peppergunner
ɹǝqɯǝW pǝʇɹǝʌuI
So the AQR you know pulls from your math and mechanics sections, which since you got a 49 OAR, have some room for improvement which will bump all ASTB scores.
Hopefully you can find some more study material.
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1,001 questions about the ASTB (post your scores & ask your questions here!)
- Thread starter edato
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Hopefully you can find some more study material.
Bocian
Active Member
Ask your recruiter for the "what if" score if you had a 2.8 gpa. But from my experience the thing that will raise the score the most will be the ASTB numbers.
JessieFlys
New Member
So the scores are in.... After two weeks of study and reviewing this board I scored a 51/6/7/7.
Not exactly pleased with my score but the examiner said it wasn’t anything to be ashamed of (He must’ve assumed I was a really dumb blonde - I had much higher expectations for myself personally) He said it was still above average. I know I could’ve done better. I am contemplating taking it one more time. 30 days would be a significant time to improve it based on my initial studying inputs for this first exam.
Math messed me up. I spent a lot of time dissecting word problems which is a weak point of mine. They slowed me down and I didn’t finish on time. Pretty sure I left a handful unanswered. But I know some of the harder algebraic questions and odd questions I was able to complete accuarately.
Reading was dreadful, but it wasn’t too bad. Just keep chugging along. Read the answers before the passage is what I suggest. Look for keywords as well. But to be honest it’s hard to see what exactly could’ve been the right answer with those selections.
Mechanical was surprisingly easy and short. I barely did any math type of problems. Most of it was common sense to evaluate and you had to pick a generalized idea versus computing an exact figure. However I experienced a lot of questions about the speed of sound and if it’s slower through certain facets such as water and air.
Aviation based tests weren’t too painful but mostly because I already heard of the horror stories. I used the compass truck but still missed a few being worried about speed.
Tips: Get your jitters out by actually trying the practice rounds. Treat it as if it were the real test because at one point when I got to the emergency portion I thought I was on a practice round and clearly it was the real deal.
Ultimately, don’t give up, I sucked at staying on target but I just kept trying. I scored better than expected but prolly missed easy points from the compass portion and a few listening ones imbetween. Next time I test I will be sure to ace these to build a better score.
If you really want to try to be better at the diochotic portion do what another applicant on here suggested and record your own sequences on two electronic devices and play them at the same time switching between choosing even or odd numbers. Do it while flying a flight sim too and mock hitting certain triggers or buttons for each odd or even number.
One thing to add:
I created a saying for the emergency procedures.
“Fire down” (Fuel and power to low)
“Power up” (Fuel up and power up)
“Prop one up” (Fuel or power down and one neutral) It made operating emergencies fast for me personally when I recited it to myself.
Not exactly pleased with my score but the examiner said it wasn’t anything to be ashamed of (He must’ve assumed I was a really dumb blonde - I had much higher expectations for myself personally) He said it was still above average. I know I could’ve done better. I am contemplating taking it one more time. 30 days would be a significant time to improve it based on my initial studying inputs for this first exam.
Math messed me up. I spent a lot of time dissecting word problems which is a weak point of mine. They slowed me down and I didn’t finish on time. Pretty sure I left a handful unanswered. But I know some of the harder algebraic questions and odd questions I was able to complete accuarately.
Reading was dreadful, but it wasn’t too bad. Just keep chugging along. Read the answers before the passage is what I suggest. Look for keywords as well. But to be honest it’s hard to see what exactly could’ve been the right answer with those selections.
Mechanical was surprisingly easy and short. I barely did any math type of problems. Most of it was common sense to evaluate and you had to pick a generalized idea versus computing an exact figure. However I experienced a lot of questions about the speed of sound and if it’s slower through certain facets such as water and air.
Aviation based tests weren’t too painful but mostly because I already heard of the horror stories. I used the compass truck but still missed a few being worried about speed.
Tips: Get your jitters out by actually trying the practice rounds. Treat it as if it were the real test because at one point when I got to the emergency portion I thought I was on a practice round and clearly it was the real deal.
Ultimately, don’t give up, I sucked at staying on target but I just kept trying. I scored better than expected but prolly missed easy points from the compass portion and a few listening ones imbetween. Next time I test I will be sure to ace these to build a better score.
If you really want to try to be better at the diochotic portion do what another applicant on here suggested and record your own sequences on two electronic devices and play them at the same time switching between choosing even or odd numbers. Do it while flying a flight sim too and mock hitting certain triggers or buttons for each odd or even number.
One thing to add:
I created a saying for the emergency procedures.
“Fire down” (Fuel and power to low)
“Power up” (Fuel up and power up)
“Prop one up” (Fuel or power down and one neutral) It made operating emergencies fast for me personally when I recited it to myself.
mitebcool77
Member
Honestly, with your B.S./GPA and ASTB scored you seem like a shoe-in based on what I've seen
JessieFlys
New Member
My recruiter said the same thing. But as a female recruit I feel obligated to try harder to prove i’m compatible for such a position. I feel like being a mom is gonna hinder my package. Im a unique applicant to say the least haha But highly motivated.
First (and only) attempt was yesterday. 62 8/9/7
About to start my senior year. Mechanical Engineering 2.91 GPA.
I studied for ~3 weeks beforehand. Lot's of good gouge in this thread if you go back a few pages. Reading the Pilot's handbook linked somewhere here was very helpful. I also bought the Arco book and went through it. I had the 6th edition, not sure if there's a newer one, but it was for the old version of the test and honestly not very helpful. The math, reading, and mechanical parts were similar, but that was all. No instruction, just explanations of tests, practice tests, and explanations of answers. The practice tests were nice, but have many of the same questions you'll see here.
I had a 6.5 hour drive to the nearest testing facility the day before, took the test at 10 am, and then drove the 6.5 hours back. I had planned on doing some extra studying when I got in. I skimmed the Pilot's handbook again and went through some online flashcards. Ended up going to bed very early and I think that helped more than extra studying would have.
MST
I don't have much to add here. Probability, DRT, basic algebra, exponents, nothing surprising. There were a couple I messed up the adding or multiplying large numbers and didn't think I had time to redo it. I just took the closest number. Overall I felt confident and got kicked out early. Maybe 10-15 minutes out of 30.
