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

[Gillie1985]

Hi Everybody,

I've been browsing these forums ever since I considered joining the Navy and going into aviation, but I only recently registered for an account. I took the ASTB today and now that I am "officially" entering the applicant pool, I thought I'd become more involved here as well.

Some background about me: I was a Biochemistry major (graduated with a B.S. in 2011), worked in a neuroscience lab at Hopkins for a few years and am currently pursuing my MPH (Masters in Public Health) at Hopkins, graduating in May. I recently went through a bit of a personal revolution regarding my career path and decided to look into the Navy; naval aviation, specifically. I have been obsessed with aviation since I was a little kid, but had always considered it more of a hobby than a career option until now (yes, my parents were those parents who were really hoping their kid would end up in medical school).

Anyway, I got my ASTB scores back and was pretty pleased with the results, considering I only had about a week to study for it (did I mention I'm in an accelerated masters program? Ugh.) Scores were as follows..

OAR: 61
AQR: 8
PFAR: 8
FOFAR: 7

I was hoping to do better on the OAR section, but my undergraduate GPA is decent (3.6), so hopefully that will offset any perceived deficit. I was really worried about the PBM section going into the exam; I had read that even those applicants with flight experience struggled with it. In reality, I had a blast doing it. It was challenging adapting to the control sensitivities, but I genuinely enjoyed the problem sets. I should note that I have zero flight experience, but was addicted to Microsoft Flight Simulator for much of my childhood (while my friends were playing N64), so I think that definitely helped.

Anyway, just wanted to share my experience and introduce myself! I'll be more active in the forums from this point on, and it's nice to know I'm in good company here. Have a great week everybody!

Sincerely,
Omar S.

Great job on the score, your GPA is great as well.

 

[THEanimal]

Hey guys,

Talked to my OR yesterday and he told me that NFO/Intel are closed for the rest of the physical year. Anybody else hear about this? He suggested we submit for SNA (my scores are 51 5/5/5 on 1st attempt, going for round 2 once I'm clear on my 90 days) but I feel I'm not competitive for aviator right now. I suggested we go for an AMDO board, but he didn't know about any dates or quals they recently look for. Anybody have insider info on AMDO or experience with selection? I'm former USMC Sergeant (E-5) with an F-18/D maintainer background (MOS 6217 or AD in the Navy)

To be clear, I'm more interested in becoming a Naval Officer and I'm not going to let a closure bar me from achieving that; I'm joining for the U.S. Navy, not for a flight pin

 

[exNavyOffRec]

Hey guys,

Talked to my OR yesterday and he told me that NFO/Intel are closed for the rest of the physical year. Anybody else hear about this? He suggested we submit for SNA (my scores are 51 5/5/5 on 1st attempt, going for round 2 once I'm clear on my 90 days) but I feel I'm not competitive for aviator right now. I suggested we go for an AMDO board, but he didn't know about any dates or quals they recently look for. Anybody have insider info on AMDO or experience with selection? I'm former USMC Sergeant (E-5) with an F-18/D maintainer background (MOS 6217 or AD in the Navy)

To be clear, I'm more interested in becoming a Naval Officer and I'm not going to let a closure bar me from achieving that; I'm joining for the U.S. Navy, not for a flight pin

out of curiosity what NRD are you working with?

 

[THEanimal]

out of curiosity what NRD are you working with?

NRD Seattle, my station is in MT

 

[Gillie1985]

I got the FY2015 board list. From what I see it's rolling board all year for NFO. It's too late to submit for AMDO for this year. My recruiter didn't say anything about it being close. Yet, it's good you are double checking. I take the test next week and I'm trying to get NFO.

 

[THEanimal]

I got the FY2015 board list. From what I see it's rolling board all year for NFO. It's too late to submit for AMDO for this year. My recruiter didn't say anything about it being close. Yet, it's good you are double checking. I take the test next week and I'm trying to get NFO.

Think he means the quota has been hit from the last few boards due to the 60%+ acceptance rate? I talked to him again and he suggested we go for SWO, which is not out of the question for me at all. Yep, AMDO looks like an extreme longshot :/

BTW Good luck on the ASTB

 

[KnightFlight]

Hey guys,

Talked to my OR yesterday and he told me that NFO/Intel are closed for the rest of the physical year. Anybody else hear about this? He suggested we submit for SNA (my scores are 51 5/5/5 on 1st attempt, going for round 2 once I'm clear on my 90 days) but I feel I'm not competitive for aviator right now. I suggested we go for an AMDO board, but he didn't know about any dates or quals they recently look for. Anybody have insider info on AMDO or experience with selection? I'm former USMC Sergeant (E-5) with an F-18/D maintainer background (MOS 6217 or AD in the Navy)

To be clear, I'm more interested in becoming a Naval Officer and I'm not going to let a closure bar me from achieving that; I'm joining for the U.S. Navy, not for a flight pin

January/February 2015 SNA/NFO Board

 

[Gillie1985]

Thanks for the good luck. I was originally going for AMDO, but I heard it's hard to get picked for it unless you are a Warrant Officer or LDO. It's a small percentage getting picked for it out of OCS. I was a prior AM or Aviation Structural Mechanic. As well three years working on Aircrafts in the civilian sector.

