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

[exNavyOffRec]

Perfect, I have a University GPA of 2.8, D1 swim team captain, held 4 jobs including running my own wedding film business and LOR's from Mil and Civ pilots.

That's somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but pilots need to be at least a bit cocky, so that's what I'm workin' on today.

but what was your PFAR? a GPA like that with a 6 PFAR isn't going to give you the best shot, but a 9 will make you stand out.

don't know if I would put too much emphasis on the 4 jobs while going to college, I have seen that backfire, especially with a sub 3 GPA

 

[boobooaboo]

but what was your PFAR? a GPA like that with a 6 PFAR isn't going to give you the best shot, but a 9 will make you stand out.

don't know if I would put too much emphasis on the 4 jobs while going to college, I have seen that backfire, especially with a sub 3 GPA

Thanks for the tip. Just paying my way thru is the point I suppose.

 

[TheFlyingViking]

Hey Everyone!!

I'm joining the Navy, and I'm trying to become a navy Pilot!! (Like everyone else on here haha)

I took the ASTB and here are my scores! Let me know if I'm competitive:

OAR: 52
AQR: 6
PFAR: 7
FOFAR: 6

Now, from what I can gather, those scores are somewhat competitive, but I wanted to ask here to be sure. Okay, now the BAD news; I graduated college with a 2.57 in Business Administration. You see, I went to a school on the beach and I partied too much. My last 2 years were spent studying my behind off trying to fix my old ways. This year I've been doing nothing but training physically and mentally with the hopes of changing my life!! I know I don't deserve to be on here with most of the people here since you all probably were excellent students, but I wanted to at least try to give myself a new lease on life!!

I can get officer recommendations and also several employer letters of recommendation pretty easily. (My occupational work ethic has generally been stellar)

Give me your BRUTAL, HONEST opinion. I promise I don't need a safe space haha.

Austin

 

[Wildcat15]

Hey Everyone!!

I'm joining the Navy, and I'm trying to become a navy Pilot!! (Like everyone else on here haha)

I took the ASTB and here are my scores! Let me know if I'm competitive:

OAR: 52
AQR: 6
PFAR: 7
FOFAR: 6

Now, from what I can gather, those scores are somewhat competitive, but I wanted to ask here to be sure. Okay, now the BAD news; I graduated college with a 2.57 in Business Administration. You see, I went to a school on the beach and I partied too much. My last 2 years were spent studying my behind off trying to fix my old ways. This year I've been doing nothing but training physically and mentally with the hopes of changing my life!! I know I don't deserve to be on here with most of the people here since you all probably were excellent students, but I wanted to at least try to give myself a new lease on life!!

I can get officer recommendations and also several employer letters of recommendation pretty easily. (My occupational work ethic has generally been stellar)

Give me your BRUTAL, HONEST opinion. I promise I don't need a safe space haha.

Austin

I mean you're barely above minimums for SNA and SNFO with your GPA. Your OAR and PFAR is pretty good, but "pretty good" might not make up for a relatively (to others) low GPA. You could go ahead and submit your package and see what happens. If you don't get picked up take the ASTB again. With SNA the ASTB is king so you never know.

 

[TheFlyingViking]

Thank you so much sir!! I know my GPA is awful....I have to accept the consequences!!

 

[Wildcat15]

Thank you so much sir!! I know my GPA is awful....I have to accept the consequences!!

Well like many people on here, you can't do much about your GPA now. It's part of the reason why the military looks at the whole person concept. Strengthen other areas of you application. Volunteer hours, work in a relevant field of your major (I heard that helps?), athletics, blah blah. If they went strictly by GPA I don't think half of us would stand a chance. Pick your head up and move forward. Convince them your GPA isn't going to be an indicator of you mental aptitude.

 

[boobooaboo]

Well like many people on here, you can't do much about your GPA now. It's part of the reason why the military looks at the whole person concept. Strengthen other areas of you application. Volunteer hours, work in a relevant field of your major (I heard that helps?), athletics, blah blah. If they went strictly by GPA I don't think half of us would stand a chance. Pick your head up and move forward. Convince them your GPA isn't going to be an indicator of you mental aptitude.

Great advice for all of us. I have to say, putting together a resume for this is much different than a resume in the civilian world...

 

[exNavyOffRec]

Well like many people on here, you can't do much about your GPA now. It's part of the reason why the military looks at the whole person concept. Strengthen other areas of you application. Volunteer hours, work in a relevant field of your major (I heard that helps?), athletics, blah blah. If they went strictly by GPA I don't think half of us would stand a chance. Pick your head up and move forward. Convince them your GPA isn't going to be an indicator of you mental aptitude.

When it comes to SNA and SNFO it pretty much is all about the ASTB and then GPA, the whole person concept is like a unicorn when it comes to SNA and SNFO, it just doesn't exist.

 

[Wildcat15]

When it comes to SNA and SNFO it pretty much is all about the ASTB and then GPA, the whole person concept is like a unicorn when it comes to SNA and SNFO, it just doesn't exist.

Well thanks for being honest and straight forward. I mostly just assumed that the more the better (within reason) for those who are having to make up for one (or both) quantifiable stats on their application. I think browsing through various threads on this site has led me down ten thousand different rabbit holes between the ASTB and application materials.

 

[Cymbolmonkey]

Hello everyone!
I will be submitting an OCS Package for SNA next year (probably for the May board). My stats are as follows:
Active Duty (MMW Submarines) 9.5 years
ASTB: 67 8/7/8
GPA: 3.82 Environmental Science (3 courses remaining- will be completed by April 17)
Age: 27 (28 upon submitting- will need waiver)
Tattoo Waiver
Good evals with no negative remarks and no history of NJP.

