ASTB-E/APEX 4 Experience -DEC 2013

[Gman91]

As promised earlier this week, here's my experience with the ASTB:

I have covered a lot of stuff on the ASTB in recent college courses (mostly physics courses) and honestly just reviewed the night before using the ACCEPTED ASTB STUDY GUIDE.
That being said, I have stalked all the ASTB posts on here relentlessly and looked over and grew familiar with the contents of the ASTB through about 3 months of browsing. Of course whenever someone posted their study guide, I would attempt to familiarize myself with all the contents.
Here are my tips for studying for each section:
Math: khanacademy.org was an awesome site for brushing up on the math concepts that I had forgotten over the years. Look through the ASTB forums and use the math website to review the concepts brought up by all the other guys on the forum (matrices, fractional exponents, etc...) I am assuming you have some sort of background of up to algebra 2 for this test. If not, study, study, study. Khan academy is a good resource for beginning to work through Algebra 2 level problems.

Reading: Just like some of the other guys said, the reading gets very dense very quickly. It is a ton of thick Navy jargon. Something I found that was helpful was that I used scratch paper, wrote out A, B, C, D on the page and would then after reading the passage would attempt to permanently eliminate answers. I would then cross out that letter and attempt to focus on the remaining answers. Without my sheet method, I would simply scan the answers and get a little overwhelmed trying to eliminate them mentally. Just take your time on this, I probably only answered 15 questions and did not finish before time ran out.

Mechanical: The ACCEPTED guide was kind of helpful here. I had an early edition of the book and it was very poorly made. Review simple machines (levers, wedges, pulleys, fulcrums), review acceleration, velocity, and acceleration due to gravity (G's and definition of G forces). There are some study guides posted on here that really hit the nail on the head. All in all, my background studies in physics really came to the rescue here. I am not familiar with any great basic physics websites with practice problems but they're probably out there.

Aviation: The ACCEPTED guide helped a little bit here. Know nautical terms, know parts of an airplane. I believe it was Notorious Nate who started the APEX ASTB thread and in his post he said to review the classification system for planes (know the letter designations for planes/helicopters because it comes in handy here). This section is pretty straightforward. I remember I needed to know the first man to fly faster than the speed of sound (Charles Yeager).

NATFI: This was actually the most mind blowing part of the test. Made me feel like a lazy, selfish bastard who hates working with others and mouths off to his superiors. Haha just try to go for the lesser of two evils on these questions.

PBM: I actually was laughing by the end because how bad I thought I was doing. Honestly just relax and PAY ATTENTION to which ear they say is your "target" ear. The first time around, I was confused about which ear I was supposed to be listening to at first but picked things back up toward the end. The joystick sucks and the throttle sucked even more. Things will get embarrassing but do your best and try to focus all the way through.

Final tips: To be perfectly honest, I was laughing at how awful I thought I was doing the whole time. I let the whole "computer adaptive" test get in my head so that I analyzed the difficulty of the next question and thought I must have answered the previous question incorrectly. My advice is: Don't psyche yourself out! I literally was playing mind games with myself. So I would get a relatively easy question and think to myself "Shit, I missed the last one." With this mindset I actually thought I was failing for a majority of the test. Eventually I convinced myself to just take each question as it was and not think about how I was doing overall. I ended up not finishing the reading section before time ran out and I ended up doing okay so don't freak out if time is running out and start guessing C on the remaining questions. You can be pretty confident if you just try to cover all your bases and keep calm throughout the test.

Hope this helps! Sorry for the novel.
Cheers,

Tyler

Anything else pertaining to study guides you could provide for the math and mechanical comprehension portion? Thank you

 

[Tyler Houston]

Anything else pertaining to study guides you could provide for the math and mechanical comprehension portion? Thank you

I only used the ACCEPTED study guide, and online resources (this forum and all the posted study guides were the most important, followed by khanacademy.org for math)
People have had success using the Barron's guide as well. Just read through these ASTB threads and pay attention to the study guides that people with good scores used.

 

[Gman91]

If your GPA is good you may have a shot with current acceptance rates (which I've heard are pretty high). I've heard of people (on Airwarriors) getting Pro-Rec'd with ASTB scores similar to yours and GPA's around the 2.8 - 3.0 range. Although, they may have had some "extras" to their package.

What would you classify as "extras" in the packages?

 

[AE2ENSIGN]

Hey Everyone,

I have been trolling on this thread for a long time, since I first took the OAR back in July 2013. Initially, I scored a 37, which is pretty bad. I recently retook the OAR today and scored a 46. I just graduated college this past December, and studied for the OAR for 3.5 months. Heres what I used for studying.

