice battery of six tests - verbal reasoning, numerical reasoning, work rate, spatial reasoning, electrical comprehension and mechanical comprehension - each individually timed, with the numerical and spatial tests each split into two separately timed parts. There is no single pass mark: the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and RAF set a required score per profession and specialisation, so the same result can qualify you for one trade and not another.

Question 2

What are the official sitting rules for the DAA - window, single sitting, device and calculators?

Accepted Answer

The assessment link arrives in your candidate portal and stays valid for 14 days; you choose when to start, but once started you must finish in one sitting. You may sit it at home or book your local Armed Forces Careers Office (AFCO). The real test needs a screen of at least 10.2 inches - a phone is acceptable only for the familiarisation questions. No calculators or multi-function watches; pen and paper are allowed, and using AI tools is treated as cheating.

Question 3

The arithmetic part gives you 4 minutes for 12 questions. What does that pace mean for a question that stalls you?

Accepted Answer

It is 20 seconds per question, so there is no room to grind. Marks come from correct answers and the official guidance is simply to answer as many as you can, so the efficient play is to solve what comes quickly, abandon anything that runs past your pace, and make a reasoned guess after eliminating options rather than leaving it blank. Each test has its own clock, so seconds saved in one section cannot be carried into another.

Question 4

A passage states: 'All aircraft technicians hold a Level 3 qualification. Sam is an aircraft technician.' Which conclusion is safe?

Accepted Answer

Only that Sam holds a Level 3 qualification. Verbal reasoning is scored on what the text guarantees, not on what is plausible: 'all A are B' plus 'Sam is A' gives 'Sam is B'. The reverse - 'Sam holds Level 3, so Sam is a technician' - is invalid, because other people can hold the same qualification. Test each option by asking whether it could be false while the passage stays true; if it could, reject it.

Question 5

How do you handle 'some' and 'no' statements in verbal logic items?

Accepted Answer

'Some A are B' guarantees at least one overlap and nothing more - it never proves that some A are not B, and it never supports a conclusion about a named individual. 'No A are B' is fully reversible: if no divers are pilots, then no pilots are divers. Treat 'some' as the weakest possible evidence and 'no' as a firm two-way exclusion you can apply in either direction.

Question 6

A scenario lists five options with several attributes each, then asks which one meets a set of requirements. What is the fastest reliable method?

Accepted Answer

Eliminate on one requirement at a time, starting with the one that rules out the most options, and cross options out before reading the next requirement. Ignore attributes the question did not ask about. Because these sets ask several questions from one block of facts, the time spent mapping the facts once is repaid across every question in that scenario - the DAA verbal test presents its 20 questions across four scenarios.

Question 7

What is the trap in answer options containing 'always', 'never' or 'only'?

Accepted Answer

Absolute wording needs an absolute statement in the passage to support it. If the text says most engineers are posted overseas, an option claiming they are always posted overseas is wrong. Softly worded options ('may', 'some') are easier to justify because they claim less. Match the strength of the option to the strength of the sentence it comes from, and treat any unmatched absolute as a distractor.

Question 8

Two synonym options both look close to the target word. How do you decide?

Accepted Answer

Choose the word that could replace the original in the same sentence without changing its meaning or its register. Check direction first - positive or negative, increase or decrease - because that alone removes most distractors. Then watch for options that relate to the topic rather than to the word itself, which is the commonest wrong answer: for 'curtail', 'reduce' works, while 'schedule' merely belongs to the same context.

Question 9

Analogy item: 'Sextant is to navigation as spanner is to ___'. How do you build the answer?

Accepted Answer

State the relationship as a sentence before you look at the options: a sextant is a tool used to carry out navigation, so the answer must be the activity a spanner carries out - maintenance or fastening. 'Toolbox' is a container and 'mechanic' is a person, so both fail the sentence. Naming the relationship first stops you picking a word that is merely associated with the first term.

Question 10

Why do table-based verbal questions so often hinge on the footnote row?

Accepted Answer

Because the procedure set out in the table is usually modified by an exceptions or special-conditions line - an incident with a valid cause being disregarded, or a count that does not carry forward into the next month. Candidates who read straight across the row apply the wrong step. Read the exceptions first, decide which entries still stand, and only then read across to the outcome.

