ASTB - Prep/Study Guide feedback

[d.heye]

I eventually was able to figure it out. You have to download the link instead of trying to open it up from the website. Now my ASTB studying can resume!

 

[zarevich]

Found this website that shows AOR statistic scores and a little ASTB Practice test.
http://www.med.navy.mil/sites/nmotc/nami/Documents/ASTB_SampleQuestions JUL 2011.pdf

 

[JDtoSupply]

Recently took the OAR and scored a 55, I used these study items:

Barron's ASTB Prep: 4/5, good for verbal/mechanical, but the math is not like this book anymore
atrickpay's guide: 4/5, condensed version of Barron's
Military Aptitude Tests for Dummies: 3/5, decent examples, but not enough explanation of why if you need to know
ARCO GRE/GMAT math (2005): 5/5, covers everything you need to know about the math section. The math is about 3x harder in the book than on the test, but I preferred it this way. Pay special attention to problems relating to: Work word problems (i.e. you complete project in X hours, friend completes in Y hours, how long to complete if you work together?); basic geometry

 

[mich313]

Took the test this morning and scored a 56 OAR. Used the following study guides:

-Arco Book
-Peterson Book
-Officer Candidate Tests for Dummies (useful if you need refresher course in math and terminology; practice tests not helpful, questions inaccurate for what's on the test)
-http://www.proprofs.com/flashcards/search.php?page=1&search=astb
-Air Warriors website gouge
-Multiple .pdf study guides floating around the forum

 

[ChristianM]

I don't understand how you guys get such good scores on the Hands on stick and throttle portion of the test. I'm a private pilot with around 150 hours of flight time and I got 6/5/6/63 my first attempt.

 

[thorp337]

I recently took the ASTB this past Monday with another candidate, who tested before me. She did better than me, but I scored halfway decently for my first time. I was hoping to for a 4/6/6 but managed to scrape with a 3/5/4 and OAR of 42. My OAR was pretty low considering I missed quite a few math problems from frustration and it capped me, with around 8 mins left. I will say though, the Mechanical comprehension was COMPLETELY different than the books tell you. Between the other candidate and I, we had every book for the ASTB on the market, and it was almost a waste. The reading was straight forward, just heavily military oriented, still basic "find the answer hidden in the paragraph" questions. The Aviation and Nautical Information section really threw me for a loop because it was again, totally different than what I had previously studied. And lastly, my first time with the HOTAS throttle and joystick had me yelling like I was spawn dying in COD. Let me explain...

Math - Dont rush through it like I did. I missed simple questions and It was my own fault. I did see some basic algebra, geometry, roots, exponents, etc. Like i said, I didnt get very far because it cut me off due to nervousness and trying to take it too fast. Just remember its an unlimited amount of questions from a bank that pulls based off of your answers (right to wrong).

Reading - straight forward section. Dense military paragraphs for most, other random ones. Just play the game and find the right answer. Not to vague, not to specific, just right.

Mechanical Comp. - This really confused me: I studied 3 months teaching myself physics, forces, weight distribution, gears, pulleys, etc., and not a damn question was on any of it. My test was about 98% heat/temperature, electricity and indirect force questions of aircrafts. I barely studied electricity (besides the basics) and it screwed me. And Im not talking like "What does this symbol mean? A. a diode", it was some bizaare crap that you would really have to know had you studied electricity. I encountered 1 pulley question and 1 fulcrum weight-distribution question and about 2 other weight questions. Everything else was what I mentioned. Do yourself a favor and make sure you heavily study ALL of it(where ever you can find) and not just the 1 page your book has on electricity.