 

[lee44]

Congrats to you! I am taking the OAR in February. How was the test? Could you enlighten on what parts to focus on?

Thanks

Lee

Hi Everybody,

I've been browsing these forums ever since I considered joining the Navy and going into aviation, but I only recently registered for an account. I took the ASTB today and now that I am "officially" entering the applicant pool, I thought I'd become more involved here as well.

Some background about me: I was a Biochemistry major (graduated with a B.S. in 2011), worked in a neuroscience lab at Hopkins for a few years and am currently pursuing my MPH (Masters in Public Health) at Hopkins, graduating in May. I recently went through a bit of a personal revolution regarding my career path and decided to look into the Navy; naval aviation, specifically. I have been obsessed with aviation since I was a little kid, but had always considered it more of a hobby than a career option until now (yes, my parents were those parents who were really hoping their kid would end up in medical school).

Anyway, I got my ASTB scores back and was pretty pleased with the results, considering I only had about a week to study for it (did I mention I'm in an accelerated masters program? Ugh.) Scores were as follows..

OAR: 61
AQR: 8
PFAR: 8
FOFAR: 7

I was hoping to do better on the OAR section, but my undergraduate GPA is decent (3.6), so hopefully that will offset any perceived deficit. I was really worried about the PBM section going into the exam; I had read that even those applicants with flight experience struggled with it. In reality, I had a blast doing it. It was challenging adapting to the control sensitivities, but I genuinely enjoyed the problem sets. I should note that I have zero flight experience, but was addicted to Microsoft Flight Simulator for much of my childhood (while my friends were playing N64), so I think that definitely helped.

Anyway, just wanted to share my experience and introduce myself! I'll be more active in the forums from this point on, and it's nice to know I'm in good company here. Have a great week everybody!

Sincerely,
Omar S.

 

[jcasti65]

Thanks a lot mules83! The information on the link helped out a lot!

 

[sherbzie]

Congrats to you! I am taking the OAR in February. How was the test? Could you enlighten on what parts to focus on?

Thanks

Lee

Hey Lee,

I used Peterson's "Master the Military Flight Aptitude Tests" (http://www.nelnetsolutions.com/pdf/free/mastermilitaryflight.pdf) as a basic guide. The important concepts are summarized quite well and it includes a decent amount of practice problems for each portion of the exam. I suggest working though all of them carefully and studying the problem solutions/explanations in detail.

The math and mechanical portions are pretty straightforward. Just get your hands on as many practice problems as possible and focus on understanding the underlying concepts. This is key. The specific problems on the real test will obviously be different than the ones you practice on, but the underlying concepts don't change. The reading portion is extremely dry - not much you can do to prepare for that section, but it is crucial to stay focused during the exam. Read the passages carefully and just pretend that you're genuinely interested in the material.

Also, one final piece of advice from my test experience. I thought I was relatively well prepared, but there were some questions (particularly in the math section) that I either had no idea how to solve or that would have taken a whole lot of time to solve. Don't get hung up on those! Guess and move on! Missing a few questions won't hurt your score significantly, but spending five minutes on a question definitely will.

Good luck, bud! You got this.

 

[Duc'-guy25]

Could someone tell me how fast the dichotic listening elements of the test are read off in the headset? Thanks.

 

[MikeMillerUK]

Could someone tell me how fast the dichotic listening elements of the test are read off in the headset? Thanks.

It's been a while since I took it, so my recollection may be a bit fuzzy, but definitely no faster than one a second or so, maybe every 1.5 seconds. It isn't difficult to keep up with speed-wise, I wouldn't worry about it much.

 

[Duc'-guy25]

Right, thanks a lot. Probably, only getting one shot at doing well on this so need to do it right the first time around.

 

[Gillie1985]

Alright i take my test tomorrow at 0930, besides all the great information and study guides I've seen up here. Is there anything I should really look over tonight before I close out for the studying? As well any test taking tips I should know about? Thanks once again.