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

[Kimoabonika]

Hey everyone, I had a question about the stick and throttle portion of the ASTB. I’ve been seeing a lot of people talk about practicing on certain setups, but I don’t really have the money to buy a whole new PC or anything like that.





I do have a stick and throttle that I use with Microsoft Flight Simulator, so I’ve been trying to practice with that. I’m just not sure how similar it is to what’s actually on the test.

I’m a former enlisted who got out to finish my degree and hopefully commission as a pilot, so this test really matters to me. I’ll be taking the ASTB on March 31st. I took the OAR about a year ago and didn’t do well, so I’ve been putting a lot more focus into preparing this time around.

For those who have taken it, is practicing on MSFS with a basic setup enough? How difficult is the stick and throttle portion compared to that, and how much does it actually affect your PFAR score?

Also, since I took the OAR a year ago once already, and did not do well. do I still have three total attempts at the ASTB, or does that count as one?

Any advice would really help, I appreciate it.

 

[fighter-cat22]

Hey everyone, I had a question about the stick and throttle portion of the ASTB. I’ve been seeing a lot of people talk about practicing on certain setups, but I don’t really have the money to buy a whole new PC or anything like that.





I do have a stick and throttle that I use with Microsoft Flight Simulator, so I’ve been trying to practice with that. I’m just not sure how similar it is to what’s actually on the test.

I’m a former enlisted who got out to finish my degree and hopefully commission as a pilot, so this test really matters to me. I’ll be taking the ASTB on March 31st. I took the OAR about a year ago and didn’t do well, so I’ve been putting a lot more focus into preparing this time around.

For those who have taken it, is practicing on MSFS with a basic setup enough? How difficult is the stick and throttle portion compared to that, and how much does it actually affect your PFAR score?

Also, since I took the OAR a year ago once already, and did not do well. do I still have three total attempts at the ASTB, or does that count as one?

Any advice would really help, I appreciate it.

I would say using a flight sim does pretty much nothing for you on the PBM other than being familiar with the controls. The stick and throttle section is more like an arcade game. You just track the targets the best you can. Maybe practice flying your sim while doing a dichotic listening test to practice the multitasking aspect. That’s what typically gets people in trouble.

 

[spalclark3]

Hey everyone, I had a question about the stick and throttle portion of the ASTB. I’ve been seeing a lot of people talk about practicing on certain setups, but I don’t really have the money to buy a whole new PC or anything like that.





I do have a stick and throttle that I use with Microsoft Flight Simulator, so I’ve been trying to practice with that. I’m just not sure how similar it is to what’s actually on the test.

I’m a former enlisted who got out to finish my degree and hopefully commission as a pilot, so this test really matters to me. I’ll be taking the ASTB on March 31st. I took the OAR about a year ago and didn’t do well, so I’ve been putting a lot more focus into preparing this time around.

For those who have taken it, is practicing on MSFS with a basic setup enough? How difficult is the stick and throttle portion compared to that, and how much does it actually affect your PFAR score?

Also, since I took the OAR a year ago once already, and did not do well. do I still have three total attempts at the ASTB, or does that count as one?

Any advice would really help, I appreciate it.

Personally I think the best thing you can do to prepare for the PBM is play inverted video games and perfect UAV and Terrain ID

 

[MowinThaAir]

Personally I think the best thing you can do to prepare for the PBM is play inverted video games and perfect UAV and Terrain ID

100% agree. I did a ton of practice on the UAV and Terrain ID on the ASTB Prep App. I didn’t miss a single UAV and don’t think I missed any UAV, but it doesn’t tell you on that section. If it helps, I would look at the “parking lot” box on the right side of the screen and only see the box with the arrow on the left side in my peripheral. Then I would think “that parking lot would be behind me and to my left” or “that box is forward and to the right.”

For the PBM, focus on getting the correct response (trigger vs clutch) to the listening first, and tracking the targets second. For the emergency procedures, focus on fixing them first too. When the emergencies came up, I completely stopped tracking to look at my paper and make sure I did the right procedure, then went back to tracking.