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23 May 18 Pilot/NFO Selection Board

admastro94

Active Member
I just called someone. They said it came out in an email and it is an immediate selection board for only certain applicants. You need to have at least a 7/7/7, 50 OAR, over a 3.50 GPA, and able to ship within 60 days. It will not change the May 23 board convene date.

I can also confirm that my OR says there is an auto-select board being held on Thursday, April 19th. The only difference is that the GPA requirement is a minimum of a 2.50 GPA not a 3.50. This is was according to my OR who read the email to me over the phone. This means that you make the cut @agriz33 except that you won't be able to ship within 60 days (options are May 20th and June 10th for OCS) so I would hold off until the full board on May 23rd.
 

Jamie_D

Well-Known Member
I can also confirm that my OR says there is an auto-select board being held on Thursday, April 19th. The only difference is that the GPA requirement is a minimum of a 2.50 GPA not a 3.50. This is was according to my OR who read the email to me over the phone. This means that you make the cut @agriz33 except that you won't be able to ship within 60 days (options are May 20th and June 10th for OCS) so I would hold off until the full board on May 23rd.

Wow! Thanks for the update. I've been trying to get in touch with my new recruiter about this but no luck so far. I hope he responds with the same news too!
 

RocksAndWedes

Well-Known Member
pilot
That’s a significant improvement! How did you study differently to achieve that?

Great question. Let me break down each test day and test prep.

Test 1: Woke up at 4:00AM to get to my testing site at 7:00AM, light breakfast, was wearing very formal uncomfortable clothes (suit, heels, the whole hair/makeup gambit). The majority of my studying had gone to the aviation/navy facts, UAV (actually did not use the compass trick either time), and practicing with inverted hypersensitive video games. I touched on math and physics, but more so in the review sense. I read for fun so I never studied for reading. Figures, you can tell on test day that I absolutely died on the OAR portion. I was overwhelmed with the math and physics style of questions and the time got the best of me. I literally spent like 15 min on a math question. The second half of the test clearly felt much easier and I enjoyed it, but I knew I had gooned the test overall before I saw my scores.

Test 2: First off, I moved and got a new recruiter. It completely changed my mindset and I went in with a different plan. I took the test at 1:00PM, which was amazing. I wore the most comfortable slacks and my collegiate PFG (they said collard shirt so that's how I rolled with it) and I just threw my hair up to keep it out of my face, and no makeup because who has time for that nonsense. For studying, I brought out everything except the kitchen sink. Literally. College physics book, all the online gouge, Facebook Messaged my AP Physics C teacher from high school asking about different physics video reviews besides Khan Academy. I was in Starbucks every night for 3 weeks taking practice math and physics tests I made myself. I would pick 30 questions and time myself for 26 minutes and would see how much I could get done (about the right ratio for the actually test). I tried to figure out all the different styles of ways they could ask arithmetic, math knowledge, and physics principle problems. Strangers started asking me "What is it like studying for the MCAT?" which hilarity would follow when I would explain what I was doing instead.

And here is what made the difference on test day.

1. Didn't know how to do the problem? Read the question again. And again. Still don't know? Get ready to make an educated guess because that's all you can do now. You can't waste more than at max 1.5-2.0 minutes on this kind of problem. You don't know if the next question could be easy, but it could also be a time suck to get there. Getting bogged down with a mental wall is what you'll get if you keep attempting a problem you don't know.

2. Once you do enough math problems, sometimes you can work the problem backwards if you understand at least what they're trying to ask. Also if some answers look like garbage and are outside math common sense, they probably are garbage. I pulled out all the test taking strategies they shove in your brain in the 3rd grade elementary school and regurgitated them on the OAR. "Keep It Simple, Stupid" is something I had going on repeat in my head. I knew I was doing something right in the math section when stuff that looked like hieroglyphics popped up. I center my overall success on the power of deduction and logical reasoning.

4. I took every break I could. I got up, walked around. Washed my hands, went to the bathroom, stretched my legs out, grabbed more scratch paper. I took it at NAMI and hands down they were some of the nicest people I have ever met. They really took the time to talk with me, even on my breaks, and made even walking in a very pleasant experience. I also got to take the test with the new joysticks and throttles so talk about really cool.

5. Understanding the ins and outs of physics principles was the key to the mechanics section. If I didn't know something I used the same strategy from (1.) and just moved on. I didn't think much about it and just kept answering questions. Confidence was key.

6. People don't talk a lot about the personality inventory, but something that helped get through the 99 problems was reading them out loud and talking yourself through the two scenarios. If anyone was listening they probably found it very entertaining I was debating jamming a copier or being late for work. Be yourself and do not try to game the test.

7. I use the "Click Method" for the UAV portion. I do not have the patience for the "Compass Trick", but kudos to you if you do. My response time was average 2-3 seconds each and if I ever doubted an answer I just did it again in my head, I had about 7 seconds responses to a few but at least I did them right.

8. HAVE FUN with the listening and flight portion. As the nice gentleman from NAMI put it "Time to find your inner Kenny Loggins". The new equipment have suction cups at the bottom so push down to make sure they stay in place when you spaz out. Write down the emergency procedures and practice them before you even start that portion. Make sure the wires are all plugged in and your head phone cord isn't too long or distracting and if it's brushing your arm, move it. Literally be the pilot of your test taking experience.

Any other questions on specifics I'll be more than happy to answer! Can't wait for the board and the potential opportunity to meet you all!
 

ccb18

Well-Known Member
Just got the call from my recruiter confirming the early board as well. He made it sound like if you were selected at that board you'd be going to the May 20th or June 10th class, so potentially less than a month turn around after the board!
Are you still in school or do you know if this board applies to those still in school who are graduating in May? My recruiter has told me that the next board is still 23 May and hasn't mentioned anything about this board coming up next week.
 
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EricDunne

Well-Known Member
My recruiter confirmed that scores of 7/7/7 was the minimum to get into the auto selection on April 19.
My recruiter confirmed that scores of 7/7/7 was the minimum to get into the auto selection on April 19.
Should it be 7’s to the parts that apply to you? For example you could have a 7/7/6 and get early pic for pilot because the FOFAR doesn’t apply to pilot.
 
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