RCT
Way worse than I expected. This one dragged on. Not sure how many I answered, but it felt like forever. Many of the answers were very similar and after reading four combinations including "effectively, efficient, regulations," and a few other "E" words it gets hard to pick out the correct one. I honestly don't know how I did on this section. Sometimes I could tell I was doing bad when I'd get a really easy question.
MCT
This was an easy section for me due to my major. I don't remember many specifics since I went through it pretty quick. Ropes, pulleys, gears, mechanical advantage. A couple problems on work. I remember two on electricity. Asking the unit for resistance, and the other was about equivalent resistance.
ANIT
Not exactly what I expected, but I don't think I dug into the gouge enough. Wasn't expecting the amount of naval aviation history that I got. A couple questions on historic planes I didn't know. Only two nautical questions I remember, both fairly easy. Most of the rest was the mechanics of flight and a bit of weather which I was much more comfortable with.
NAFTI
Kinda silly, but it is what it is. Just answer the questions. It tells you at the beginning that neither may describe you and that's fine. I tried to be consistent on similar questions. For example always choosing performing well under pressure. Sometimes you have to choose between being lazy and an asshole, but that's just the test.
PBM
No one was lying when they said it feels like you're failing this the whole time. Dichotic listening was hard, but not horrible. Some letters/numbers were hard to understand and then you throw in the other ear. For example it was hard to differentiate between "U" and "2". Speed is important, but I think accuracy is more important.
For the UAV part rip out your paper compass and keep up. I think I got 4-5 wrong on this. A couple were just wrong from trying to go fast. Once I doubled clicked the wrong answer, so there's two wrong. Average probably 2.5s, I think all under 4.
I had some issues with my throttle and flight stick, but just worked with it. There was a large deadzone on the throttle, no movement on the screen for a good amount of throttle movement at the middle. This made the throttle way harder than the flight stick for me. I felt like by the time I got the crosshair moving it was moving fast. Obviously it didn't hurt me too much, maybe that's how they all are. My flight stick had the tension knob tightened all the way and secured with a little allen screw. During calibration when pushing the crosshairs to the corner the base was lifting up. During the throttle + stick section I ended up focusing about 75% attention on the throttle since I was having so much trouble and just using my peripheral vision of the flight stick part. Seemed to work well for me. My arm was getting tired from trying to keep up with the tightened flight stick, but this part is untimed, so take your time between tests.
Dichotic + throttle + flight stick is hard. Just do your best. Try to be accurate with the dichotic part and do what you can with the crosshairs.
I wasn't clear on the display for the emergency procedures. The gauges from top to bottom are red, yellow, green. You don't see them until the test. I wasn't sure if red was turned off. It's not. The needle is all the way at the top, so it was all the way open. I got the first emergency procedure wrong, and the other two right. Didn't seem to hurt me though.
If your GPA isn't great, but you think you can do well on the ASTB then go for it! My recruiter put my into their calculator and I got 99% for SNA and 98% for SNFO. From everything I've heard the ASTB is easily the most important part of the package, so work hard on it.
This was kind of long, but hopefully it will help someone. Good luck!
About to start my senior year. Mechanical Engineering 2.91 GPA.
I studied for ~3 weeks beforehand. Lot's of good gouge in this thread if you go back a few pages. Reading the Pilot's handbook linked somewhere here was very helpful. I also bought the Arco book and went through it. I had the 6th edition, not sure if there's a newer one, but it was for the old version of the test and honestly not very helpful. The math, reading, and mechanical parts were similar, but that was all. No instruction, just explanations of tests, practice tests, and explanations of answers. The practice tests were nice, but have many of the same questions you'll see here.
I had a 6.5 hour drive to the nearest testing facility the day before, took the test at 10 am, and then drove the 6.5 hours back. I had planned on doing some extra studying when I got in. I skimmed the Pilot's handbook again and went through some online flashcards. Ended up going to bed very early and I think that helped more than extra studying would have.
MST
I don't have much to add here. Probability, DRT, basic algebra, exponents, nothing surprising. There were a couple I messed up the adding or multiplying large numbers and didn't think I had time to redo it. I just took the closest number. Overall I felt confident and got kicked out early. Maybe 10-15 minutes out of 30.
RCT
Way worse than I expected. This one dragged on. Not sure how many I answered, but it felt like forever. Many of the answers were very similar and after reading four combinations including "effectively, efficient, regulations," and a few other "E" words it gets hard to pick out the correct one. I honestly don't know how I did on this section. Sometimes I could tell I was doing bad when I'd get a really easy question.
MCT
This was an easy section for me due to my major. I don't remember many specifics since I went through it pretty quick. Ropes, pulleys, gears, mechanical advantage. A couple problems on work. I remember two on electricity. Asking the unit for resistance, and the other was about equivalent resistance.
ANIT
Not exactly what I expected, but I don't think I dug into the gouge enough. Wasn't expecting the amount of naval aviation history that I got. A couple questions on historic planes I didn't know. Only two nautical questions I remember, both fairly easy. Most of the rest was the mechanics of flight and a bit of weather which I was much more comfortable with.
NAFTI
Kinda silly, but it is what it is. Just answer the questions. It tells you at the beginning that neither may describe you and that's fine. I tried to be consistent on similar questions. For example always choosing performing well under pressure. Sometimes you have to choose between being lazy and an asshole, but that's just the test.
PBM
No one was lying when they said it feels like you're failing this the whole time. Dichotic listening was hard, but not horrible. Some letters/numbers were hard to understand and then you throw in the other ear. For example it was hard to differentiate between "U" and "2". Speed is important, but I think accuracy is more important.
For the UAV part rip out your paper compass and keep up. I think I got 4-5 wrong on this. A couple were just wrong from trying to go fast. Once I doubled clicked the wrong answer, so there's two wrong. Average probably 2.5s, I think all under 4.
