I took the ASTB for the first time this afternoon and I got "infamous" Version 4 this morning and scored 6/6/6 55. Despite my scores, overall I didn't feel it was as difficult as I was making it out to be. I was really nervous but once I got started it didn't seem so bad. I studied for a little over a week and I am not too happy with my scores. Even though I passed, they probably aren't competitive. That being said, I'm going to go ahead and apply for the next board because I don't have enough time to retake the exam and the next board isn't until June of 2013. Hopefully they will look at the "whole person" concept. If not, all of you who scored better have a bigger chance.
Here is my breakdown:
Math: This was the section I was most nervous about because time is off the essence and when practicing I would always take more than a minute per question. The math in the exam was much easier than Barron's or Arco however. There were only a few word problems and more basic algebra problems.
Reading Comp: This section was also much easier than the practice exams. The passages and paragraphs weren't nearly as long and I finished with plenty of time to go back and check. Sometimes it gets tricky though because some of the answers may all seem right. There is not much studying you can do here. Just read I guess.
Mech: Again, I was worried about this section too but it was easier than the study guides. There was stuff on MA, pulleys, gears, pressure. What I recommend for pressure is the equation pv=nrT. The study books are good on the information needed for this section.
Spatial App: I think this is the section were I got bent over and the reason my scores weren't as good as I wanted them to be. It was by far the most challenging for me. None of the study guides were even close. They only helped on the technique but even then it was difficult. The bank angles are more extreme and pictures aren't as clear. Some of them the plane wasn't heading straight to sea, straight to land, or down the coastline but rather at an angle of any of the three. I really wasn't expecting that. Lastly, there were 35 questions on this section. Not 30!!
Aviation Info: I didn't really study much because I have recently been taking some flight lessons (30 hours) and as far as it goes, Barron's has a good section on it. Know basic principles of flight, controls and surfaces and what they do, instruments. A little bit of weather too. Like density altitude and clouds. I didn't get many questions on nautical stuff.
Aviation Supp: This section was completely aviation knowledge. No math, no reading, no Spatial app, no Mech, just aviation info. The one weird question on here was what fluid does a purple pipe have on a carrier? I guessed fuel because of the "grapes" but I never saw that anywhere.
There are my two cents on the exam. If I get a "non-select" I will retake it and hopefully do better with another version.
To study, I used everything on this site. Atrick's study guide is very helpful. A lot of that info was on the exam. I used Barron's Book and Arco. I personally liked Barron's book better. You can get mostly everything for free. Just search around the web and in this site.
I hope this helps someone and if you have any specific questions don't hesitate to ask.
Good luck to everyone who will be taking the exam soon!