1. GMAT/GRE Math review book
2. Arco Officer Candidate Tests guide 6th edition
3. Master the mechanical aptitude and spatial relations Tests 7th edition
4. Accepted's guide of OAR.
5. Atrickpays study guide on airwarriors (made flash cards of it)
6.Marine gouge ASTB study guide supplement
7. This Forum that provides gouge on the new ASTB-E.

I want to put in for SWO, for this coming board in October. My recruiter wishes I got a 48, instead of the 46. But, He said it is up to me to put in for it. I'll list my stats below and you guys tell me what you think. Thank you.

Here are my stats:
29 years old
OAR: 46
Graduated College with: 3.94 GPA in Political Science
Active duty for 5 years, Still in Selective Reserves. Total of 10 years served
Rank: E6 (recently capped to E6)
LPO for electrician and electronics divisions, Command C.F.L
Awards: Good conduct medal, reserve meritorious service medal. Junior Sailor of the Year for 2012,
Numerous LOR's and LOC's.
Been recommended on All EVALs since E-1, for O.C.S.

 

[navy2014]

Hey Everyone,

I have been trolling on this thread for a long time, since I first took the OAR back in July 2013. Initially, I scored a 37, which is pretty bad. I recently retook the OAR today and scored a 46. I just graduated college this past December, and studied for the OAR for 3.5 months. Heres what I used for studying.

1. GMAT/GRE Math review book
2. Arco Officer Candidate Tests guide 6th edition
3. Master the mechanical aptitude and spatial relations Tests 7th edition
4. Accepted's guide of OAR.
5. Atrickpays study guide on airwarriors (made flash cards of it)
6.Marine gouge ASTB study guide supplement
7. This Forum that provides gouge on the new ASTB-E.

I want to put in for SWO, for this coming board in October. My recruiter wishes I got a 48, instead of the 46. But, He said it is up to me to put in for it. I'll list my stats below and you guys tell me what you think. Thank you.

Here are my stats:
29 years old
OAR: 46
Graduated College with: 3.94 GPA in Political Science
Active duty for 5 years, Still in Selective Reserves. Total of 10 years served
Rank: E6 (recently capped to E6)
LPO for electrician and electronics divisions, Command C.F.L
Awards: Good conduct medal, reserve meritorious service medal. Junior Sailor of the Year for 2012,
Numerous LOR's and LOC's.
Been recommended on All EVALs since E-1, for O.C.S.

Nice to meet you, and congrats on the degree / service / OAR. I would just go ahead and give it a shot, and if you don't get it, retake. How's the age issue work for you since you're AD/prior? Didn't need a waiver?

 

[zarevich]

Just took the ASTB yesterday and i got to say, the joystick part was hard as hell! The UAV part was HARD, i did great on the practice test (i kept doing it over and over untill i wouldnt make no mistakes and picked the right answer in less than 2sec), but when i took the test i think i tried to get lower time so i missed a lot of the questions. The joystick part, First part was easy though i completely failed to listen for the left numbers while i was still listening to my right ear. Second part was pretty easy, third part hard because i kept messing with the reverse control so i was hardly ever on the target. Fourth part as you can imagine from the last part... Fifth part i felt a little better getting used to the controls and the section took longer too, so i think i did pretty good. Sixth part i memorized all the casualties and passed 2 of 3 because the first one my knobs were not turning properly.
I dont know the score yet because i did the BIRV at home after the test, emailed the PS1 to give me my score.
For OAR got 48, didnt study that much just wanted to take the test and see where i am and what i need to study more. Math section kept giving me easy questions which i am pretty sure answered 90% right, reading part was OK, Mechanical part was hard, nothing like the old test, got to study more for that section.
One thing i recommend is if you have a friend who has an aviation game with a joystick, play with it and get used to the reverse controls, that will help you a lot. If not than if you are not broke buy an aviation game with a joystick which should only cost you maybe $100 or less.

 

[Unsavorysauce]

Just finished testing. 67/9/9/8
Studied for about one weekend but I would say I have a very good background in Math and Physics due to me graduating in May 2014 with an electrical engineering degree (3.1) from Georgia Tech. Math: know your averages and every about them, know your time to do stuff problems(if 3 people can paint a house in 12 hours.....), and do not rush. I actually ran out of time on the Math which I was not expecting and I know I missed a few. Mechanical: mostly theoretical type questions from what I remember. My main sources: Military Flight Aptitude Tests for Dummies and the ASTB-E Study Guide by Accepted Inc. and this website. I felt like I did awful on the performance based part of the tests also.

 

[AE2ENSIGN]

Nice to meet you, and congrats on the degree / service / OAR. I would just go ahead and give it a shot, and if you don't get it, retake. How's the age issue work for you since you're AD/prior? Didn't need a waiver?

