Aaron Gutterman
New Member
So if im only taking the oar how is the score decided with only 3 test instead of all? Thanks
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1,001 questions about the ASTB (post your scores & ask your questions here!)
- Thread starter edato
- Start date
So if im only taking the oar how is the score decided with only 3 test instead of all? Thanks
Your OAR score is only based on the first three tests. If you don't take the other four tests, then you won't receive AQR/PFAR/FOFAR scores.
Aaron Gutterman
New Member
Cool thanks. Im just going for swo so only need oar test. What im really looking for is how those 3 test are averaged.
Hey everyone,
I am studying for the ANIT portion of the ASTB right now and am having a hard time finding the answer to one question that seems to be popping up pretty often.
What plane was converted to an air tanker during Desert Storm?
Before anyone grills me about using the search function, I have repeatedly and have only come upon one answer that may be correct, so I would like to double check with all of you. I believe that the correct answer is the KA-6D but I also saw that the S-3 Viking was listed. I believe the S-3 was used after Desert Storm during OEF/OIF. If you guys could confirm that the KA-6D is the right answer I would appreciate the help!
Thanks.
I am studying for the ANIT portion of the ASTB right now and am having a hard time finding the answer to one question that seems to be popping up pretty often.
What plane was converted to an air tanker during Desert Storm?
Before anyone grills me about using the search function, I have repeatedly and have only come upon one answer that may be correct, so I would like to double check with all of you. I believe that the correct answer is the KA-6D but I also saw that the S-3 Viking was listed. I believe the S-3 was used after Desert Storm during OEF/OIF. If you guys could confirm that the KA-6D is the right answer I would appreciate the help!
Thanks.
Hey everybody. I just took the ASTB yesterday and scored a 72/9/9/9. Y'all were a huge help in sourcing gouges and providing good answers to test- and Navy-related questions, so thank you to everybody who continues to post good information. I'm planning on going to MEPS next week and submitting my packet for the September boards. First choice is pilot, second is NFO.
I don't have a lot of advice for the test that hasn't already been said, but hopefully some of the info below will be helpful to somebody.
_____
Math
I have always been good at math, so I was least worried about this section. I used OpenStax to brush up on things I haven't studied in a while, and I attached a ~110 question study guide (OAR Math Guide) that covers everything you might be tested on (except matrix multiplication, which I wasn't tested on). The 'Air Warriors Study Material' gouge was really great for brushing up on exponent rules and logs. I've heard WolframAlpha has a good math problem generator, but I believe you have to pay $6-8 a month to use it. If math is an area you would like to improve it may be worth it. FiveThirtyEight also posts a math/statistics riddle every Friday, and that's a really good way to learn a few applied concepts.
Reading Comprehension
I didn't love this test, but the advice of 'eliminate obviously wrong answers then pick the one that infers the least' held pretty true. Avoid things that say always/never and things that use information never mentioned in the passage. I didn't do much to practice this other than read a lot. The book Infinitesimal was good practice because it was kinda boring and featured a technical subject matter. Sidenote: support your local bookstore.
I have a feeling this subtest brought my OAR down the most, so I don't feel like a good resource here.
Mechanical Aptitude
My mom is a physics teacher, so I learned a lot of this when I was younger. I primarily used the Barron's book to brush up on stuff, and I got a book from my local library (I think it was Military Flight Aptitude Tests for Dummies) to learn a little more about circuits. I used the practice tests Peterson's book (attached below) and the Barron's book to figure out what I didn't know and used Google to look up videos/websites for those concepts.
Aviation and Nautical Information
This was the part I was most worried about (at least that I could study for), and I hit it hard. These flash cards were super helpful for learning the basics. The website and the app have a 'Cram Mode' which tests you on cards you get wrong more frequently than ones you get right. One of the gouges I attached below helped cover a lot of the other history questions. I made ~200 flash cards covering history, carrier jersey colors (know what every person wears, not just the grapes and medical), and the ship/squadron designations from the Barron's book. I also made sure to know the designations for all currently-active aircraft, which you can find on the Navy's website. It was definitely overkill, but I didn't want to leave any room for error.
The FAA manual has a lot of great visuals and information for this test. If you have time to read the whole thing I would recommend it. It's one thing to know what everything is. It's another to know how they work and why they are they way they are. The gouge called 'Air Warriors Study Material' was where I got a lot of the additional history questions not included in the Cram flash cards.
