A student Suresh was training with me for defence exams. He held ‘C ‘certificate in air wing NCC and had also successfully completed NCC -RD camp. His dream was to become a fighter pilot. There are several students like him who have passion to fly fighter aircraft’s for its adventurous nature or for getting a pilots License free of cost which otherwise costs close to a crore. No doubt selection for airforce needs lots of mental and physical fitness and preparation. But few of them were kept out of race due to some eligibility reasons despite abilities and preparation.
Till may 2026 there was an eligibility condition of scoring 60% of marks in PUC ( Physics and mathematics). Because of this condition Suresh and few others had to stand out of the competition due to their lower score in class 12. For some others the hurdle was 60% marks in their graduation. In the current notification for AFCAT -2 of 2006 these conditions were removed and now passing in PUC and graduation are sufficient for applying. When I told this change to Suresh he was almost ready to jump from his mangalore college to Kodagu. So happy was he.May be for many it would be a good news.
Many students believe that only engineering graduates and science students are recruited to IAF. It is true that engineering graduates have major share of the posts, but all graduates like BA and BCOM can also apply. To be precise , out of 379 vacancies notified now, Engineering graduates can apply 368 post ( 239 for engineering and balance for general graduates vacancies). Any general graduates can apply for 129 vacancies out of which 61 posts require pass in physics and mathematics in class XII.
In addition 7 posts are reserved for commerce streams graduates for accounts branch and 3 posts in education branch is for post graduation qualification. A total of 77 posts (out of 379)are reserved for women. 26 vacancies in engineering stream will be directly short listed for AFSB based on GATE score without writing this test. This is also a new scheme introduced from this notification. So it can be summarised that graduates in all streams can apply and become officers in IAF.
Other eligibility conditions are maximum age 24 for flying and 26 for other posts. This age limit is not on the date of application but as on date of course commencement that is as on first July 2027. Last date for applying is 20 June 2026. Exam fees is ₹. 550/-. Another misconception is that applicants must pass graduation before applying. That is also not true. To this (August 2026) exams: engineering students (4 years degree)writing their 6th semester exams now and other degree (3 years) Students writing their second year degree exams can apply. They should have cleared graduation by the time they join the Academy.
AFCAT is a 2 hour online exam of 100 questions and 300 marks. The subjects included are English, General Awareness, reasoning ability and mathematics. Many students think that exam will be tough. But it is almost of class X level, which every ordinary student can be successful with optimum practice.
You need not estimate that you need to score 250 out of 300 to get through. It used to be about 145 marks regularly. But in the previous exam (AFCAT 1,2026) the cut off marks was 110. Airforce is consistently very considerate to engineers and cut of marks for them was always less then normal cut off. In previous exams it was 80 marks for engineers. You may feel that otherwise also engineers are very talented and can can crack this simple exam with huge marks. That is not true. I know engineers with a score of around 92 CGPA did not clear previous AFCAT. The reasons can become another article.
The next stage after clearing AFCAT is AFSB interview where candidates have to clear psychological and physical tests followed by a personal interview. AFSB recommend candidates have to clear medical tests. Selected candidates have to pass out of around 50 to 63 weeks at AFA and other Airforce establishments as applicable to different posts.
Salaries can be considered as the best in the market as per current job scenario. During training they are paid a monthly salary of ₹. 56100 and after commissioning their gross starting salary is around ₹. 1.2 lakhs at present. The annual salary increase is roughly about 5% of gross salary in the form of annual increment and increased DA.
With this good salaries and low cut off marks in tests, hope many of young students prefer for IAF as their career.
For more information, ideas on preparation and success please feel free call Prathvi Uthaiah at 9845013053 .
Very informative sir