Aviation/Nautical Info. - Again, 1 or 2 questions about the actual layout of a ship or plane, 1 question on force and I recall a question on where the flaps were located. EVERYTHING else was on history. EVERYTHING. I specifically remember reading "In what war did the EA-6B make its first appearance to blah blah blah?" I was like WTF HOW COULD ANYONE KNOW THIS!?! Of course, if you had heavily studied history, then perhaps you would. My book did not cover much, mostly the technical side of how a plane works, the forces, etc. (And a ship of course, with nautical terminology). It was at that point I started to yell at the screen. Also by this point I was pissed because I knew my applied knowledge was basically useless and I wasn't going to pass.

HOTAS - So i tried my luck on this joyride. Let me tell ya, if you've never tried to use these devices, please practice. It will throw you off so bad if you aren't prepared. I know there is really no way to prepare for it, just try to mentally. You could use Microsoft Flight Sim but the test portion of the ASTB is just a bit absurd. You basically start off learning how the controls work in practice mode, then you do the real thing. Think of Galaga where you have a little ship going up and down vertically and you use the throttle to follow it. Easy, right? Wrong. The throttle is hyper sensitive, so you barely touch it and it goes 100 mph. Trying to follow that little plane was quite fun. It goes up and down at different speeds, so it can be frustrating. Secondly, you have to do this again, but with the joystick which is inverted only up and down. Now, I knew it was inverted, just like a plane, but for some reason, my mind would think all of it is inverted so of course then started more yelling when Im chasing the little plane flying around everywhere and my target is stuck in the upper left corner when I've got it pulled that way thinking its going opposite. This little exercise is like pin the tail on the slow-then-fast-then-slow donkey. Eventually you get to do them together which is where I had my examiner almost crying laughing because I was yelling "THIS SHIT IS NOTHING LIKE ACTUAL FLYING!!!!!" Excuse the language but I was quite mad. I've flow a Cessna a few times and it is not that difficult. But whatever. You also will encounter a dichotic listening exercise, which is the easiest portion of the test, I thought. It will tell you which ear to listen to, and then tap a button based on even and odd numbers. If it says RIGHT then listen to your right ear, and viceaversa. But when all the chaos comes together, hold on to your britches because you're in for a ride. You get to press buttons while listening, follow mr. vertical plane and then follow mr. chaos plane as it flies at different speeds bouncing around like a pong ball on crack. I applaud those of you who get a 6 and above on that section. I got a 5 for my first time and will probably score higher the next time i take it, but damn, that was some of the most ridiculous stuff I've ever done to test my aptitude to fly a plane.

My advice: Study extra hard on the portions you're not sure about. The UAV section is simple, just practice til you get it all right, or memorize the degree headings. I got most of them right minus a few when i confused the tip of the yellow wedge for opposite directions. Don't do that. It tells you exactly how to answer the different questions and headings and its not that hard. Unlimited tries for practice, you'll get it. Anyways, just be prepared for anything and everything on this test. I have no background in aviation besides the things I've taught myself, learned over the past year and the lessons I've taken for flying. I'm confident Ill test much better the second time around, and hopefully you find this humorous and helpful to when you take the exam. Good luck!

J. Thorp

 

[speedroller]

If anyone was struggling with the specific aircraft roles on the aviation knowledge portion, I found this helpful link on Naval Aviation. It has a lot of great info. Included my answer to the question, that I know I got wrong, on Navy dive-bombers.


http://www.airspacemag.com/military-aviation/100-years-of-naval-aviation-78995366/?page=1

 

[Lauren Valdez]

Apparently I'm stupid, I can't get any of the files for the links on the study guides to open up. Is it just me or am I doing it wrong?

 

[0311Grunt]

ASTB: My Gouge

First things first, DO NOT purchase the Cliffs book. The consensus on Airwarriors is that it may actually hurt your score. It is full of errors and is very different from the actual ASTB.

You will get some benefit from the Arco book, however. You can also get it online for free (link below). I printed the ASTB sections on my school's tab.

The member mmx1 on Airwarriors has already made a must-see page that helped me out big time: www.columbia.edu/~mmx1/astb/ This should be where you start your studying.

Here are some additional tips for each section.

