Tjsimpson10
New Member
Did you practice any with inverted axis to improve the your PFAR or did you just change your approach and know what to expect??
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1,001 questions about the ASTB (post your scores & ask your questions here!)
- Thread starter edato
- Start date
Did you practice any with inverted axis to improve the your PFAR or did you just change your approach and know what to expect??
I didn't practice with inverted axis but I'm sure that would help some people. Honestly, knowing what to expect was my biggest advantage the second time around. If anyone is on the fence about retaking the test I would recommend it.
Tjsimpson10
New Member
Thanks, appreciate it!
Also, I know it exists somewhere on here but I cannot seem to find it.
Does anyone have the exact dichotic listening rules/procedures and the exact emergency scenarios handy?
Spent the last hour on here and cant seem to find them again.
LoneWanderer
Member
Hello everyone, I just took the computer version ASTB on 9/21/18 and scored a 65 8/8/8 on my first try. I wanted to share my experience of the test, as well as how I prepared, in the hopes of giving a little back to the community that helped me achieve these scores.
This is my first post, so if I do anything wrong, it’s not intentional. Also, sorry for the length of the post. This is a bit of a brain dump, but hopefully there is some useful knowledge in here too.
To the guy I met outside the recruiting office, D., who wanted to be an NFO, this is exactly what I did to prepare. Hope it helps you and anyone else who takes the time to read this essay of a post.
First, some background information for those interested:
I studied economics at UC Davis and graduated with a 3.6 GPA. Not a STEM major, but still fairly respectable in my opinion. Sadly, I did not graduate with honors (I was 0.05 points off), but I did graduate in 3 years. Didn’t play any sports in college, played football in high school but never played varsity. Little to no volunteer work. I have spent all of about 1 hour behind the controls of a plane. I also helped teach a welding class in college, so I have some leadership experience. Any advice people can give on motivational statements/interviews would be appreciated.
Second, how I prepared:
I studied for about a month before taking the test, which gave me plenty of time to prepare (though I was still worried I didn’t have enough time). I would estimate that I studied about 3-5 hours each day, every day. Counted in that time is all the hours I sunk into reading through the posts on AirWarriors, reading books, flashcards, study guides, etc.
I started out on AirWarriors going through the 1,001 Questions thread, skimming some posts and really paying attention to others where people described the test and how they prepared. There was this one post by redskins4789 (page 289 of the thread, #4,321) and I followed his instructions to the tee. I knew I wasn’t going to read the whole 297 pages of the thread, so I decided to instead read all posts made since the start of 2018 (which is still over 30 pages worth).
I read through the Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, found here: Pilot's Handbook Link. I only read the following chapters (quoted from redskins4789’s post): 3 (full chapter), 4 (full chapter), 5 (only pages 1-17), 6 (full chapter), 7 (only types of turbine engines and landing gear systems), 8 (pages 1-9), 11 (pages 1-12), 12 (pages 1-20), 14 (lights and markings), 15 (airspaces), 16 (pages 5-8), 17 (hypoxia and vertigo). There is way more information in this book than you will need for the test, but if you want to be an aviator, you will need to know it all eventually. Might as well get started now.
Another useful handbook is the NAVEDTRA, found here: NAVEDTRA Link. I read the following chapters (again, taken from redskins4789’s post): 1, 2 (aircraft designators), 3, 4, 6, and 7.
Study these religiously: ANIT Flashcard Link. Put them on shuffle so you don’t just memorize the answers in order and go over them again every few days or so.
These formulas may come in handy: Physics Formulas Flashcards Link, though I don’t think I really needed them on the test.
I memorized Naval ratings with these: Naval Ratings Flashcards Link.
I also suggest going through these mechanical comprehension flashcards: MCT Flashcards Link. They are pretty bad, and there are some incorrect answers in them, so be really careful. If you can spot the incorrect answers it means your studying is paying off. I wouldn’t recommend going through them more than once, however, because you don’t want to memorize any incorrect information. Sadly, these are the best MCT flashcards I could find. FYI, ProProfs site does not play nice with FireFox, so use Chrome to study these.