Question 11

Under a 20-second clock, what is the fastest way to work out 5/6 - 2/3?

Accepted Answer

Check whether one denominator already divides into the other before cross-multiplying. Here 3 goes into 6, so 2/3 = 4/6 and 5/6 - 4/6 = 1/6 in a single step; going to eighteenths gives 15/18 - 12/18 = 3/18, the same answer but with a simplification added. Keep the common decimal equivalents ready as well - 1/8 = 0.125, 1/5 = 0.2, 1/4 = 0.25, 1/3 = 0.333, 3/8 = 0.375, 5/8 = 0.625, 3/4 = 0.75 - because mixed fraction and decimal options are often settled by converting rather than calculating.

Question 12

Work out 15% of 240 and 35% of 60 mentally.

Accepted Answer

Build every percentage from 10%, 5% and 1% blocks. 10% of 240 = 24, and 5% is half of that = 12, so 15% = 36. For 35% of 60: 10% = 6, so 30% = 18, and 5% = 3, giving 21. This is faster and less error-prone than multiplying by a decimal, and the same blocks handle percentage questions in the graph and table part.

Question 13

Solve 3x + 7 = 25, and state the general routine.

Accepted Answer

Undo the operations in reverse order: subtract 7 from both sides to get 3x = 18, then divide by 3 to get x = 6. Substitute back - 3(6) + 7 = 25 - as a two-second check that catches sign slips. If the unknown sits over a denominator, multiply both sides by that denominator first so the rest of the working stays in whole numbers.

Question 14

Where do most marks get lost when multiplying decimals such as 1.4 x 0.35?

Accepted Answer

On the decimal point rather than the digits. Multiply as whole numbers - 14 x 35 = 490 - then count the decimal places in the two factors (1 + 2 = 3) and place the point: 0.490, which is 0.49. Estimate before you start: 0.35 is roughly a third, and a third of 1.4 is about 0.47, so options such as 4.9 or 0.049 can be discarded on sight as misplaced-point distractors.

Question 15

A bar chart shows 40,000 units produced in 2018. Which later year had output equal to 70% of that?

Accepted Answer

Work out the target value once, then read it off: 70% of 40,000 = 28,000, so you are hunting for the bar at 28,000 instead of judging proportions by eye. Converting a percentage question into a single number before you look at the graphic is the core data-interpretation move - it turns a comparison into a lookup, which is far quicker and far harder to get wrong.

Question 16

A sales table shows 6 identical brake units with a total cost of GBP 1,200, and leaves the per-unit cell blank. What do two units cost?

Accepted Answer

Find the unit rate first: 1,200 / 6 = GBP 200 each, so two cost GBP 400. Table questions leave cells blank on purpose, and deriving the unit rate from a complete row turns every other blank in that column into a one-step multiplication. Before dividing, always confirm whether the printed figure is a total or a per-item price - that single check prevents most errors in this part.

Question 17

A driver arrives at 11:00 having covered 250 km at an average of 100 km/h. What time did they set off?

Accepted Answer

Time = distance / speed = 250 / 100 = 2.5 hours, which is 2 hours 30 minutes, so departure was 08:30. Convert the decimal part of an hour into minutes before subtracting - 0.25 h = 15 min, 0.5 h = 30 min, 0.75 h = 45 min. Reading 2.5 hours as '2 hours 50 minutes' is the classic error, and the wrong answer it produces is usually one of the options.

Question 18

A 50 km run is planned at 100 km/h but traffic halves the speed. How much longer does it take?

Accepted Answer

Thirty minutes longer: at 100 km/h it takes 50 / 100 = 0.5 h = 30 minutes, and at 50 km/h it takes 50 / 50 = 1 hour. For a fixed distance, time is inversely proportional to speed, so halving the speed always doubles the time and doubling the speed always halves it. Spotting the proportion removes the second calculation altogether.

Question 19

What should you check on a chart before reading any data point?

Accepted Answer

The axis labels, the units and any multiplier such as 'figures in thousands' - then decide which of three questions you are being asked: a value ('which flavour earned most in April'), a shape across the series ('which rose every month'), or a difference between points ('the biggest increase'). Naming which of the three you need stops you answering the wrong question correctly, which is the most expensive mistake in this part.

Question 20

Four scores are 12, 15, 9 and 16. Give the mean, median and range, and say what distinguishes them.

