SIFT Exam Flashcards

Q: What score is required to pass the SIFT?

The minimum qualifying score is 40 on a 20–80 scale. It is a scaled composite score, not a percent-correct score. Once you earn a qualifying score, Army policy does not authorize another attempt simply to improve it.

Q: What is the official SIFT pass rate?

Not published by U.S. Army. The Army publishes the minimum qualifying score, but not a current nationwide first-time pass-rate percentage.

Q: What does the SIFT measure?

Army guidance describes seven areas: Simple Drawings, Hidden Figures, Army Aviation Information, Spatial Apperception, Reading Comprehension, Math Skills, and Mechanical Comprehension. The last two are computer-adaptive, so the delivered question total can vary.

Q: What is the current SIFT retake rule?

If your first score is below 40, one retest is permitted on or after the 45th day following the first attempt. A qualifying score ends retest eligibility, and no third attempt is authorized. The metadata value 0 for a wait after three failures means not applicable—not a zero-day waiting period—because three attempts cannot occur under the published policy.

Q: How long should I allow for the SIFT?

Allow up to three hours for the complete appointment. The exact time can vary because the Math Skills and Mechanical Comprehension subtests are adaptive. Calculators are not permitted; official public guidance says scrap paper is supplied and some formulas may be provided.

Q: Do I need prior flight experience to take the SIFT?

No. Army aviation candidate guidance says prior flight experience is not required. The SIFT measures a mix of knowledge and aptitude, so preparation should include aviation fundamentals while also practicing visual, spatial, reading, math, and mechanical reasoning.

Question 1

In Simple Drawings, what should you compare first?

Accepted Answer

Compare one decisive feature—such as an opening, angle, count, or orientation—across all choices. A fixed comparison order reduces rescanning and helps preserve accuracy under severe time pressure.

Question 2

How does a rotation differ from a reflection?

Accepted Answer

A rotation turns a figure without reversing its handedness; a reflection flips it like a mirror. Trace an asymmetric feature clockwise around the figure: its order stays the same after rotation but reverses after reflection.

Question 3

Why check closure before overall shape?

Accepted Answer

A tiny gap can make one otherwise identical figure open rather than closed. Checking closure early catches a high-value difference that a quick silhouette comparison can miss.

Question 4

What is the key rule when tracing a hidden figure?

Accepted Answer

Follow the target's exact sequence of line lengths, turns, and intersections. Background lines may cross the target, but they do not replace or bend its required segments.

Question 5

How do extra lines affect a hidden target?

Accepted Answer

Extra lines can pass through or extend beyond the target without erasing it. Judge whether every required target segment is present in the correct relationship, not whether the target appears in isolation.

Question 6

What is an anchor feature in Hidden Figures?

Accepted Answer

It is the target's most distinctive corner, angle, or junction. Locate that rare feature first, then trace outward; this is faster and less error-prone than searching for the entire outline at once.

Question 7

What does the helicopter collective control?

Accepted Answer

It changes the pitch of all main-rotor blades together, changing total rotor thrust. Raising collective usually requires a coordinated power increase and anti-torque pedal input.

Question 8

What does the helicopter cyclic control?

Accepted Answer

It changes blade pitch according to rotor position, tilting the rotor disc and redirecting thrust. The helicopter then accelerates in the direction of the tilted thrust vector.

Question 9

What do anti-torque pedals control?

Accepted Answer

They vary tail-rotor thrust, or the equivalent anti-torque system, to control yaw and counter main-rotor torque. They do not directly command bank like the cyclic.

Question 10

What is the swashplate's job?

Accepted Answer

It transfers collective and cyclic control inputs from the nonrotating controls to the rotating rotor blades. Collective input changes all blades together; cyclic input varies pitch around the disc.

Question 11

Why does increasing collective affect yaw?

Accepted Answer

More collective increases rotor drag and the engine torque needed to maintain rotor speed. The fuselage tends to react opposite the rotor's rotation, so the pilot coordinates anti-torque pedal input.

Question 12

What powers the rotor during autorotation?