For the UAV flashcards, I used this site: UAV Flashcards Link. Study these on shuffle so it’s not too easy to guess the correct answer. You will also need to know the compass trick, which is taught in this video: Compass Trick Video Link. I started out using the compass trick, but figured out how to get the answer without the compass, just in case I wasn’t allowed to use the trick during the test (which turned out not to be an issue). Basically, without the compass, it’s pretty easy to figure out the directions on your immediate left and right given a heading. For example if you’re traveling SW, then West is on your right and South is on your left. To find North pick the direction opposite of South, and to find East, pick the direction opposite of West. Difficult to explain just in writing, but it becomes pretty intuitive if you practice. Using the compass trick, I could figure out a question in just under 3 seconds on average, and without the compass, I was just over 3 seconds on average.
Also studied on Khan Academy. There are a lot of videos on there, useful to re-teach yourself any math and physics you may have forgotten since college or high school. I would watch them on 1.25x speed because the guys tend to talk a little too slow for me. There are some practice problems on this site too, but really they are too easy compared to what you find on the ASTB.
Looked up a video on dichotic listening, which is here: Dichotic Listening Video Link. You’ll need headphones for it to work, and while it doesn’t mirror exactly what is on the ASTB, it’s good to know what it sounds like before the test. Honestly, I didn’t practice this at all, I just watched the video twice to get a feeling for it.
For practicing the stick and throttle, I remember reading a post that suggested the game War Thunder. It’s free to play and you can get it on Steam. I played the single-player missions, which are kind of difficult to find in the menus, but they’re in there. Make sure to use a controller and invert the Y-axis. If you push down on the control stick (towards yourself) the plane should climb, and vice versa. It is really important to get used to this inversion because that is how it works on the test. I played about 4 hours of this game and wish I played more.
For books, I went to my library and checked out every book on military flight aptitude tests available. I picked up a copy of Barron’s, ARCO, and Learning Express. They were all old (I think one was from 2004) and therefore had the Spatial Apperception test where you’re given the view out of a cockpit and need to determine the attitude of the plane. This has been replaced by the UAV portion of the test, so I skipped it in the books. Also, all the book practice tests had very short time limits, for example, you had to answer 30 math problems in 25 minutes. I always ran out of time doing these practice tests, but it taught me to be quick. On the real test, you have something like 40 minutes for 20 math questions, but it doesn’t hurt to know how to work fast. I read through each book, only reading the material related to the ASTB, and completed all the practice tests. My suggestion, read the material first, do the practice tests last. The books helped a lot, but I still think that the problems on the real ASTB were much more difficult than anything I saw in the books.
Third, what my test experience was like:
I went in pretty confident, expecting (hoping) for straight 7s. During the test, I felt I was doing so badly that I told myself it was going to be a practice run for my second attempt. Ended up being really surprised when I saw my results, which come up right after you finish the test.
I brought with me a jacket, some snacks, water, and earplugs. If I did it again, and could only bring one thing, it would be the earlpugs. My room was a little chilly, but not so bad as to warrant a jacket. I didn’t touch the snacks, and the water only made me have to use the restroom. The earplugs were a saving grace, however, because it seemed like there was always someone talking outside. Don’t go in to the test without a pair.
For the MST, I answered a lot of questions (not sure how many) and finished with less than 5 minutes to spare. The questions were tough: I saw a couple logarithm questions, a few probability questions, a fair amount of DRT questions, and I don’t know what else. Never got a binary or base 4 code question, although I did prepare for it. I felt like I guessed a lot, a theme that kept recurring during my test, but did my best to make educated guesses. If you’re ever stuck on a question, figure out which answers are wrong, work backwards by plugging the answers into the question, do anything to give yourself an edge over blindly guessing. I did see the perfect number question (answer is 496), you just have to memorize these. One really tough log question was logv3(logv8(logv10(x)))=-1, solve for x (with v indicating the log's base). I had to guess on that, but I tried to work backwards from the answers. Another algebra question I saw was (x^(-4/5)-x^(-1/5))/x^(-3/5)=-3.5. I managed to simplify it some, but I still had to guess on it. One word problem I remember went like this: There are 3 painters that can paint a house in 12 hours. Assume each painter works at the same speed. If these 3 painters work for 3 hours, and then another painter joins them after the third hour, and each additional hour spent working another painter joins in, how many hours does it take to paint the house? That was difficult to just figure out what the question was asking, let alone solve it. I was definitely getting nervous at this point, but that was only the first section of the test.