Accepted Answer

Mean = (12 + 15 + 9 + 16) / 4 = 52 / 4 = 13. Ordered, the values are 9, 12, 15, 16, so the median is the average of the middle two: (12 + 15) / 2 = 13.5. Range = 16 - 9 = 7. The mean uses every value and is dragged by outliers, the median is not, and the range describes spread rather than a typical value - options in these items routinely include all three, so read which one is asked for.

Question 21

What does the DAA work rate test actually ask you to do?

Accepted Answer

Each question shows a grid whose columns pair up items from three rows - letters or words, numbers or arithmetic signs, and pictures. You are given a code of three items and must choose the option that uses equivalent items from the same columns in the same order. It measures speed and accuracy on a routine task rather than cleverness, and 20 questions in 4 minutes leaves about 12 seconds each.

Question 22

Grid columns pair Um with 7, Ta with 9, Eek with 4 and Ah with 3. Which numeric code matches 'Um Eek Ah'?

Accepted Answer

7 4 3. Take each code item's column, swap in the value from the required row, and keep the original order. Order is the whole point of the test: 7 3 4 uses the correct three values in the wrong sequence, and that is the distractor most candidates fall for when they rush. An option containing a value from a column you were not given is the other standard trap.

Question 23

Why translate the code yourself instead of checking each answer option?

Accepted Answer

Because building the answer takes three lookups, while testing five options can take fifteen. Convert the code into the target row's values first, then scan the options for that exact string and stop as soon as you find it. Working outwards from the code rather than inwards from the options is the single largest time saving available in a section that gives you about 12 seconds per question.

Question 24

In work rate, should you prioritise speed or accuracy?

Accepted Answer

Accuracy is what is scored - the marks come from correct answers - but the 4-minute limit for 20 items means hesitation is expensive. The workable balance is a steady rhythm at roughly the 12-second pace with one glance to confirm the order before committing, rather than alternating between sprinting and re-checking. Consistent tempo beats bursts of speed followed by corrections.

Question 25

You lose your place halfway through a work rate question. What is the recovery move?

Accepted Answer

Re-read only the code, not the whole grid, and find those columns again. Every question is self-contained, so nothing carries over from the previous grid and there is no partial credit to protect. If the item still resists after a few more seconds, choose an option and move on - one 30-second question costs you two or three easy ones later in the same section.

Question 26

Some work rate grids use arithmetic signs or pictures instead of letters. Does the method change?

Accepted Answer

No. The content of the rows is deliberately meaningless - the task is always 'same columns, same order'. Treat a triangle, a plus sign and a nonsense word as interchangeable labels. Trying to find logic or a pattern in the symbols is wasted effort and is precisely what slows candidates down in the tightest-timed section of the assessment.

Question 27

How does independent section timing change what you do with spare seconds in work rate?

Accepted Answer

You cannot bank them. Every test has its own clock, so time saved in work rate does not roll into electrical comprehension, and running out in one section does not shorten the next. Spend any spare seconds re-checking answers within that same section - especially the order of the code, the most common error - rather than trying to press ahead into the following test.

Question 28

What does part 1 of the DAA spatial reasoning test ask you to do?

Accepted Answer

You are shown three or four flat shapes whose edges carry matching labels such as x, y and z, and asked which of five options shows the single shape formed when the identically labelled edges are joined. You may need to rotate the pieces mentally so those edges line up. Ten questions in 4 minutes leaves about 24 seconds each, so the answer usually has to come from elimination rather than full reconstruction.

Question 29

What can you eliminate in a 2D assembly item before doing any mental rotation?

Accepted Answer

Anything that fails a count or a size check. The assembled figure must contain the total area the pieces contribute, and its longest edge cannot exceed the longest edge available among them. Options that are visibly too large, too small, or carry an extra spike or notch that no piece supplies can go immediately, which usually leaves two candidates worth rotating properly.

Question 30

How do you tell a rotation from a reflection in a 2D shape item?

Accepted Answer

Rotation preserves the clockwise order of a shape's features; reflection reverses it. Pick one distinctive feature - a notch, a shaded corner, the shortest edge - and read the remaining features clockwise from it. If the option lists them in the same clockwise order it is a rotation of the original; if the order runs anticlockwise it is a mirror image, which is a different shape and a wrong answer.

