First off, I cannot and will not tell you anything about the aptitude test itself, it would be a crime to do so. But I do want to share my experience preparing for the test. I was very nervous to write it, and I'm sure there are other people who, like me, are nervous test-takers and are feeling the same.
I wrote the test yesterday and qualified for all the occupations I applied for. I achieved it by STUDYING. I hear many people say things about their approach and they often fall into one of two categories. There are the (i) "It's an aptitude test, there's no real way to prepare for it" sort of people and there are the (ii) "You shouldn't try to prepare it for it because then they won't get an accurate idea of how capable you are and you'll get offered a trade you can't handle" sort of people. IMHO these are both very wrong attitudes to take. It's an aptitude test, not an IQ test. Study.
That leads me to my next point - study materials. I looked at a lot of internet sources and apps and considered a few books, but there are three sources in particular that I believe helped me a lot. Number one is the book 501 Math Word Problems. It was definitely worth the 20 or so bucks I spent on it. Just search it on Amazon or something. This book will lead you through mathematical word problems that range in difficulty and complexity, and give a comprehensive set of answers to all the questions that not only tell you the right answer, but explain how to get there. Working through about 60-70% of this book before I wrote the test really helped me a lot to sharpen my problem solving skills. I'm a whiz at algebraic word problems now, where you're given a scenario and have to come up with an equation and solve to find the answer. Yet before, if you were to show me one of those problems I'd just shrug. For vocabulary I used an app called Vocabulary Builder by a company called Magoosh (for Android, I don't know if it's available for iPhone). The app gives you vocabulary flash cards and quizzes you until you get them all right, and moves you through a number of different difficulty levels. For spatial, I used an app called 3D Cubes. It's a really simple app (again, for Android) that gives you folded and unfolded cubes with different patterns and asks you to indicate whether the folded cube can be made from the unfolded pattern. I believe this app helped me to develop and strengthen my perception of spatial relationships.
But it's not just about what you study, but how you study. Study consistently. Don't just sit down on Saturday afternoon and hit the books for five hours and then do nothing through the week. That won't cut it. Do an hour every day, it's much more effective.
Finally, one of the biggest things I learned you need to get good at to be successful is executional efficiency. What I mean is, just because you understand a problem doesn't mean you can quickly and efficiently solve it. For the CFAT, you're going to have to work quickly and efficiently. Admittedly, I focused too much on learning to recognize certain kinds of problems and solve them and not enough on solving them quickly. Don't just aim to sharpen your problem-solving skills, aim to gain speed an accuracy. If you're like me and you're not so good at math, this will be difficult. But it's very doable! You may surprise yourself with how much progress you make if you study consistently rather than in bouts.
Good luck to all those writing the test. Hopefully nothing I said here breaks any rules. Godspeed!
