THY PACE Test Preparation

According to Turkish Airlines' official career announcements, PACE is the airline's own psychometric assessment system for pilot selection, combining multiple-choice knowledge modules with aptitude modules that measure memory, attention, spatial perception and psychomotor coordination. Content and structure can change over time, so check official sources for the current version.

Yes — according to official announcements, PACE replaced the previously used DLR assessment from 2025 onwards. Preparation advice written for the old DLR format is therefore only partially transferable, although the underlying cognitive skills overlap considerably.

According to candidate accounts, around five to six hours, administered with a touchscreen, headset and joystick. Exact timing varies by intake and can change, so treat your official invitation as the authoritative source.

Candidate accounts place it at the THY Flight Training Directorate in Florya, Istanbul. Venues can change between selection rounds, so rely on the location stated in your official invitation rather than on past accounts.

According to candidate accounts, typically a few months from application to completion — often around three to four — covering the PACE-A, PACE-B and PACE-C stages. Timelines differ by intake and may change without notice.

Yes. According to official announcements, THY offers candidates a computer-based (CBT) practice application. Use it for interface familiarity, and use a structured platform such as CadetPro for the longer-term ability training underneath.

There is no guaranteed number — improvement depends on your starting level and consistency. Most structured approaches, including the plan above, assume four to six weeks of daily practice with a deliberate taper in the final week.

No. CadetPro is an independent preparation platform with no affiliation, endorsement or authorization from Turkish Airlines. We reference THY and PACE only to describe the preparation context, and nothing on this page is official exam content.

The general flow runs like this: application, an online English test if you have no language certificate, the PACE-A psychometric and aptitude exam, the CRM competency assessment (a group exercise plus an individual interview), the board interview, a preliminary medical and the Class-1 medical board, and finally a job offer and fleet assignment. The medical comes last; once you clear a stage you receive scheduling information for the next one. The flow can change between intakes, so confirm the current order from your official invitation.

Based on candidate accounts, every stage except the language step allows two attempts in total, and a second unsuccessful result means no further application is accepted. Failing a knowledge module (maths or physics) typically means waiting around three months, while failing an aptitude or psychometric module means around six months, with the clock starting from your exam date. These rules can change between intakes, so verify the exact limits and waiting times from current official sources.

According to candidate accounts, taking a slot and then not sitting the exam does not cost you an attempt; only that posting's process ends, and you can reapply to a new posting from scratch. A waiting period and loss of an attempt only apply once you actually sit the exam and fail. Since formal postponement is generally not granted outside documented force majeure, it is best to notify the THY recruitment unit in writing about your situation.

According to candidate accounts, the aptitude side includes audio-visual memory (recalling city positions), digit span, sustained attention, agility, three-dimensional perception, spatial orientation (a maze task), and a joystick-based psychomotor flight-control module (MIC). Maths and physics are separate knowledge modules, and the questions are in English. A short practice screen precedes each module, and the module set can be updated from one intake to the next.

According to candidate accounts, the pass mark on the knowledge modules is around 70 percent; in a 30-question section, for example, you would need at least 21 correct, and falling short triggers a retake of that module. Maths is demanding because of time pressure, with long and decimal-heavy calculations, so many candidates cannot finish every question; a common tactic is to answer the short, easy items first. These figures can change between intakes, so confirm the current threshold and question count from your invitation details.

According to candidate accounts, pressing early is logged as 'too fast' and counts as a straight error, while pressing late is only recorded as a higher reaction time. You do not see live correct/incorrect feedback during the real exam, so the common approach is to avoid the early-press risk by reacting once the target is clearly visible. Around 150-200 ms is considered normal for human reflexes, and the safest path is to settle into your own rhythm through practice.

According to candidate accounts, partial answers do not count: you must recall every item in a set completely, and even a single error or omission drops that set to zero. Sets arrive in rising difficulty tiers from easy to hard; in the city-memory task, for instance, the number of items increases step by step. Aids such as finger-counting or touching the screen are not allowed during the exam, so it helps to build your memory strategy mentally from the start.

According to candidate accounts, the module ramps up in difficulty: first heading only, then altitude, then both together, and finally airspeed and all instruments active at once, with an audio task (phonetic alphabet) at every stage. The common advice is to focus on keeping altitude and heading stable and to treat airspeed as secondary, since you rarely need to touch it while the others are balanced. Practice emulators may feel different from the real exam in sensitivity, so prioritise learning the underlying logic.

According to candidate accounts, failing maths usually means retaking maths only, whereas failing any of the aptitude or psychometric modules means redoing all of the aptitude modules from the start. The retake resumes from the stage you failed rather than from the very beginning. Sources differ slightly on the exact scope for the knowledge modules, so it is safest to confirm the precise rule with the THY recruitment unit.

