FormerRecruitingGuru
Making Recruiting Great Again
Your question has been asked many times and answered many more times. Search around AWs for the answer.
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1,001 questions about the ASTB (post your scores & ask your questions here!)
- Thread starter edato
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Your question has been asked many times and answered many more times. Search around AWs for the answer.
Daniel Allen
New Member
Tried that for a while. Would you mind taking a moment of your time to answer my question in order to save me from rummaging through endless threads?
Daniel Allen
New Member
I didn't find this thread helpful to my original question. Let me clarify. As far as ASTB score influence in reference to selection, I have no questions. I'm well aware that it's weighted heavily and my OSO has already told me that I will for sure get selected and get an age waiver if I were to go to OCS this September and not finish my Master's degree. I simply want to know whether or not an above average ASTB score holds any importance, even in the slightest, in deciding aircraft designation, duty station or anything else.
FormerRecruitingGuru
Making Recruiting Great Again
Wait, are you applying for USMC? Disregard my last post.
Daniel Allen
New Member
Yes that is what I'm pursuing currently. I'm a prior enlisted Marine so I would prefer to join the Marines again however, I am open to considering the Navy and Air Force as well.
No, it only gets you in the door.
Daniel Allen
New Member
Ok, thanks. That's what I suspected. Do you know if there is a strong correlation between an individual's performance on the ASTB and their performance in flight school?
screech
New Member
Tested today: OAR 64, 8/8/8
General Advice- diversify your studying. Use anything and everything you can find on this site. Barron's is great. I found Officer Candidate Test for Dummies was really helpful for the math/mechanical portions. Bring earplugs- I'm not sure about other testing sites, but the one I went to was loud as hell. Take advantage of your breaks to avoid burning yourself out.
Math- I believe that the test gets harder as you go along. Mine started out with simple algebra and ended with matrices, quadratic formula stuff, and logarithms (that really blindsided me). Generally, you'll be good with studying the stuff from Barron's/whatever test prep you're doing. It seems to be more about speed and accuracy than super complex or in-depth math (for the most part), so repetition is key here, even if it seems tedious.
Reading- This is mainly about your ability to focus. The passages are fantastically boring. It's very easy to get to the end of a passage and realize that you've been thinking about something else the entire time. I recommend consuming mass amounts of coffee before the test and hard candy during the test to combat this tendency, but that's just me (Note: this plan can backfire horribly. It's really hard to clinch/focus on your ASTB simultaneously. Proceed with caution).
One thing I noticed in particular is that there are a lot of compound sentences with like 18 commas in them that are designed to make you lose track of the main idea/subject of the sentence. Just make sure that after each one of these enormous sentences, you take a mental note of what it actually said.
Mechanical- Simple machines (especially levers and pulleys) and mechanical advantage are a big component. Know basics of electricity- not just how to solve circuits, but also the physics principles behind them. This is one area I wish I had spent more time on- know the ins and outs of AC and DC, how electricity and magnetism interact, etc. DO NOT simply refresh yourself on definitions- know how this stuff works. There is plenty of gouge elsewhere on this site to prepare you for the mechanical portion- I didn't see anything that I wasn't at least somewhat expecting.
If you took physics in high school, you learned all of this stuff, but it takes a good amount of refreshing to be able to use it on the ASTB. Most problems are conceptual, not math-based, so you really need to know your stuff.
Aviation/Nautical- I studied my balls off for this one, and there were still a few that I didn't know. I wish I had studied more about aircraft carrier operation. I didn't receive very many history questions, but I think that question selection seems to be pretty random for this portion, so cover all of your bases. FAA handbook is your biggest friend here, but don't neglect nautical stuff just because it's the Aviation Selection Test Battery. Nautical stuff was over half of my test. Studying for this part is all about diversity- read anything and everything you can get your hands on about the Navy- history, structure, operations, terminology and abbreviations, aircraft/ship types, personnel duties- you name it.
PBM-
UAV: DRAW THE COMPASS. I'd recommend tearing a piece of scratch paper into 4 pieces and drawing the compass on one of those pieces, because you'll be able to spin it faster. That may sound like nitpicking, but speed is really important here. Keep in mind that the parking lot you're looking for is given to you through the headphones, not visually. There is a small delay between the time that you see your bearing and when you hear the parking lot direction in your headphones- use this split second to get your compass turned in the right direction. With this method, you should get your response times down to 1 second.
This is the only part of the entire ASTB where you can practice indefinitely before starting- I spend like 10-15 minutes just practicing. Worth it.