With my major being environmental science, will that have a significant negative impact on my package or will a good ASTB and GPA make up for it? I have searched and not been able to find an answer to the next question. OPNAVINST 1420.1B states: "Applicants must possess a baccalaureate degree or higher from an accredited institution..." I know from the civilian side you can start and submit your package before receiving your degree; however, being on active duty am I able to submit a completion of required courses letter from my school since my school only confers degrees every 3 months (February, May, August and November)?

 

[TigerKiller]

Hi All,
I'm new to this site and have been constantly browsing the forums for all the gouge I can get.

I plan on submitting an application for SNA in time for the March board of this year. I picked up the Barron's Military Aptitude Flight Tests 2013 for studying and recently took the ASTB. I had studied for about 3 weeks beforehand with the book and study guide I found on here. My recruiter tells me that my scores are good but from what I've seen on here, my scores are not overly competitive. I recently got a full time job and the combination of that, commute (2+ hrs a day), and PT, I don't have alot of time to study so I'm afraid I may score lower next time I take it. Will this be competitive enough or should I find time to study and retake?

tl;dr: Competitive enough? May score lower on retake...

ASTB: 48 5/6/5
GPA: 3.07 B.S. in Neuroscience from UCSC
Experience: Program Director of UCAN (undergraduate student-run mentorship program) '14-'16, President of UCSC Triathlon Club '15-'16, ~ 300 hours volunteering in a hospital
LORs: 1 from retired US Navy E-7, 1 from Physician Assistant, 1 more pending
MEPS: Scheduled for 12/22/16

 

[Wildcat15]

Hi All,
I'm new to this site and have been constantly browsing the forums for all the gouge I can get.

I plan on submitting an application for SNA in time for the March board of this year. I picked up the Barron's Military Aptitude Flight Tests 2013 for studying and recently took the ASTB. I had studied for about 3 weeks beforehand with the book and study guide I found on here. My recruiter tells me that my scores are good but from what I've seen on here, my scores are not overly competitive. I recently got a full time job and the combination of that, commute (2+ hrs a day), and PT, I don't have alot of time to study so I'm afraid I may score lower next time I take it. Will this be competitive enough or should I find time to study and retake?

tl;dr: Competitive enough? May score lower on retake...

ASTB: 48 5/6/5
GPA: 3.07 B.S. in Neuroscience from UCSC
Experience: Program Director of UCAN (undergraduate student-run mentorship program) '14-'16, President of UCSC Triathlon Club '15-'16, ~ 300 hours volunteering in a hospital
LORs: 1 from retired US Navy E-7, 1 from Physician Assistant, 1 more pending
MEPS: Scheduled for 12/22/16

You can always submit your packet and retake if you don't get picked up. You're on the lower end for the OAR and PFAR and the GPA. I think the averages are something like 3.3 and 54 7/7/7 or something like that (could be wrong, just going off memory). There's a thread about it if you take the time to search for it. If you're not confident enough with yourself to pin your ears back and achieve a competitive score on the next attempt, maybe you should reevaluate how bad you want it. I'm not trying to be an ass but I think you're underestimating what you can accomplish with 24 hours in a day.

 

[TigerKiller]

Thanks for the quick response Wildcat,

I believe that I can improve my score. I guess the issue is determining how much I would expect to improve on the calculated ASTB the 2nd time around other than how many questions I get correct/wrong on the practice tests. What study materials can you recommend that you found to be the most helpful?

 

[Wildcat15]

Thanks for the quick response Wildcat,

I believe that I can improve my score. I guess the issue is determining how much I would expect to improve on the calculated ASTB the 2nd time around other than how many questions I get correct/wrong on the practice tests. What study materials can you recommend that you found to be the most helpful?

I'm sure you have browsed through these threads for at least a couple dozen pages as it's nearly impossible not to get a little carried away here, but it's easy to find people who have initially scored worse than you on their first attempt and turned it around to score above what is considered "competitive". Depending on how comfortable you are with math, I would recommend picking up ARCO's GRE/GMAT Math Review book. Although it's not directly related to any sort of military aptitude exam, it's an invaluable resource to brush up on your basic math skills. From my experience, the dedicated military aptitude study guides are required to cover many subjects in a limited amount of pages so they tend to breeze through concepts and don't really give you enough practice to feel 100% confident solving the problems. At least for me, the aptitude books are great for practice exams but for proficiency in the concepts I use other resources. Khan Academy is great, purplemath, the study guides posted in this thread are great as well. Barron's is great resource for the practice exams because as people have previously said here, it most closely resembles the question difficulty that you'll find on the real exam.

tl:dr

ARCO GRE/GMAT Math Review
Barron's Military Flight Aptitude Test Prep
Study guides posted here

 

[Mxdamien]

Good evening ladies and gentleman,
I am applying for PLC in February (assuming my PRK surgery gets approved in January) and I am taking the new ASTBE for the first time in a couple weeks. I took the older one and got 5s so I am studying a lot for this one to not only pass but my OSO said I need at least triple 8's to help counteract my gpa (ovr - 2.5, recent semesters - 3.26 then 4.0). I know that there were some sections taken out, but I was wondering if the new one asked questions or had a section that related to history (ex. who did this in xxxx date, etc) or if there was a vocab section? Thanks all for the help
/r
Good Evening