Took the new ASTB yesterday (had taken the old one last year) and got 59 7/7/7 (I'm pretty stoked.)
A few tips for the PBMs. On the UAV questions, I figured out a little trick that made them much easier... I'll try to explain. The straight in ones (ie, flying directly N W E or S) should be fairly simple. If the arrow is pointing due South (straight down on the left topographical map), then the parking lot closest to you on the right side diargram is going to be North... Fairly straight forward. The angled ones are a bit trickier though. For those, think of the parking lots as being to the left or right with regard to the point of your UAV's arrow, and not NEW or S. In any possible situation, the target parking lot will only be 1 or 2 "steps" to the left or right of your UAV's arrow. For example, if your UAV arrow (left side map) is looking to the Southeast (ie, flying from the top left corner of the map towards the bottom right corner of the map), then North will be one step left, East will be two steps left, West will be one step right, and South will be two steps right. This pattern will still be true once you look at the right side map. Thus, when you are asked to find "X" parking lot, all you have to do is count the number of "steps," and the direction of those steps on the left side map, and then count the same number of steps on the right side map in the same direction and you will get them correct basically everytime. This is much easier to show than tell, so if that doesn't click for you and you'd like me to show you, feel free to PM me and I'll show you on skype or something.
On the stick and throttle part, READ THE DIRECTIONS CAREFULLY. I just spam-clicked my way through the rest of the section's directions (because I'd taken the test before), and realized when I started the diachotic listening part that I couldn't remember 100% whether the left button was for odds or evens, and had a moment of minor panic. Luckily I guessed right. Don't put yourself in a situation where you have to guess, just read the damn instructions. In that same regard, when you get to the emergency maneuvers section, make sure you take the time to throughouly memorize the possible situations and their respective solutions.
Other than that, don't worry if you feel like a grade-A moron while taking the PBMs. I'm fairly sure anyone watching would have thought I have cerebral paulsy and I managed to get 7's all the way across. It's supposed to be hard... Just try your best and know that no person would actually be good at that test the first time they took it.
PS - the equipment used was Thrustmaster something or other... pretty wonky to be honest.
