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1,001 questions about the ASTB (post your scores & ask your questions here!)

Chris18

Member
Well there lots of problem types in the practice that weren't on my test form, but if I told you not to study those you might have those on your test form. What I can tell you is to focus on these two that were sort of new for me.

[Avg Test Score]
Testtaker gets 70 on 1st test, 80 on 2nd test, 2/3 of 4/5 of his 2nd test for his 3rd test. If the professor gives 5 points extra credit on his 4th test and his average score is 80, what was his score on the 4th test? This is a simplified version of one I did, but with the same elements.

[Dividing Negative Powers]
(4^(-1/4) - 16^(-3/9)) / 2^(-2/10)

Those are just made up numbers so I doubt it solves to a pretty simple fraction, but you get the idea. Other than that don't worry too much about the complications, just understand the how of each problem's solving method.

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The reading part was tough. I think how you do better on this is improving your concentration, so practice timed SAT reading problems, or whatever you got. Learn how to read under stress. It's almost all military themed so I'm sure it favors prior enlisted. My idea of how to do it is to read the text first, because all the answers sound reasonable. Then eliminate the answers. The logic behind the testmaker I found was you are looking not just for what is logically correct, but what is logically correct and directly correlated to the text and is sort of a worthwhile discovery. The answer is kind of the broad purpose of the text, what you should learn from it or would benefit from knowing. You are prioritizing based on logic and relevancy. Also each answer is going to be long, and some have charged biases in it. Coming from the culture of the military would benefit you on this section.

Oh and don't be surprised if people start roaming around in your testing room, I read about it here so I wasn't surprised. I'm starting to think it's a key part of the test taking experience. "Administrator must rummage around the test taker a minimum of [2] times per applicant test." :rolleyes:

WOW that's a lot of great information. Thank you!

And that is super annoying people will be coming in and out of the test room haha. I'm taking the test this Tuesday, so just trying to get as much of a gouge as I can. Feeling good for most of the sections, the math part still makes me nervous because of how it adapts.

Thank you so much for the extensive answers. This really helps a lot!
 

NavyBrat2015

New Member
I took the OAR today and got a 51! I a happy with that considering I didn't have much time to study at all. I would add some information about the test, but most of it has already been said. The reading comprehension is very dull and uses some military terms. Most of the answers are true so, take your time and eliminate what you can. I reread the paragraph 2 times or more (I ran out of time on this section though). The mechanical section was the easiest for me and I believe there were only A. B. and C. answers to choose from. I didn't have any pulley related questions, but most were simple physics principles and could be figured out based on perception. I know that the math portion was not my strong suit either and I probably couldn't be much help on this. I didn't have any log problems, but a lot of distance/rate problems, exponentials, fractions, averages, and Pythagorean theorem was applicable as well. I hope my score is high enough!
 

David Y

New Member
I took the ATSB-E in June. I used a book called Barron's Military Flight Aptitude. This book has every section of every military flight test broken down into great study sections. It also has 2 full practice exams for each Branch's aviation test. It was a great study tool to brush up on math skills and mechanical comprehension skills for the OAR section of the exam. Also a great introductory study tool for all the principles of flight. It has sections of military knowledge as well, specific to which ever branch you are applying to. As far as the dexterity part of the exam - in which you're wearing a headset and have a throttle and joystick and are asked to perform a series of navigational and other tasks - you're really on your own. My scores were as follows.
OAR- 54
Line scores 7, 7, 6

My application was submitted to the pilot/NFO board on 29 Oct. I found out the following week I was selected pilot! Barron's truly helped me, so hopefully it can help others! Best of luck to everyone!
 

LXIX

New Member
Tested today. 72 9/9/9.

Post #2794 in this thread is a goldmine. Read the attachments. Link: http://www.airwarriors.com/communit...our-questions-here.28348/page-187#post-796500
Video explanations for topics that you're unfamiliar with at Khan Academy. Found this much more helpful than books for brand-new topics I didn't know anything about, as well as for brushing up on some of the more difficult math: https://www.khanacademy.org/science/physics/electricity-and-magnetism/v/circuits-part-1

Practice matters more than study in my opinion. This may seem obvious, but don't study what you already know. There's no points for spending x amount of time in study pre-test. It's also dangerous because it "feels" like you're killing it when you're going over stuff you already know. No specific book did the trick for me, just get your hands on as much practice as possible.

When I first began practicing, I missed most of the MCT questions and had never seen most of it before. That required the most actual learning for me. Recommend the site posted above as well as one on simple machines in one of the attachments in the post that was linked. I was already in "test-taking shape" since I'd taken the AFOQT as well recently, but get good at pencil-and-paper math if you're out of practice. In my opinion, if you're here you know how to read, so don't waste too much time there.

