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

[Duffman]

Hey!
I took my OAR exam today and I actually did a lot better than I thought I would. The goal is do SWO, and I passed the exam. I got a 40 but I was told a good competitive score for that would be like 48-50ish range. All of the study materials posted here helped tremendously. I have a BA in Prelaw and a minor in crim. I have since changed my mind which is why I am here... Anyways....

Most my math questions were algebra and geometry. The part that I think messed me up was mechanical comprehension actually, the material that I studied was a little different and I spent more time on certain questions thus, having me get timed out. If anyone has advice or any practice questions/notes for the mechanical portion please send them my way.

I plan to take the exam again and I hope to score even better. My recruiter had told me that there is going to be (usually is) a SWO board around March but things may change since Corona has screwed up some schedules. With that being said, if she finds out there is no SWO board soon I may have to wait a year and who knows what would happen then. Which brings up my next question...

What should I do if there is no SWO board? Wait or just take the enlisted route?

Retake the exam! Trust me I’ve heard if you had the option to become an officer and ended up going enlisted you’d most likely question yourself on why you didn’t wait to become an officer! Retake the exam! If you don’t think you’ll get selected, then RETAKE THE EXAM.. now you know what to expect.

 

[Oski510]

Hey!
I took my OAR exam today and I actually did a lot better than I thought I would. The goal is do SWO, and I passed the exam. I got a 40 but I was told a good competitive score for that would be like 48-50ish range. All of the study materials posted here helped tremendously. I have a BA in Prelaw and a minor in crim. I have since changed my mind which is why I am here... Anyways....

Most my math questions were algebra and geometry. The part that I think messed me up was mechanical comprehension actually, the material that I studied was a little different and I spent more time on certain questions thus, having me get timed out. If anyone has advice or any practice questions/notes for the mechanical portion please send them my way.

I plan to take the exam again and I hope to score even better. My recruiter had told me that there is going to be (usually is) a SWO board around March but things may change since Corona has screwed up some schedules. With that being said, if she finds out there is no SWO board soon I may have to wait a year and who knows what would happen then. Which brings up my next question...

What should I do if there is no SWO board? Wait or just take the enlisted route?

page 386 of this thread. There’s a Google drive link on there, I believe it’s Kyle’s Google drive. There’s some mechanical stuff in there. Also, there’s a bunch of stuff on YouTube that’s helpful.

 

[Ghost SWO]

What should I do if there is no SWO board? Wait or just take the enlisted route?

You're young, if you want to be an officer it's probably going to be worth the wait. Don't jump into being enlisted if it's not what you want. The experience is dramatically different between enlisted and officer so if you have to convince yourself about going enlisted you might regret that decision later. Focus on retesting and making sure you finish every section within the time limit and you should bump your scores up!

 

[cvmm]

You're young, if you want to be an officer it's probably going to be worth the wait. Don't jump into being enlisted if it's not what you want. The experience is dramatically different between enlisted and officer so if you have to convince yourself about going enlisted you might regret that decision later. Focus on retesting and making sure you finish every section within the time limit and you should bump your scores up!

Yeah thats true. What is making me concerned is that getting selected as an officer isn't guaranteed. Id hate to wait only to not get selected.

 

[Ghost SWO]

Yeah thats true. What is making me concerned is that getting selected as an officer isn't guaranteed. Id hate to wait only to not get selected.

True, I was both enlisted, and not selected the first time so I understand your concern. The waiting game for the USN isn't that bad, the waiting game for the USAF in comparison is nearly twice as long. Even if you're not selected it's only maybe 3 or 6 months to reapply. In the grand scheme of things, 3 or 6 months is very minimal to accomplish something you want.

 

[Busey96]

Just took it today, looking for feedback/general reactions/whatever you want to tell me, really.

Stats:
3.0 undergrad degree in public policy
3.933 masters in education

OAR: 56
AQR: 6
PFAR: 6
FOFAR: 7

I totally fucked up the first listening portion, somehow skipped the directions telling me what to listen for, but definitely killed that portion on the combined battery later on. Trying to get in front of the board in April to get an SNA slot. I know my scores aren't amazing, but just wondering what my chances of getting picked up as either an SNA or NFO are.