Dichotic Listening: Fairly straightforward
Vertical Tracking: Yeah, it's hard. My throttle had a little wheel on the front where you could adjust how much resistance the throttle gave- that might help you out a little bit. When the little plane gets close to the top (or bottom), you know that it can only go back the opposite direction, so it might be best to "trap" it instead of chasing it. I got more solid tracking time doing this than I did at the beginning, where I tried to chase the plane everywhere it went. Hopefully this makes sense.
Joystick Tracking: I found the inverted stick to be a little counter-intuitive. For some reason, I thought left and right would also be inverted, not just up and down. Computer games involving a joystick might help here, but I don't know if there is really any good way to prepare for this portion. Just don't get frustrated and try to get as much green as you can.
Vert Tracking/Joystick Tracking/ Dichotic Listening: Shit hits the fan here. Personally, I prioritized the listening, then vert tracking, then joystick. The listening portion is the only thing you could conceivably get 100% on, so it seemed logical to make sure that I nailed all of those.
Emergency Procedures: Make sure you know which knob is which. Also, even if your knobs are turned all the way up or down on the throttle, the simulator sets them to neutral. That caused me some confusion early on. Make sure your knobs are dialed halfway before you start. WRITE DOWN THE EMERGENCY PROCEDURES.
I hope that helped a little bit- I didn't say much that others haven't already said. Good luck to everyone! This site is truly an amazing resource- the people on this site really saved my ass and helped me get the score I was aiming for.
General Advice- diversify your studying. Use anything and everything you can find on this site. Barron's is great. I found Officer Candidate Test for Dummies was really helpful for the math/mechanical portions. Bring earplugs- I'm not sure about other testing sites, but the one I went to was loud as hell. Take advantage of your breaks to avoid burning yourself out.
Math- I believe that the test gets harder as you go along. Mine started out with simple algebra and ended with matrices, quadratic formula stuff, and logarithms (that really blindsided me). Generally, you'll be good with studying the stuff from Barron's/whatever test prep you're doing. It seems to be more about speed and accuracy than super complex or in-depth math (for the most part), so repetition is key here, even if it seems tedious.
Reading- This is mainly about your ability to focus. The passages are fantastically boring. It's very easy to get to the end of a passage and realize that you've been thinking about something else the entire time. I recommend consuming mass amounts of coffee before the test and hard candy during the test to combat this tendency, but that's just me (Note: this plan can backfire horribly. It's really hard to clinch/focus on your ASTB simultaneously. Proceed with caution).
One thing I noticed in particular is that there are a lot of compound sentences with like 18 commas in them that are designed to make you lose track of the main idea/subject of the sentence. Just make sure that after each one of these enormous sentences, you take a mental note of what it actually said.
Mechanical- Simple machines (especially levers and pulleys) and mechanical advantage are a big component. Know basics of electricity- not just how to solve circuits, but also the physics principles behind them. This is one area I wish I had spent more time on- know the ins and outs of AC and DC, how electricity and magnetism interact, etc. DO NOT simply refresh yourself on definitions- know how this stuff works. There is plenty of gouge elsewhere on this site to prepare you for the mechanical portion- I didn't see anything that I wasn't at least somewhat expecting.
If you took physics in high school, you learned all of this stuff, but it takes a good amount of refreshing to be able to use it on the ASTB. Most problems are conceptual, not math-based, so you really need to know your stuff.
Aviation/Nautical- I studied my balls off for this one, and there were still a few that I didn't know. I wish I had studied more about aircraft carrier operation. I didn't receive very many history questions, but I think that question selection seems to be pretty random for this portion, so cover all of your bases. FAA handbook is your biggest friend here, but don't neglect nautical stuff just because it's the Aviation Selection Test Battery. Nautical stuff was over half of my test. Studying for this part is all about diversity- read anything and everything you can get your hands on about the Navy- history, structure, operations, terminology and abbreviations, aircraft/ship types, personnel duties- you name it.
PBM-
UAV: DRAW THE COMPASS. I'd recommend tearing a piece of scratch paper into 4 pieces and drawing the compass on one of those pieces, because you'll be able to spin it faster. That may sound like nitpicking, but speed is really important here. Keep in mind that the parking lot you're looking for is given to you through the headphones, not visually. There is a small delay between the time that you see your bearing and when you hear the parking lot direction in your headphones- use this split second to get your compass turned in the right direction. With this method, you should get your response times down to 1 second.