Math Skills Test
The Arco book and the marine gouge, especially, on mmx1’s page will show you exactly what types of problems you will need to study. However, these two sources do not give a good explanation of how to do the problems.

For that, you will need this book: http://www.amazon.com/ARCO-GMAT-Math-Review-Gmat/dp/0768918316 The GRE/GMAT math review covers EVERY type of problem on the ASTB and shows you the simplest way to do them. Look at the marine gouge and the other Arco book to first see what type of math problems you need to study. Then go through this book and highlight the problems that you need to do. After that, here is the key: treat math like any other section and study really hard for it; it is a fallacy that you cannot study for math and improve. Practice the problems a million times until you can do them in your sleep. Believe me, I am not that good at math and I felt perfectly at ease on the section because I studied really hard using this book.

Reading Skills Test
The Arco’s practice problems will do the trick. They are just like the real ASTB.

The key thing is to remember this: toss any previous knowledge aside and answer the question based ONLY on the information given in the passage.

Also, there is no sentence completion. There is only reading comprehension.

Mechanical Comprehension Test
The marine gouge and the mechanical gouge from mmx1’s page are the best things out there, but even they are not that helpful because a lot of this section is just common sense.

You can look over the sections in the Arco book too, but they are only slightly helpful.

Take an introductory physics class if you can. I took one the semester before I took the test, and there were about 4 out of 30 problems that I would not have been able to answer without the class. That’s good enough to raise your score a point or two, which is definitely worth it considering how competitive aviation slots are.

Scan the entire ASTB section of Airwarriors for every last shred of gouge you can find. I cannot stress this enough, because this will give you an idea in some cases of the exact types of questions you will see on the test. This helped me big time.

This book may help you if you are hopeless in this area: http://www.amazon.com/gp/explorer/0764123408/2/ref=pd_lpo_ase/102-7094373-4438523?. I haven’t actually used it, so if somebody who has wants to chime in, that would be great.

It also won’t kill you to learn about how engines work.

Since much of this section is just common sense, studying can’t help you for all of the problems. You can just figure them out when you get to them, even though you’ve never seen anything like them before.

Spatial Apperception Test
The Arco book is great for this. Mmx1 also has some nice tips on his page.

Keep in mind that the pictures on the real ASTB are different from the examples in the Arco book. You can find samples of the real pictures here: http://www.nomi.med.navy.mil/NAMI/astb/astbwebsitewriteup.htm Click on the blue button on the bottom of the page to get NOMI’s sample questions.

The actual ASTB’s spatial apperception questions are more difficult than Arco’s, with very confusing angles in almost every case. Most of the time, you will probably only be able to narrow it down to two answers. Therefore, DO NOT just pick the first one that you think is right; look at all possible answers first, then pick.

Aviation and Nautical Information Test
This is the hardest section to prepare for because the information comes from such a vast amount of knowledge about ships and planes and narrows it down to only thirty questions.

The marine gouge and mmx1’s boat link will help you a lot. The Arco is worth a look, but isn’t very helpful when it’s all said and done.

The FAA’s Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical knowledge is an absolute must. Use the marine gouge and the Arco and all of the gouge on the ASTB section of Airwarriors.com to get a feel for the type of stuff you need to learn. Then go through the book, highlight the relevant material, and study, study, study.

I also studied The Annapolis Book of Seamanship and it definitely helped. As with the FAA book, I took a look at the gouge and the Arco book first to see what type of stuff I should highlight in it. Then I read the highlights more times than I can count. Since this book is geared only towards sailing, however, I’m sure there are better books out there. If somebody else can chime in with a good book they used that would be great.

Since this section is so difficult to prepare for, to get an edge you are honestly going to have to scan EVERY single thread in the ASTB section of this forum and note what types of things people say will pop up on the test. Also, get addicted to Airwarriors (pretty easy to do) and read aviation related stuff on here as much as you can. Go to all of the links people post. Get interested. Go to wikipedia.com and read about planes and the Navy. My addiction to reading about planes (more emphasis on planes than ships on the test) online helped me out BIG TIME.

