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

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srp_4737

Well-Known Member
cmdrcupcake said:
Hello guys, I'm new here and taking the ATSB in a week to apply for SNA. I discovered this place after my recruiter forwarded me this thread. I've been studying for most of the summer using a TestPrepBooks ASTB guide, which covers a lot of subject matter but according to some of the prep on this thread missed a lot of things. I've been going back through the thread and from what I understand I should ignore most parts and study math as much as I can. I love writing and reading as a hobby so I feel confident about the reading parts, and I understand the mechanical concepts well but the formulas and math are much more difficult.

For reference I'm an Aviation Managment/Science student with a 2.9 GPA, good physical fitness and volunteer/extracurricular work, and LOR from a former Navy Aviation O-6, my boss at the airport, and if I play my cards right maybe a congressman. I have an aviation related job where I work a management position including training and supervision on the flight-line, and I would probably work in the airlines if I didn't have an interest in the military.

I've been studying for the ASTB this whole summer, but only recently when I looked at this thread did I realize that I haven't been studying the right parts, or as nearly as hard as I should be. The math in a lot of the study guides I've found in the thread is a bit far above my level, and I'm intimidated by the math section since everyone claims it as their hardest challenge as I was a lazy student in college algebra (which I took three years ago and hardly remember).

My question is simple. How concerned about an average math grade should I be in relation to the rest of my profile, and how similar are the questions in the study guides here to the ones many of you guys see on the actual test? As I read this thread I find my knowledge growing in proportion to my anxiety. Is it as bad as everyone claims? Should I call my recruiter and reschedule while I have the chance?
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I struggled in the "pure" math classes during my engineering program in college (calc, algebra, diff eq, ect)... the math is simple stuff man, you will be fine. If you're motivated enough to study all summer you will do better than you think. The most complicated the math I got was logarithm rules. Just look them up and memorize them. Everything else is algebra, and questions that can be figured out logically. I studied for 9 days before I took the ASTB. Relax, study the right things (this site is a great resource), and get a good night sleep the night before. Hope this helps!
 
C

cmdrcupcake

New Member
srp_4737 said:
I struggled in the "pure" math classes during my engineering program in college (calc, algebra, diff eq, ect)... the math is simple stuff man, you will be fine. If you're motivated enough to study all summer you will do better than you think. The most complicated the math I got was logarithm rules. Just look them up and memorize them. Everything else is algebra, and questions that can be figured out logically. I studied for 9 days before I took the ASTB. Relax, study the right things (this site is a great resource), and get a good night sleep the night before. Hope this helps!
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Thanks srp, although it wasn't so much I was motivated to study all summer, but I've been doing it off and on a few hours a week since the start of summer. I will look into the simple stuff though. That really helps, thank you.
 
E

exNavyOffRec

Well-Known Member
cmdrcupcake said:
Hello guys, I'm new here and taking the ATSB in a week to apply for SNA. I discovered this place after my recruiter forwarded me this thread. I've been studying for most of the summer using a TestPrepBooks ASTB guide, which covers a lot of subject matter but according to some of the prep on this thread missed a lot of things. I've been going back through the thread and from what I understand I should ignore most parts and study math as much as I can. I love writing and reading as a hobby so I feel confident about the reading parts, and I understand the mechanical concepts well but the formulas and math are much more difficult.

For reference I'm an Aviation Managment/Science student with a 2.9 GPA, good physical fitness and volunteer/extracurricular work, and LOR from a former Navy Aviation O-6, my boss at the airport, and if I play my cards right maybe a congressman. I have an aviation related job where I work a management position including training and supervision on the flight-line, and I would probably work in the airlines if I didn't have an interest in the military.

I've been studying for the ASTB this whole summer, but only recently when I looked at this thread did I realize that I haven't been studying the right parts, or as nearly as hard as I should be. The math in a lot of the study guides I've found in the thread is a bit far above my level, and I'm intimidated by the math section since everyone claims it as their hardest challenge as I was a lazy student in college algebra (which I took three years ago and hardly remember).