This is the only part of the entire ASTB where you can practice indefinitely before starting- I spend like 10-15 minutes just practicing. Worth it.
Dichotic Listening: Fairly straightforward
Vertical Tracking: Yeah, it's hard. My throttle had a little wheel on the front where you could adjust how much resistance the throttle gave- that might help you out a little bit. When the little plane gets close to the top (or bottom), you know that it can only go back the opposite direction, so it might be best to "trap" it instead of chasing it. I got more solid tracking time doing this than I did at the beginning, where I tried to chase the plane everywhere it went. Hopefully this makes sense.
Joystick Tracking: I found the inverted stick to be a little counter-intuitive. For some reason, I thought left and right would also be inverted, not just up and down. Computer games involving a joystick might help here, but I don't know if there is really any good way to prepare for this portion. Just don't get frustrated and try to get as much green as you can.
Vert Tracking/Joystick Tracking/ Dichotic Listening: Shit hits the fan here. Personally, I prioritized the listening, then vert tracking, then joystick. The listening portion is the only thing you could conceivably get 100% on, so it seemed logical to make sure that I nailed all of those.
Emergency Procedures: Make sure you know which knob is which. Also, even if your knobs are turned all the way up or down on the throttle, the simulator sets them to neutral. That caused me some confusion early on. Make sure your knobs are dialed halfway before you start. WRITE DOWN THE EMERGENCY PROCEDURES.
I hope that helped a little bit- I didn't say much that others haven't already said. Good luck to everyone! This site is truly an amazing resource- the people on this site really saved my ass and helped me get the score I was aiming for.
Zacattackz
Active Member
I'm seeing unit conversions on a practice guide. I'm assuming the test will have the difference between nautical mile and standard, maybe feet in a mile, feet in a yard, really easy stuff. Will I need to memorize kg in pound or km in a mile? Less common conversions?
In my test I had a variety of conversions but it stuck to either Imperial or metric. It was never a question like "convert this amount" but rather like "here's an amount of X in oz, how many 5lb sacks would you need to get all of X loaded up?" and similar questions with lengths and speeds.
http://calhoun.nps.edu/bitstream/handle/10945/7887/analysisofaviati00wahl.pdf?sequence=1
It seems that there is a bit of a correlation, but there are just too many factors involved to say that one test is a certain indicator of a good candidate. It only helps to select those most likey to succeed in that environment, not guarunteed.
Zacattackz
Active Member
Finished! 67/8/8/8
I came out thinking this was a "good" score. My recruiter basically said it's a fantastic score and should get me Pilot/SWO even with my GPA of 2.95. He also said there's a chance for Intel, which considering how low my GPA is, that's way better than I ever expected. Maybe my recruiter was exaggerating, but he made me feel like this will more than offset my low GPA.
YOU GET UNLIMITED UAV PRACTICE: This needs repeating. There's no excuse if you mess up on the UAV portion. The practice session allows unlimited practices and asks the exact same questions you'll get on the real deal. I practiced until I got 100% and every time was under 2 seconds. The practice asks random questions so your brain won't fuck up and go off memory. I also wouldn't use the hand drawn compass others have mentioned on this forum. I tried it once during practice and got a significantly slower time than without. It's hard to explain exactly how I approached this section, but these flashcards have the exact format on them for practice (and they're free!). So you should be able to practice until you can consistently recognize the right answer in 1s giving yourself another second to go through the act of clicking and reorienting to the next uav diagram.
Reading: You know it or you don't. I usually felt like every question had 2 viable answers so I can't say with any certainty how well I did here. Just take your time and reread the passage to make sure your final answer fits.
Mechanics: Again, there's a few of these questions floating around the forum, spend some time going through threads from 2013 onwards (new test version). I was disappointed with how I did here (my major is Mechanical Engineering). I think I did best on math, but it probably should have been this stuff
Lots of pulley questions for me, nothing unexpected.
Flight/Nautical Information: The study guides I'll link had most of this stuff and I have no prior experience aside from Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator 2 back in 2000. So at most I lost 1 point on each stanine portion due to this section with minimal study. Read the study guides, look up stuff on wikipedia, shouldn't be hard.
UAV: Went in depth on this up top.