I had some issues with my throttle and flight stick, but just worked with it. There was a large deadzone on the throttle, no movement on the screen for a good amount of throttle movement at the middle. This made the throttle way harder than the flight stick for me. I felt like by the time I got the crosshair moving it was moving fast. Obviously it didn't hurt me too much, maybe that's how they all are. My flight stick had the tension knob tightened all the way and secured with a little allen screw. During calibration when pushing the crosshairs to the corner the base was lifting up. During the throttle + stick section I ended up focusing about 75% attention on the throttle since I was having so much trouble and just using my peripheral vision of the flight stick part. Seemed to work well for me. My arm was getting tired from trying to keep up with the tightened flight stick, but this part is untimed, so take your time between tests.
Dichotic + throttle + flight stick is hard. Just do your best. Try to be accurate with the dichotic part and do what you can with the crosshairs.
I wasn't clear on the display for the emergency procedures. The gauges from top to bottom are red, yellow, green. You don't see them until the test. I wasn't sure if red was turned off. It's not. The needle is all the way at the top, so it was all the way open. I got the first emergency procedure wrong, and the other two right. Didn't seem to hurt me though.
If your GPA isn't great, but you think you can do well on the ASTB then go for it! My recruiter put my into their calculator and I got 99% for SNA and 98% for SNFO. From everything I've heard the ASTB is easily the most important part of the package, so work hard on it.
This was kind of long, but hopefully it will help someone. Good luck!
Hello all!
I want to become a Marine Pilot. I took my 1st ASTB exam today and did not earn the score I wanted. My line scores were 4/5/5 and I needed at least a 6 on the PFAR to qualify. I only studied about 10 hours over the course of a week, so I am hopeful that when I re-take it, in a month, I can do substantially better. With that being said, I obviously have some work to do.
Math: Make sure to focus on probability and distance. I was asked the same distance problem (not in the same context) 3 to 4 times. I also had a few problems about fractions/percentages and one logarithm problem. I’ve never struggled with math so I didn’t prepare for this section at all. That was a HUGE mistake. If I’m not mistaken, this portion has the largest impact on the exam and its entirety.
Reading: Definitey the least enjoyable. Very bland. Just concentrate and stay focused.
MC: I have no mechanical comprehension/physics background so this was a difficult section. It went over the general concepts more so than actual formula related material. Make sure you are familiar with levers, pulleys, gears, and other simple machines.
ANIT: This section requires you be to familiar with both aviation and nautical information, obviously. There is so much material on the web and especially on this thread. Put the work in and you’ll kill it. If you don’t, then your score will reveal that and you will pay the price.
UAV: Okay, so this section is something I was extremely familiar with and confident about. I answered all 48 questions and only got 3 wrong, in 5 seconds or less, but it’s not a true 5 seconds, so I’m really confused on how that works...?
PBM: Well, I’m 99% sure this part is the reason my PFAR score was not what I needed it to be. Make sure to read the instructions and just try your best. I’m about to buy some games that I’ve found on this thread and throughout the web, so that I can prepare for this section.
Overall, I think this initial attempt will be unbelievably beneficial for me when I take the second test. I now better understand the layout and will prepare accordingly. I don’t just want to qualify, I want to raise each of my scores 2-3 points, so that I will definitey get selected.
With all of this being said, if anyone would like to offer some advice, feel free to message or comment below. It would be greatly appreciated.
I want to become a Marine Pilot. I took my 1st ASTB exam today and did not earn the score I wanted. My line scores were 4/5/5 and I needed at least a 6 on the PFAR to qualify. I only studied about 10 hours over the course of a week, so I am hopeful that when I re-take it, in a month, I can do substantially better. With that being said, I obviously have some work to do.
Math: Make sure to focus on probability and distance. I was asked the same distance problem (not in the same context) 3 to 4 times. I also had a few problems about fractions/percentages and one logarithm problem. I’ve never struggled with math so I didn’t prepare for this section at all. That was a HUGE mistake. If I’m not mistaken, this portion has the largest impact on the exam and its entirety.
Reading: Definitey the least enjoyable. Very bland. Just concentrate and stay focused.
MC: I have no mechanical comprehension/physics background so this was a difficult section. It went over the general concepts more so than actual formula related material. Make sure you are familiar with levers, pulleys, gears, and other simple machines.
ANIT: This section requires you be to familiar with both aviation and nautical information, obviously. There is so much material on the web and especially on this thread. Put the work in and you’ll kill it. If you don’t, then your score will reveal that and you will pay the price.
UAV: Okay, so this section is something I was extremely familiar with and confident about. I answered all 48 questions and only got 3 wrong, in 5 seconds or less, but it’s not a true 5 seconds, so I’m really confused on how that works...?
PBM: Well, I’m 99% sure this part is the reason my PFAR score was not what I needed it to be. Make sure to read the instructions and just try your best. I’m about to buy some games that I’ve found on this thread and throughout the web, so that I can prepare for this section.
Overall, I think this initial attempt will be unbelievably beneficial for me when I take the second test. I now better understand the layout and will prepare accordingly. I don’t just want to qualify, I want to raise each of my scores 2-3 points, so that I will definitey get selected.
With all of this being said, if anyone would like to offer some advice, feel free to message or comment below. It would be greatly appreciated.
ToxeyHayes
Member
Just wanted to update you guys on how the OAR went. Studied for 2 weeks using this website as a guide. Thanks to everyone who contributed! Took the exam and scored a 49. Not all bad considering while I was taking it I thought for sure I was doing horrendously. I ran out of time on the Math and the Reading section which probably did not help my scores at all. I don't remember too much about it as it has been a couple weeks now since I took it. Second exam scheduled for Sept. 14th.
A friend of mine got interrupted mid-test yesterday by the crash... does anyone know how long these usually take to correct?
FormerRecruitingGuru
Making Recruiting Great Again
You can easily find this on the ASTB website.
(I stole my post format from Gogged, thanks!)
First (and I am currently not planning on retaking) attempt was 08/27. 52 5/7/6
I graduated in 2016 with a 3.2 GPA in Advertising.
