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SIFT Test Prep
Our SIFT Test Prep helps you score high on the SIFT exam and increase your chances of getting accepted into flight programs.
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Your SIFT Study Guide and Test Prep Includes:
- Full-length SIFT Practice Test
- Interactive Lessons
- Instructional Videos
- SIFT Study Guide
- Detailed Answer Explanations
- Test Taking Tips
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SIFT TEST PREP THAT EXPANDS OPPORTUNITIES
Success Starts Here
Peterson's SIFT test prep will guide you through interactive lessons, our SIFT study guide, and a full-length SIFT practice test that will help you increase your SIFT score and expand your career opportunities as a flight officer or pilot within the United States Military.
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Tools for Success
Transform test anxiety into confidence with proven tools and learning methods to help you succeed on test day and open the doors to more career opportunities.
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Lessons + Videos
Our instructional videos and interactive lessons have been crafted by education experts for all learning styles in order to boost engagement and knowledge retention.
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Practice Tests
Mimic test day, uncover your strengths and weaknesses, boost your time management skills, and make every study session a step closer to expanding your career opportunities.
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Detailed Explanation
Detailed answer explanations to every question will guide your learning, make your study efforts more impactful, and lead you closer to your best score.
TEST PREP THAT GETS RESULTS
Improving Weaknesses With Peterson's Test Prep
Edward improved his test weaknesses through Peterson's ASTB practice test, flashcards, and instructional videos and is now in the process of putting in an officer package!
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What Our Subscribers Say
Peterson's Test prep has helped thousands of people pass their exams, earn college credit, and achieve their goals. But don't take our word for it, see what our happy subscribers are saying.
I started preparing for the test 3 months ago and took it a week ago. I passed it! If I hadn't used you guys, I probably would not have passed the OAR and gotten a qualifying score.
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Awesome Course helped me out a lot with ASVAB prep!
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The practice tests are wonderful. They are very accurate to the test. I took the test I practiced for and it was so accurate! I was very pleased.
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DO YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS?
Top SIFT FAQs
- The Selection Instrument for Flight Training exam, also known as the SIFT exam, assesses a military candidate’s mathematical skills, reading comprehension, mental knowledge, spacial awareness, pattern recognition, and aviation knowledge. The SIFT test is a military flight exam administered to candidates for higher-level positions in the United States Air Force. The SIFT exam is used by the United States military to evaluate a future prospective pilot’s strengths, knowledge and demonstrated skills. The SIFT military test may also be used by recruiters to determine a candidate’s military career placement and overall career potential. SIFT is known to be one of the most career-driven military exams that allows you to advance U.S. Air Force positions.
- Applicants who wish to be part of the Army may take the SIFT exam. Taking the SIFT test is ideal for military candidates who intend to advance within U.S. Aviation. The SIFT exam is used by the United States Army, Navy, and Air Force to select candidates for advanced positions:
- U.S. Army: Assesses potential pilots’ strengths and select candidates for flight officer and pilot training programs. Ideal for candidates who want to advance in Army Aviation
- U.S. Navy: used to select prospective candidates for Officer Candidate School (OCS) for various officer communities
- U.S. Air Force: Candidate selection for higher-level positions
- The SIFT exam evaluates a candidate’s core competencies, judgmental measures, cognitive skills, preferences, mandatory screening, behavioral study, and a job preview in a realistic setting to understand the candidate’s situational judgment abilities. The SIFT exam is comprised of a subset of tests in the following areas:
- Simple Drawings: This is a spatial reasoning test of speed and accuracy in identifying one shape that is different within a group of five shapes. This test goes very quickly—you have only two minutes to complete 100 items, which breaks down to approximately 0.8 seconds per question. You are scored relative to your accuracy (the number correct versus incorrect) and time (the number answered versus unanswered). Incorrect answers (that is, guessing) will decrease your score on this subtest.
- Hidden Figures: This subtest is designed to assess your ability to quickly identify shapes in a complex visual environment. These are essential skills for aircrews who may need to scan the environment at rapid speeds to identify landmarks for navigation, hazards, targets, and other features. Fifty questions (to be answered in five minutes) are designed to measure your ability to see simple figures in complex drawings. Although these figures are fairly well camouflaged, proper visualization should enable you to discern them without too much difficulty.
- Army Aviation Information Test (AAIT): The AAIT includes 40 questions (to be completed in 30 minutes) that test your general understanding of the principles of helicopter flight and assesses your knowledge of the following topics:
- Aerodynamics and performance (40%)
- Rotary-wing aircraft components and controls (40%)
- Rotary-wing maneuvers and performance (10%)
- General category (10%)
- The general category questions assess your knowledge of center of gravity, navigation, instrumentation, and basic Army aircraft designations (what each part of the designation means); platform purpose, and types of engines on each type of aircraft.
