CACD Diplomata study guide
CACD Diplomata · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Concurso de Admissão à Carreira de Diplomata (CACD) is Brazil's competitive entrance examination for the diplomatic career, run by the Rio Branco Institute (Instituto Rio Branco, IRBr) under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It is aimed at graduates preparing to become career diplomats, and it is one of the most demanding public-service examinations in the country, combining breadth of knowledge with high-level writing and language skills. The CACD Diplomata study guide has 10 sections and about 2,055 words.
01Portuguese Language and Brazilian Literature
Candidates must command normative grammar (crase, regência verbal e nominal, concordância, colocação pronominal) and text interpretation. The trap in CACD-style items is confusing regência with colocação : e.g., "assistir ao filme" (preposition required) versus "assistir o doente" (transitive direct, meaning to help).
261 words, about 1 min02History of Brazil
Understand the plantation system (engenho, sugar, slavery), the capitanias hereditárias , and the pacto colonial . Traps: confusing entradas (interior, from coast) with bandeiras (São Paulo, slave-hunting and mineral search), and misdating the União Ibérica (1580–1640), which weakened the Treaty of Tordesillas line.
215 words, about 1 min03World History
Know Greek polis and democracy limits, Roman law and citizenship, feudalism (vassalage, benefice, manorialism), and the role of the Church. Trap: presenting the Magna Carta (1215) as a modern bill of rights; it was a baronial charter.
206 words, about 1 min04Geography
Know the relief (planalto, depressões, planícies), hydrographic basins (Amazônica, Tocantins-Araguaia, Paraná, São Francisco), and climate types (equatorial, tropical, semiárido, subtropical). Trap: confusing domínio morfoclimático (Ab'Sáber) with bioma ; the cerrado is a biome and a morphoclimatic domain with distinct soil acidity.
197 words, under 1 min05International Politics and Brazilian Foreign Policy
Know realism, liberalism, constructivism, and the levels of analysis (system, state, individual). Understand soft power , multilateralism , and autonomia pela diversificação versus autonomia pela participação .
187 words, under 1 min06International Law
Article 38 of the ICJ Statute lists sources: treaties, custom, general principles, judicial decisions, and doctrine. Subjects include states, international organizations, and individuals.
202 words, about 1 min07Economics
Supply and demand, elasticity, market structures (perfect competition, monopoly, oligopoly), and externalities. Trap: confusing a shift of the curve with a movement along it.
189 words, under 1 min08English
CACD English items test advanced reading comprehension, inference, and vocabulary in context. Build a habit of identifying the function of each paragraph (claim, evidence, counterargument) rather than translating word by word.
194 words, under 1 min09Spanish or French
Master ser/estar , por/para , subjunctive triggers (ojalá, es necesario que), and pretérito versus imperfecto . Traps: por for cause/exchange, para for purpose/destination; estar for states and location.
192 words, under 1 min10Written Essay and Oral Examination
The CACD prova discursiva rewards a clear thesis, structured argument, and formal register. Use a four-part architecture: introduction with thesis, two or three argumentative paragraphs, and a conclusion that synthesizes rather than repeats.
212 words, about 1 min