I studied for a little under 3 weeks beforehand, I would say it is safe to say I studied approximately 4 hours per day, but there were definitely a few days where I was able to go through 100s of flashcards throughout the day. A significant portion of the gouge I used came from this thread and website. I will be posting a loosely organized Google Drive link at the bottom of this post with everything I made/compiled. Unfortunately a significant portion of my study guide was hand written in a note book, I can scan that study guide in if anyone really wants it, but it's a lot of pages (in a pretty small notebook, 4x6). Regardless, anything in my handwritten study guide was transcribed or taken from online resources. I really didn't touch the FAA manual and frankly I am not sure if it would have helped more than the flashcards I used from ProProfs and Cram.com. I took the GRE test about 1 year ago and scored amazing on reading and writing, and pretty poor on math (163 Verbal Reasoning, 151 Quantitative, 4.5 Analytical Writing). I will say this for any previous GRE takers: the math portion on the GRE is about on par with the math on the OAR. As a result, I recommend skimming some GRE test prep books, and taking GRE practice tests for reading and math. Another incredible free resource I found was through my local library, a service called LearningExpressHub, a service hosted by EBSCO. This service was free through my local library and includes free ASTB-E, OAR, ASVAB, GRE, and GMAT practice tests, AND a comprehensive PDF covering not only OAR/ASTB, but also other military service aptitude tests. I also highly recommend going to youtube and searching for videos and playlists for test prep, I specifically typed "ASTB Math" and "ASTB mechanical comprehension." With these search terms you will find a few playlists and videos you will find valuable. I can not understate this - the youtube videos I found on this thread + on my own were HUGELY helpful. I would listen to these music videos while excercising so I had extremely little downtime
I had a 2 hour drive to the nearest testing facility the day before, took the test at 10AM, finished around 1PM chatted and filled paperwork with my recruiters for another 2, and then headed home from there. I planned on doing studying the day before the test, but my girlfriend and I decided to spend the day exploring the city, going to the Omaha Zoo, and going to a really fancy restaraunt. I only had about 2 hours of studying the day before but frankly, the pure amount of stress relief from the fun the day before was so valuable. Do not underestimate the value of relaxation.
MST
I don't have much to add here compared to Gogged's post. Probability, DRT, basic algebra, exponents, nothing surprising. I am not the best at math (as my GRE score suggests), but I felt the math problems were totally within my ability, and the ones I wasn't entirely confident on there was usually an answer I felt at least passingly confident with. Overall I felt OKAY and got kicked out early. Maybe 20 minutes out of the 30. Frankly this was a little jarring, but I tried to push it from my mind and head to the next test.
RCT
Way harder than expected, but I actually felt extremely confident on this test. This one took absolutely for ever, I answered the final question with approximately 30 seconds remaining on the test - YIKES. I could genuinely feel each question getting progressively harder, there were some insanely challenging passages, I actually started reading them out-loud to help me comprehend the paragraph. I never felt that there were multiple answers that fit, but a few had answers that would fit if this paragraph was fundamentally misunderstood. Others have said this - DO NOT USE OUTSIDE INFERENCES, each question can be answered exclusively with the paragraph provided. I feel that this test probably carried my overall score, as my Math and MCT portions were more challenging.
MCT
This was another test that was challenging for me (guess how many physics courses I took as an Advertising major LOL). Here is what I can say - you do not need to memorize geometric formulas, but you SHOULD know how and when it's appropriate to use them. A lot of the answers can be inferred if you have a fundamental understanding on physics, such as levels and pulleys, but do not skimp on the studying for this section, take practice tests here if you're not confident.
ANIT
Frankly I don't know how to speak on this section, there was a lot of trivia, some of which I knew some of which I didn't. The flashcards that are linked to in my Google Drive will be immensely valuable. Understand as much about ships, planes, and the dynamics of both. Know vocab, know military plane classification, I had a question that asked my about sidewinder missiles, something about their abbreviation. Just go through flashcards.
NAFTI
I was really interested to see how this played out. A lot of people say it's a total mindfuck or it will make you feel like shit. Frankly that's a psych-out, just go in expecting to answer honestly. The question format is, "What describes you better, 'I get upset over moderate inconveniences' or 'I am likely to run a red light if there are no cars around'." Not all questions are exclusively negative, just be honest and move through this section confidently.
PBM
I am going to echo every other poster - you will feel like you're doing VERY poorly, even if you're doing well. Dichotic listening was hard, my strategy was to lean my head to the ear I am listening to, so if it said "Right Ear", I would lean my right ear towards my right shoulder. It is tricky, you'll hear numbers in your non-tested ear that will match the criteria if they were in your tested ear. Just keep calm and collected.
For the UAV portion - I studied a decent amount on this but frankly I wish I did more. Get AS FAST AS POSSIBLE with the paper compass trick. I probably made 4 mistakes, my average time was about 2.5 seconds. It's a very easy test, but I suspect reaction speed is weighted higher than right answer (though obviously that's important as well).
Again - I am going to echo Gogged! I had some issues with my throttle and flight stick, but just worked with it. There was a large deadzone on the throttle, no movement on the screen for a good amount of throttle movement at the middle. This made the throttle way harder than the flight stick for me. I felt like by the time I got the crosshair moving it was moving fast. I focused on the flight stick way more than the throttle, as I eventually got comfortable with the deadzone on the throttle. I felt most of my flightstick usage was just keeping up with the plane, as opposed to matching the movement exactly - I suspect this is considered as part of the test as it isn't very likely you'd be able to perfectly match the movement of the target constantly.
Dichotic + throttle + flight stick is hard. Just do your best and don't get flustered. I found myself smiling at this part of the test because it was comically difficult, but really fun!
For the emergency procedures - first right them down as everyone mentions. I actually did a few minutes memorizing them which helped. I didn't make any mistakes on this section and it was over pretty quickly.
During my meeting with my recruiters (a Chief was acting as a mentor to my main recruiter who had just started), I advised my top three picks in order are 1. Pilot 2. Supply 3. Intel. The Chief really wanted me to go Supply but suggested with an LoR from someone with stars (which I will be able to obtain) will be a silver bullet if I want to go Pilot or Intel. He also suggested my scores were decently competitive for Pilot, noting outstanding but definitely acceptable. The supply board is coming up at the end of September, and while I meet the body-fat percentage requirement I'd rather go into OCS more prepared. I am meeting with an eye doctor next week to determine if I am eligible for corrective eye surgery, and if I am will move forward with Pilot. If not, I am really having a tough time deciding between supply and intel. If you have any questions for me, feel free to reach out!