The RCT was much better than I anticipated. Everyone on AirWarriors said that the passages they give you to read are just dry, boring Navy stuff you would expect to find in a dusty book on some JAG’s office shelf. There was plenty of that, but there were also some passages that had nothing to do with the military and were exactly what you would expect to find in, say, the GRE. Overall, this is a fairly straightforward part of the test. Read the passage carefully, read the answers, read the passage again even more carefully when you discover you don’t know what the hell you just read, then answer the question. Many of the answers are trying to trick you, they may be correct, but there is one even more correct answer and you should pick that one. It helps to write down A, B, C, and D and cross out the answers that you have ruled out. This is much easier than keeping track of it in your head. Also, remember that all the information you need is contained in the passage, don’t bring in any outside knowledge because it will only hinder you. Lastly, know the difference between shall, should, may, etc. This site covers it for the most part: Navy Writing Guide Link. Basically, shall means has to, or must. I think I finished this section with even less time than when I was done with the math portion of the test.
The MCT is really a mix of physics and mechanical questions. This section is in some ways easier than the previous sections as you only have to choose between 3 answers instead of 4. Also, if there is any math involved you can mostly do it in your head (4÷2, 6×5, that sort of thing). The only advice I can give is understand the concepts of physics and understand them well. Know that immovable pulleys don’t provide mechanical advantage, even when strung together in a sequence, they just change the direction of the force. Know how to balance a lever, and the different classes of a lever. I can’t really remember any questions, I guess nothing stood out. You have 15 minutes to complete this section and I think I had a little less than 7 minutes left when I was done.
You are given a 15 minute break after completing the OAR section of the test. Use it. Go to the restroom even if you don’t have to go. You don’t want to be holding in anything when you're using the joystick and throttle.
After the break, you start out with the ANIT. I saw a few questions regarding the principles of flight, and some history questions. I think I did really well on this section because I blazed through it and got kicked out pretty fast. The Pilot’s Handbook is really useful for this section, but the history can be hard to study for. Know the important stuff, but there is so much history to the Navy that you can’t know everything. One question I remember went something like this: During the Iraqi conflict, which aircraft were repurposed as tankers? I had no idea, but figured that fighter jets probably wouldn’t do well as tankers. You have 15 minutes for this section and I think I got through it in less than 5.
The NATFI, which comes next, is just one long slew of questions. You can’t really game it, as there are so many questions and so little time. Be honest, but the general advice is to think aggressive.
Next up was the UAV portion. I remember one post saying they were caught using the compass trick during the test and told it wasn’t allowed. When I went in, the man who helped set up my computer specifically told me there might be a section where drawing a compass could be useful. Just thought that was funny. Anyway, I practiced this a lot, and had gotten pretty good, but I choked during the test. On the screen, you see a map with a yellow arrow pointing to a red dot. The arrow is pointing in the direction which you are heading. Then, you are told your target direction through the headphones. When you get the question right, you see a green circle and hear a good noise, if you get it wrong then the circle is red and you hear a bad noise. It also tells you how long it took to answer the question. When I practiced with flashcards, I would get maybe 1 wrong. During the test, I think I got about 5 wrong, and I took as long as 5 seconds to answer some questions. I know I could have done better on this part of the test, but I was stressed out and performed poorly. For whatever reason, I still got pretty good scores.
The last portion of the test is dichotic listening, throttle, and joystick. First you complete each task individually, then you work the throttle and joystick together, then you have to do all three simultaneously, and for the last portion you have to use the throttle and joystick while responding to three different emergencies. The throttle and joystick you use are the Saitek Pro Flight X52 Flight Control System (at least that’s what mine looked like), and the headphones you are given are the over-the-ear type.
For the listening task, you hear numbers and letters in different ears. Sometimes you here numbers in both ears, sometimes you hear letters in both ears, sometimes you hear a number in one ear and a letter in the other. You are told your “target ear,” which ear to focus on, and then the task begins. You will have to switch target ears throughout the task. If you hear an even number in the target ear, you must pull the trigger on the joystick (which is in your right hand). If you hear an odd number in your target ear, you must click the I button (also referred to as the clutch button) on the throttle which is in your left hand. People have suggested you lean towards your target ear. Not really sure if it helps, but I still leaned.
The throttle tracking is pretty easy on its own. There is a target that moves and you have to make the reticule move up and down to stay on the target. The reticule is green when you are on target and red when you are off. The throttle works like this: if you center the throttle, the reticule doesn’t move, and if you move the throttle, the more you push in one direction, the faster the reticule moves. The target starts off moving pretty slow and then gradually moves faster and more erratically as time progresses.