 

[PEFO Silver-Shades]

Just took it today, looking for feedback/general reactions/whatever you want to tell me, really.

Stats:
3.0 undergrad degree in public policy
3.933 masters in education

OAR: 56
AQR: 6
PFAR: 6
FOFAR: 7

I totally fucked up the first listening portion, somehow skipped the directions telling me what to listen for, but definitely killed that portion on the combined battery later on. Trying to get in front of the board in April to get an SNA slot. I know my scores aren't amazing, but just wondering what my chances of getting picked up as either an SNA or NFO are.

No one can tell you the exact chances you'll be picked up. but you have the minimum ASTB scores for applying, people have been picked up with those scores, if you do plan on applying for this upcoming April board, id keep studying in the off chance you are not selected. The SNA/NFO boards focus on the ASTB portion more instead of your GPA/OAR

 

[Busey96]

No one can tell you the exact chances you'll be picked up. but you have the minimum ASTB scores for applying, people have been picked up with those scores, if you do plan on applying for this upcoming April board, id keep studying in the off chance you are not selected. The SNA/NFO boards focus on the ASTB portion more instead of your GPA/OAR

That's what I'm thinking at this point, just ride this score out through the board and brush up on material in case I don't get picked up. Appreciate the feedback!

 

[KaleDaSquid]

Not trying to make any hard points or say how the board selects. Two guys I work with both applied to the last board (SNA). The one guy had a 61 6/8/8 and the other 47 or 49 5/7/6. Guy with 5/7/6 got picked up over the guy with 6/8/8. Now both had no waivers and are the same age give or take a couple months. So it is hard to quantify board results in any one aspect. Talking to @exNavyOffRec guy with 5/7/6 still had decent scores. I personally came to the conclusion that yes, scores are important. But the only difference I found between the two is leadership. ones an Analyst the other a Sr. Analyst. Sr. Analyst was selected over the guy recently promoted from Jr. Analyst.

Like I said these are my personal experiences in my sample group of friends/co-workers. I find it interesting and gives me some some conclusions for the next board. Best take away is, you miss 100% of the shots you don't take. Start your studying now, gives you plenty of time to retest. Maybe try to get leadership experience or community service hours. Heck lead a project for community service organizations. Do as much as you can! I would assume the Navy does not want dirtbags. After all, you will be potentially leading this countries sons and daughters. Best of luck!

 

[exNavyOffRec]

Not trying to make any hard points or say how the board selects. Two guys I work with both applied to the last board (SNA). The one guy had a 61 6/8/8 and the other 47 or 49 5/7/6. Guy with 5/7/6 got picked up over the guy with 6/8/8. Now both had no waivers and are the same age give or take a couple months. So it is hard to quantify board results in any one aspect. Talking to @exNavyOffRec guy with 5/7/6 still had decent scores. I personally came to the conclusion that yes, scores are important. But the only difference I found between the two is leadership. ones an Analyst the other a Sr. Analyst. Sr. Analyst was selected over the guy recently promoted from Jr. Analyst.

Like I said these are my personal experiences in my sample group of friends/co-workers. I find it interesting and gives me some some conclusions for the next board. Best take away is, you miss 100% of the shots you don't take. Start your studying now, gives you plenty of time to retest. Maybe try to get leadership experience or community service hours. Heck lead a project for community service organizations. Do as much as you can! I would assume the Navy does not want dirtbags. After all, you will be potentially leading this countries sons and daughters. Best of luck!

civilian job titles when going for OCS have no bearing, it could have been a GPA factor it isn't a big factor but sometimes it can be the difference. On waivers sometimes guys won't say they have a waiver when they do, it can be something a person doesn't want to admit to others outside his recruiter and I have seen that several times, including from people on this site.

