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ASTB-E/APEX 4 Experience -DEC 2013
- Thread starter Notorious Nate
- Start date
Took the test two days ago: 70 9/9/8
I never would have gotten that score without pouring over this gouge. (And a little bit of dumb luck).
My advice to everyone: Don't be afraid to take your time. I probably spent about 1.5-2mins on all the math questions, and it ended before time ran out. I had logs, matrix multiplication, and negative fractional exponents.
I also feel like I could have gotten a 9 FOFAR if I had slowed down a half second on the Parking Lot test. I rushed about 3 of them and got them wrong.
Best of luck to all!!!
I never would have gotten that score without pouring over this gouge. (And a little bit of dumb luck).
My advice to everyone: Don't be afraid to take your time. I probably spent about 1.5-2mins on all the math questions, and it ended before time ran out. I had logs, matrix multiplication, and negative fractional exponents.
I also feel like I could have gotten a 9 FOFAR if I had slowed down a half second on the Parking Lot test. I rushed about 3 of them and got them wrong.
Best of luck to all!!!
Yeah i208, you really screwed the pooch with that 8!
If your 0-6 senior selection board member is in a good mood, it may barely cut it... but seriously. NICE GOING!
BzB
May as well throw in my input. Scored a 68 8/9/8 last month.
The OP in this thread described it pretty accurately. For me, there were a lot of rate-based questions. For instance, stuff like "If 5 painters can paint a house in 7 hours, and they start at 1400, if 3 more painters are added to the job 2 hours in, at what time will the house be finished?" I had probably 4 of these sorts. No matrices, no logs, there were only a couple I had to guess on. I feel like it was easier than advertised, and I've been out of school for quite some time.
The verbal was pretty annoying. Some of the paragraphs were simple to understand, and some used so much military jargon and weird vocabulary that I had to read it 6 times to figure out what it was trying to say.
Mechanical wasn't too bad. Lots of gears, some circuitry. Didn't get but maybe one pulley question.
OP is dead-on about the practical portion of the exam, except for at the very end with the "emergency procedures." They do in fact work. I missed the first one, but managed to pass the second two. There are little gauges that pop up to represent your engine power and fuel flow, and they aren't intuitive. Try to get the dial into the correct color area before pushing the reset button.
Good luck to everyone taking it. It's not nearly as hard as I anticipated.
The OP in this thread described it pretty accurately. For me, there were a lot of rate-based questions. For instance, stuff like "If 5 painters can paint a house in 7 hours, and they start at 1400, if 3 more painters are added to the job 2 hours in, at what time will the house be finished?" I had probably 4 of these sorts. No matrices, no logs, there were only a couple I had to guess on. I feel like it was easier than advertised, and I've been out of school for quite some time.
The verbal was pretty annoying. Some of the paragraphs were simple to understand, and some used so much military jargon and weird vocabulary that I had to read it 6 times to figure out what it was trying to say.
Mechanical wasn't too bad. Lots of gears, some circuitry. Didn't get but maybe one pulley question.
OP is dead-on about the practical portion of the exam, except for at the very end with the "emergency procedures." They do in fact work. I missed the first one, but managed to pass the second two. There are little gauges that pop up to represent your engine power and fuel flow, and they aren't intuitive. Try to get the dial into the correct color area before pushing the reset button.
Good luck to everyone taking it. It's not nearly as hard as I anticipated.
Omar Bautista
New Member
Thanks for your input and experience Bradicus. Would you or anyone else provide the answer and brief explanation to your example of the painters? I've seen this type of problem in the practice tests, but the part where they start 2 hours in is throwing me off. Any help is appreciated.
I just made an educated guess. Couldn't be bothered to try to work it out. They had two reasonable answers 20 minutes apart and I picked one.
jbelle7435
New Member
I am taking the ASTB(OAR) tomorrow(3/12/14)! Too bad I found about this forum today. 
I guess I should look forward to getting a score from 50~70. I did put in a good 2 weeks so will see. The Barron, For Dummies, and internet question helped me get this far! My recruiter told me I will be taking the Computer version so its nice to see this thread available for a good understanding what I should look forward to.
Some concerns if anyone could answer.
1. Do I get to use a pencil and scrap paper during the computer exam?
2. These matrices I read that could be on the test. Are they for multiplication and if so are they like small(1x1,1x2,etc) or large 3x3 and bigger?Matrix math gets very tedious for multiplication when they get 3xn and bigger! Maybe its just addition of matrix and thats simple.