Accepted Answer

Upward airflow through the descending rotor disc drives the blades, not engine torque. The pilot manages rotor energy with collective and airspeed so it can be used to reduce descent and cushion landing.

Question 13

What changes at effective translational lift?

Accepted Answer

The rotor moves into cleaner, less recirculated air and becomes more efficient. The helicopter may require less induced power for the same lift than it did in a hover.

Question 14

Why is the retreating blade prone to stall?

Accepted Answer

Forward speed reduces relative airflow over the retreating side. The rotor system compensates with higher blade angle of attack, but at high demand that angle can exceed the stall limit.

Question 15

What is dissymmetry of lift?

Accepted Answer

In forward flight, the advancing blade sees greater relative airspeed than the retreating blade. Rotor systems compensate through blade flapping and cyclic pitch so lift stays more nearly balanced.

Question 16

Why does ground effect reduce hover power?

Accepted Answer

Near the surface, the ground limits rotor downwash development and weakens induced flow and tip-vortex effects. The rotor therefore produces a given lift more efficiently than it does out of ground effect.

Question 17

How is angle of attack different from pitch attitude?

Accepted Answer

Pitch attitude is the aircraft's orientation relative to the horizon; angle of attack is the angle between an airfoil's chord and the relative wind. Wind and flight path can change angle of attack without the same change in pitch attitude.

Question 18

What happens to lift when a rotor disc tilts?

Accepted Answer

The rotor thrust vector gains a horizontal component that accelerates the helicopter, while its vertical component supports weight. Maintaining altitude during the tilt generally requires enough total thrust to preserve the vertical component.

Question 19

What reference should anchor aircraft bank?

Accepted Answer

Compare the visible horizon with a fixed cockpit reference. A tilted horizon signals bank; using the cockpit frame prevents you from judging the picture as an outside observer.

Question 20

What does a low horizon in the windshield suggest?

Accepted Answer

It generally indicates a nose-high attitude because the nose has risen relative to the horizon. Confirm with the full scene rather than treating horizon height alone as proof of climb.

Question 21

Why separate pitch from flight path?

Accepted Answer

Nose attitude and vertical movement are related but not identical. An aircraft can be nose-high while descending, so classify the picture's attitude only from cues the image actually provides.

Question 22

How should you analyze a cockpit-view scene?

Accepted Answer

Use a fixed sequence: determine bank from horizon tilt, pitch from horizon height, then lateral or heading cues from terrain or runway position. Separating the axes prevents one strong cue from overriding the others.

Question 23

What causes left-right reversal errors in spatial items?

Accepted Answer

Switching unconsciously from the pilot's viewpoint to an outside-observer viewpoint. Stay seated mentally in the cockpit and label directions from that perspective before comparing choices.

Question 24

What makes an inference passage-supported?

Accepted Answer

It must follow from stated facts without adding an unstated assumption. An answer can be generally true yet still be wrong if the passage does not supply the needed link.

Question 25

How do you identify a passage's main idea?

Accepted Answer

Choose the statement that covers the author's central claim and the role of the supporting details. A narrow example is too limited; a broad theme that the text never develops is too expansive.

Question 26

Why are absolute words risky in reading answers?

Accepted Answer

Words such as always, never, and only make a claim stronger than qualified passage language. Accept an absolute answer only when the text supports that exact scope.

Question 27

What should decide between two plausible reading answers?

Accepted Answer

Locate the exact sentence or logical link that supports each choice. Prefer the answer requiring the fewest assumptions, even if the other sounds more familiar from outside knowledge.

Question 28

How should a conditional statement be read?

Accepted Answer

Treat the stated condition as a boundary on the conclusion. If a passage says an outcome occurs when a condition is met, do not assume the outcome occurs when that condition is absent.

Question 29

How do you increase a value by r percent?

Accepted Answer

Multiply the original value by 1 + r, with r written as a decimal. Using r alone finds only the amount of increase, not the new total.

Question 30

How do you solve a proportion efficiently?

Accepted Answer

Keep corresponding quantities in the same positions, then cross-multiply and solve. Before accepting the result, check that its direction matches the situation: more input should not produce less output unless the relationship is inverse.