Flight Sim: Fuck dude. Everyone says they did terribly, and it's true. I'd love to see what someone with 5/5/5 did because mine felt horrible. This section is very similar to the airforce version explained here (airforce has horizontal instead of vertical). Biggest advice is to write stuff down and take your time with directions. Especially for the emergency systems I had the exact responses written down. The screen would flash ENGINE, I'd look down at what my response was supposed to be, execute it then focus on the targeting again. This was good enough for 8/8/8 so there's no real need to memorize responses. The hardest part is your hands will sometimes move in opposite directs to have the same action on the screen. To get the cursors to move up, your right hand will move backwards and your left hand forwards. When I was focusing on just targeting I'd mess this up constantly and move my hands in unison. It felt like I did better at it when I was focusing on listening to the earpiece because then my hands were just on autopilot and did fine on their own.
More useful flashcards
Study Guide 2 was a .epub file of "Military Aviation Tests for Dummies" (something like that) that you can find floating around online.
*Oh! Some of the practice tests you can find online (hell even study guides posted by users here) have wrong answers in them for the Math and Mechanical portions. If you think an answer might be wrong, it very well could be.
Good luck! But don't do too good until my boards have convened
I came out thinking this was a "good" score. My recruiter basically said it's a fantastic score and should get me Pilot/SWO even with my GPA of 2.95. He also said there's a chance for Intel, which considering how low my GPA is, that's way better than I ever expected. Maybe my recruiter was exaggerating, but he made me feel like this will more than offset my low GPA.
- Important General Advice I haven't seen posted:
YOU GET UNLIMITED UAV PRACTICE: This needs repeating. There's no excuse if you mess up on the UAV portion. The practice session allows unlimited practices and asks the exact same questions you'll get on the real deal. I practiced until I got 100% and every time was under 2 seconds. The practice asks random questions so your brain won't fuck up and go off memory. I also wouldn't use the hand drawn compass others have mentioned on this forum. I tried it once during practice and got a significantly slower time than without. It's hard to explain exactly how I approached this section, but these flashcards have the exact format on them for practice (and they're free!). So you should be able to practice until you can consistently recognize the right answer in 1s giving yourself another second to go through the act of clicking and reorienting to the next uav diagram.
- Section Thoughts:
Reading: You know it or you don't. I usually felt like every question had 2 viable answers so I can't say with any certainty how well I did here. Just take your time and reread the passage to make sure your final answer fits.
Mechanics: Again, there's a few of these questions floating around the forum, spend some time going through threads from 2013 onwards (new test version). I was disappointed with how I did here (my major is Mechanical Engineering). I think I did best on math, but it probably should have been this stuff
Lots of pulley questions for me, nothing unexpected.Flight/Nautical Information: The study guides I'll link had most of this stuff and I have no prior experience aside from Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator 2 back in 2000. So at most I lost 1 point on each stanine portion due to this section with minimal study. Read the study guides, look up stuff on wikipedia, shouldn't be hard.
UAV: Went in depth on this up top.
Flight Sim: Fuck dude. Everyone says they did terribly, and it's true. I'd love to see what someone with 5/5/5 did because mine felt horrible. This section is very similar to the airforce version explained here (airforce has horizontal instead of vertical). Biggest advice is to write stuff down and take your time with directions. Especially for the emergency systems I had the exact responses written down. The screen would flash ENGINE, I'd look down at what my response was supposed to be, execute it then focus on the targeting again. This was good enough for 8/8/8 so there's no real need to memorize responses. The hardest part is your hands will sometimes move in opposite directs to have the same action on the screen. To get the cursors to move up, your right hand will move backwards and your left hand forwards. When I was focusing on just targeting I'd mess this up constantly and move my hands in unison. It felt like I did better at it when I was focusing on listening to the earpiece because then my hands were just on autopilot and did fine on their own.
- Guides:
More useful flashcards
Study Guide 2 was a .epub file of "Military Aviation Tests for Dummies" (something like that) that you can find floating around online.
*Oh! Some of the practice tests you can find online (hell even study guides posted by users here) have wrong answers in them for the Math and Mechanical portions. If you think an answer might be wrong, it very well could be.
Good luck! But don't do too good until my boards have convened
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Sonuvabitch. I just realized why I screwed up the UAV portion so badly from reading your post, Zac. On the flashcards, I would think "Heading SW, want W parking lot, therefore parking lot A" and I could do it near instantly. But on the test, as you know, the parking lots aren't labeled. You just click on the correct one. But because I had trained to think in terms of letters instead of position I got confused during the real test.
I'm really kicking myself for that one now, but if I have to take the ASTB again at least I know I'll do better on that.
I'm really kicking myself for that one now, but if I have to take the ASTB again at least I know I'll do better on that.