- Spatial Apperception: This test assesses your ability to understand how the view from a cockpit corresponds to an aircraft’s position and to perceive aircrafts in three-dimensional space. Twenty-five questions in the Spatial Apperception Test measure your ability to determine the position or altitude of an airplane in flight by viewing through the windshield of the cockpit the natural horizon and terrain. You must determine whether the airplane is flying straight and level, or climbing, diving, banking to the right or left, or any combination of these maneuvers. You must also determine the general direction of flight of the plane.
- Reading Comprehension: In this section of the exam, test takers will be given a passage of text to read and will be asked to answer approximately five questions for each passage. You will have 20 questions and 30 minutes to complete the section. At the intermediate level, the vocabulary is more difficult, the reading passages are of greater complexity, and the questions posed are much more complicated.
- Math Skills: This portion of the exam is an evaluation of college-level mathematical terms and principles. Math knowledge—the ability to use basic mathematical relationships learned in introductory mathematics—is one of the most important skillsets tested. Most of these concepts are introduced in beginning courses in algebra and geometry. Arithmetic reasoning and mathematical knowledge test items appear as four-option questions in this subtest of the SIFT. While scratch paper is allowed to help you answer math problems, calculators are not.
- Test takers can take the SIFT exam only twice in their lifetime. After taking the SIFT exam for the first time, you will need to wait 180 days before applying and retaking the test again. However, passing the exam with a minimum qualifying SIFT score disqualifies you from retaking the exam again to achieve a higher score. If you don’t receive a qualifying SIFT score after your second attempt, you are no longer eligible to take the SIFT exam again. Prepare for the SIFT exam to ensure that your score becomes the best representation of your skills in your first attempt.
- With only two attempts to pass the SIFT exam, you want to ensure that you are proficient with the subject material included in the SIFT test and well prepared for test day. Peterson’s SIFT test prep offers an online, timed SIFT practice test with detailed answers to every question to help you prepare you for the exam. Taking SIFT practice tests under timed conditions will allow you to adapt to the added anxiety of a time limit. If additional studying is needed for mechanical comprehension, Peterson’s published Master the™ Mechanical Aptitude and Spatial Relations Test, an entire book dedicated to this subtest of the SIFT exam. Preparing for and passing the SIFT exam with a high score will help your career in aviation take flight.
- No. SIFT test-takers do not need to have any experience in aviation. Our SIFT Study Guide will teach you how to read horizon views and decipher airplane altitude and positions as you would from a cockpit view.
- No, military experience is not required to take the Selection Instrument for Flight Training (SIFT) exam. If you plan to enter the military, you can take the SIFT before you start basic training. However, the SIFT is a required first step for men and women who want to pursue a career in military aviation. Candidates must complete the SIFT before submitting a Warrant Office package. And although you do not need to have military experience to take the exam, you can only take the SIFT test twice. What’s more is, if your SIFT score is below 40 on your first attempt, you can retake the exam after 45 days. But it’s important to note that a second failed attempt will disqualify them from aviation service. Utilizing SIFT test prep and creating a SIFT study plan well before you take the SIFT exam will be critical for success.
- No. SIFT test-takers are not allowed to use calculators during the SIFT test. Mathematical formulas are provided periodically as needed, but the test is designed in such a way that a calculator is not necessary. Candidates taking the SIFT test may use scratch paper for any calculations. In order to perform well on the mathematics section of the SIFT exam, it’s important that candidates prepare for the test well in advance and study the mathematical concepts of the SIFT exam. Taking SIFT practice tests and answering the questions on the math section multiple times will help to greatly improve your SIFT score.
- The entire SIFT exam can be completed in 3 hours, depending on the amount of time spent on adaptive portions of the SIFT test. Most SIFT test-takers complete the SIFT exam in about 2 hours. One 15-minute break is allowed during the SIFT test. Peterson’s SIFT test prep offers an online, timed SIFT practice test with detailed answers to every question to help you prepare you for the SIFT exam. Taking SIFT practice tests under timed conditions will allow you to adapt to the added anxiety of a time limit and help you learn to manage your time efficiently while taking the test.
- The SIFT exam score is based on accuracy and speed. The highest possible score is 80. The minimum passing score is 40 points. We provide more in-depth explanation of the scoring in our online SIFT Study Guide. The SIFT exam score is based on accuracy and speed. For example, the spatial reasoning subtest of the SIFT test assesses speed and accuracy in identifying a different shape from a group of five shapes. Test-takers have two minutes to complete 100 items. The score for this section is based on accuracy and the amount of items they answered correctly within the time limit. Incorrect answers will lower a test-taker’s score on this subtest. The highest possible score is 80. The minimum passing score is 40 points. We provide more in-depth explanation of the scoring in our online SIFT Study Guide.