Question 31

When is a weighted average required?

Accepted Answer

Use it when groups contribute different numbers of observations or values have different weights. Multiply each value by its weight, sum those products, then divide by the total weight.

Question 32

What is the distance-rate-time relationship?

Accepted Answer

Distance = rate × time. Use consistent units before calculating; for example, convert minutes to hours before multiplying by miles per hour.

Question 33

Why not average two speeds for equal-distance legs?

Accepted Answer

The slower leg consumes more time, so the arithmetic mean overstates average speed. Compute total distance divided by total time; for equal distances, this produces the harmonic mean of the two speeds.

Question 34

How are combined work rates added?

Accepted Answer

Convert each worker's completion time into a rate, add the rates, then invert the combined rate to get time. Adding completion times directly ignores simultaneous work.

Question 35

What is the safest first step in solving a linear equation?

Accepted Answer

Simplify each side by distributing and combining like terms. Then use inverse operations to isolate the variable while performing the same operation on both sides.

Question 36

What happens when powers with the same base are multiplied?

Accepted Answer

Add the exponents: a^m × a^n = a^(m+n). This rule applies to multiplication, not addition; a^m + a^n cannot generally be combined that way.

Question 37

How do area and perimeter differ?

Accepted Answer

Perimeter measures boundary length in linear units; area measures covered surface in square units. A shape can have the same perimeter as another shape but a different area.

Question 38

When does the Pythagorean theorem apply?

Accepted Answer

Only to right triangles: a² + b² = c², where c is the side opposite the right angle. Do not use the formula on an arbitrary triangle without first establishing a right angle.

Question 39

Why estimate before exact calculation?

Accepted Answer

An estimate predicts the answer's sign and size, exposing misplaced decimals or unit errors. It is a reasonableness check, not a replacement for exact work when the choices are close.

Question 40

What determines torque about a pivot?

Accepted Answer

Torque equals force times the perpendicular distance from the pivot to the force's line of action. Increasing that moment arm increases turning effect without increasing force.

Question 41

When is a lever in rotational equilibrium?

Accepted Answer

When clockwise torque equals counterclockwise torque about the fulcrum. A smaller force can balance a larger load if it acts through a proportionally longer moment arm.

Question 42

What tradeoff comes with ideal mechanical advantage?

Accepted Answer

A machine that reduces required input force increases the distance over which that force must act. Ideally it trades force for distance; it does not create energy or eliminate work.

Question 43

How do you find an ideal pulley's mechanical advantage?

Accepted Answer

Count the rope segments directly supporting the moving load. More supporting segments reduce ideal input force, but require pulling proportionally more rope.

Question 44

How do meshed gears trade speed for torque?

Accepted Answer

A small driver turning a larger driven gear reduces output speed and increases output torque ideally. Adjacent external gears also rotate in opposite directions.

Question 45

How does contact area affect pressure?

Accepted Answer

Pressure equals force divided by area. With the same force, a smaller contact area produces greater pressure; spreading the force over more area lowers pressure.

Question 46

How can a hydraulic system multiply force?

Accepted Answer

Pressure applied to a confined fluid is transmitted throughout it. A larger output-piston area converts that pressure into greater force, while the larger piston moves a shorter distance.

Question 47

What determines buoyant force?

Accepted Answer

Buoyant force equals the weight of the fluid displaced. An object floats in equilibrium when buoyant force balances its weight; density determines how much must be submerged to displace that weight.

Question 48

What does Ohm's law relate?

Accepted Answer

Voltage, current, and resistance: V = I × R. At fixed voltage, increasing resistance decreases current; at fixed resistance, increasing voltage increases current.

Question 49

How do series and parallel circuits differ?

Accepted Answer

A series circuit has one current path, so an open breaks the whole circuit. A parallel circuit has multiple branches, so another branch can still conduct if one branch opens.

Question 50

What causes acceleration?

Accepted Answer

A nonzero net force. Balanced forces produce no acceleration, which means an object can remain at rest or continue at constant velocity rather than necessarily stopping.

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