ASTB-E/APEX 4 Experience -DEC 2013

[MikeMillerUK]

So, alot of you, primarily the previous few individuals to respond, are showing quite high test scores. Are these after your 1st attempt? 2nd? 3rd? How many hours of study? I'm just trying to compare what the masses are doing to what I'm doing - although I know we all are so different from one another.

Oh, and I just completed the BI-RV and it pretty much made me feel as if I didn't do a thing in high school or college that is worth while towards Naval Aviation or anything similar. I know it has no effect on the test results, but still, worries me a bit in regards to the Board.

Mine was first attempt, and with a couple days of studying, maybe an hour or so each day. I'm lucky, I tend to do well on standardized tests (and apparently adaptive ones) so I didn't really overdo it with studying. That's just me, though, the more I study, the more nervous I get about things I might not know. As far as being worried about the board members, I'm almost 100% positive they are never going to see the results of the BI-RV section, I would seriously not worry about anything in that section... I'm pretty sure they just use it as a survey tool.

 

[Private Pyle]

Mine was first attempt, and with a couple days of studying, maybe an hour or so each day.

First attempt, that is absolutely incredible. Congratulations to you!

I'm nervous, of course, because this is my dream, but I'm definitely not trying to pysch myself out or over prepare. My recruiter suggested 2 weeks of preparation, and then take it. I've been studying daily for about 9 days or so...maybe 2 hours a day. I'm feeling confident, however, the "what to expect" aspect of taking the test the first time is still nerveracking. Regardless, we will know tomorrow around 4pm!

Side note, I just looked at the PDF provided a few posts above regarding spacial orientation with the parking lots/building - easiest thing ever.

 

[CGrissom15]

Mine was first attempt also.. i spent a longer time studying though. I don't come from a military or aviation background so I had a lot of info to cram into my head. I studied probably a month, a few hours a day. My math was a bit rusty, I graduated August of 2012 so it had been a while - that was my main focal point. The aviation stuff I soaked up no problem, there was just a lot of it to learn.

 

[Duc'-guy25]

Things the study guide didn't cover that you might want to brush up on...Logarithmic properties and matrices...

 

[Tasha]

So, alot of you, primarily the previous few individuals to respond, are showing quite high test scores. Are these after your 1st attempt? 2nd? 3rd? How many hours of study? I'm just trying to compare what the masses are doing to what I'm doing - although I know we all are so different from one another.

Oh, and I just completed the BI-RV and it pretty much made me feel as if I didn't do a thing in high school or college that is worth while towards Naval Aviation or anything similar. I know it has no effect on the test results, but still, worries me a bit in regards to the Board.

Mine was 2nd attempt
I studied hard and serious about one month out. Then the last two weeks. It was at least 1.5 hours per section. Final week was test question after test question. Practice test after practice test. I made sure I knew the math to a T. And for mechanical study the theories. I hardly had any problem based questions. A few on a wrench as well lol

 

[Adgator]

Long time lurker, first time poster. Just wanted to share my .02 about the OAR I just took a few hours ago.

Math - Gouges and study guides on here were extremely helpful. Nothing that I didn't see here that I didn't expect. Adaptive test only gave me about 12-14 questions, can't remember the exact number. Was hoping for some logs and matrices, but got hit with a real stunner... Binary Code. While it was only one question, it knocked me for a loop and lost some quality time. Gave you the number for 2 in base 2, and explained it less than sufficiently. The question then asked how to represent an addition of two numbers in Base 4. Apologies if I didn't explain that completely clear, its still boggling my mind. Other than that, multi-dice probabilities, distance, etc.

Reading - Like most have said on here, very heavy on Naval terminology/manual interpretation. Occasional butterfly/bird/non-Naval type stimulus. Nothing that I didn't see on the ASTB example documents.

Mechanical - Most likely bombed. No questions on string tension, pulley's, pendulums, fulcrums. Very electrical based, lots of questions regarding amperage/voltage/ohms. I had practiced quite well on this section, and had known most of the information from common sense. Could not get me by on this test. Disappointed to say the least with this section.

Overall - OAR of 51. Did not take the remaining sections, as I am past the age for aviation. Pretty confident I did beyond my expectations for Math and Reading, but should have looked more into the Mechanical specifically electrical. With work, studied about an hour to 1.5. May re-test in 90 days to improve on mechanical.

The information that I have found in this forum was invaluable for mustering up the courage to take the exam, let alone the information on the test. Thank you for all the help!

 

[hugeyetti]

Hey all I just took the ASTB and wanted to share some thoughts on it.