The joystick portion is a lot like the throttle portion. One important thing to note is that up and down are inverted, just like the control stick of an airplane. Again, the reticule changes between green and red when you are on and off target. The target begins by making a slow straight movement, then circles around in an area, then moves elsewhere and circles again. As the difficulty ramps up, the target moves faster and the circles are wider and occur less frequently. This part is tough.
Doing throttle and joystick together ups the ante. Use your peripheral vision to track the throttle. If you see green, you’re good, if you see red, get on target. When dichotic listening is added, just keep going. I remember someone said they felt like a hot mess during this portion of the test, and I have to agree.
Next the emergency scenarios are added, but good news is that the listening task is not part of this. There are three separate emergencies: fire, engine, and propeller. Before the task begins, you are given instructions on how to solve each emergency, write them down. There are two dials on the throttle, one on top (E dial) and one on the front (I dial), that control fuel and power. Then there is the clutch button (I button) in the center of the front dial (I dial). All the way left is 0% and all the way right is 100% for both dials. For the fire emergency, both dials need to be 0%, then you hit the clutch button. For the engine emergency, both dials need to be set to 100%, then you hit the clutch button. For the propeller emergency, one dial (I want to say fuel) is set to 50% and the other is set to 100% (or maybe 0%, I can’t quite remember), then you hit the clutch button. You experience a total of 3 emergencies during this task, and when one occurs you are told through the headphones “Warning, the Fire/Engine/Propeller light is on!” telling you exactly which emergency to deal with. Deal with it quickly, which is really easy if you have the instructions written down, then get back to tracking. If you can manage, deal with the emergency with one hand while continuing to track both targets. I had the fire emergency first, then the engine emergency. I figured I would get the propeller emergency next, and prepared in advance for it, but instead got another fire emergency. This just goes to show that you will get a random mix of emergencies.
After this, you are done. Breath a sigh of relief and await your scores (the BI-RV is no longer a part of the ASTB).
One quick note on selection. Can’t say for sure if I will make SNA, but my recruiter basically said it would be hard not to get picked with my scores. The minimums he gave me for SNA before the test were a 2.5 GPA, 35 OAR, 5 AQR, 6 PFAR, and 6 FOFAR. There is a fast track right now for 7/7/8 scores, which I luckily fall into. Hopefully I get selected, and if I do, maybe I’ll see some of you at OCS or flight school.
This is my first post, so if I do anything wrong, it’s not intentional. Also, sorry for the length of the post. This is a bit of a brain dump, but hopefully there is some useful knowledge in here too.
To the guy I met outside the recruiting office, D., who wanted to be an NFO, this is exactly what I did to prepare. Hope it helps you and anyone else who takes the time to read this essay of a post.
First, some background information for those interested:
I studied economics at UC Davis and graduated with a 3.6 GPA. Not a STEM major, but still fairly respectable in my opinion. Sadly, I did not graduate with honors (I was 0.05 points off), but I did graduate in 3 years. Didn’t play any sports in college, played football in high school but never played varsity. Little to no volunteer work. I have spent all of about 1 hour behind the controls of a plane. I also helped teach a welding class in college, so I have some leadership experience. Any advice people can give on motivational statements/interviews would be appreciated.
Second, how I prepared:
I studied for about a month before taking the test, which gave me plenty of time to prepare (though I was still worried I didn’t have enough time). I would estimate that I studied about 3-5 hours each day, every day. Counted in that time is all the hours I sunk into reading through the posts on AirWarriors, reading books, flashcards, study guides, etc.
I started out on AirWarriors going through the 1,001 Questions thread, skimming some posts and really paying attention to others where people described the test and how they prepared. There was this one post by redskins4789 (page 289 of the thread, #4,321) and I followed his instructions to the tee. I knew I wasn’t going to read the whole 297 pages of the thread, so I decided to instead read all posts made since the start of 2018 (which is still over 30 pages worth).
I read through the Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, found here: Pilot's Handbook Link. I only read the following chapters (quoted from redskins4789’s post): 3 (full chapter), 4 (full chapter), 5 (only pages 1-17), 6 (full chapter), 7 (only types of turbine engines and landing gear systems), 8 (pages 1-9), 11 (pages 1-12), 12 (pages 1-20), 14 (lights and markings), 15 (airspaces), 16 (pages 5-8), 17 (hypoxia and vertigo). There is way more information in this book than you will need for the test, but if you want to be an aviator, you will need to know it all eventually. Might as well get started now.