Hey Navy2014,

That's what I was thinking is to submit with what I got on the OAR, and see what happens. I guess I just wanted some second opinions on here, from other people. The age issue from what I was told by my recruiter, is that since I'm 29 as long as I am commissioned prior to my 31st birthday, I am okay to apply for SWO. He told me this is because people who have already served on active duty for four years or more, get a 2 year break on applying for SWO. My guess is that if you are approaching 31, and think you are not going to get in in time, you would have to apply for some type of age waiver, but I'm not sure.

 

[Grimmetal]

I took the ASTB yesterday. First three parts are simple: Math, Reading and Mechanical (multiple choice). I did okay with them. I have no college background in math and I had been studying an SAT book or three to get up to speed for the math in the SAT. Didn't study anything for reading and just glanced over the mechanical stuff in the most recent ASTB-E study guide that was released.
The joystick part definitely threw me for a loop even though I'm a pretty consistent gamer. Aviation/Nautical knowledge wasn't too hard considering I'm around these terms all the time as an Active Duty YN.

The UAV part with the directions and parking lots was alright. I did the practice several times but found on the actual test part that I was getting more concerned with time as I got into it and mis-clicked a few at the end as I was just trying to be fast at that point.

Listening for the numbers wasn't too bad. I found myself physically leaning towards whatever side I was supposed to listen for. Odd numbers were a click on the throttle clutch button with the left hand and Even numbers were a squeeze of the trigger with the right.
The joystick/throttle was a mess. At least it felt like it. The throttle didn't feel particularly responsive and the joystick felt hard to move but I did my best. First part was following the bogey up and down with the throttle control. And then you follow the bogey all over the screen with the joystick. It took me a while to get used to pushing up to go down and pulling back to go up. Left and right were still the same: left for left and right for right.

And then you had to put the two together and follow two bogeys at the same time with the different controls. And then they added in the listening portion to that. At this point I was freaking out. Throttle going up and down, joystick was all over the place and I was just clicking buttons.

Finally there is the troubleshooting section at the end where you have to memorize different steps to solve engine and fire emergencies. This involved spinning the knobs on the throttle and clicking the clutch button. Oh yeah, you're stilll following the two bogeys with the two controls.

My advice? Play video games. Get used to doing two different things with your different hands. Get used to listening to two different things in each ear and only picking out what's going on in one ear at a time. Other than that, I used this forum, SAT study guides and the ASTB-E study guide. I just wanted to go into the test and figure it out myself. I like working trial and error rather than overloading myself and doubting that I'm just filling my head with things I won't even see on the test.

I finished with an OAR of 49 and 6/6/6 on the rest. Not overly great but I was told it was an above average score. I'm applying for STA-21 NFO option.

 

[Dan Balch]

Hey guys (&girls)

Long time lurker, first time posting. I thought I would share my experience from the ASTB from two days ago at NORS Hyattsville, MD. Quick bio: Poli Sci & IR majors. Senior at American University in DC. Didn't take a single science class in college (AP'd out) and only took 1 stats class as a freshman. Needless to say I was quite rusty when it came to the math and mechanical sections. Haven't done physics since 10th grade. Studied off and on for about a month or so. I used a couple of gouges floating around the forums, marine aviation gouge, Peterson books (general officer and aviation) hosted on the Nelnet site, Accepted Inc. ASTB study guide (the revised one, still wasn't terribly impressed with them: still LOTS of errors). The bulk of my studying was focused on math, physics, and the aviation/nautical stuff. Breezed over the reading.

I found the test harder and easier than I expected. I thought the math was about as hard as I expected. The reading was harder than I expected, but that could be a result of the Adaptive nature of the test. Physics was actually easier than I thought it would be. I finished the math section with like 4-5 to spare on each section.

Honestly it was pretty similar to the SAT so I won't really talk a lot about it because I'm guessing we all have that kind of experience. The post-OAR section, however, was not.

I feel like the ANIT section was mostly big picture and I studied the small details and finer points. Fortunately for me, I have a good memory for obscure things, so I didn't have too much trouble.

NATFI - Answer truthfully.

PBM - This was definitely the most stressful section BY FAR. UAV, Dichotic Listening, Joystick.

The UAV section was hellish for me. I kept repeating the tutorial section until I was under 2 seconds each time. However, during the test I didn't do so hot. I think it replaced the spatial apperception section, which is unfortunate for me because I was doing awesome on those.

DLT - Before going in I was pretty worried about this. I found one youtube video that is similar to the test and listened to that a few times just to get used to it. Like Grim, I found myself leaning in the direction of the chosen ear. I also closed my eyes. Not sure if either of these helped, but I did them anyway. I actually found it fairly easy.

Joystick - I hated this section. I played CFS as a kid so I had a decent amount of experience with a joystick. I also play Battlefield fairly often, but on Xbox so no joystick, just the controller. I felt the throttle was super super unresponsive. I feel like it had to put pushed all the way to 100% or 0% to move the targeting reticle at all. The X/Y tracking test was also annoying especially because you push up to move down, which is opposite of the throttle. When they added in the DLT, it was a little harder and I missed a few of the numbers but it wasn't awful. The emergency procedures test is taken while still doing the tracking. It wasn't terribly hard: just spin some dials and hit the button.