Overall I got a 52 6/7/6

This was after about a week of heavy studying and being out of college for about a year now it took awhile for everything to start clicking in my head again but it happened eventually. I was super nervous about this because I did not want to retake the test, so the stress of it kind of helped me study I guess.

math - This portion seemed abou average what people have posted on here about, I did not get any logs or matrix problems (probably means I bombed this section). But it was just a lot of basic algebra as I recall, simplifying and such. There was some more difficult problems, but just working them out step by step makes it easy. What other people have posted is spot on.

reading - This part like said before was way harder than I expected. I actually ran out of time before it ended, so I do not know if that made my score really bad on this part and whatnot. But I would say studying the books and practice problems is about the only way to study for this. I could see if your a heavy reader that could help too.

mechanical - This part I found to be WAY easier than expected. I think I only had to do like 2 or 3 calculations, it was mostly all theory. I think I had only 1 pulley question too. I found that the flash cards someone posted earlier were absolutely spot on for this.

knowledge - I am an aviation major, so studying up on that was easy, but the history part of it was a little more challenging. I studying those flash cards that someone posted earlier as well for the history and what the parts of a ship are, and that was pretty much it. I think I did well on this portion, it went by very smoothly and quickly.

uav/joystick - Ok the UAV part was so easy... BUT I MISSED 3 of them for some reason.... just thinking too fast I guess. Felt very stupid after that was done, but overall a more simple part, use the practice part as much as you want. I got down to about 1.5 sec - 2 sec for all of them and then proceeded. The listening part was fairly easy too, just one tip... Make sure you hear what ear it is, then only listen to that ear. I didnt and completely did this part wrong.... like completely lol.... The throttle and joystick part was friggen hard too, I knew it would be hard, but not that hard... I focused on the plane I was tracking and used my peripherals to watch the throttle plane.

overall - I am not thrilled about these test scores... I feel like a 52 is so weak, and I could have done way better, but everyone there told me it was a solid score and that I should not need to retake it. So I guess I am going to roll with it and see where it gets me! Good luck to all people taking it in the future.

 

[MyUserName8]

Hey all I just took the ASTB and wanted to share some thoughts on it.

Overall I got a 52 6/7/6

This was after about a week of heavy studying and being out of college for about a year now it took awhile for everything to start clicking in my head again but it happened eventually. I was super nervous about this because I did not want to retake the test, so the stress of it kind of helped me study I guess.

math - This portion seemed abou average what people have posted on here about, I did not get any logs or matrix problems (probably means I bombed this section). But it was just a lot of basic algebra as I recall, simplifying and such. There was some more difficult problems, but just working them out step by step makes it easy. What other people have posted is spot on.

reading - This part like said before was way harder than I expected. I actually ran out of time before it ended, so I do not know if that made my score really bad on this part and whatnot. But I would say studying the books and practice problems is about the only way to study for this. I could see if your a heavy reader that could help too.

mechanical - This part I found to be WAY easier than expected. I think I only had to do like 2 or 3 calculations, it was mostly all theory. I think I had only 1 pulley question too. I found that the flash cards someone posted earlier were absolutely spot on for this.

knowledge - I am an aviation major, so studying up on that was easy, but the history part of it was a little more challenging. I studying those flash cards that someone posted earlier as well for the history and what the parts of a ship are, and that was pretty much it. I think I did well on this portion, it went by very smoothly and quickly.

uav/joystick - Ok the UAV part was so easy... BUT I MISSED 3 of them for some reason.... just thinking too fast I guess. Felt very stupid after that was done, but overall a more simple part, use the practice part as much as you want. I got down to about 1.5 sec - 2 sec for all of them and then proceeded. The listening part was fairly easy too, just one tip... Make sure you hear what ear it is, then only listen to that ear. I didnt and completely did this part wrong.... like completely lol.... The throttle and joystick part was friggen hard too, I knew it would be hard, but not that hard... I focused on the plane I was tracking and used my peripherals to watch the throttle plane.

overall - I am not thrilled about these test scores... I feel like a 52 is so weak, and I could have done way better, but everyone there told me it was a solid score and that I should not need to retake it. So I guess I am going to roll with it and see where it gets me! Good luck to all people taking it in the future.

hey hugeyetti, any possible way you can point to the flash cards you used for the mechanical section? That's one of the parts I'm most worried about. thank you.

 

[milfordguy]

hey hugeyetti, any possible way you can point to the flash cards you used for the mechanical section? That's one of the parts I'm most worried about. thank you.

Here is a link to some flash cards that I found on this forum. I'm not sure that these are the exact ones he is referring to, but I'm sure they will be helpful regardless:

http://www.proprofs.com/flashcards/search.php?search=astb

 

[Duc'-guy25]

Be careful with all the flashcards on proprof... I used them for a bit but noticed a number of them were incorrect. Overall it was a good tool, but don't assume they are correct, if you doubt one then go look it up.

 

[hugeyetti]

Yo! Yea I went on proprofs. You can go on the website and type in "astb" and a bunch of flashcard links will pop up. And yes what Duc said, some are off, just work them out and then find different problems that are close and you probably did it right. There are also cards for history and such as well. Good luck!

 

[milfordguy]

Hey everyone, took the exam today and scored a 51 6/7/6

Thanks for all the resources everyone provided including links to websites, and PDFs.

The only think I would like to add is something I don't remember reading anywhere (I've read this thread all the way through more than once), but forgive me if I just overlooked it.