According to candidate accounts, it is the first stage for candidates without a language certificate and is taken from home via an emailed link under camera proctoring. It runs to about 32 questions in roughly 40 minutes, covering grammar, vocabulary and listening, and is generally described as intermediate (around B1). The online result is valid for about a year, and this stage reportedly has no retake, so confirm the current format from your invitation details.

According to candidate accounts, a valid language certificate (such as IELTS, TOEFL or PTE Academic) lets you skip the online English test and move straight to PACE. Home-edition exams are reportedly not accepted, and the certificate is expected to be test-centre or computer-based. Which certificates and scores are accepted can change between intakes, so verify the current requirements from official sources before you apply.

According to candidate accounts, you can continue through the PACE and CRM stages without a language certificate, but it is expected by the board interview at the latest, with roughly a month granted after a positive CRM result. If the certificate is not submitted in time the current posting's process may end, though candidates report being able to upload it in a later posting and resume from the stage they reached. Submitting early can speed things up a little; confirm the exact deadlines from your invitation details.

According to candidate accounts, you need a completed bachelor's degree; recent postings reportedly do not accept student status or a 'will graduate' letter, and the application requires an e-Government transcript and a criminal-record document. The age limit is around 30 in practice, and the youngest accepted birth year shifts forward by one each year. Military service is generally not a barrier as long as it does not clash with the exam and interview dates or the first few months of theoretical training; confirm the exact criteria from the current official posting.

According to candidate accounts, the PACE exam is held at the THY Flight Training Directorate campus in Florya/Bakirkoy, Istanbul, with the full address given at the bottom of the invitation email. It is reachable via the Besyol metrobus stop or the Florya Marmaray, within walking distance following the signs and security directions. References to Ankara from the old DLR era exist for some stages, but PACE is currently administered in Florya; even so, the venue can change, so rely on the address in your invitation.

According to candidate accounts, no extra paperwork is needed on the PACE and CRM days; your ID is enough, and carrying a second ID (driving licence or passport) as backup is recommended. Additional items such as passport photos are generally not requested. Still, required documents can vary by intake, so always check the list in your invitation email.

According to candidate accounts, the CRM competency assessment has two parts: first a group simulation or exercise, then an individual interview where technical questions from your own field of study may come up, conducted in Turkish. A suit is expected as dress code, with no specific colour requirement noted. Results are typically announced within about a week to ten days, sometimes up to a few weeks; if positive, the board interview is usually scheduled within the following one to two weeks. Timelines vary with intake volume.

According to candidate accounts, the PACE result is usually emailed within two to three weeks; in some intakes it arrives in about six days, in others it can take up to around six weeks, and the outcome is sent whether positive or negative. Shortly after the result, an email with the CRM date follows. These timelines shift with application volume, so treat them as estimates and adjust your planning based on official communications.

According to candidate accounts, the board result is usually announced within about a month, with little interim feedback during that time. Receiving the Class-1 medical email is often read within the community as a sign of a positive outcome, though it is advised not to assume anything until the definitive result arrives. Timelines can vary by person and intake.

According to candidate accounts, the preliminary medical exists to catch disqualifying health conditions early, before paying the Class-1 fee, and is usually held on a separate day after the board interview but before the board result, via a dedicated invitation. The reported content covers blood pressure, colour vision, visual field, listening to the chest and back, and a detailed review of your health records. No special dress code is noted; content and order can change, so rely on your invitation. This is not medical advice.

According to candidate accounts, you are asked to open your health records (reports, diagnoses, medication history) during the process, and hiding records or trying to have them deleted is treated as grounds for elimination on its own. Whether a condition is disqualifying depends on the individual and the examining physician's judgement that day, so it is best to act on advice from an authorised aviation medical centre or THY flight medicine rather than on rumour. This is informational only and not medical advice; consult an authorised aviation medical examiner (AME) for your individual situation.

According to candidate accounts, the invitation does not always arrive automatically; many candidates report not receiving an email when their waiting period ends. In that case it is recommended to send a scheduling request to the THY recruitment unit once your time is up, after which a date is set within a few weeks depending on volume. Candidates also note that if you delay after a date-selection email arrives, the system may assign a random date.

According to candidate accounts, the official practice application (CBT) sent by THY only opens on a Windows computer and does not run directly on a tablet or phone. Although some modules involve touching, the exam can be navigated with arrow keys and on-screen controls, so a touchscreen is not required and only adds familiarity. For attention and reaction modules, candidates report a mouse gives more consistent results than a touchpad, so test your own setup in advance.

In general there are both free/demo and fuller versions; free tiers let you get to know the basic modules, while fuller packages offer more modules, attempts and feedback. The real benefit is arriving used to the test day's audio-visual pace, set structure and task transitions. Pricing and package contents change over time, so confirm current details from the relevant platform's official source; starting with a free demo to learn the format is a sensible first step.