Here is my google drive link - [LINK]
First (and I am currently not planning on retaking) attempt was 08/27. 52 5/7/6
I graduated in 2016 with a 3.2 GPA in Advertising.
I studied for a little under 3 weeks beforehand, I would say it is safe to say I studied approximately 4 hours per day, but there were definitely a few days where I was able to go through 100s of flashcards throughout the day. A significant portion of the gouge I used came from this thread and website. I will be posting a loosely organized Google Drive link at the bottom of this post with everything I made/compiled. Unfortunately a significant portion of my study guide was hand written in a note book, I can scan that study guide in if anyone really wants it, but it's a lot of pages (in a pretty small notebook, 4x6). Regardless, anything in my handwritten study guide was transcribed or taken from online resources. I really didn't touch the FAA manual and frankly I am not sure if it would have helped more than the flashcards I used from ProProfs and Cram.com. I took the GRE test about 1 year ago and scored amazing on reading and writing, and pretty poor on math (163 Verbal Reasoning, 151 Quantitative, 4.5 Analytical Writing). I will say this for any previous GRE takers: the math portion on the GRE is about on par with the math on the OAR. As a result, I recommend skimming some GRE test prep books, and taking GRE practice tests for reading and math. Another incredible free resource I found was through my local library, a service called LearningExpressHub, a service hosted by EBSCO. This service was free through my local library and includes free ASTB-E, OAR, ASVAB, GRE, and GMAT practice tests, AND a comprehensive PDF covering not only OAR/ASTB, but also other military service aptitude tests. I also highly recommend going to youtube and searching for videos and playlists for test prep, I specifically typed "ASTB Math" and "ASTB mechanical comprehension." With these search terms you will find a few playlists and videos you will find valuable. I can not understate this - the youtube videos I found on this thread + on my own were HUGELY helpful. I would listen to these music videos while excercising so I had extremely little downtime
I had a 2 hour drive to the nearest testing facility the day before, took the test at 10AM, finished around 1PM chatted and filled paperwork with my recruiters for another 2, and then headed home from there. I planned on doing studying the day before the test, but my girlfriend and I decided to spend the day exploring the city, going to the Omaha Zoo, and going to a really fancy restaraunt. I only had about 2 hours of studying the day before but frankly, the pure amount of stress relief from the fun the day before was so valuable. Do not underestimate the value of relaxation.
MST
I don't have much to add here compared to Gogged's post. Probability, DRT, basic algebra, exponents, nothing surprising. I am not the best at math (as my GRE score suggests), but I felt the math problems were totally within my ability, and the ones I wasn't entirely confident on there was usually an answer I felt at least passingly confident with. Overall I felt OKAY and got kicked out early. Maybe 20 minutes out of the 30. Frankly this was a little jarring, but I tried to push it from my mind and head to the next test.
RCT
Way harder than expected, but I actually felt extremely confident on this test. This one took absolutely for ever, I answered the final question with approximately 30 seconds remaining on the test - YIKES. I could genuinely feel each question getting progressively harder, there were some insanely challenging passages, I actually started reading them out-loud to help me comprehend the paragraph. I never felt that there were multiple answers that fit, but a few had answers that would fit if this paragraph was fundamentally misunderstood. Others have said this - DO NOT USE OUTSIDE INFERENCES, each question can be answered exclusively with the paragraph provided. I feel that this test probably carried my overall score, as my Math and MCT portions were more challenging.
MCT
This was another test that was challenging for me (guess how many physics courses I took as an Advertising major LOL). Here is what I can say - you do not need to memorize geometric formulas, but you SHOULD know how and when it's appropriate to use them. A lot of the answers can be inferred if you have a fundamental understanding on physics, such as levels and pulleys, but do not skimp on the studying for this section, take practice tests here if you're not confident.
ANIT
Frankly I don't know how to speak on this section, there was a lot of trivia, some of which I knew some of which I didn't. The flashcards that are linked to in my Google Drive will be immensely valuable. Understand as much about ships, planes, and the dynamics of both. Know vocab, know military plane classification, I had a question that asked my about sidewinder missiles, something about their abbreviation. Just go through flashcards.
NAFTI
I was really interested to see how this played out. A lot of people say it's a total mindfuck or it will make you feel like shit. Frankly that's a psych-out, just go in expecting to answer honestly. The question format is, "What describes you better, 'I get upset over moderate inconveniences' or 'I am likely to run a red light if there are no cars around'." Not all questions are exclusively negative, just be honest and move through this section confidently.
PBM
I am going to echo every other poster - you will feel like you're doing VERY poorly, even if you're doing well. Dichotic listening was hard, my strategy was to lean my head to the ear I am listening to, so if it said "Right Ear", I would lean my right ear towards my right shoulder. It is tricky, you'll hear numbers in your non-tested ear that will match the criteria if they were in your tested ear. Just keep calm and collected.
For the UAV portion - I studied a decent amount on this but frankly I wish I did more. Get AS FAST AS POSSIBLE with the paper compass trick. I probably made 4 mistakes, my average time was about 2.5 seconds. It's a very easy test, but I suspect reaction speed is weighted higher than right answer (though obviously that's important as well).
Again - I am going to echo Gogged! I had some issues with my throttle and flight stick, but just worked with it. There was a large deadzone on the throttle, no movement on the screen for a good amount of throttle movement at the middle. This made the throttle way harder than the flight stick for me. I felt like by the time I got the crosshair moving it was moving fast. I focused on the flight stick way more than the throttle, as I eventually got comfortable with the deadzone on the throttle. I felt most of my flightstick usage was just keeping up with the plane, as opposed to matching the movement exactly - I suspect this is considered as part of the test as it isn't very likely you'd be able to perfectly match the movement of the target constantly.
Dichotic + throttle + flight stick is hard. Just do your best and don't get flustered. I found myself smiling at this part of the test because it was comically difficult, but really fun!
For the emergency procedures - first right them down as everyone mentions. I actually did a few minutes memorizing them which helped. I didn't make any mistakes on this section and it was over pretty quickly.