Another useful handbook is the NAVEDTRA, found here: NAVEDTRA Link. I read the following chapters (again, taken from redskins4789’s post): 1, 2 (aircraft designators), 3, 4, 6, and 7.
Study these religiously: ANIT Flashcard Link. Put them on shuffle so you don’t just memorize the answers in order and go over them again every few days or so.
These formulas may come in handy: Physics Formulas Flashcards Link, though I don’t think I really needed them on the test.
I memorized Naval ratings with these: Naval Ratings Flashcards Link.
I also suggest going through these mechanical comprehension flashcards: MCT Flashcards Link. They are pretty bad, and there are some incorrect answers in them, so be really careful. If you can spot the incorrect answers it means your studying is paying off. I wouldn’t recommend going through them more than once, however, because you don’t want to memorize any incorrect information. Sadly, these are the best MCT flashcards I could find. FYI, ProProfs site does not play nice with FireFox, so use Chrome to study these.
For the UAV flashcards, I used this site: UAV Flashcards Link. Study these on shuffle so it’s not too easy to guess the correct answer. You will also need to know the compass trick, which is taught in this video: Compass Trick Video Link. I started out using the compass trick, but figured out how to get the answer without the compass, just in case I wasn’t allowed to use the trick during the test (which turned out not to be an issue). Basically, without the compass, it’s pretty easy to figure out the directions on your immediate left and right given a heading. For example if you’re traveling SW, then West is on your right and South is on your left. To find North pick the direction opposite of South, and to find East, pick the direction opposite of West. Difficult to explain just in writing, but it becomes pretty intuitive if you practice. Using the compass trick, I could figure out a question in just under 3 seconds on average, and without the compass, I was just over 3 seconds on average.
Also studied on Khan Academy. There are a lot of videos on there, useful to re-teach yourself any math and physics you may have forgotten since college or high school. I would watch them on 1.25x speed because the guys tend to talk a little too slow for me. There are some practice problems on this site too, but really they are too easy compared to what you find on the ASTB.
Looked up a video on dichotic listening, which is here: Dichotic Listening Video Link. You’ll need headphones for it to work, and while it doesn’t mirror exactly what is on the ASTB, it’s good to know what it sounds like before the test. Honestly, I didn’t practice this at all, I just watched the video twice to get a feeling for it.
For practicing the stick and throttle, I remember reading a post that suggested the game War Thunder. It’s free to play and you can get it on Steam. I played the single-player missions, which are kind of difficult to find in the menus, but they’re in there. Make sure to use a controller and invert the Y-axis. If you push down on the control stick (towards yourself) the plane should climb, and vice versa. It is really important to get used to this inversion because that is how it works on the test. I played about 4 hours of this game and wish I played more.
For books, I went to my library and checked out every book on military flight aptitude tests available. I picked up a copy of Barron’s, ARCO, and Learning Express. They were all old (I think one was from 2004) and therefore had the Spatial Apperception test where you’re given the view out of a cockpit and need to determine the attitude of the plane. This has been replaced by the UAV portion of the test, so I skipped it in the books. Also, all the book practice tests had very short time limits, for example, you had to answer 30 math problems in 25 minutes. I always ran out of time doing these practice tests, but it taught me to be quick. On the real test, you have something like 40 minutes for 20 math questions, but it doesn’t hurt to know how to work fast. I read through each book, only reading the material related to the ASTB, and completed all the practice tests. My suggestion, read the material first, do the practice tests last. The books helped a lot, but I still think that the problems on the real ASTB were much more difficult than anything I saw in the books.
Third, what my test experience was like:
I went in pretty confident, expecting (hoping) for straight 7s. During the test, I felt I was doing so badly that I told myself it was going to be a practice run for my second attempt. Ended up being really surprised when I saw my results, which come up right after you finish the test.
I brought with me a jacket, some snacks, water, and earplugs. If I did it again, and could only bring one thing, it would be the earlpugs. My room was a little chilly, but not so bad as to warrant a jacket. I didn’t touch the snacks, and the water only made me have to use the restroom. The earplugs were a saving grace, however, because it seemed like there was always someone talking outside. Don’t go in to the test without a pair.