When I left the little testing room, I was convinced I had bombed the test. I felt like I would get 1s or 2s on everything. I thought there was no way they would even consider letting me look at a plane.

I ended up getting a 59 7/6/7. I am pretty content with these scores. I haven't decided if I want to retake the test. I have to wait 6 months for my Lasik wait period so retaking it won't hold me back, but right now I am leaning to not taking the test again. My recruiter told me the score is very competitive and I have a decent shot at it.

My final thoughts / recommendations: study, but don't kill yourself doing it. Get good sleep the night before and eat breakfast. Breathe. Relax: you have up to three attempts if you need, so it isn't the end of the world if you don't do great. I'm not saying to blow it off, you should still take it seriously, don't overdo it.

I'll be applying pilot 1st choice end of September / beginning of October.

Feel free to ask any questions on the test or anything else (such as my experiences with lasik).

Dan

 

[ureal]

So I took the OAR on Wednesday 20140408 in NYC, studied for a week. It was much harder than i expected, I studied primarily through the gouges and the flash cards on the website .

The math was only hard in the sense that the calculations were rather time consuming, my poor time management resulted in me guessing the majority of the questions though i ended up finishing way before time was up. I did not deal with matrix, primarily probability, exponents, work and large fractions.

The reading was complicated mostly pertaining to the military but the way the sentence was structured had me struggling to understand the passages.

The mechanical part didnt leave much of an impression.

having taken the ASVAB where i was able to calculate the answer to the majority of the questions, I was pretty sure i bombed the test but it showed a 58 though i was really hoping for a 60+.

 

[TCooke]

This is my first time posting and I wanted to share my experience with the ASTB today.

I found the math problems much easier that what I had studied for. I had a lot of problems that dealt with sequences, square roots, cube roots, and probability. One question asked me prices of T-shirts if X,Y and Z were priced at 54.... and what was the answer. Math has always been difficult for me and I was relieved when this section was over. I am not sure if all of my time elapsed, or if my session ended but I do not feel like I answered all of the problems in the section.

The reading comprehension was just like everyone else said on here. It was very hard for me to focus. The topics were dry and very long. My advice to anyone taking the test in the near future is to study the Baron's examples as these were extremely helpful for me. I used all of the time allotted in this section.

Mechanical comprehension was not very memorable for me. The questions were basic physics. Use the study guides and the gouges on this website.

NAFTI seemed like it would never end, and I noticed a few of the same questions kept coming around. Just be truthful.

I repeated the UAV section at least 20 times until I got all of my times under two seconds. I got the majority of the questions right until I started trying to speed up towards the end. Take your time and work efficiently but accurately.

The DLT section was very easy for me as I can easily tune things out. I found that repeating the letters/numbers as the man spoke them really helped me focus on the ear that I was supposed to respond too. The numbers were odd for the left ear, and even for the right ear. I was happy they did not change this up at any point because it could have made things quite confusing. I would advise those who have never taken the test to find the YouTube video and practice this.

The joystick was the most difficult section for me. I had no problem following the plane vertically... however I felt that most of the time I was chasing the plane.... not following the plane! When combining the throttle and joystick I found myself panicking. Things became difficult very quickly and it took me a few seconds to really get my composure during the practice test. I have had experience with flight simulators and this was unlike anything I have ever seen... Adding the DLT to the mix made things a little bit harder but I found myself becoming more comfortable as time went on. I managed to get all three emergency procedures in the allotted amount of time. The first one was an engine fire, then engine malfunction, and I believe the last one had something to do with the propeller.

I still have not gotten my results as the proctor told me that he would email them… I will post them as soon as I find out.

 

[gerickson808]

Just got back with a score of 80 9/9/9. Thanks so much for posting your experiences everyone, it definitely helped me prepare as well as keep a cool head while I was taking it.

The main thing that helped me was keeping in mind that a lot of people felt like they were doing terribly during, and ended up with good scores. It definitely helped me stay calm when I felt like I was bombing.

 

[TheBirdy]

Just got back with a score of 80 9/9/9. Thanks so much for posting your experiences everyone, it definitely helped me prepare as well as keep a cool head while I was taking it.

The main thing that helped me was keeping in mind that a lot of people felt like they were doing terribly during, and ended up with good scores. It definitely helped me stay calm when I felt like I was bombing.

You do realize that's a perfect score right?...

 

[Notorious Nate]

Just got back with a score of 80 9/9/9. Thanks so much for posting your experiences everyone, it definitely helped me prepare as well as keep a cool head while I was taking it.

Golden boy right here.