Best advice I can give for this one is to study flash cards for literally every second you have free. If I had five minutes before a meeting at work, or I was waiting for food to cook, or stuck in rush hour I would have my flash cards up. This test is a lot of memorization, and the best way to memorize things is through repetition.
NATFI
This part is definitely hard on your self-esteem. Everybody says it, and it's true. Overall themes were things like working in groups, taking ownership of your mistakes, following the rules, and working hard. Whenever I said I was bad at a certain thing I tried to say I was good at it the next time. Just go with your gut.
Performance Based Measures
I was feeling bad about myself after the NATFI and this didn't make me feel any better.
Dichotic listening was pretty easy. Lean your head in the direction it tells you to listen.
I had practiced UAV a lot (these flash cards are good) and my response time was between 1 and 1.25 seconds for the test. Make sure you repeat the practice a lot. Figure out a system that works for you. I trained myself to read the direction of the parking lot you need to select first, then looked at the map, then clicked the parking lot. I was able to select a parking lot before the voice finished reading by doing this and I only got one wrong.
Vertical and 2D tracking were both tough. The practice rounds were definitely harder than the start of the tests. They got harder as time went on and I never felt like I was doing super well. The sensitivity on the controls was very weird. The crosshairs would go from moving much slower than the target to much faster than the target. I tried to let the target get away from me, go really fast to get close, then slow down when I was getting near the green zone.
Vertical + 2D + Dichotic Listening was a mess. Half of my focus was on the 2D because it seemed like it would be weighted highest. I focused a little more on vertical tracking than dichotic listening. Another user pointed out that dichotic listening was the only part that you could do perfectly on, so I could really see either one (vertical or listening) being a good second priority.
Write the emergency procedures down. After calibrating the controls I made sure my knobs were both at 0% so I didn't have to remember which direction to turn them to increase the fuel/engine during the test. I stopped what I was doing and got the emergency stuff out of the way whenever one came up and went right back to flying when everything was normal. I didn't feel like I was keeping up with the targets anyway so I figured getting points for the emergencies was better than nothing.
_____
This ended up being a lot longer than I expected. Overall, the best advice I could give is don't do it halfway. If you plan on taking this test, study your ass off so you can do it right the first time. I took a dozen practice tests (AFOQT, ASTB and SIFT) over 2 months, studied over 600 flash cards, found math problems to do in my spare time, read books when I was exhausted with studying for the test, and browsed this forum to find new things to study all the time. In total it took me 6 months to feel completely prepared for this test. Leave no stone unturned, and do what you need to do to feel proud of your results. Best of luck, and feel free to reach out with questions.
I don't have a lot of advice for the test that hasn't already been said, but hopefully some of the info below will be helpful to somebody.
_____
Math
I have always been good at math, so I was least worried about this section. I used OpenStax to brush up on things I haven't studied in a while, and I attached a ~110 question study guide (OAR Math Guide) that covers everything you might be tested on (except matrix multiplication, which I wasn't tested on). The 'Air Warriors Study Material' gouge was really great for brushing up on exponent rules and logs. I've heard WolframAlpha has a good math problem generator, but I believe you have to pay $6-8 a month to use it. If math is an area you would like to improve it may be worth it. FiveThirtyEight also posts a math/statistics riddle every Friday, and that's a really good way to learn a few applied concepts.
Reading Comprehension
I didn't love this test, but the advice of 'eliminate obviously wrong answers then pick the one that infers the least' held pretty true. Avoid things that say always/never and things that use information never mentioned in the passage. I didn't do much to practice this other than read a lot. The book Infinitesimal was good practice because it was kinda boring and featured a technical subject matter. Sidenote: support your local bookstore.
I have a feeling this subtest brought my OAR down the most, so I don't feel like a good resource here.
Mechanical Aptitude
My mom is a physics teacher, so I learned a lot of this when I was younger. I primarily used the Barron's book to brush up on stuff, and I got a book from my local library (I think it was Military Flight Aptitude Tests for Dummies) to learn a little more about circuits. I used the practice tests Peterson's book (attached below) and the Barron's book to figure out what I didn't know and used Google to look up videos/websites for those concepts.
Aviation and Nautical Information
This was the part I was most worried about (at least that I could study for), and I hit it hard. These flash cards were super helpful for learning the basics. The website and the app have a 'Cram Mode' which tests you on cards you get wrong more frequently than ones you get right. One of the gouges I attached below helped cover a lot of the other history questions. I made ~200 flash cards covering history, carrier jersey colors (know what every person wears, not just the grapes and medical), and the ship/squadron designations from the Barron's book. I also made sure to know the designations for all currently-active aircraft, which you can find on the Navy's website. It was definitely overkill, but I didn't want to leave any room for error.