On the performance based section, it was my understanding that you would be given a target ear once ie: listen to your right ear, ignore the left ear, and that would remain your target ear for the entire exercise. I was caught off guard today when about 1/3rd of the way through the dichotic listening portion I heard "Left" in my left ear.

I was thrown for a loop, and was unsure whether I should switch target ears or not. I did after a short 5-6 second period in which I continued to listen to my right ear and hit the corresponding trigger (my test was even number right trigger, odd numbers left clutch button). I'm not sure if this was already covered, but I figured I would give everyone the heads up just so they weren't caught off guard.

Thanks,
Reggie

 

[futurewingz]

Hello everyone, I took the ASTB-E for the first time today and I could not have done how I did without all of the dialogue and assistance on this forum.

I am a 23 yr. old male (BA English Writing, Lit and Linguistics minors (3.2 GPA)), I have not had a math class or physics class in 3 or 4 years.

I will not go into the specifics of the test because I feel it has been solidly covered in this forum. The main advice I have for anyone taking the test is to put in the hours and to convince yourself mentally that if this is something you want, you will put in the work to obtain it. I studied every day for two weeks. I turned off the phone, I turned off the music and just put in focus. During the Practical section I would say the most important thing you can do is intently focus on your senses. Really dial yourself into listening and doing your best with your touch and you will do just that.

I felt confident that the Navy had designed a test to find the type of person that they are looking for to fly their beautiful planes and helos. I left feeling that if I didn't do well enough for them, than maybe my roll in supporting our nation was through other means. I think that this is all that you can do; prepare yourself for a unique opportunity in a way where you have worked as hard on your end as you can -- don't allow yourself to get up from the test thinking you were unprepared. Also, the Spacial section is going to fire at you quick; be sure that if you slip and get one wrong you refocus and don't miss a handful in a row because you are thrown off.


I am sorry if this was an ambiguous post or came off rude in any way, shape or form. I am trying to provide some insight that is different than all of the previous specific posts. If you have any questions you can PM me and I would be more than willing to help as I can.

Studied:
Every link on here
Barron's Military Flight Aptitude tests
Downloaded the Quizlet app and listened to the ASTB-E flashcards in the gym, in my car, in my sleep
Worked out


OAR 54 6/7/6

I am going for Pilot so I am happy with those numbers.

Thank you all for your help and I am sorry if this post wasn't as informative as others --- every testing situation will be unique.

J.

 

[milfordguy]

Almost identical scores on the same day, nice work. Just one question for you, what are the ASTB-E flashcards that you could listen to? I contemplated trying to record some of the information in order to play it back and try to absorb some of the information through audio.

Thanks,
Reggie

Hello everyone, I took the ASTB-E for the first time today and I could not have done how I did without all of the dialogue and assistance on this forum.

I am a 23 yr. old male (BA English Writing, Lit and Linguistics minors (3.2 GPA)), I have not had a math class or physics class in 3 or 4 years.

I will not go into the specifics of the test because I feel it has been solidly covered in this forum. The main advice I have for anyone taking the test is to put in the hours and to convince yourself mentally that if this is something you want, you will put in the work to obtain it. I studied every day for two weeks. I turned off the phone, I turned off the music and just put in focus. During the Practical section I would say the most important thing you can do is intently focus on your senses. Really dial yourself into listening and doing your best with your touch and you will do just that.

I felt confident that the Navy had designed a test to find the type of person that they are looking for to fly their beautiful planes and helos. I left feeling that if I didn't do well enough for them, than maybe my roll in supporting our nation was through other means. I think that this is all that you can do; prepare yourself for a unique opportunity in a way where you have worked as hard on your end as you can -- don't allow yourself to get up from the test thinking you were unprepared. Also, the Spacial section is going to fire at you quick; be sure that if you slip and get one wrong you refocus and don't miss a handful in a row because you are thrown off.


I am sorry if this was an ambiguous post or came off rude in any way, shape or form. I am trying to provide some insight that is different than all of the previous specific posts. If you have any questions you can PM me and I would be more than willing to help as I can.

Studied:
Every link on here
Barron's Military Flight Aptitude tests
Downloaded the Quizlet app and listened to the ASTB-E flashcards in the gym, in my car, in my sleep
Worked out


OAR 54 6/7/6

I am going for Pilot so I am happy with those numbers.

Thank you all for your help and I am sorry if this post wasn't as informative as others --- every testing situation will be unique.

J.

 

[futurewingz]

Almost identical scores on the same day, nice work. Just one question for you, what are the ASTB-E flashcards that you could listen to? I contemplated trying to record some of the information in order to play it back and try to absorb some of the information through audio.

Thanks,
Reggie

Hey Reggie! Congratulations on the scores, are you considering re-taking it?

It is an App called 'Quizlet.' You can search for it in the App Store and then, once downloaded, just search ASTB-E in the interface of the Application. There will be a volume button and a 'play' button in the top right corner, press both and it will continuously read them to you.

Best of luck, maybe we will see each other somewhere down the line.

Joseph