Hey all, just wanted to say thank you to everyone in this forum! Took the ASTB the other day and scored a 54 6/7/8. I’ll be applying with a 3.9 GPA. I wanted to share my experience to help future test takers.
Math: There were a lot of distance, rate, time questions, rate of work problems, some exponent questions, probability questions about dice and cards, quadratics, and questions about spheres and cylinders. There were also some percentage questions in there and some questions about graphing on an X/Y plane. I’m terrible at math and hadn’t taken any serious math classes since high school, so this is where I spent most of my time.
Reading: A lot of the passages are pretty dry and are meant to bore you. For questions in this section I wasn’t sure about, I wrote down “A B C D” on my scratch paper and eliminated the obviously incorrect answers by striking a line through the letter. The passages in this section ranged from Navy policies to astronomy. My advice would be to read through all of the answers and look for answers that don’t add unnecessary details or information that was not in the passage.
Mechanical: I had questions on levers, Bernoulli’s Principle, F=MA, Newtons, what is the gravitational force on Earth, mechanical advantage, kinetic and potential energy, spinning strings with weights, conductivity and heat transfers, a question about a two-piston engine, and buoyancy. Most of these questions did not require any calculations, although I had a few that did (but they didn’t even require the use of scratch paper.)
UAV: The compass trick helped me a lot- I averaged about 1.5-2 seconds per answer. Definitely practice this section before test day. You can practice as many times as you want before this portion of the test starts, so practice until you feel comfortable. These are the flashcards I used to study:
https://www.proprofs.com/flashcards/story.php?title=_36014
ANIT: I had multiple questions in this section about basic components/functions of planes, such as ailerons, yaw, and roll. Know the nicknames for various planes and basic nautical terms, such as aft, port, starboard, stern, what another name for a propeller is, etc. I had a question about the first man into space and who broke the speed of sound. I had a lot of questions about parts of ships, such as “What purpose do bulkheads serve?” I studied for this by reading through some of the study sets, watching YouTube videos, and reading through the gouges posted in this thread. I have no prior aviation experience so I had to start from scratch here. Here's the link to a study set I used to prepare:
ASTB Aviation/Nautical Information Test (ANIT) [comprehensive] Flashcards
PBM: With the dichotic listening, I leaned in to the target ear, which helped me focus on which ear I was supposed to be listening to. I didn’t study for this part of the test, so I don’t have any advice on how to prepare for it in advance. Make sure to read all directions and write them down to remember them if you have to. I was pretty fidgety because I was nervous, so I sat on my hands while I was reading directions so I didn’t accidentally click ahead.
I used Kyle’s study guide for some info and practice questions:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1AvPi5oH_h_13TGajDvflDWkftwXO8LS6
I studied for about 2-4 hours a day for 2-3 weeks leading up to the test, but I started studying aviation/nautical history a couple of months before because I had zero prior knowledge. I used the Barron’s book and some GRE math prep books I had left over from when I took the GRE, which were especially helpful when it came to practice problems and answer explanations. The Barron’s book was helpful for aviation and nautical terms/concepts, history, and practice tests. Good luck to all future test takers!
Math: There were a lot of distance, rate, time questions, rate of work problems, some exponent questions, probability questions about dice and cards, quadratics, and questions about spheres and cylinders. There were also some percentage questions in there and some questions about graphing on an X/Y plane. I’m terrible at math and hadn’t taken any serious math classes since high school, so this is where I spent most of my time.
Reading: A lot of the passages are pretty dry and are meant to bore you. For questions in this section I wasn’t sure about, I wrote down “A B C D” on my scratch paper and eliminated the obviously incorrect answers by striking a line through the letter. The passages in this section ranged from Navy policies to astronomy. My advice would be to read through all of the answers and look for answers that don’t add unnecessary details or information that was not in the passage.
Mechanical: I had questions on levers, Bernoulli’s Principle, F=MA, Newtons, what is the gravitational force on Earth, mechanical advantage, kinetic and potential energy, spinning strings with weights, conductivity and heat transfers, a question about a two-piston engine, and buoyancy. Most of these questions did not require any calculations, although I had a few that did (but they didn’t even require the use of scratch paper.)
UAV: The compass trick helped me a lot- I averaged about 1.5-2 seconds per answer. Definitely practice this section before test day. You can practice as many times as you want before this portion of the test starts, so practice until you feel comfortable. These are the flashcards I used to study:
https://www.proprofs.com/flashcards/story.php?title=_36014
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ANIT: I had multiple questions in this section about basic components/functions of planes, such as ailerons, yaw, and roll. Know the nicknames for various planes and basic nautical terms, such as aft, port, starboard, stern, what another name for a propeller is, etc. I had a question about the first man into space and who broke the speed of sound. I had a lot of questions about parts of ships, such as “What purpose do bulkheads serve?” I studied for this by reading through some of the study sets, watching YouTube videos, and reading through the gouges posted in this thread. I have no prior aviation experience so I had to start from scratch here. Here's the link to a study set I used to prepare:
ASTB Aviation/Nautical Information Test (ANIT) [comprehensive] Flashcards
PBM: With the dichotic listening, I leaned in to the target ear, which helped me focus on which ear I was supposed to be listening to. I didn’t study for this part of the test, so I don’t have any advice on how to prepare for it in advance. Make sure to read all directions and write them down to remember them if you have to. I was pretty fidgety because I was nervous, so I sat on my hands while I was reading directions so I didn’t accidentally click ahead.
I used Kyle’s study guide for some info and practice questions:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1AvPi5oH_h_13TGajDvflDWkftwXO8LS6
I studied for about 2-4 hours a day for 2-3 weeks leading up to the test, but I started studying aviation/nautical history a couple of months before because I had zero prior knowledge. I used the Barron’s book and some GRE math prep books I had left over from when I took the GRE, which were especially helpful when it came to practice problems and answer explanations. The Barron’s book was helpful for aviation and nautical terms/concepts, history, and practice tests. Good luck to all future test takers!