The FAA manual has a lot of great visuals and information for this test. If you have time to read the whole thing I would recommend it. It's one thing to know what everything is. It's another to know how they work and why they are they way they are. The gouge called 'Air Warriors Study Material' was where I got a lot of the additional history questions not included in the Cram flash cards.
Best advice I can give for this one is to study flash cards for literally every second you have free. If I had five minutes before a meeting at work, or I was waiting for food to cook, or stuck in rush hour I would have my flash cards up. This test is a lot of memorization, and the best way to memorize things is through repetition.
NATFI
This part is definitely hard on your self-esteem. Everybody says it, and it's true. Overall themes were things like working in groups, taking ownership of your mistakes, following the rules, and working hard. Whenever I said I was bad at a certain thing I tried to say I was good at it the next time. Just go with your gut.
Performance Based Measures
I was feeling bad about myself after the NATFI and this didn't make me feel any better.
Dichotic listening was pretty easy. Lean your head in the direction it tells you to listen.
I had practiced UAV a lot (these flash cards are good) and my response time was between 1 and 1.25 seconds for the test. Make sure you repeat the practice a lot. Figure out a system that works for you. I trained myself to read the direction of the parking lot you need to select first, then looked at the map, then clicked the parking lot. I was able to select a parking lot before the voice finished reading by doing this and I only got one wrong.
Vertical and 2D tracking were both tough. The practice rounds were definitely harder than the start of the tests. They got harder as time went on and I never felt like I was doing super well. The sensitivity on the controls was very weird. The crosshairs would go from moving much slower than the target to much faster than the target. I tried to let the target get away from me, go really fast to get close, then slow down when I was getting near the green zone.
Vertical + 2D + Dichotic Listening was a mess. Half of my focus was on the 2D because it seemed like it would be weighted highest. I focused a little more on vertical tracking than dichotic listening. Another user pointed out that dichotic listening was the only part that you could do perfectly on, so I could really see either one (vertical or listening) being a good second priority.
Write the emergency procedures down. After calibrating the controls I made sure my knobs were both at 0% so I didn't have to remember which direction to turn them to increase the fuel/engine during the test. I stopped what I was doing and got the emergency stuff out of the way whenever one came up and went right back to flying when everything was normal. I didn't feel like I was keeping up with the targets anyway so I figured getting points for the emergencies was better than nothing.
_____
This ended up being a lot longer than I expected. Overall, the best advice I could give is don't do it halfway. If you plan on taking this test, study your ass off so you can do it right the first time. I took a dozen practice tests (AFOQT, ASTB and SIFT) over 2 months, studied over 600 flash cards, found math problems to do in my spare time, read books when I was exhausted with studying for the test, and browsed this forum to find new things to study all the time. In total it took me 6 months to feel completely prepared for this test. Leave no stone unturned, and do what you need to do to feel proud of your results. Best of luck, and feel free to reach out with questions.
Great suggestions, thank you! And congrats on your high score!
Aaron Gutterman
New Member
Man i feel doomed. I took the oar today and only scored a 39. They dont break the scores down anymore so I have no idea what area i need to work on. I gotta be doin something wrong here. After studying i felt the math portion was consistant with the study material but not reading or mechanics.
Help!!!
I'm studying to retake mine and all of the attachments he was kind enough to supply seem to be pretty thorough; did you look at them?
exNavyOffRec
Well-Known Member
They have never broken down the scores
Aaron Gutterman
New Member
Yah i seen some of those i ordered somebooks to help. I just felt like i was studying the wrong materials. And now they dont break down the scores so not sure where i did bad at.
Aaron Gutterman
New Member
Why does everyone say like 9/9/9?
exNavyOffRec
Well-Known Member
Those are ASTB scores.
Aaron Gutterman
New Member
Gotcha. I guess i just gotta study more.
Do you recall what it is that you felt inadequately prepared for during your exam? You mentioned reading and mechanics above, the Peterson's ASTB-E Mastery book that's available free in .pdf form online (google it) has intensive study materials for all sections, you could use that as a jumping off point. It has practice tests and answer keys. Have someone proctor a FULL (OAR sections) practice test for you, and that way you truly can see a breakdown of where you are struggling.
Aaron Gutterman
New Member
Awesome thanks for the info. I got a month to brush up and try again.