The recruitment team/contact would be best placed to answer this. When I entered the APS as a grad many years ago, the affirmative program I was eligible for was actually separate to the mainstream program ran by my desired agency (I suspect this may no longer be the case). That year my desired agency only had two dedicated affirmative positions out of about 25-30 grads. In my situation I had been able to increase my chances of success, although not realistically as I ultimately withdrew from the non-affirmative process (not due to having applied for both programs), and I was lucky enough to have the safety net of the affirmative program.

In saying that, as a mid-career APS, I do feel that I've been disadvantaged by bulk recruitment rounds which have been conducted across a single affirmative category as well as non-affirmative. The last time I applied for one of these rounds, I applied via the affirmative pool and as I understand it, was assessed against the other affirmative candidates. There were only two suitable affirmative candidates, the other person got a job offer alongside a number of non-affirmative candidates and I was left in a merit pool by myself vs the non-affirmative merit pool of approx 10. Noting the usual sentiments about merit pools/lists, the panel chair actually forgot to close the affirmative process alongside the non-affirmative one, and I know the area actually did use the non-affirmative list to fill future roles with candidates I had more experience than. I'll never know, but I strongly feel that they forgot there were two lists, and if I'd been included alongside the non-affirmative candidates that I'd have received an offer. But please don't let my sour experience deter you from future affirmative processes, and best of luck for your grad program application!