Took the ASTB on Friday for the first time and got 62 8/9/8. Studied for a couple weeks on and off. I’m certain that anyone can get scores like me if you study the right way. I was planning on applying to the Navy and the Air Force at the same time and took the AFOQT in May and got an awful score, 76(pilot)/48(navigator)/41(math)/21(English)/31(academic aptitude). When I studied for the AFOQT, I primarily did practice tests from study guides and online (which ended up not being the right way for me to do well). For the ASTB, I used the Barons 3rd edition military fight aptitude test book and the ASTB-E accepted inc. book. Barons study guide was way better than the accepted inc book (goes into more detail and explains all answers). When studying, I read every page of each section that was going to be on the test, even if I thought it was something I already knew, and
took notes. Taking notes while I read the books, the personal study guide on airwarriors, and any other study resource was the best decision I made. It’s really easy to let your eyes glaze over and not take in any of the information you’re reading. I never went back and looked at the notes, it’s just a really good way to make sure that you’re engaged in the reading and helps make the information stick with you. I ran out of time in the math, reading, and mechanical section. Aviation and nautical ended after 8 minutes.
Math:
Multiplying fractions, averages word problems, log question, probability of a certain number being rolled with two dice, which numbers are perfect numbers (6, 28, 496, 8128 I believe), a few fractional exponents. Did NOT get matrix multiplication. Make sure you go over even simple algebraic expressions, for example 2x/7=2x^2 and know how to solve for x. I forgot to go over simple stuff like that and it took me a couple minutes to figure it out. I ran out of time, but I was more concerned about making sure I got the right answer. Khan Academy is a great website to learn concepts you’re not sure of.
Reading:
One question per passage. Passages were not as long as I thought they would be. Some were 3-4 sentences and some were more like 8, which is still not a lot. There isn’t questions after you read the passage (What is the theme of this passage?), just four answer options and you pick the one that applies to the passage you just read. If the answer choice is not said specifically in the passage, even if it makes sense logically, it is not the right answer! Using process of elimination is most useful in this section. Read an answer, and if it not specifically stated in the passage you know it’s not the right answer.
https://crunchprep.com/gre-reading-comprehension-guide, I read this the night before the test. Ran out of time in this section.
Mechanical:
A couple simple pulley questions. If two barrels are filled with same liquid at different temperature what one floats higher. It gave three different temperatures in different units (Celsius, Fahrenheit, and Kelvin) and asked which one was the highest temperature. A few questions on electricity and circuits. Units of resistance (ohm) and how it affects current. If a rocket goes up at a certain acceleration, how high will it go. Velocity of a ball at different points of its flight path when hit by a baseball bat. Study this section in the books and the resources on this site. Ran out of time again.
Aviation and nautical:
Just as much nautical information as aviation information. Know parts of the ship (beam, bulkhead, etc). Know about the pitot tube on an airplane. Didn’t get any history questions surprisingly. Study books and info on here. There was a few random questions that would be very hard to study for so just know as much as you can. Section finished after 8 minutes.
UAV:
Study flashcards (The one where it shoes the real world map with the cone showing the direction of plane, not the ones were it shoes the heading with an arrow on a compass)
http://www.proprofs.com/flashcards/story.php?title=_36014. I got one wrong on the test. My average must have been at least 5 seconds per question.
Joystick, throttle and listening:
Joystick is inverted in y-axis. I went in with the mindset that it was going to be the worst thing ever and to not worry if I thought I was doing bad but I actually was able to do a decent job keeping the cursor on the target. It gets pretty crazy when you have to be doing three things at once and everything is just going all over the place but just stay as focused as you can. I hit the power off button on the monitor screen with the joystick when I pushed it forward (was freaking out for a second), but luckily I was right at the end of that section so it didn’t last more than a couple seconds. When the emergency scenario came, I wrote down how to correct each scenario. When the emergency came during the test, I stopped tracking the target with the joystick and throttle and fixed the emergency as fast as I could and then continued tracking and I scored pretty well.
I’ll attach some resources I used. Good luck!