During my meeting with my recruiters (a Chief was acting as a mentor to my main recruiter who had just started), I advised my top three picks in order are 1. Pilot 2. Supply 3. Intel. The Chief really wanted me to go Supply but suggested with an LoR from someone with stars (which I will be able to obtain) will be a silver bullet if I want to go Pilot or Intel. He also suggested my scores were decently competitive for Pilot, noting outstanding but definitely acceptable. The supply board is coming up at the end of September, and while I meet the body-fat percentage requirement I'd rather go into OCS more prepared. I am meeting with an eye doctor next week to determine if I am eligible for corrective eye surgery, and if I am will move forward with Pilot. If not, I am really having a tough time deciding between supply and intel. If you have any questions for me, feel free to reach out!
Here is my google drive link - [LINK]
No. Study the UAV section.
I took the ASTB for the first time yesterday and got a 65 9/9/9. I cannot thank everyone who has posted information on here enough! My background also contributed greatly to my score, as I'm a private and instrument rated helicopter pilot with about 300 flight hours, I'm prior enlisted Marine Corps, and I was in the aeronautics program at Embry-Riddle. However, all of the information and practice you need to get a great score is available free online. Without a doubt if you put a lot of effort into studying you can do just as well. I was lucky and graduated recently, so I had the free time to spend about a month and a half studying all day every day. The last two or three weeks before the test I was studying 8-10 hours every day. I probably spent about 90% of that studying math because it's always been my weakest area. Most people probably don't have time for that, but I can't emphasize enough that the most important thing you can do is STUDY STUDY STUDY! I also took the day before the test to relax and do nothing (very important), got a good night sleep, and gave myself time in the morning to eat a good breakfast. There isn't a whole lot more I can say that hasn't already been said throughout this thread, but I'll add what I can even though the whole thing went by as a blur!
Math - I got a decent amount of percentages, percentages of percentages, interest, etc. Had some D=RT, I think one probability question. I had one question that was something along the lines of (x^2-2x-6)/(x^3-5x^2+7) and I couldn't get it to look like any of the answers so I ended up guessing. No logs or matrices, which made me think I didn't do well enough to get to them but I don't know. Some of the percentage and D=RT problems got complicated, and I spent a lot of time studying them so I don't think I got any wrong. I got a question on binary (how is the number 4 written in binary? 0100). The best resource I had for the math section was Khan Academy. I think I filled an entire notebook using it as scratch paper going through as much as I could on Khan Academy and it definitely helped. Overall, nothing surprising that hasn't already been mentioned.
Reading - As most say, lots of very dry, hard to focus on passages about naval regulations and such. I seemed to get a non-naval regulations question that was much easier to follow between every naval-regulations question. That made me feel like I wasn't doing too well. I also ended up running out of time in this section but I felt like I had answered at least 20 questions by that point. I don't know for sure. I did go through the reading section of the Trivium and Test Prep Books ASTB guides (I'll discuss those guides further down), and I never skipped the reading section in practice tests. That all probably helped a bit. I think maybe if you try reading through the Federal Aviation Regulations and try to make sense of that it will help you practice for both reading and aviation at the same time. https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/faa_regulations/ you'd probably be best to start with "General Operating and Flight Rules (14 CFR Part 91)."
Mechanical - Mostly conceptual, I think I used my scratch paper once or twice to do a very, very simple calculation. Khan Academy is another great resource. I had a few questions on pulleys, Bernoulli's principle, a question on the symbols used in electrical circuits. Again, nothing surprising that hasn't been mentioned here already.
Aviation/Nautical Info - I got mostly aviation questions (what do all red lights on a VASI mean [too low], transponder squawk code for loss of communication [7600], what are the characteristics of unstable air [turbulence and good visibility] etc.), a few history questions (The primary strategic bomber used in the 1950s [B-36], etc.) I did get one question asking how aircraft carrier design changed to compensate for larger aircraft such as the 33 ton F-14 Tomcat. I wasn't 100% sure on the answer to this, the answer were along the lines of A. More powerful hydraulic catapults [I disregarded this answer because there are no hydraulic catapults that I know of] B. Take-off power of the aircraft [I disregarded this answer because although modern aircraft have some powerful engines, I don't think they're able to compensate enough]. C. Something about longer runways on carriers I think? or the answer I went with, D. Larger, more powerful catapults. It seemed to make the most sense, but I could definitely have been wrong on it. I also had a question on some pilot I never heard of and I don't remember the name of (I tried to get myself to remember his name for you guys, I promise and I'm sorry lol) and what war did he participate in what was considered to be one of the most complex dogfights in history. I guessed WW2 because they had some pretty damn complex dogfights, but idk for sure. I also had a couple nautical information questions. I think you can easily find all the knowledge you need for the aviation and nautical information, but it's really hard to study for the history questions without studying the entirety of naval aviation history. The Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge is great, and I also recommend the FAA's Aeronautical Information Manual: https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/media/AIM_Basic_dtd_10-12-17.pdf if you want a physical copy, you can go to your local pilot shop (which will probably have lots of other great books and manuals as well) or probably order it online. The whole thing is called the FAR/AIM. (Federal Aviation Regulations I mentioned in the reading section, and Aeronautical Information Manual all in the same book). I recommend the most recent year, and they're not terribly expensive.
Naval Aviation Trait Facet Inventory - as most have described it, would you rather drive your car through a retirement home on bingo night, or burn down an orphanage. I did notice one thing about many of the questions I haven't seen anyone else mention. On a lot of them, it will give you options that say something like "I USUALLY lash out at others when I'm under stress" or "I SOMETIMES break the rules." Since neither of them describe me at all, I often found myself picking the one that said "sometimes" rather than "usually" because saying it happens less often is the most applicable when it doesn't actually ever happen at all. There are a few that you'll have trouble deciding on, but as others have said, look at them from the perspective of a military leader and aviator/NFO.