I will keep posted how it was and how well I did to give my own review.
I guess I should look forward to getting a score from 50~70. I did put in a good 2 weeks so will see. The Barron, For Dummies, and internet question helped me get this far! My recruiter told me I will be taking the Computer version so its nice to see this thread available for a good understanding what I should look forward to.Some concerns if anyone could answer.
1. Do I get to use a pencil and scrap paper during the computer exam?
2. These matrices I read that could be on the test. Are they for multiplication and if so are they like small(1x1,1x2,etc) or large 3x3 and bigger?Matrix math gets very tedious for multiplication when they get 3xn and bigger! Maybe its just addition of matrix and thats simple.
I will keep posted how it was and how well I did to give my own review.
I am taking the ASTB(OAR) tomorrow(3/12/14)! Too bad I found about this forum today.
Some concerns if anyone could answer.
1. Do I get to use a pencil and scrap paper during the computer exam?
2. These matrices I read that could be on the test. Are they for multiplication and if so are they like small(1x1,1x2,etc) or large 3x3 and bigger?Matrix math gets very tedious for multiplication when they get 3xn and bigger! Maybe its just addition of matrix and thats simple.
I will keep posted how it was and how well I did to give my own review.
You do get unlimited pencil and scratch paper. No idea about matrices, I didn't have any and I haven't seen one since high school.
jbelle7435
New Member
Thanks for the quick reply. I am finishing my studies off with the flash cards(Math, Mechanical) Is this good final prep for the test?
http://www.proprofs.com/flashcards/tableview.php?title=astb-mechanical-comprehension-test
Those look appropriate.
Hello Everyone!
I just took the ASTB (new version with the works) and scored a 57 7/8/7 on it. This is with only a week to study, recruiter signed me up a little earlier than I would have liked to prep but oh well. Anyways, about the test:
I am a naturally fast test taker which might have hurt me with my OAR score, I say this because I finished all the timed sections with MINUTES left to spare. I'm not going to explain each section because everyone on here has explained it very well already and is what I studied off of.
The second part (aviation stuff) was where the test gets a little hairy and you really need to buckle down and concentrate. There isn't a whole lot of preparation you can really do before hand but I do recommend doing some flight simulator stuff, ESPECIALLY with a joystick and throttle. One thing you can study for if you have no prior military experience is classifications of ships, aircraft and missiles. I got some questions like that and it totally threw me off and I just made educated guesses.
All in all just be mentally prepared and don't second guess yourself! Good luck!
I just took the ASTB (new version with the works) and scored a 57 7/8/7 on it. This is with only a week to study, recruiter signed me up a little earlier than I would have liked to prep but oh well. Anyways, about the test:
I am a naturally fast test taker which might have hurt me with my OAR score, I say this because I finished all the timed sections with MINUTES left to spare. I'm not going to explain each section because everyone on here has explained it very well already and is what I studied off of.
The second part (aviation stuff) was where the test gets a little hairy and you really need to buckle down and concentrate. There isn't a whole lot of preparation you can really do before hand but I do recommend doing some flight simulator stuff, ESPECIALLY with a joystick and throttle. One thing you can study for if you have no prior military experience is classifications of ships, aircraft and missiles. I got some questions like that and it totally threw me off and I just made educated guesses.
All in all just be mentally prepared and don't second guess yourself! Good luck!
jbelle7435
New Member
Just took my ASTB(OAR)=49
Math was a bitch. The questions got tougher so I think I did well in this part. I had a log problem and one Matrix problem! But some of those long ass math problems with tons of algebra I just focused on getting a touch of the answer and choosing the one that matched that(i.e I solved only one qudrant of the matrix and only answer matched so it saved me some time.) Log was converting it to a solve for X problem.
Reading. I probably did so so. I can't tell if they were getting tougher each question. Maybe easier..
Mechanical: Better than Reading. Mostly fill in answer questions. One question was like flight recorder turns CW in a voyager so which way is the voyager turning) Something that threw me off! I am good with Gears CW and CCW but this is what to expect.(Weird stuff)
Overall I am not too thrilled with my score but taking it over will raise me only a few points how I look at it. I am not the best time constraint test taking person that gives me a little chance to getting a much higher score.