Question 31

What happens to the two edges that get joined when labelled pieces are assembled?

Accepted Answer

They are the same length and end up inside the finished shape as an internal seam, so they are no longer part of the outline. The perimeter of the assembled figure therefore equals the sum of the pieces' perimeters minus twice each joined edge. Checking that the joined edges have disappeared from the outline is a fast way to reject options that merely place the pieces side by side.

Question 32

What does part 2 of the DAA spatial reasoning test show you?

Accepted Answer

Two three-dimensional objects, each with a dot marked in one corner. The five options show the same pair after rotation, and only one option keeps both dots in the same corners as the original. It is a paired check, so an option that is right for one object and wrong for the other is still wrong. Ten questions in 3 minutes leaves about 18 seconds each - the fastest clock in the spatial test.

Question 33

One object in a 3D rotation item is easy to read and the other is awkward. What is the efficient order of work?

Accepted Answer

Judge the easy object first and eliminate every option that fails on it, then check only the survivors against the harder object. Because both dots must be correct, one confident judgement typically removes three of the five options, so you perform the difficult mental rotation once or twice instead of five times - which is what makes the 18-second pace achievable.

Question 34

How do you keep track of a marked corner through a rotation?

Accepted Answer

Anchor it to things rotation cannot change: which faces meet at that corner, and how the corner sits relative to a distinctive feature such as a notch, a step or the longest edge. Turning an object changes the direction it faces but never changes which faces touch the marked corner, so an option showing the dot on a corner formed by a different pair of faces is wrong however it has been turned.

Question 35

Why is 'same object, mirrored' the most common wrong option in 3D rotation items?

Accepted Answer

Because a mirror image matches the original on every measurement and only differs in handedness, so it looks right from most angles. No rotation can ever turn an object into its mirror image. If the features run in the opposite rotational sense around the marked corner - anticlockwise where the original ran clockwise - reject the option even though the shape and proportions match perfectly.

Question 36

What is electric current, and how is it measured?

Accepted Answer

Current is the flow of charged particles - electrons in a metal conductor - measured in amperes (A). An ammeter is wired in series in the branch it measures, so it reads the current passing through that point. Voltage is different: it is the potential difference across a component and is measured by a voltmeter connected in parallel across it. Confusing the two connection methods is a standard distractor.

Question 37

State Ohm's law and apply it to a 12 V supply across a 4 ohm resistor.

Accepted Answer

V = I x R, so I = V / R = 12 / 4 = 3 A. The rearrangements are R = V / I and V = I x R. Learn it as a triangle with V on top and I and R side by side underneath: cover the quantity you want and the remaining layout tells you whether to divide or multiply. Almost every calculated electrical item on the DAA reduces to this relationship or to the power formula built from it.

Question 38

Two identical 6 ohm resistors are wired in series across a 12 V supply. Find the total resistance and the current.

Accepted Answer

In series, resistances add: 6 + 6 = 12 ohms, so I = 12 / 12 = 1 A. That same 1 A flows through both, because current is identical at every point in a series loop, and the supply voltage divides between them at 6 V each. The general rule: adding a component in series raises total resistance and therefore lowers the current everywhere in the circuit.

Question 39

The same two 6 ohm resistors are wired in parallel across 12 V. Find the total resistance and the total current.

Accepted Answer

Identical resistors in parallel halve the resistance: 6 / 2 = 3 ohms, so the total current is 12 / 3 = 4 A, splitting into 12 / 6 = 2 A per branch. Each branch sees the full 12 V. The rule worth memorising is that a parallel combination is always lower in resistance than the smallest single resistor, so adding a parallel path increases the current drawn from the supply.

Question 40

Ammeter A1 reads 0.8 A in one branch of a circuit with two identical parallel branches. What does an identical ammeter in the other branch read?

Accepted Answer

0.8 A - identical branches across the same supply carry identical currents. The distinction that decides these items is where the meter sits: after the junction it reads one branch, but in the supply line before the split it reads the total, which here would be 1.6 A. Trace the wire from the meter back to the junction before answering.

Question 41

A circuit runs at 12 V and draws 3 A. Calculate the power, and give the alternative formulas.