UAV Portion - The flashcards posted in this thread were great. I practiced them for hours, and probably spent about 5 hours in one day practicing them in the week leading up to my test. I would have my wife time me while I went through them, but that's not entirely accurate because the flashcards load slower and you have to click more than once. You'll also be quicker on the actual test because you don't need to read which parking lot to identify, it tells you in the headphones. The compass trick is good if you're really just not great with cardinal directions, but I HIGHLY recommend trying to move past it and do it without the compass trick. I've got a ton of experience with using cardinal directions and compasses and all that, so it wasn't an issue for me. With enough practice you can do the same though! I found the compass trick to be too slow. Without it, I was able to answer the questions in 1.1-1.3 seconds and I got 3 wrong. One important thing though, THE TEST DID NOT ALLOW ME UNLIMITED PRACTICE!!!! I don't know if they recently changed it, but it let me do only 8 practice questions and then it forced me to start the test. I was looking forward to sitting there and practicing for 10 minutes and I was not allowed to.
Dichotic listening - Tilt your head toward the ear you need to be listening to, it helps!
Stick and Throttle Tracking - I was given an X-52 HOTAS, and I probably have several hundred hours in flight simulators with an X-56 so that was nice. It was in good condition, and I didn't have any issues with using it. Both the stick and throttle did have a little bit of a deadzone in the middle which threw me off a bit. The throttle being neutral in the middle rather than all the way back threw me off a bit too, but I tried thinking of it like a helicopter collective and that helped. Also, yes the stick has pitch inverted, but with a solid black background giving no reference it does make this a little tricky. What I would recommend is practice in a flight simulator using 1st person view and the camera forward such that there are no cockpit instruments or any part of the aircraft visible. Maybe just a HUD so you have a reticle to follow or something like that. Practice like that a lot, and then when you're in the test try to imagine that's your perspective. It's still kinda tricky, I felt myself instinctively moving my feet trying to yaw lol I also kept trying to roll and then pitch up to chase the target. This test is CLEARLY designed to make it impossible to track the targets perfect, but I think as long as you keep your controls moving in the general direction toward the target, and perform the dichotic listening and emergency procedure well (write the emergency procedures down!), you'll be ok. For the simultaneous stick and throttle multi-tasking I tried two methods: The first I tried scanning my eyes back and forth between the throttle target and the stick target very quickly, much like an instrument pilot quickly scans gauges. I also tried focusing on the stick target while watching the throttle target in my peripheral vision. I don't know that either was better, the whole damn thing is just too chaotic lol. For the emergency procedure I recommend you at least TRY to continue flying while you execute them. It only gave me each emergency once, and they're fairly simple to solve, so just do your best to keep pushing the controls in the general direction of the target. I also realized right before the emergency procedures section that the HOTAS had suction cups on the bottom to keep it from sliding on the desk. That helped, so check to see if yours does too.
As I said before, there's absolutely no reason you or anyone else can't get a great score on this test. As long as you're willing to put forth the effort that would be required of a successful naval aviator/flight officer/any officer, you will do just fine. STUDY STUDY STUDY!!!
(Edit: I forgot to discuss the study guides I used! I used both Trivium and Test Prep Books, and they were meh. I started my studying with those and it was a good introduction to everything that would be on the test, but some of their information is wrong. Trivium would do things in the examples without explaining them, but Test Prep Books explained things a bit better. I can't remember which one, but one of the guides had a picture of a compass that had 400 degrees and the S for South was backward. That right there about sums up the study guides I think lol.
ALSO! A lot of the gouge documents on here are great but I really only used them for history information. I found the way they formatted math questions to be difficult to follow, and some of the information was wrong. For example, every piece of gouge I read said that fog forms when warm air moves over cooler water. This is not necessarily true! It sound like they're talking about advection fog, which would be correct, but specifically mentioning water like that makes me think of steam fog. Steam fog occurs when cooler air moves over warmer water. I always remember this because it was described to me as watching steam come off a hot cup of coffee on a cold day. Here is weather.gov's description of fog types and you'll see what I mean: https://www.weather.gov/source/zhu/ZHU_Training_Page/fog_stuff/fog_definitions/Fog_definitions.html
Overall, the study guides and gouge is good for getting a good idea of everything that will be on the test, and it's good for information you can't easily find anywhere else, but I recommend trying to study from the most official/reputable sources as possible.)
Math - I got a decent amount of percentages, percentages of percentages, interest, etc. Had some D=RT, I think one probability question. I had one question that was something along the lines of (x^2-2x-6)/(x^3-5x^2+7) and I couldn't get it to look like any of the answers so I ended up guessing. No logs or matrices, which made me think I didn't do well enough to get to them but I don't know. Some of the percentage and D=RT problems got complicated, and I spent a lot of time studying them so I don't think I got any wrong. I got a question on binary (how is the number 4 written in binary? 0100). The best resource I had for the math section was Khan Academy. I think I filled an entire notebook using it as scratch paper going through as much as I could on Khan Academy and it definitely helped. Overall, nothing surprising that hasn't already been mentioned.
Reading - As most say, lots of very dry, hard to focus on passages about naval regulations and such. I seemed to get a non-naval regulations question that was much easier to follow between every naval-regulations question. That made me feel like I wasn't doing too well. I also ended up running out of time in this section but I felt like I had answered at least 20 questions by that point. I don't know for sure. I did go through the reading section of the Trivium and Test Prep Books ASTB guides (I'll discuss those guides further down), and I never skipped the reading section in practice tests. That all probably helped a bit. I think maybe if you try reading through the Federal Aviation Regulations and try to make sense of that it will help you practice for both reading and aviation at the same time. https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/faa_regulations/ you'd probably be best to start with "General Operating and Flight Rules (14 CFR Part 91)."
Mechanical - Mostly conceptual, I think I used my scratch paper once or twice to do a very, very simple calculation. Khan Academy is another great resource. I had a few questions on pulleys, Bernoulli's principle, a question on the symbols used in electrical circuits. Again, nothing surprising that hasn't been mentioned here already.