For the MST, I answered a lot of questions (not sure how many) and finished with less than 5 minutes to spare. The questions were tough: I saw a couple logarithm questions, a few probability questions, a fair amount of DRT questions, and I don’t know what else. Never got a binary or base 4 code question, although I did prepare for it. I felt like I guessed a lot, a theme that kept recurring during my test, but did my best to make educated guesses. If you’re ever stuck on a question, figure out which answers are wrong, work backwards by plugging the answers into the question, do anything to give yourself an edge over blindly guessing. I did see the perfect number question (answer is 496), you just have to memorize these. One really tough log question was logv3(logv8(logv10(x)))=-1, solve for x (with v indicating the log's base). I had to guess on that, but I tried to work backwards from the answers. Another algebra question I saw was (x^(-4/5)-x^(-1/5))/x^(-3/5)=-3.5. I managed to simplify it some, but I still had to guess on it. One word problem I remember went like this: There are 3 painters that can paint a house in 12 hours. Assume each painter works at the same speed. If these 3 painters work for 3 hours, and then another painter joins them after the third hour, and each additional hour spent working another painter joins in, how many hours does it take to paint the house? That was difficult to just figure out what the question was asking, let alone solve it. I was definitely getting nervous at this point, but that was only the first section of the test.
The RCT was much better than I anticipated. Everyone on AirWarriors said that the passages they give you to read are just dry, boring Navy stuff you would expect to find in a dusty book on some JAG’s office shelf. There was plenty of that, but there were also some passages that had nothing to do with the military and were exactly what you would expect to find in, say, the GRE. Overall, this is a fairly straightforward part of the test. Read the passage carefully, read the answers, read the passage again even more carefully when you discover you don’t know what the hell you just read, then answer the question. Many of the answers are trying to trick you, they may be correct, but there is one even more correct answer and you should pick that one. It helps to write down A, B, C, and D and cross out the answers that you have ruled out. This is much easier than keeping track of it in your head. Also, remember that all the information you need is contained in the passage, don’t bring in any outside knowledge because it will only hinder you. Lastly, know the difference between shall, should, may, etc. This site covers it for the most part: Navy Writing Guide Link. Basically, shall means has to, or must. I think I finished this section with even less time than when I was done with the math portion of the test.
The MCT is really a mix of physics and mechanical questions. This section is in some ways easier than the previous sections as you only have to choose between 3 answers instead of 4. Also, if there is any math involved you can mostly do it in your head (4÷2, 6×5, that sort of thing). The only advice I can give is understand the concepts of physics and understand them well. Know that immovable pulleys don’t provide mechanical advantage, even when strung together in a sequence, they just change the direction of the force. Know how to balance a lever, and the different classes of a lever. I can’t really remember any questions, I guess nothing stood out. You have 15 minutes to complete this section and I think I had a little less than 7 minutes left when I was done.
You are given a 15 minute break after completing the OAR section of the test. Use it. Go to the restroom even if you don’t have to go. You don’t want to be holding in anything when you're using the joystick and throttle.
After the break, you start out with the ANIT. I saw a few questions regarding the principles of flight, and some history questions. I think I did really well on this section because I blazed through it and got kicked out pretty fast. The Pilot’s Handbook is really useful for this section, but the history can be hard to study for. Know the important stuff, but there is so much history to the Navy that you can’t know everything. One question I remember went something like this: During the Iraqi conflict, which aircraft were repurposed as tankers? I had no idea, but figured that fighter jets probably wouldn’t do well as tankers. You have 15 minutes for this section and I think I got through it in less than 5.
The NATFI, which comes next, is just one long slew of questions. You can’t really game it, as there are so many questions and so little time. Be honest, but the general advice is to think aggressive.
Next up was the UAV portion. I remember one post saying they were caught using the compass trick during the test and told it wasn’t allowed. When I went in, the man who helped set up my computer specifically told me there might be a section where drawing a compass could be useful. Just thought that was funny. Anyway, I practiced this a lot, and had gotten pretty good, but I choked during the test. On the screen, you see a map with a yellow arrow pointing to a red dot. The arrow is pointing in the direction which you are heading. Then, you are told your target direction through the headphones. When you get the question right, you see a green circle and hear a good noise, if you get it wrong then the circle is red and you hear a bad noise. It also tells you how long it took to answer the question. When I practiced with flashcards, I would get maybe 1 wrong. During the test, I think I got about 5 wrong, and I took as long as 5 seconds to answer some questions. I know I could have done better on this part of the test, but I was stressed out and performed poorly. For whatever reason, I still got pretty good scores.