My question is simple. How concerned about an average math grade should I be in relation to the rest of my profile, and how similar are the questions in the study guides here to the ones many of you guys see on the actual test? As I read this thread I find my knowledge growing in proportion to my anxiety. Is it as bad as everyone claims? Should I call my recruiter and reschedule while I have the chance?
Click to expand...
be concerned about your ASTB, LOR's don't really matter that much for SNA/SNFO
 
C

cmdrcupcake

New Member
NavyOffRec said:
be concerned about your ASTB, LOR's don't really matter that much for SNA/SNFO
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Thank you NavyOffRec. I'm not trying to say that I'm not concerned about my ASTB, far from it in fact. I'm just trying to see how my odds will look if I can't get a competitive score, or even just get an average score.
 
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exNavyOffRec

Well-Known Member
cmdrcupcake said:
Thank you NavyOffRec. I'm not trying to say that I'm not concerned about my ASTB, far from it in fact. I'm just trying to see how my odds will look if I can't get a competitive score, or even just get an average score.
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odds with a bad ASTB not good, I have seen guys with letters from flag officers and congressmen/senators get a N that had minimum scores and guys with a basic application and fantastic scores picked up.
 
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NCCGT

Well-Known Member
Hi All,

Just spoke with my OR and had a couple questions. The first is whether others who have applied for CW/Intel think I should retake the OAR. Took it first time and got a 52. A little below that 55+ line people seem to be targeting for IWC application. Has anybody else been around that score and retaken the test only to score lower?

As a former enlisted Crypto with solid test scores and evals I'm wondering if risking my 52 is worth it. Having the non-STEM and low undergrad (boosted by solid masters degree GPAs) are the biggest factors making me consider retaking it. Also, he said interviews/appraisals from officers are not needed for prior service applicants. I didn't see anything one way or the other in the PAs, but obviously don't want to hurt my package if getting them will improve my package. Thoughts?

Below is my profile for reference:

Prior Enlisted (CTI2, honorable discharge July 2015, 5 years 10 months of service)
Evals: EP or MP
PRT Scores: Excellent and above
Last DLPT 2+/2+
Age: 32
Education:
International MBA, University of South Carolina, 3.7 GPA (Graduate Certificate in Data Analytics)
MS Sports Administration, AMU, 4.0 GPA
BS Sport Science, University of Kansas, 2.7 GPA
AA Russian Language, DLI, 3.5 GPA
OAR 52
ASVAB 93
LORs: (Hopefully) Vice Admiral (CW) along with an O6/O5 and prior intel colleagues from time as CTI
 
E

exNavyOffRec

Well-Known Member
NCCGT said:
Hi All,

Just spoke with my OR and had a couple questions. The first is whether others who have applied for CW/Intel think I should retake the OAR. Took it first time and got a 52. A little below that 55+ line people seem to be targeting for IWC application. Has anybody else been around that score and retaken the test only to score lower?

As a former enlisted Crypto with solid test scores and evals I'm wondering if risking my 52 is worth it. Having the non-STEM and low undergrad (boosted by solid masters degree GPAs) are the biggest factors making me consider retaking it. Also, he said interviews/appraisals from officers are not needed for prior service applicants. I didn't see anything one way or the other in the PAs, but obviously don't want to hurt my package if getting them will improve my package. Thoughts?

Below is my profile for reference:

Prior Enlisted (CTI2, honorable discharge July 2015, 5 years 10 months of service)
Evals: EP or MP
PRT Scores: Excellent and above
Last DLPT 2+/2+
Age: 32
Education:
International MBA, University of South Carolina, 3.7 GPA (Graduate Certificate in Data Analytics)
MS Sports Administration, AMU, 4.0 GPA
BS Sport Science, University of Kansas, 2.7 GPA
AA Russian Language, DLI, 3.5 GPA
OAR 52
ASVAB 93
LORs: (Hopefully) Vice Admiral (CW) along with an O6/O5 and prior intel colleagues from time as CTI
Click to expand...

