Took the ASTB about two weeks ago and got a 56 5/5/5.. I studied for 5 hours the day before and that is it. I had no idea what I was walking into.
Didnt know about this website until after I took it unfortunately.
Have been going through a lot of the gouge on here and it is really helping me narrow down what to study for.
Scheduled to take it again September 18th.
On my test:
Math: would've been much easier had a just done a ton of word problems and fraction practice.
Lots of DRT, had the problem where guy donates 1/8th of his 2 1/2 ton crop, how much did he donate question?
had the question where Joe smith drives at 3 different speeds for 3 different amount of time and then asks how far did he go?
Had a few simplifying questions, nothing too crazy. Know your rules like PEMDAS and FOIL, cuz if you do not then you will have no chance to get those questions right.
No matrices or logs.. going to expect them for the second time though.
Reading: Easy, just be careful, some answers could be correct but only 1 is taken directly from the text.
Mechanical:
struggled b/c I didnt really have enough time to brush up on anything and did not really know what to expect.
had questions on levers, pulleys and gears just like everyone else.
had the one Q: if a pulley had a radius of ___ how much rope will it use if it spins ___ times.
They pulled from a lot of different physics concepts, so just study a physics 101 textbook or high school physics, everything I feel would be covered.
I saw Newtons and OHMs law.
Aviation:
I was really bad, did not know much going in.
Now, I am studying the FAA book and also picked up William Kershners Student Pilots Flight Manual and it is really good! especially since I have virtually zero flight experience.
saw question that asked something like what are the 4 forces on a plane when flying or something like that, also a question on what force is not acting on a plane.
Questions on what controls pitch and what controls yawing.
Question on airspeed and groundspeed and how to calculate it.
Question on some instruments plane and what they measure. (sorry cant remember exactly)
Question on what would happen if a small plane landed behind a bigger plane with a bigger engine...something along that line.
It was a lot of basic stuff that I know now. Just studying the FAA handbook wouldve really helped me.
Nautical and Naval History
questions on shirts of Airmen, where do you eat on the ship (what is it called), who broke the sound barrier, forecastle, port and starboard. I got kicked from this pretty early I think. Question on what plane was designed/used to counter the germans silent submarine in WWII...something like that. Who broke the sound barrier, and different classifications for aircraft and what squadrons fly what planes.
The rest was very hard for me, especially UAV and PBM because I had no idea about either of those before going in, sad I heard about this site after.
Looking for some flashcards or materials on aircraft classifications and aircraft history of the Navy, I feel like this is my biggest weakspot that I dont know how to study for.
ALSO, for those of you who took the ASTB TWICE!!! What were the differences you saw in the test from the first time to the second time??
Was the material in math and mechanical much different? For example I did not see any questions about Logs or Matrices on my first attempt and I saw lots of DRT, should I now just expect the opposite?
Thanks for everything/anything!