Sometimes it is just dumb luck, even the worst dart player hits the bullseye now and then LOL

 

[KaleDaSquid]

civilian job titles when going for OCS have no bearing, it could have been a GPA factor it isn't a big factor but sometimes it can be the difference. On waivers sometimes guys won't say they have a waiver when they do, it can be something a person doesn't want to admit to others outside his recruiter and I have seen that several times, including from people on this site.

Sometimes it is just dumb luck, even the worst dart player hits the bullseye now and then LOL

I figured it was less the job and more the experience leading people. Yea, waivers are a possibility. At the end of the day so much is speculative. I have learned to adapt the 42% theory on selection from the experts and move on.

I always a appreciate your insight! I am a horrible darts player. Never played in the best of mindsets though. If it has any bearing on selection, I am screwed!

 

[Mrs.Toast]

Hello everyone I just took my ASTB and I'm proudly sitting at 57-7-7-7. I will not be re-taking and I will be submitting my package next year with the scores. I will try and break down what I remember from the test in this post.

Like many of the other people on this thread Kyle’s, Holly’s, and the Oar study guide are extremely valuable to this test. I grinded those out since last November spending it out over all of Summer and the beginning of the school year. I took several breaks obviously when I went on vacation, and during the beginning of school when I was still getting situated. I also use the baron study guide, test prep book astb study guide to 2020-2021, and Aegis Group complete ASTB Study guide. A super valuable tool that I created for myself was a journal to track my progress on my practice tests and worksheets. This allowed me to track and witness my progress.

Math:
No DRT or logs, or percentage. I had several surface area problems and one was like “John has to lay the bricks on a 3’x12’x7’ wall and the brings are 12”3”4” how many bricks does he need”. That's the only question I really remember from that but there was also some reducing polynomials and other stuff like that.

Reading:
GRIND time management in your prep. I ran out of time and had to guess on 3 with 10 seconds left. SO practice practice practice and work on time management

Mechi:
Killed this section and finished with like 8 min left. Only 2 required equations, mostly conceptual. Look into angular momentum and stuff like that, and know the speed on an object on an arch, I had 3 or so like this.

ANIT:
Some stuff I studied but also some shit I have never seen before. Just grind the large quizlet floating around the forum, but make sure that you rewrite them in your own notecards or else you won't memorize them as well

UAV:
Ignore the degrees and just do the compass trick, I was rushing and got 4 wrong but out of 40 or so that is a great percentage

Stick and throttle and Listening:
For the listening section I just took off the non-target ear. Also when calibrating the stick and throttle, make sure you get a good feel of the dead zone. For me it was a huge dead zone so it was super slow when I first made movements and then zoomed when I started to chase the plane.

Good Luck Ladies and Gents. Ill be praying for everyone and if you have any questions just PM me. God Bless American and go Navy

What is the quizlet you used for the ANIT section?

 

[villo0692]

What is the quizlet you used for the ANIT section?

ASTB Aviation/Nautical Information Test (ANIT) [comprehensive] Flashcards - Cram.com

Study Flashcards On ASTB Aviation/Nautical Information Test (ANIT) [comprehensive] at Cram.com. Quickly memorize the terms, phrases and much more. Cram.com makes it easy to get the grade you want!

www.cram.com

there's 400+ flashcards here for all your ANIT fun......go nuts (I would though, study specific platform nomenclatures and missions separately)

 

[exNavyOffRec]

I figured it was less the job and more the experience leading people. Yea, waivers are a possibility. At the end of the day so much is speculative. I have learned to adapt the 42% theory on selection from the experts and move on.

I always a appreciate your insight! I am a horrible darts player. Never played in the best of mindsets though. If it has any bearing on selection, I am screwed!

OCS is designed for those with no experience so leadership wouldn't be a factor either, could be dump luck.

 

[Adrien21]

Hello everyone,
I have to better my score on the OAR test. Last time I scored 49 and I need at least 50. Please I will be grateful if anyone can give me advices on the books or online materials to use.
Thanks in advance
Adrien