If you're psyched out about computer adaptive testing, don't be. I was, but it turned out not to be a big deal. My normal paper strategy is to just skip anything that requires any thinking at all until the end, then my memory will be jogged enough to pick up the rest. The computer basically does that for you by gradually stepping it up.

Hope this helps guys.
 

Samwants2join

New Member
I took the OAR today and scored a 47. Is that competitive enough or should I consider retaking it? I am planning on submitting a package for Supply or SWO. I've read through several posts and I just want a second opinion. Thanks for all the help so far!
 

exNavyOffRec

Well-Known Member
I took the OAR today and scored a 47. Is that competitive enough or should I consider retaking it? I am planning on submitting a package for Supply or SWO. I've read through several posts and I just want a second opinion. Thanks for all the help so far!

there is more to the application and big picture then OAR. The degree and GPA are big parts of the puzzle, a crappy GPA won't be overcome by a great OAR, but a great GPA often will make up for a lower OAR.
 
56 7/8/8

Not exactly stellar, but I certainly consider it a vast improvement over my last scores of 50 5/4/5. Here's what helped me:

Math: Find the set of flash cards mentioned at the top of this page, and study those throughly. Also, don't forget that you can work backwards from the answers provided. Ideally, you should be smart as hell and not need to do that, but if you're like me then sometimes this inelegant solution is all you can do.

Reading: Practice everyday by reading an article or two from a newsmagazine: IBD Editorials (Google it) is a great place to start. During my exam I would actually use the scratch paper-if choices A and D were clearly wrong, then writing that down helped me sort between choices B and C.

Mechanical Comprehensions: Just know basic things like the fact that two objects dropped will hit the earth at the same time and the idea behind Bernoullis principle in pipes and you should do alright. Weird questions I got included what is (a certain single digit) in binary? and a question about control rods in nuclear reactors (make sure you know what happens when you remove them versus inserting them).

UAV: I don't know where (I got this in August and studied it religiously in my 91 day purgatory ASTB period) but on this forum there is a set of flash cards that look exactly like the ones on the ASTB. I used the clock method, ie arrow is pointed northwest and the north box needs to be targeted. Count from the box closet to you on your right (east) until you hit box north (second box you count after the east box.)

I realize that probably does not make any sense, but if you are able to find these flash cards, study by saying "East!" or "North!" in your best APEX software imitation voice (yes you might want to do this in private) and point out the right box with your finger...then see how you did. Do this for a few weeks and get used to quickly flipping the image in your mind to get the box it calls for. I was 47 for 48 UAV problems.


Joystick portion: just do the best you can and realize that if you are feeling pissed, but swinging the joystick all over the screen trying to get the target you are probably fine. Also, if you are like me, you are probably impatient. DO NOT PRESS BUTTONS WHILE WAITING FOR THIS SECTION TO LOAD. I did that inAugust and the test started without me knowing which buttons to press and when. As much as I would like to attribute my huge jump in scores to rigorous study, a lot of it came down to not being a dumba##

I wish everyone the best and would like to extend my thanks for being an invaluable boost to my study efforts.
 
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Kavon

New Member
I took the ATSB-E in June. I used a book called Barron's Military Flight Aptitude. This book has every section of every military flight test broken down into great study sections. It also has 2 full practice exams for each Branch's aviation test. It was a great study tool to brush up on math skills and mechanical comprehension skills for the OAR section of the exam. Also a great introductory study tool for all the principles of flight. It has sections of military knowledge as well, specific to which ever branch you are applying to. As far as the dexterity part of the exam - in which you're wearing a headset and have a throttle and joystick and are asked to perform a series of navigational and other tasks - you're really on your own. My scores were as follows.
OAR- 54
Line scores 7, 7, 6

My application was submitted to the pilot/NFO board on 29 Oct. I found out the following week I was selected pilot! Barron's truly helped me, so hopefully it can help others! Best of luck to everyone!
Congratulations! Our line scores are identical. I hope I get selected SNA as well.
 

Jmacleod

New Member
Hello everyone first off I just want to say I am real appreciative of all this great information on this website you've given me better information then all three of the books I've bought. I am set to take the ASTB-E here shortly and I am struggling with the UAV questions. I just can't come up with a system to be able to identify the correct lot on the questions where the lots are off axis. I have found the flash cards on this website that show the questions and I have found some information on here about strategy on these questions. But I still haven't nailed down a fast system to get the correct lot. I am thinking (hoping) that this is just one of those things where I am just missing the obvious. But if someone could help me I would appreciate it greatly.

Thanks JM
 
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