The last portion of the test is dichotic listening, throttle, and joystick. First you complete each task individually, then you work the throttle and joystick together, then you have to do all three simultaneously, and for the last portion you have to use the throttle and joystick while responding to three different emergencies. The throttle and joystick you use are the Saitek Pro Flight X52 Flight Control System (at least that’s what mine looked like), and the headphones you are given are the over-the-ear type.
For the listening task, you hear numbers and letters in different ears. Sometimes you here numbers in both ears, sometimes you hear letters in both ears, sometimes you hear a number in one ear and a letter in the other. You are told your “target ear,” which ear to focus on, and then the task begins. You will have to switch target ears throughout the task. If you hear an even number in the target ear, you must pull the trigger on the joystick (which is in your right hand). If you hear an odd number in your target ear, you must click the I button (also referred to as the clutch button) on the throttle which is in your left hand. People have suggested you lean towards your target ear. Not really sure if it helps, but I still leaned.
The throttle tracking is pretty easy on its own. There is a target that moves and you have to make the reticule move up and down to stay on the target. The reticule is green when you are on target and red when you are off. The throttle works like this: if you center the throttle, the reticule doesn’t move, and if you move the throttle, the more you push in one direction, the faster the reticule moves. The target starts off moving pretty slow and then gradually moves faster and more erratically as time progresses.
The joystick portion is a lot like the throttle portion. One important thing to note is that up and down are inverted, just like the control stick of an airplane. Again, the reticule changes between green and red when you are on and off target. The target begins by making a slow straight movement, then circles around in an area, then moves elsewhere and circles again. As the difficulty ramps up, the target moves faster and the circles are wider and occur less frequently. This part is tough.
Doing throttle and joystick together ups the ante. Use your peripheral vision to track the throttle. If you see green, you’re good, if you see red, get on target. When dichotic listening is added, just keep going. I remember someone said they felt like a hot mess during this portion of the test, and I have to agree.
Next the emergency scenarios are added, but good news is that the listening task is not part of this. There are three separate emergencies: fire, engine, and propeller. Before the task begins, you are given instructions on how to solve each emergency, write them down. There are two dials on the throttle, one on top (E dial) and one on the front (I dial), that control fuel and power. Then there is the clutch button (I button) in the center of the front dial (I dial). All the way left is 0% and all the way right is 100% for both dials. For the fire emergency, both dials need to be 0%, then you hit the clutch button. For the engine emergency, both dials need to be set to 100%, then you hit the clutch button. For the propeller emergency, one dial (I want to say fuel) is set to 50% and the other is set to 100% (or maybe 0%, I can’t quite remember), then you hit the clutch button. You experience a total of 3 emergencies during this task, and when one occurs you are told through the headphones “Warning, the Fire/Engine/Propeller light is on!” telling you exactly which emergency to deal with. Deal with it quickly, which is really easy if you have the instructions written down, then get back to tracking. If you can manage, deal with the emergency with one hand while continuing to track both targets. I had the fire emergency first, then the engine emergency. I figured I would get the propeller emergency next, and prepared in advance for it, but instead got another fire emergency. This just goes to show that you will get a random mix of emergencies.
After this, you are done. Breath a sigh of relief and await your scores (the BI-RV is no longer a part of the ASTB).
One quick note on selection. Can’t say for sure if I will make SNA, but my recruiter basically said it would be hard not to get picked with my scores. The minimums he gave me for SNA before the test were a 2.5 GPA, 35 OAR, 5 AQR, 6 PFAR, and 6 FOFAR. There is a fast track right now for 7/7/8 scores, which I luckily fall into. Hopefully I get selected, and if I do, maybe I’ll see some of you at OCS or flight school.
Drod2214
Popeye
Hello all, quick question. I am in my last semester at a state maritime academy and want to put in a package for OCS SWO. My only concern is my GPA, currently it is a 2.8 and with this being my last semester I’ll probably graduate with a 2.8 or 2.9.my question is since the navy requests all past transcripts from every college and community college you have been to and then gets your cumulative GPA from that, would it be a good idea to take some easy classes a a local community college for a semester after I graduate to kind of raise that cumulative GPA?
Assuming you have a 2.8 after 120 credits (typical Bachelor's degree), even if you got a straight 4.0 with a 15 credit semester at a community college, your cumulative only goes up to 2.93, and now you're out hundreds or thousands of dollars. I'd focus more on getting a solid OAR score, since you can improve that a lot more than your GPA at this point.
chinky187
Cbass
thank you for the details!! I got my test monday and will be studying your post!