Aviation/Nautical Info - I got mostly aviation questions (what do all red lights on a VASI mean [too low], transponder squawk code for loss of communication [7600], what are the characteristics of unstable air [turbulence and good visibility] etc.), a few history questions (The primary strategic bomber used in the 1950s [B-36], etc.) I did get one question asking how aircraft carrier design changed to compensate for larger aircraft such as the 33 ton F-14 Tomcat. I wasn't 100% sure on the answer to this, the answer were along the lines of A. More powerful hydraulic catapults [I disregarded this answer because there are no hydraulic catapults that I know of] B. Take-off power of the aircraft [I disregarded this answer because although modern aircraft have some powerful engines, I don't think they're able to compensate enough]. C. Something about longer runways on carriers I think? or the answer I went with, D. Larger, more powerful catapults. It seemed to make the most sense, but I could definitely have been wrong on it. I also had a question on some pilot I never heard of and I don't remember the name of (I tried to get myself to remember his name for you guys, I promise and I'm sorry lol) and what war did he participate in what was considered to be one of the most complex dogfights in history. I guessed WW2 because they had some pretty damn complex dogfights, but idk for sure. I also had a couple nautical information questions. I think you can easily find all the knowledge you need for the aviation and nautical information, but it's really hard to study for the history questions without studying the entirety of naval aviation history. The Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge is great, and I also recommend the FAA's Aeronautical Information Manual: https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/media/AIM_Basic_dtd_10-12-17.pdf if you want a physical copy, you can go to your local pilot shop (which will probably have lots of other great books and manuals as well) or probably order it online. The whole thing is called the FAR/AIM. (Federal Aviation Regulations I mentioned in the reading section, and Aeronautical Information Manual all in the same book). I recommend the most recent year, and they're not terribly expensive.
Naval Aviation Trait Facet Inventory - as most have described it, would you rather drive your car through a retirement home on bingo night, or burn down an orphanage. I did notice one thing about many of the questions I haven't seen anyone else mention. On a lot of them, it will give you options that say something like "I USUALLY lash out at others when I'm under stress" or "I SOMETIMES break the rules." Since neither of them describe me at all, I often found myself picking the one that said "sometimes" rather than "usually" because saying it happens less often is the most applicable when it doesn't actually ever happen at all. There are a few that you'll have trouble deciding on, but as others have said, look at them from the perspective of a military leader and aviator/NFO.
UAV Portion - The flashcards posted in this thread were great. I practiced them for hours, and probably spent about 5 hours in one day practicing them in the week leading up to my test. I would have my wife time me while I went through them, but that's not entirely accurate because the flashcards load slower and you have to click more than once. You'll also be quicker on the actual test because you don't need to read which parking lot to identify, it tells you in the headphones. The compass trick is good if you're really just not great with cardinal directions, but I HIGHLY recommend trying to move past it and do it without the compass trick. I've got a ton of experience with using cardinal directions and compasses and all that, so it wasn't an issue for me. With enough practice you can do the same though! I found the compass trick to be too slow. Without it, I was able to answer the questions in 1.1-1.3 seconds and I got 3 wrong. One important thing though, THE TEST DID NOT ALLOW ME UNLIMITED PRACTICE!!!! I don't know if they recently changed it, but it let me do only 8 practice questions and then it forced me to start the test. I was looking forward to sitting there and practicing for 10 minutes and I was not allowed to.
Dichotic listening - Tilt your head toward the ear you need to be listening to, it helps!
Stick and Throttle Tracking - I was given an X-52 HOTAS, and I probably have several hundred hours in flight simulators with an X-56 so that was nice. It was in good condition, and I didn't have any issues with using it. Both the stick and throttle did have a little bit of a deadzone in the middle which threw me off a bit. The throttle being neutral in the middle rather than all the way back threw me off a bit too, but I tried thinking of it like a helicopter collective and that helped. Also, yes the stick has pitch inverted, but with a solid black background giving no reference it does make this a little tricky. What I would recommend is practice in a flight simulator using 1st person view and the camera forward such that there are no cockpit instruments or any part of the aircraft visible. Maybe just a HUD so you have a reticle to follow or something like that. Practice like that a lot, and then when you're in the test try to imagine that's your perspective. It's still kinda tricky, I felt myself instinctively moving my feet trying to yaw lol I also kept trying to roll and then pitch up to chase the target. This test is CLEARLY designed to make it impossible to track the targets perfect, but I think as long as you keep your controls moving in the general direction toward the target, and perform the dichotic listening and emergency procedure well (write the emergency procedures down!), you'll be ok. For the simultaneous stick and throttle multi-tasking I tried two methods: The first I tried scanning my eyes back and forth between the throttle target and the stick target very quickly, much like an instrument pilot quickly scans gauges. I also tried focusing on the stick target while watching the throttle target in my peripheral vision. I don't know that either was better, the whole damn thing is just too chaotic lol. For the emergency procedure I recommend you at least TRY to continue flying while you execute them. It only gave me each emergency once, and they're fairly simple to solve, so just do your best to keep pushing the controls in the general direction of the target. I also realized right before the emergency procedures section that the HOTAS had suction cups on the bottom to keep it from sliding on the desk. That helped, so check to see if yours does too.
As I said before, there's absolutely no reason you or anyone else can't get a great score on this test. As long as you're willing to put forth the effort that would be required of a successful naval aviator/flight officer/any officer, you will do just fine. STUDY STUDY STUDY!!!
(Edit: I forgot to discuss the study guides I used! I used both Trivium and Test Prep Books, and they were meh. I started my studying with those and it was a good introduction to everything that would be on the test, but some of their information is wrong. Trivium would do things in the examples without explaining them, but Test Prep Books explained things a bit better. I can't remember which one, but one of the guides had a picture of a compass that had 400 degrees and the S for South was backward. That right there about sums up the study guides I think lol.
ALSO! A lot of the gouge documents on here are great but I really only used them for history information. I found the way they formatted math questions to be difficult to follow, and some of the information was wrong. For example, every piece of gouge I read said that fog forms when warm air moves over cooler water. This is not necessarily true! It sound like they're talking about advection fog, which would be correct, but specifically mentioning water like that makes me think of steam fog. Steam fog occurs when cooler air moves over warmer water. I always remember this because it was described to me as watching steam come off a hot cup of coffee on a cold day. Here is weather.gov's description of fog types and you'll see what I mean: https://www.weather.gov/source/zhu/ZHU_Training_Page/fog_stuff/fog_definitions/Fog_definitions.html
Overall, the study guides and gouge is good for getting a good idea of everything that will be on the test, and it's good for information you can't easily find anywhere else, but I recommend trying to study from the most official/reputable sources as possible.)
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