Math was a bitch. The questions got tougher so I think I did well in this part. I had a log problem and one Matrix problem! But some of those long ass math problems with tons of algebra I just focused on getting a touch of the answer and choosing the one that matched that(i.e I solved only one qudrant of the matrix and only answer matched so it saved me some time.) Log was converting it to a solve for X problem.
Reading. I probably did so so. I can't tell if they were getting tougher each question. Maybe easier..
Mechanical: Better than Reading. Mostly fill in answer questions. One question was like flight recorder turns CW in a voyager so which way is the voyager turning) Something that threw me off! I am good with Gears CW and CCW but this is what to expect.(Weird stuff)
Overall I am not too thrilled with my score but taking it over will raise me only a few points how I look at it. I am not the best time constraint test taking person that gives me a little chance to getting a much higher score.
Took the ASTB-E last Friday.
68, 7,7,8
I have to say that I am happy with these scores. I think that I could have raised the PFAR a bit if I had done better on the Performance section but oh well. My impressions of the test:
Math revolved around several Area of Circle, Volume of Cylinder type questions. I had a few rates and one or two logs. Not to terribly hard.
Mechanics was pretty simple, only had to do math for two of the 15 or so questions. Fulcrum at one end, how much force is needed to balance the lever la di da…
Reading Comprehension…OH MAN…I am going to agree with most people and say it was the most difficult section of the test. I can't even tell you how to prepare. Just read Naval Instructions. Super confusing. Just stay focused. I ran out of time on this part.
The Performance based section was different…The parking lots were ok. Hurried and missed three. Should have got them all right. Look back a page or two and you will find someone posted examples in PDF format. They are almost identical to those. If you can do these you can do well on the test. The Dichotic Listening section was easier than I thought it would be. The tracking was a bitch. The tracking and emergency procedures was, you guessed it, a bigger bitch. I found myself sort of amused while taking this portion. I thought I did terribly.
Overall impression, I made the test out to be harder than it actually was. So relax and you will be FINE.
My study materials: Peterson's 8th addition, ASTB-E (new edition), Pilots Handbook, and FAR/AIM.
If anyone has questions please let me know!!! Good luck.
68, 7,7,8
I have to say that I am happy with these scores. I think that I could have raised the PFAR a bit if I had done better on the Performance section but oh well. My impressions of the test:
Math revolved around several Area of Circle, Volume of Cylinder type questions. I had a few rates and one or two logs. Not to terribly hard.
Mechanics was pretty simple, only had to do math for two of the 15 or so questions. Fulcrum at one end, how much force is needed to balance the lever la di da…
Reading Comprehension…OH MAN…I am going to agree with most people and say it was the most difficult section of the test. I can't even tell you how to prepare. Just read Naval Instructions. Super confusing. Just stay focused. I ran out of time on this part.
The Performance based section was different…The parking lots were ok. Hurried and missed three. Should have got them all right. Look back a page or two and you will find someone posted examples in PDF format. They are almost identical to those. If you can do these you can do well on the test. The Dichotic Listening section was easier than I thought it would be. The tracking was a bitch. The tracking and emergency procedures was, you guessed it, a bigger bitch. I found myself sort of amused while taking this portion. I thought I did terribly.
Overall impression, I made the test out to be harder than it actually was. So relax and you will be FINE.
My study materials: Peterson's 8th addition, ASTB-E (new edition), Pilots Handbook, and FAR/AIM.
If anyone has questions please let me know!!! Good luck.
Frankenstein
Member
Please explain how to do the problem Bradicus posted: "If 5 painters can paint a house in 7 hours, and they start at 1400, if 3 more painters are added to the job 2 hours in, at what time will the house be finished?"
I've looked up problems like it and know how to do those, but this one is tripping me up for some reason.
I've looked up problems like it and know how to do those, but this one is tripping me up for some reason.
I look at this as a type of mass flow rate type but the units are hours/house. Originally with five people working, 2/7 of the house will be completed in 2 hours. therefore since each person does 1/35 of the house per hour (2*5=10) man-hours. there are now 25 man-hours left in order to finish the house. Now since there are 8 workers, we just divide the remaining man-hours remaining (25) by the number of workers (8)=3 1/8. therefore adding the original two hours plus the 3 1/8 will give you 5 1/8. 5 hours and 7.2 seconds. I am going to try to figure out the algebraic way to do this.