One last tip. Do not rush into taking the ASTB. I studied for 6 months for this test
(no joke), mostly to acquire airplane and ship knowledge. It was worth it, however, because my studying paid off; I will never have to take it again (it was a rough few hours in that test room), and it absolutely helped me to get pro rec’d. Have fun studying!

thank you so much for all the information. I plan on taking all this and studying for a few months before taking the test. and im going to sign up for a Physics class also.

 

[Bassem Hakim]

Hello everybody i will be taking the ASTB on June 3rd, and i wanted to thank everybody for their posts in this thread and i wanted to post all the files and gouge that i came across while studying.

You might have come across many of these files or none so i thought i would do my part by posting everything i have seen so far.

Useful links:

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/intro.htm

http://www.free-online-private-pilot-ground-school.com/index.html



Also if you google ASTB flashcards you will find many more useful links.

 

[lusos]

Hi guys,

I took the [new] ASTB this past week and scored a 55 3/3/4. I bombed the UAV spatial apperception big time. Does anyone have any study guides for this portion? I studied through a few guides but all of the spacial stuff was based on either a) flying along a coast line or b) flying in a helicopter cockpit. The UAV stuff was very very confusing and I'm sure I'm missing something.

Thanks.

 

[0311Grunt]

Hi guys,

I took the [new] ASTB this past week and scored a 55 3/3/4. I bombed the UAV spatial apperception big time. Does anyone have any study guides for this portion? I studied through a few guides but all of the spacial stuff was based on either a) flying along a coast line or b) flying in a helicopter cockpit. The UAV stuff was very very confusing and I'm sure I'm missing something.

Thanks.

hey bro dont get down on your self i also did bad on my first try at it. i got a 2/4/2 so i told my self okay gotta go back and regroup. so i am still studying and preparing for the next time i give it a go. the books im using to study with are (Barrons mechanical aptitude and spatial relations tests) (Barrons military flight aptitude tests) (Arco GRE/GMAT math review) the UAV was also a pain for me because i was not prepared. so your looking at the UAV and it will give you a direction and a box to click on. the direction of the UAV will always be at the top so for example it says click North so you rotate in your mind the UAV facing up and now North will be facing west. the best thing to do is draw on a piece of paper a compass with all the directions and rotate it as your taking the test. thats how i believe it will help me. so once again it says were is west and your UAV is pointing east the UAV you rotate up which will make west be at the bottom now. i hope this helps. but im sure there is better information on this site for you.

 

[0311Grunt]

Hello everybody i will be taking the ASTB on June 3rd, and i wanted to thank everybody for their posts in this thread and i wanted to post all the files and gouge that i came across while studying.

You might have come across many of these files or none so i thought i would do my part by posting everything i have seen so far.

Useful links:

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/intro.htm

http://www.free-online-private-pilot-ground-school.com/index.html



Also if you google ASTB flashcards you will find many more useful links.

very greateful for you posting this. thank you very much i know this will help me.

 

[Hopeful Hoya]

Hi guys,

I took the [new] ASTB this past week and scored a 55 3/3/4. I bombed the UAV spatial apperception big time. Does anyone have any study guides for this portion? I studied through a few guides but all of the spacial stuff was based on either a) flying along a coast line or b) flying in a helicopter cockpit. The UAV stuff was very very confusing and I'm sure I'm missing something.

Thanks.

These are what I used. Get your reaction times down under 2 seconds. I also drew a compass on a sheet of paper with the parking lots on it, and then I would rotate it to fit the map shown so I was able to identify the correct lot almost instantly.

 

[0311Grunt]

These are what I used. Get your reaction times down under 2 seconds. I also drew a compass on a sheet of paper with the parking lots on it, and then I would rotate it to fit the map shown so I was able to identify the correct lot almost instantly.

Thanks for posting this!