Accepted Answer

P = V x I = 12 x 3 = 36 watts. Because the resistance here is 12 / 3 = 4 ohms, the other two forms give the same result: P = I squared x R = 9 x 4 = 36 W, and P = V squared / R = 144 / 4 = 36 W. Pick the form that uses the two quantities you were actually given rather than solving for the third one first - it saves a step under a 41-second-per-question pace.

Question 42

Which materials conduct electricity best, and which are the worst conductors?

Accepted Answer

Metals conduct best because they have free electrons - silver is the best, then copper, then aluminium - and copper is used for wiring as the practical compromise on cost. Insulators such as rubber, glass, dry wood, plastic and ceramic have almost no free electrons and are the worst conductors. In 'which is the worst conductor' items the answer is the non-metal; note that pure water conducts poorly, but water carrying dissolved salts conducts well.

Question 43

What happens when one switch is opened in a series circuit, and how does a parallel circuit differ?

Accepted Answer

Opening a switch anywhere in a series circuit breaks the single path, so every component stops - one failed lamp kills the whole string. In a parallel circuit, opening a switch in one branch stops only that branch; the others still receive the full supply voltage and keep working. That is exactly why household lighting and vehicle electrical systems are wired in parallel.

Question 44

A lever carries a 200 N load 0.5 m from the pivot. What effort is needed 2 m from the pivot on the other side?

Accepted Answer

Moments balance, so effort x distance = load x distance: effort = (200 x 0.5) / 2 = 50 N. You apply a quarter of the force but must move through four times the distance - the trade every simple machine makes. Measure all distances from the pivot and perpendicular to the line of the force; using the length of the beam instead of the distance to the pivot is the usual error.

Question 45

Gear A (20 teeth) meshes with gear B (60 teeth). If A turns clockwise at 300 rpm, what does B do?

Accepted Answer

B turns anticlockwise at 100 rpm. Meshed gears always rotate in opposite directions, and speed is inversely proportional to tooth count: 300 x (20 / 60) = 100 rpm. B turns at a third of the speed but delivers three times the torque - a gear pair trades speed for turning force in exactly the way a lever trades distance for force.

Question 46

In a three-gear train A-B-C, which way does C turn when A turns clockwise, and does B affect the ratio?

Accepted Answer

C turns clockwise, and B has no effect on the overall ratio. Each mesh reverses direction, so an odd number of gears ends up matching the driver's direction while an even number opposes it. The middle gear is an idler: it reverses direction and bridges the distance, but the speed and torque ratio depend only on the tooth counts of the first and last gears.

Question 47

A pulley system has four rope sections supporting the moving block. What effort raises a 400 N load, and how much rope must you pull?

Accepted Answer

Ignoring friction, effort = load / number of supporting rope sections = 400 / 4 = 100 N, and you must pull 4 m of rope to lift the load 1 m. Count only the rope sections actually pulling upwards on the moving block - that count is the mechanical advantage. A single fixed pulley gives no force advantage at all; it only changes the direction of your pull.

Question 48

Define mechanical advantage, and state what no simple machine can give you.

Accepted Answer

Mechanical advantage = load / effort - the number of times a machine multiplies the force you apply. Levers, pulleys, gears, screws, wedges and inclined planes all raise it by making you move through a greater distance. What no machine supplies is extra work or energy: work out equals work in minus friction losses, so a larger force advantage always costs proportionally more movement.

Question 49

A piston moves to reduce the volume of gas sealed in a cylinder. What happens to the pressure, and how does a liquid behave differently?

Accepted Answer

For a sealed gas at constant temperature, pressure and volume are inversely related, so halving the volume doubles the pressure. A liquid is effectively incompressible, so a hydraulic system transmits pressure instead of storing it: pressure applied at one piston acts equally throughout the fluid, and because P = F / A, a larger output piston area produces a proportionally larger output force.

Question 50

What determines friction on a hard surface, and why does a wide, treaded tyre still help on loose ground?

Accepted Answer

On a hard, dry surface the friction force depends on the two materials in contact and on the normal load pressing them together, not on the contact area - so more weight increases grip while extra width by itself does not. On loose ground a wider tyre spreads the load over more area, lowering ground pressure so it sinks and digs less, while the tread keys into the surface. Remember too that static friction exceeds sliding friction, which is why a locked skidding wheel stops a vehicle less effectively than one held just short of slipping.

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