Hey guys, I've been lurking around here a long time and I figured I would finally post, but first I would like to thank everyone for all the help and information on the ASTB that has been put forth here. I used this site exclusively to find study materials and I would like to give a little overview of what my experience with the ASTB was.
I took the ASTB at NRD Philadelphia on 11/4/14. The entire test including BI-RV took about 3.5 hours.
My score was 63/8/9/8
My primary study materials were:
Peterson's Master the Military Flight Aptitude Tests 8th edition
The Marine gouge practice ASTB
The Marine gouge mechanical comprehension supplement (the one with the hornet on the cover)
The personal study guide posted elsewhere on this website (Read this LAST as it pulls from all the other sources)
I can link to any of these resources if needed, they are all available free online
Math:
The math section was basically what I was expecting. The study guides do a good job preparing you for this, lots of time and distance stuff, square roots, and exponents. As people have said before it's more about understanding the concepts and orders of operation. I had 40 minutes and the test stopped me with 11 minutes remaining.
Reading:
The reading section as many have said before is EXTREMELY dry and technical. Read it a few times and try and match one of the answers EXACTLY to the passage. Leave nothing to chance. If it probably means the same thing as the passage, it is wrong. This one took me almost the full 30 minutes, stopping me with less than a minute remaining.
Mechanical:
This section was a little different than I expected. Lots of Newtonian physics, a few gravity and acceleration problems, very little pulley and mechanical advantage stuff. Nonetheless, all of the information is intro high school physics, however my study materials weren't quite spot on. This one is only 15 minutes and stopped me after 11 or 12.
Aviation and Nautical Info:
This was the furthest departure from what I studied, it is much more in-depth than many of the study guides would lead you to believe. A basic knowledge of VFR flight procedures will definitely help with some of the questions, and KNOW THE COLORS OF FLIGHT DECK CREWS. The section has a fairly broad scope however this section is the only one you could really study for.
Naval Aviation Trait Facet Inventory:
It's uncomfortable, just go with your gut, most of the situations are both bad, I tried to pick the lesser of two evils if neither could at all relate to me.
Performance Based Measurements:
The UAV section gives you unlimited practice time, just hit back when you get to the end of the practice and it will repeat. I found the most effective strategy for this was to look at the map overview and say in my head what the orientation would be from the aircraft's view. So, example: if the UAV is headed northwest and it says to target the south parking lot, from the UAV view, the south parking lot would be LEFT and CLOSE, being that it was on the left and closer to the aircraft. Another example: UAV headed southeast, target the east parking lot. Would be LEFT and FAR. UAV headed south, target the north parking lot: would be CLOSE. Don't wait for the announcement to finish before clicking, the timer starts as soon as you hear the announcer start talking. I was able to get my reactions in the 1.8-2.3 second range using this method.
The dichotic listening part isn't too bad, get into the rhythm of it and tune out your other ear. I found myself leaning in the direction of the ear I was listening to. One axis tracking is horrible, the response is not linear at all, just try and keep it close. Two axis is kind of weird with the inverted Y axis. It helped me to picture it in 3 dimensions even though I couldn't control the Z axis. Thankfully this one is much more responsive. Both together, just try and track both in your peripheral vision and keep them close. I found myself getting reversed on the Y axis on the stick occasionally because it is reversed from the throttle. When they threw in the dichotic listening I actually felt like I did a bit better, listening for the numbers as it helped me "zone in". Emergency procedures, I wrote the procedures down in big capital letters right in front of me. When a warning comes up, I devoted more attention to correcting it quickly but I still at least tried to track the targets. Note that the fuel and power gauges will snap to center after every procedure, i.e. the knob to control it does not have a memory. Just flick the wheel until the needle swings in the direction you want it to go.
Biographic Inventory with Response Verification:
This is tedious, it's 110 questions, and if you answer yes to anything, it will ask you for further detail. Just chug through it and answer to the best of your ability.