The OAR is just a check in the box, it carries very little weight if even looked at for some boards.

Being in the field will help, but your GPA for your UG will hurt, non-tech will hurt as well, Intel takes more non-tech candidates then CW or IP does so CW is a longshot.

You should look at SWO as well.
 
N

NCCGT

Well-Known Member
NavyOffRec said:
The OAR is just a check in the box, it carries very little weight if even looked at for some boards.

Being in the field will help, but your GPA for your UG will hurt, non-tech will hurt as well, Intel takes more non-tech candidates then CW or IP does so CW is a longshot.

You should look at SWO as well.
Click to expand...

I appreciate the feedback, pretty in line with what I was thinking. So it sounds like unless I get the OAR up to a 60+ then it's not really worth the risk? Would you suggest putting Intel as my #1 and CW as my #2? I was looking at putting SWO-Intel or CW in there as well at #3 for the first go around.

I do have a Graduate Certificate in Data Analytics that I did as part of my MBA. Classes included Big Data, Data Mining, Data Resource Management, Quantitative Methods and Advanced Quantitative Methods. GPA for those classes was approximately 3.8-3.9. Any idea if a Graduate Tech Certificate would be perceived as a solid application booster due to lack of a STEM degree?
 
E

exNavyOffRec

Well-Known Member
NCCGT said:
I appreciate the feedback, pretty in line with what I was thinking. So it sounds like unless I get the OAR up to a 60+ then it's not really worth the risk? Would you suggest putting Intel as my #1 and CW as my #2? I was looking at putting SWO-Intel or CW in there as well at #3 for the first go around.

I do have a Graduate Certificate in Data Analytics that I did as part of my MBA. Classes included Big Data, Data Mining, Data Resource Management, Quantitative Methods and Advanced Quantitative Methods. GPA for those classes was approximately 3.8-3.9. Any idea if a Graduate Tech Certificate would be perceived as a solid application booster due to lack of a STEM degree?
Click to expand...

It isn't worth redoing the OAR as it won't do anything to improve your application.

SWO-Intel is on the books but I don't believe used anymore. The SWO options are few and the requirements are the same, best bet is straight SWO.
 
P

PhlyHigh94

Well-Known Member
OperationChungus said:
This video will help you out so much. After you've watched the video, practice with these cards or the other flashcards every night until your retest and you'll ace it. Accuracy and speed are key.

https://www.proprofs.com/flashcards/memorizeshow.php?title=astb-uav-portion
https://www.proprofs.com/flashcards/memorizeshow.php?title=_36014

Click to expand...

This is not completely accurate since the real UAV portion boxes will be slightly misplaced and you will get 2-3 wrong until you figure out. However, this is a very good tutorial to give you an idea on how to work it.
 
OperationChungus

OperationChungus

Well-Known Member
pilot
PhlyHigh94 said:
This is not completely accurate since the real UAV portion boxes will be slightly misplaced and you will get 2-3 wrong until you figure out. However, this is a very good tutorial to give you an idea on how to work it.
Click to expand...

What do you mean slightly misplaced? If you know how to do the compass trick and practice it enough, you won't get a single wrong and you'll be able to get the answer super fast.
 
P

PhlyHigh94

Well-Known Member
OperationChungus said:
What do you mean slightly misplaced? If you know how to do the compass trick and practice it enough, you won't get a single wrong and you'll be able to get the answer super fast.
Click to expand...
- True but you need to draw the compass slightly skewed so it aligns perfectly with the boxes on the real UAV portion. I got 2 wrong because of that and once I adjusted for that slight angle, I didn’t miss any and averaged 3 seconds which is long as hell, honestly. I got a stupid 6 on the FOFAR for those 2 mistakes so anyone prepping for the ASTB please make sure you really get this pegged and practice, practice, practice.
 
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