Air India screens every cadet applicant through Aon cut-e before the group exercise, the interview or the simulator. It is not a knowledge test — it measures whether your attention, co-ordination, arithmetic and English hold up while a clock runs. Eight modules, about 80 minutes including instructions, all eight rebuilt here with the scoring rules, the strategy and the traps for each one.
The eight cut-e modules
ADEPT-15 — work-related behaviour, forced-choice pairs, untimed but scored for consistency
wingChallenge — hand-eye co-ordination through a tunnel of rotating obstacles, scored on speed and collisions together
scales mt (aviation) — multitasking across a four-term sum, a symbol row and a flight task
scales cmo — monitoring ability, tracking a changing count of objects on a radar field
scales lt-e — English language proficiency across fluency, vocabulary and spelling
scales rt (drv) — reaction speed, a go/no-go task with response inhibition
scales tmt (avi) — applied numeracy across unit conversion, rule of three, percentages and areas
scales ndb — spatial orientation, converting relative bearing into a real position
The three scoring rules that decide your band
Most cut-e modules score correct minus half a mark per wrong answer, so answering everything is not a strategy — it actively lowers your raw score. The motor and reaction modules multiply accuracy by pace, so working slowly and cleanly is the most common way to score badly. And cut-e reads the shape of your profile rather than the mean: a flat profile at stanine 6 is stronger than an 8 with a 3 in it, because one module well below the rest is what gets flagged.
Frequently asked questions
What is cut-e?
cut-e, now part of Aon, is the psychometric assessment suite Air India uses to screen cadet pilot applicants. It reports each module as a stanine — a 1 to 9 band against an applicant pool where 5 is average.
How is cut-e different from IndiGo ADAPT?
Different vendors and different mechanics. cut-e is fixed-difficulty and scored on how much you complete; ADAPT is adaptive and scored on the difficulty level you sustain, plus a learning score. Preparing for one does not prepare you for the other.
Is anything free to try?
Two modules — Monitoring Ability and Reaction Speed — run without any plan.