FAST-style multitasking test: how it works and how to improve

What a multitasking test is

A multitasking test gives you several jobs at the same time and measures how well you keep all of them going. You might steer something on one screen, solve short problems on another, listen for instructions and watch for warnings, all at once.

Among cadet pilot candidates, tasks like this are often called 'FAST-style'. Formats differ between assessments and are rarely published in full. This guide explains the general idea and how to train for it. It does not describe any official test.

Why cadet selections use it

Flying an airliner is rarely one job at a time. Pilots fly or monitor the aircraft, listen to air traffic control, check instruments and talk to each other, often within the same minute. A multitasking test is a short, safe way to see how someone handles a rising workload.

It is not only about speed. Accuracy, priorities and staying calm matter just as much. Recovering quickly after a busy moment is a skill in itself.

How the FlyAptitude drill works

Our FAST-style drill trains these skills in a 3-minute flight. You choose Easy or Hard, then fly the same flight twice. During each flight you have four jobs:

After each flight, five timed recall questions ask what you saw and heard. Round 2 repeats the same route, radio calls and traffic, but with fresh puzzles, so you can see how much better you handle a workload you already know. A full session takes about 12 minutes and needs a laptop or desktop, a mouse and headphones.

• Fly: keep your aircraft clear of moving bars with the arrow keys or W and S.
• Report: click Aircraft when you see traffic outside, and Waypoint as you reach each landmark the controller names on the radio.
• Solve: answer quick four-option puzzles from six families: numbers, words, patterns, quick matching, shapes and direction, and short-term memory.
• Monitor: watch the instruments and the ground below, and count the bursts of beeps.

Dividing attention: build a scan

The most useful habit is a scan: a fixed order in which your eyes visit each part of the screen. Without one, your attention gets stuck on whatever feels hardest, often the puzzles, and you miss everything else.

At first a scan feels slow. After a few flights it becomes automatic, and that is when scores tend to rise.

• Choose an order, for example: outside view, flying screen, puzzle screen, instruments, then back outside.
• Give each part short, regular looks rather than long stares.
• Let your ears do some of the work. Sound tells you when a radio call or a burst of beeps arrives, so your eyes can stay busy.
• After a busy moment, go straight back to your scan instead of trying to catch up on everything at once.

Reporting accurately

In the drill, a report is a click on Aircraft or Waypoint. A correct report earns 10 points, a missed target loses 10, and a click with nothing to report loses 20. So the rule is simple: report what you see, but do not guess.

• When a radio call names a landmark, repeat it silently once or twice so you know what to look for.
• The waypoint to look for is the one named in the latest radio call.
• On Hard, traffic can be smaller and harder to spot. Look across the whole windscreen, not only the centre.
• If you are unsure, take a second look before you click.

Mental arithmetic and puzzles under load

Puzzles feel much harder when you are also flying and listening. The fix is to make the basic skills so automatic that they need very little attention.

• Practise times tables, percentages and simple conversions every day until they are quick.
• Read each puzzle once, decide, and choose. On Easy you get 3.5 seconds to read and 4 to choose; on Hard you get 2.5 seconds for each.
• If a puzzle is too hard, let it go. A correct puzzle earns 5 points, while a missed report loses 10, so reports come first.
• Train the single skills in the numerical, memory and perceptual speed sections, then bring them back into the flight.

Recall: remember what you saw and heard

Recall questions come after the flight, so you cannot look back. They can ask about the radio calls, the traffic, the instruments, the ground below and the beeps.

You will not remember everything. Aim to catch a few key facts reliably rather than trying to store every detail.

• Count each burst of beeps, and keep a running total of how many bursts there were.
• Note the main details of each radio call, such as the landmark and the heading.
• Name the ground features silently as they pass, for example 'lake, forest, village'.
• Notice any caution or warning lights and any unusual instrument readings.

A simple practice plan

Multitasking improves fastest when you mix full flights with short daily work on the basic skills.

• Stay on Easy until you can finish a flight without freezing.
• Compare round 1 and round 2 each time. A big gain means familiarity helps you; a small gain suggests a basic skill needs work.
• Fly two or three times a week, and do short daily practice on arithmetic and memory.
• Move to Hard when your Easy scores are steady.
• Check your results by puzzle family to find the type that slows you down most.