DAA guide

The DAA, section by section

What each part of the Defence Aptitude Assessment asks, how long you get, and how to get better at it. Every section links to a free timed practice.

What the DAA is

The Defence Aptitude Assessment is the aptitude test you sit when you apply to the Royal Navy, the RAF or the British Army. Every service uses the same test. It measures how you reason with words, numbers and shapes, how quickly and accurately you work, and how well you understand simple electrical and mechanical ideas.

There are six sections, each with its own clock. Answers are multiple choice, A to E. The questions are not hard on their own. The difficulty is the time limit and the number of different tasks one after another.

You can sit all six in that order, with a short pause before each, in the full practice test. It takes about 70 minutes.

Pass marks

There is no single pass mark. Each service sets the score needed for each role, so the same result can be enough for one role and short of another. Your recruiter, or the careers site for your service, will tell you the current standard. Aim as high as you can rather than for a bare pass, because a higher score opens more roles.

Work Rate

Match the columns, quickly and without slips.

20 questions · 4 minutes · About 12 seconds a question

A grid of words, prices and symbols sits in four columns. Everything in a column stands for everything else in it. Each question gives a code of three items, and you pick the option that uses the same columns in the same order. The grid changes every five questions, and you cannot go back.

Topics

Coding grid
Words
Prices
Symbols
Column order
Speed
Accuracy

How to improve

Find the column of each item in the question before you look at the options.
Check the order last. One option often has the right items in the reverse order.
Every question is simple, so the marks come from rhythm. Practise until 12 seconds a question feels normal.
A blank scores the same as a wrong answer. If the clock is about to run out, pick something.

Start Work Rate

Verbal Reasoning

Use only what the text says.

20 questions · 15 minutes · About 45 seconds a question

Four scenarios, each with several questions. Houses for sale, three people ranking four activities, a rules table, and a short passage about where people live and work. It tests whether you can reach a conclusion from the information given, not your vocabulary.

Topics

Matching conditions
Rankings
Rules tables
Special conditions
Passages
Definitely true
Cannot tell

How to improve

For the houses, take one condition at a time and cross out every house that fails it. If a feature is not important, ignore it.
For the activities, give each one its place for every person, with favourite as 1. Add them up. The lowest total wins, and a tie is Cannot tell.
In the rules table, count only offences without a valid reason, and check the special conditions before the ordinary steps.
In the passage, a statement is definitely true only when the passage settles it. Do not fill a gap with what seems likely.

Start Verbal Reasoning

Spatial Reasoning

Fit flat pieces together, then follow shapes as they turn.

Two parts · 10 questions in 4 minutes each · About 24 seconds a question

Part 1 gives you three or four flat pieces with sides marked x, y and z. Join the matching letters and pick the shape they make. A piece may be turned or flipped. Part 2 shows two different 3D objects, each with a red dot. Pick the view where both dots are still on the same parts after the objects turn.

Topics

2D shapes
Matching edges
Rotation
Mirror images
3D objects
Orientation

How to improve

In part 1, hold the largest piece still in your head and bring the others to it, one letter at a time.
A flipped piece is easy to miss. Check which way a slanted side leans.
In part 2, name where each dot is, such as the tip of the left wing, then look for that place in each answer.
Check both dots. A picture with only one dot right is wrong.

Start Spatial Reasoning

Numerical Reasoning

Quick arithmetic, then reading graphs and tables.

Two parts · Part 1: 12 questions in 4 minutes · Part 2: 15 questions in 11 minutes

Part 1 is short calculations that get harder as you go: decimals, fractions, finding x, then multiplying and dividing fractions. Part 2 gives a line graph, a bar chart and two tables, with a few questions on each.

Topics

Decimals
Fractions
Finding x
Line graphs
Bar charts
Tables
Percentages
Speed, distance and time

How to improve

Line up the decimal points before you add. For fractions, put them over the same denominator first.
Estimate before you work it out. Often only one option is close.
On a bar chart, read the scale. It may not start at zero.
In a table, journey time is distance divided by speed. A departure time is the arrival time minus the journey.
Practise without a calculator, so the arithmetic is quick on the day.

Start Numerical Reasoning

Electrical Comprehension

Circuits, components and meters.

22 questions · 15 minutes · About 41 seconds a question

It starts with current, voltage, resistance and which materials conduct. Then come circuit diagrams in series and in parallel, and what happens when a switch opens. It ends with where an ammeter and a voltmeter belong. No electronics qualification is assumed.

Topics

Current
Voltage
Resistance
Conductors
Insulators
Static
Series circuits
Parallel circuits
Switches
Ammeters
Voltmeters

How to improve

Learn the symbols. A lamp is a circle with a cross, a resistor is a rectangle, and the long battery line is positive.
In series there is one path, so one gap stops every lamp. In parallel, each branch has its own path.
An ammeter goes in series, so the current flows through it. A voltmeter goes across the component, in parallel.
Trace the path from the battery before you read the options.

Start Electrical Comprehension

Mechanical Comprehension

Levers, forces, energy, pressure and pulleys.

19 questions · 13 minutes · About 41 seconds a question

A few basics first, then levers and balance, forces such as gravity and air resistance, how energy changes form, pressure in water and air, and pulleys. Most questions come with a diagram and ask what will happen.

Topics

Forces
Levers
Moments
Gravity
Air resistance
Friction
Energy
Water pressure
Air pressure
Hydraulics
Pulleys

How to improve

For a lever, multiply weight by distance on each side of the fulcrum. The larger side goes down, and equal sides balance.
Count the ropes holding the load. That number multiplies the pull. A single fixed pulley only changes the direction.
Water pressure grows with depth. The same weight on a smaller area gives a greater pressure.
When energy changes, ask where it went. A bounce loses some to heat and sound, and brakes turn motion into heat.

Start Mechanical Comprehension

How to prepare

Sit each section once without worrying about the score. Learn what it asks, then read every explanation in the answer key.
Get the method right before you chase speed. A fast wrong answer scores nothing.
Spend most of your time on your weakest section. That is where the marks are.
Then practise against the full clock until the pace stops feeling rushed.
Little and often beats one long session. A few sittings a day in the weeks before is plenty.

On the day

Answer every question. A blank scores the same as a wrong answer.
If a question is taking too long, choose your best answer and move on. Most sections let you go back, but Work Rate does not.
Take each section on its own. If one goes badly, put it behind you before the next clock starts.

Unofficial practice. Not affiliated with the Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force, the British Army or the Ministry of Defence. Check the current process with your recruiter.