Hi there,
I've just registered with the Army.ca Forums for the purpose of posting the following message. I have read all 41 pages of this thread. Very interesting stories I've read. Now I've finally decided to share my own personal story with the members of this forum. I welcome all replies to my post. I especially welcome replies from past or current CF members who are experts on recruitment, so that they can offer me their expert opinion on my story. I would especially like to hear from mdh, as I've come to highly respect him and his opinions just by reading his postings in this thread.
Here's my story:
I have always been a military history and equipment buff. So logically, I decided to pursue an Infantry (I was always attracted to the Infantry) career in the CF. I started the process when I was just about to finish high school in 2002. I applied as a Reserve Infantry soldier with the Governor General's Footguards (in which one of my grandfathers served with right after WW2. My other grandfather served with the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa around the same time). I was told by recruiters that the CFAT would be very easy. The 3 CFAT practice questions contained in the recruitment pamphlet are, in my opinion, misleading because they are much more difficult that the questions in the CFAT. After finding out that there would be a high school math part in the test, I got worried because math was always my weakest subject in high school. As a matter of fact, I failed Grade 8 and 10 math and had to go to summer school to pass them, which I did. I got even more worried when I was told that calculators were forbidden (although I was not very surprised since it was an aptitude test), as calculators, as far as I can remember, were permitted during every high school math exam that I ever took and that counted towards my final grades. The reason this worried me is because, as a result of calculators, my mental math calculation abilities are very poor. But since high school math was still fresh in my mind, I assumed that I would be able to pass the CFAT and thus wasn't too worried about it.
Well, the day of the test came, and before I knew it, I had breezed through the grammar part (with extreme ease I might add since grammar was always a strongpoint of mine), and had went through the spatial part with little difficulty (the last few questions were insanely hard). I was riding high as they say. Then I started the math part. I was totally shocked at how difficult the questions were (for me). I knew or remembered very few of the mathematical solutions needed to solve the problems in the test. I couldn't even make educated guesses to the questions as the correct answers were the exact answers to the questions. You really have to know the EXACT mathematical solution to EVERY question. Not only that, but you have to know how to put them into practice without the help of calculators. This test was the exact opposite of EVERY high school math test that I ever did that ever counted towards my final grades. Anyway, I managed to answer maybe 20 of the 30 questions. Throughout test, I frantically tried to find the correct answers to some of the questions by trying out different mathematical solutions on the blank paper that was given to me. But it proved to be futile because I remembered almost none of the solutions needed for correctly answering the questions. The test ended and I was the first one called up afterwards. I knew that was a bad sign. My fears were proven to be true when I was informed that I had failed the math part. I was told that I did very well in the grammar part (I was told that my mark was better than the average marks), averagely well in the spatial part, and not so good in the math part (I think I got something like 12 questions right). Because of my math score, my overall score was not good enough for the Infantry (that made me feel like a total retard). I was given my exact CFAT scores for all three parts but I don't remember them now.
I took the test again towards the end of my first year of college back in 2003. I applied as a Regular Infantry soldier with the RCR. This time I took the test in English (my maternal language is French and I always went to French schools). The same thing happened all over again. I knew I had failed it when I was the first one called up after the test. Once again, I aced the Grammar part, I did pretty good to ok in the spatial part, and I flunked (although with a slightly better mark which was due to guesswork) the math part. I was given my exact score on all 3 parts but I don't remember them anymore. I was told that I could take the test again after completing college.
I was completely unprepared for the first CFAT. There's nothing that I could've done there. But I could've prepared myself for the second one, which sadly I didn't. I sure wish I had found this thread after my first test or even before it. I had not studied high school math one bit for the second CFAT. I thought my first failure was something of a fluke. I was in denial that I had failed such a basic aptitude test, and convinced myself that studying for such a simple test was not necessary. I wanted to redeem myself in my own eyes by proving that I could pass the math part by not studying for it (since, after all, it was math that I had already seen and was supposed to be familiar with). I also convinced myself that another reason for my failure was that I was somewhat paralyzed by the difficulty of the questions. The element of surprise made me freeze up, I thought. I also attributed my failure in part to my spending too much time on individual questions that I obviously didn't know how to answer. In short, I tried to rationalize my failure. In fact, the real reson for my failure (which I finally came to admit AFTER failing the CFAT twice) was my lack of knowledge of high school mathematical problem-solving solutions.
I decided to give the CFAT another shot this past summer, but that this time I would seriously study up on my high school math before attempting it again. But unfortunately for me, the decision on whether or not I could retake the CFAT a third time had to be made high up the chain of command. They decided that I had not gathered enough official education since my last attempt. My 2-year Police Foundations college diploma was deemed to be not enough official education since I had only 1 year left on it when I tried the CFAT the second time. Add to that the fact that I had no math course at all in college. My pledge to seriously study up on my high school math before attempting the test again was also deemed not enough (which I understand could not have been taken very seriously due to my similar pledge after my first failure). The Army (I think) Captain that interviewed me to review my case when I inquired about taking the CFAT a third time was a really fair guy. I told him the above-listed reasons why I convinced myself that I had failed the first test and didn't study for the second test. I then told him the REAL reason why I had failed BOTH tests. He told me that he understood everything I said and that I deserved a second chance (or rather a third chance, depending on how you look at it). He told me that he admired my sincere devotion to join the military, and that by admitting to my mistakes and by demonstrating a serious will to study for the third test, he had been convinced to recommend for a third attempt. I will never forget what that guy did for me, and yet I can only remember his rank! He said that I had a 50/50 chance of getting approved. I didn't. He told me that in order to qualify for a third retest I'd have to get another diploma (college or university). But since I have no intention of going back to school, I can forget a career in the CF as an Infantry soldier.
For those of you who are wondering, the math part of the CFAT deals exclusively with ADVANCED GRADE 10 MATH. Trust me on that, it comes directly from the mouth of the above-mentioned Captain. I took REGULAR GRADE 10 MATH and I had to go to summer school to pass that!!! So the moral of this story is that studying is VERY VERY IMPORTANT! I can't stretch that enough. Some people don't need to study and some people THINK they don't need to study (like me). Unless you're 100% sure that you're a person who doesn't need to study, then I'd seriously recommend you'd study. What have you got to lose by studying? Better to be safe than sorry if you ask me. I'm one of the ones who's sorry. Oh well, at least I learned a valuable life lesson from all of this, even though it cost me a potential career in the CF as an Infantry soldier!!! I have nobody to blame for my failure but myself. I have finally come to terms with this failure. It's time to move on to something else I guess.
In conclusion, I apologize in advance for the extreme length of this posting. But it was necessary to correctly express myself. I can't begin to describe how much of a relief it is to share this story with people familiar with the CFAT. I thank you for letting me do so. I guess what I really needed was a shrink, but this will do just fine:)
Regards