FormerRecruitingGuru
Making Recruiting Great Again
So what’s your plan if you have to ship late January / early February and the next aviation board isn’t till February?
chinky187
Cbass
im not sure I follow? but I anticipate to retake the test my 3rd and final time. if so, then I have to wait another 30 days to take it. So I will take my time on studying. should I wait?
rckmorty123
New Member
Hello all...
Just took my first OAR (just the OAR sections).
Well, I didn't do so well. 44. It's on a computer and looks like I really was not prepared for it. I thought I was...
Here are some things I've learned to be prepared for the (hopefully) my final second exam.
MATH:
I need more practice, practice, PRACTICE. I had D = RT, some algebraic solving (x2-2)/(x^2-6x+8) type of problem, probability (mixed bags), had a complex one with a probability of finding female student and/or male student that likes car or something with the table showing female, male, type of cars.
*biggest question is am I suppose to finish as much as I can and try to best guess answers on things I don't know? Also, is it better to answer/guess all then not finish and leave them blank/ or run out of time? Lastly, How do you know if you finished answering all the questions? Does the computer tell you?
Reading:
Reading a paragraph passage and has questions asking some were tricky or talking about something completely different. (I dont think I finished them)
Mechanical Comp.
Everything was conceptual and understanding physics. Nothing was solving. Had a two trains going the same direction and a person in the middle. which had a higher pitch? ; something with two bullets (one dropped, from rest) other fired in a horizontal line; a boy is in center of gravity of the merry go around or something and moves outward find what happens (gives 3 choices, usually). *where can I get this type of conceptual problem to study?
** Things to do so I don't get kick the living shit out of me, again.: NEED to STUDY WAY MORE, Practice to be faster.
Also, Whats a good collective practice book, site that people recommend?
I did look through some page 289 area (REALLY helpful and thank you all the MVPs =) but mechanical comp killed me). Well, thanks for reading and preparing for my second attempt in 30 days or more. Any feedback would be appreciated!
Just took my first OAR (just the OAR sections).
Well, I didn't do so well. 44. It's on a computer and looks like I really was not prepared for it. I thought I was...
Here are some things I've learned to be prepared for the (hopefully) my final second exam.
MATH:
I need more practice, practice, PRACTICE. I had D = RT, some algebraic solving (x2-2)/(x^2-6x+8) type of problem, probability (mixed bags), had a complex one with a probability of finding female student and/or male student that likes car or something with the table showing female, male, type of cars.
*biggest question is am I suppose to finish as much as I can and try to best guess answers on things I don't know? Also, is it better to answer/guess all then not finish and leave them blank/ or run out of time? Lastly, How do you know if you finished answering all the questions? Does the computer tell you?
Reading:
Reading a paragraph passage and has questions asking some were tricky or talking about something completely different. (I dont think I finished them)
Mechanical Comp.
Everything was conceptual and understanding physics. Nothing was solving. Had a two trains going the same direction and a person in the middle. which had a higher pitch? ; something with two bullets (one dropped, from rest) other fired in a horizontal line; a boy is in center of gravity of the merry go around or something and moves outward find what happens (gives 3 choices, usually). *where can I get this type of conceptual problem to study?
** Things to do so I don't get kick the living shit out of me, again.: NEED to STUDY WAY MORE, Practice to be faster.
Also, Whats a good collective practice book, site that people recommend?
I did look through some page 289 area (REALLY helpful and thank you all the MVPs =) but mechanical comp killed me). Well, thanks for reading and preparing for my second attempt in 30 days or more. Any feedback would be appreciated!
rckmorty123
New Member
Hello, congrats!
I am preparing for the second round as well. Did 44. Which of Gauges really helped you to be prepared for the MECH Section as well as MATH?
Let me know. Thank you.
I am preparing for the second round as well. Did 44. Which of Gauges really helped you to be prepared for the MECH Section as well as MATH?
Let me know. Thank you.
chinky187
Cbass
You have to search around yourself brotha.
FormerRecruitingGuru
Making Recruiting Great Again
You’re not getting it. With the next board being 5 February, how are you going to be able to ship out before aging out at 27?
I don't remember being able to leave things blank, so probably don't do that. If you don't know, take your best guess. The computer will decide how many questions you get based on how you've been answering. Don't nuke it. Just answer each question and don't take forever on a single one.
chinky187
Cbass
the cut off is 27 ONLY for pilot, correct?